TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—The two candidates for mayor revealed nearly diametrically opposed views Oct. 12 for the future of the 3.2 mostly wooded acres at 450 Pascack Road should it be acquired by the township via negotiations or eminent domain.
It was also the first time that both officials offered public views on 450 Pascack Road’s value to the township.
Town attorney Kenneth Poller has repeatedly advised the council to refrain from commenting publicly on negotiations between the township and the property owners.
At the Oct. 12 candidates debate, sponsored by the Northern Valley League of Women Voters, first-term Republican Mayor Peter Calamari said he saw 450’s potential uses as possibly expanding Memorial Field, or adding parking for George Washington Elementary School, or maybe a combination of both.
“It is our intention to acquire the property … but we are not going to hesitate to use eminent domain if we cannot come up with an equitable agreement with the owner,” Calamari said.
His challenger, Independent Councilman Michael DeSena, said he envisions a conservation easement starting about 100 feet from Pascack Road, letting the site’s approximately 700 trees remain, and possibly siting a unit of future affordable housing there.
In a campaign video released after the debate, Calamari said he met with “neighboring residents of 450 Pascack Road” on Oct. 22 and said that only the front part of the property off Pascack Road would be used for “additional parking” for the fields.
He said his team, including incumbent councilman Tom Sears and Public Affairs Director Daisy Velez, “also discussed keeping the balance of the tract undisturbed” and would work to preserve the “legacy trees” on the property.
Calamari did not mention preservation during his response at the debate.
At the debate, DeSena mused that the federal American Rescue Plan funding might be available for purchasing 450 to reduce tax impact upon residents.
Pascack Press asked town business administrator Robert Tovo about ARP funds purchasing 450 Pascack Road. Tovo said this was not possible under federal guidelines.
He said the township received $480,219 in ARP funds this year and expects an equal amount in 2022.
DeSena, a civil engineer, also noted that a “huge slope differential” between 450 Pascack Road and adjoining recreational field and elementary school parking lot make it impossible to use it for parking. He said he preferred to see it remain green space. He suggested the house could be demolished and replaced with at least one unit of affordable housing or used in some other way “that would serve the township.”
Independent council candidate Michael Werfel called for greater transparency and noted Calamari did not reveal his vision for the property previously. (However, DeSena also had not previously shared a vision for 450 Pascack Road.)
Based on an appraisal ordered by the council that estimated the property’s value at $430,000, the council this summer reportedly offered property owner Robert Morris that amount.
Morris has hired an attorney and told Pascack Press that the offer was low for a property of its size in the township. The late former mayor Janet Sobkowicz said at a recent council meeting that her administration had come close to a deal with Morris but that it had fallen through at the last minute.
The council discusses updates on 450 Pascack Road negotiations regularly in closed session, along with updates on other negotiations and legal and personnel matters. DeSena has called for Poller to release closed meeting minutes toward public view.
In contrast to 450, the governing body held at least two public discussions of its $1 million offer for the much larger private Washington Township Swim & Recreation Club, a bid the club’s members rejected in favor of a summer camp outfit, about which nothing is yet publicly known.
In late August, the council used eminent domain to acquire the last of 16 easements it needed for the Pascack Road–Washington Avenue intersection overhaul. The township filed a declaration of taking to acquire the property.
We reported Oct. 4 (“450 Pascack Road a long-haul project, suggests attorney”) that a neighbor of 450 Pascack Road cannot purchase two small township-owned properties abutting his property at least until township negotiations for 450 move further along, which Poller estimated is “going to take a while.”
“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,” Poller told Keith Jensen, of 414 Pascack Road, at the Sept. 20 meeting of the governing body.
Added 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 that night. Jensen’s request to purchase two slivers of nearby township-owned land was put on hold.
