TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—A neighbor of 450 Pascack Road cannot purchase two small township-owned properties abutting his property at least until township negotiations for 450 Pascack move further along, which the township attorney estimates is “going to take a while.”
Indeed, it could head to condemnation and eminent domain proceedings, which could spark a protracted legal fight.
“Nothing’s going to be done until 450 progresses to where it progresses to… and that’s not a short-term situation just for your own information; it’s going to take a while,” Township Attorney Kenneth Poller told Keith Jensen, new owner of 414 Pascack Road, at the Sept. 20 meeting of the governing body.
Added Mayor Peter Calamari, keeping eye contact with Poller, “The only thing I think I’m safe in saying … there is no future yet for that [adjoining] property because we want to leave our options open to see what happens with 450, so the property that you’re referring to I want to say we’re not going to entertain selling it right now until 450 is done and then we see if we can use it as part of a combined type of project.”
Calamari said 450 Pascack Road was to be a closed-session topic later that night. Jensen’s request to purchase two slivers of nearby township-owned land was put on hold.
The township recently offered owner Robert Morris $430,000 for his 3.2-acre 450 Pascack Road property and has not told its prospective owners, the taxpayers, what it intends the site for. The narrow property is next to both Memorial Field and Washington Elementary School.
No information on negotiations has been released by township officials, attorneys, or Morris. A township-ordered appraisal from McNerney & Associates of Glen Rock placed the property’s estimated value at $430,000.
450 Pascack Road includes a rundown 1,800-square-foot home, a small barn and garage, plus 700 trees, including more than 200 mature trees. Last summer, Lakos Construction Inc. proposed a 48-unit independent senior living complex there, withdrawing the application after residents organized against it.
Morris and a marketing agency had listed the property on commercial real estate sites for $2.1 million, due mostly to its development potential.
The tract forms a buffer between nearly 15 properties’ backyards on Ridgewood Boulevard East and Jackson Avenue and two public properties: Memorial Field and Washington Elementary School on its north side.
Poller told Jensen that officials would not talk publicly about 450 Pascack Road and that any township-owned property sale must be analyzed to determine if such a sale is in the town’s long-term interest.
Jensen’s property — 414 Pascack Road, at the corner of Ridgewood Boulevard East — closed for $525,000, according to New Jersey’s Multiple Listing Service.
At meetings and in emails, Jensen has been asking the town’s plans for neighboring 450 Pascack Road before he decides whether to improve his property, which he says could involve two adjoining exempt pieces of property he’d like to buy from the township.
He said after his inquiries to the town went unanswered he received a code violation over greenery said to be blocking the view of traffic.
He tended to the problem, though he said the greenery belongs to the town, and told officials on Aug. 26, “I have not received a message from anyone with respect to my last two emails and a visit to the public hearing. However, I did receive a violation for a bush that needs trimming. Should I presume that in fact this is a response from the mayor and council?”
He added, “My formal request is to know who directed the zoning official to visit my home and issue this violation.”
At the Sept. 20 meeting, town business administrator Robert Tovo said the official outreach Jensen received Aug. 25 “was not a citation, it was a notice.”
We obtained a copy of the document given to Jensen, and it duly advises, “The Property Maintenance Official has conducted an inspection of your property and has found that you are in violation of Township Property Maintenance and/or Zoning Codes…” It came with a 10-day deadline for remediation.
Tovo also said Sept. 20 that he had talked to Jensen privately and the town now recognizes that the greenery in question is on its own property and will tend to it moving forward.
What is the town’s interest in 450 Pascack Road?
Beyond Jensen’s comments Sept. 20, no one from the public commented on 450 Pascack Road.
Indeed, no public discussion has occurred on what the Township might use the residential property for, nor where public funds would come from for its purchase.
This is in contrast to the debate surrounding the township’s failed effort to acquire the private 6.4-acre Washington Township Swim & Recreation Club, which Calamari was authorized to offer up to $850,000 for before making an ultimate $1 million bid.
The administration gave several rationales for the acquisition, ranging from saving the land from developers, to trying its hand at running the club for up to two years before possibly moving on to other recreation uses, to storing at least some public works equipment onsite.
Members of the club, many of whom are owed bond refunds going back years, ultimately voted to sell to a summer camp operation for an undisclosed amount. We are reporting that story.
Looking ahead, should negotiations between the township and 450 Pascack Road’s owners hit an impasse, the Township can move to condemn the property and take it for fair market value for an identified public purpose.
Late former mayor Janet Sobkowicz also tried to acquire 450 Pascack Road for the township but said at recent public meetings that the deal with Morris fell through.