HILLSDALE—Several council members are asking senior residents to show up at the Aug. 9 council meeting and let them know whether they want a separate community center.
The council voted, 5-1, on July 12 to hire DMR Architects to design a freestanding 4,000-square-foot senior community center at the Stonybrook Swim Club estimated to cost $2 million.
Earlier in that meeting, special redevelopment counsel Joseph Baumann provided details on a nearly 5,000-square-foot indoor community center space, with 2,100 square feet of outdoor patio space, that will be provided as a “community benefit” or free by the redeveloper of a 255-unit luxury apartment complex, in exchange for a housing density bonus that will be granted to the redeveloper.
That community center will be part of the redevelopment proposal’s luxury, multifamily apartment complex comprising three- and four-story buildings on Patterson Avenue.
According to DMR’s proposal for the community center at Stonybrook Swim Club, three meetings will be conducted including a kick-off meeting, a schematic design meeting and a public presentation to the Borough Council.
It also includes design development services, construction documents, bidding services, and construction administration services.
The $199,000 contract breaks out the following costs:
- $16,000 for schematic design;
- $3,000 for land-use submission;
- $4,400 for geotechnical investigation;
- $40,000 for design development;
- $60,600 for construction documents;
- $4,000 for the bidding process;
- $65,000 for construction administration; and
- $6,000 for reimbursables.
Mayor John Ruocco said that he believed one community center should be enough for now in Hillsdale and that the Negotiating Committee had worked hard to expand on what the redeveloper initially offered here, and he did not see an immediate need for a separate or “second community center.”
The redeveloper is Patterson Street Urban Renewal LLC,, an affiliate of CP Hillsdale, which includes Claremont Development and March Development, both of Morristown.
Ruocco and councilman Zoltán Horváth both opposed spending “not to exceed” $199,000 to hire DMR on July 12. Both criticized the need for a so-called “second community center,” with Ruocco saying he had heard from seniors, especially local 50-Plus Club members, stressing that the community center was not needed.
Most council members in the majority said they were under the impression that the seniors always wanted their own community center space, and wanted to provide that for them.
Several seniors speaking at the meeting opposed a separate senior-only community center given the free community center space that was being provided on Patterson Street as part of the proposed redevelopment. No senior resident publicly supported the separate center though some have called for a separate space
Council President Janetta Trochimiuk took Ruocco to task for “so much misinformation” and accused the mayor of trying to make council majority members appear “ridiculous” by terming the senior center as a second community center.
She said that the 5,000-square-foot community center being contributed by the redeveloper did not fulfill the council’s previous vision for about 9,000 square feet of community space.
She said council members have “spent endless amounts of time and energy” to bring about the community space that they originally committed to providing when they included $500,000 for a bond down payment, on an estimated $10 million bond, for a community center, field improvements, and DPW flood mitigation.
After Trochimiuk noted taxes would not be raised to build a separate community center, Ruocco interjected, “that is nonsense.” He was stopped by members Abby Lundy and John Escobar, both of whom called for order in the proceedings
Ruocco wanted to add a final comment but the attorney pointed out new bylaw changes enacted by the council majority this year restricted his remarks to the beginning of the meeting. When Ruocco continued speaking near the meeting’s end, Escobar said “point of order” several times to stop him from making a last comment.
“You already spoke,” Escobar told Ruocco, ending the session.
Trochimiuk said the council has talked for two years about doing a senior center, but if the seniors do not want a separate facility, “let them continue what they’ve been doing.”
She said the council has approved $3.5 million for upgrading Centennial Field, might appropriate up to $2 million for a senior community center and then use bonded funds for future DPW upgrades to mitigate flooding.
Trochimiuk wondered why Ruocco always appeared to be undermining the council majority when his role “should be conducive to peace and harmony” and noted that she believes he thinks his opinion “is somehow more important than the collective opinion of six people elected on this council.”
Escobar said he thought the seniors wanted their own space and that he most wanted to get safe recreational fields for local youngsters. “I want what the residents want,” he said at one point, noting if the price to pay for safe fields is building a senior community center, he was okay with that.
Councilman Frank Pizzella, who has served for 10 years and departs council later this year, spoke in defense of a separate senior facility, which was agreed so that two major stakeholders — seniors and youth —were not pitted against each other.
“In my mind, it’s not a second community center,” Pizzella said. He said even Ruocco agreed, a year ago, that the council should bond for a community center so that a redeveloper could not win the council over by giving us a community center for a bonus density allowance.
Pizzella stressed that the zoning and density allowed in the redevelopment zone — based on the redevelopment plan approved in 2020 — does not create a town-wide zoning precedent. The redevelopment plan only applies to a limited redevelopment area.
He said if seniors don’t want a separate community center, they should turn out to the Aug. 9 council meeting and let them know. He said he was a proud resident of Hillsdale and asked public commenters to be less critical.
“[We’re] not an irresponsible group of people … I think we did pretty damn good, focus on the positive things. If you don’t want your own space then just tell me,” Pizzella said.
Pizzella noted the council “cleaned up a garbage dump” in downtown Hillsdale by closing down the Waste Management transfer station. He said 800 tons of garbage were daily traversing local streets. “Has anyone acknowledged that? You don’t have a garbage dump in the middle of your town anymore.”
Lundy said the council “committed to providing” up to 10,000 square feet of community center space. She said the center at Stonybrook Swim Club will allow community programming all over town.
“One [community center] is being given to us and one we can do for much less than we originally anticipated doing,” she said.