TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, N,.J.—Nearly a year after agreeing to purchase a 3.2-acre tract at 450 Pascack Road — briefly proposed for a 48-unit senior complex in 2020 — the township closed on the property’s purchase for $750,000 on April 23, said Mayor Peter Calamari on Facebook on Thursday morning, April 24.
“I am excited to share that the closing of 450 Pascack Road has been successfully completed. This impressive parcel spans over 3 acres and was acquired by the Township for approximately $750,000,” Calamari wrote.
Officials urged residents not to visit the property until it is made safe and several deteriorating structures have been demolished. Several No Trespassing signs are posted on the property, which is ringed in yellow police tape.
Administrator Mark DiCarlo told us, “The immediate plan is to clean up the visible vegetation such as leaves, grass, branches, and visible debris in the yard. Basically, some beautification. That has already begun and will continue next week. We are actively establishing a plan for the next steps after cleanup to include demolition of the buildings,” DiCarlo emailed April 25.
The mostly wooded 3.2-acre property at 450 Pascack is sandwiched between Ridgewood Boulevard East to the south and Washington Township Elementary School and Memorial Field to the north. Over the last decades, several local officials, including former mayor Janet Sobkowicz, had made efforts to acquire the property for the town.
Calamari said the “future vision” for the property includes a nature trail, exercise area, landscaping, benches, sidewalks, and parking. “Our immediate focus will be on cleaning up the property, and I will keep you updated on our progress. As always, I thank you for your continued support,” he added.
Prior to last year’s agreement to purchase the property, the township had bid $430,000 about four years ago under threat of eminent domain but later decided to begin negotiations with the property’s owners.
Resident Diane Ferrara, who helped alert the public to a proposed 48-unit senior complex eyed for the property in 2020 — and who pressed the mayor and council for years to acquire the 3.2-acre tract — told us she was “very, very grateful” to see the property finally acquired by the township.”
Ferrara added, “I am deeply grateful that the Mayor and Council took this concern seriously and acted to preserve that beautiful tract of land beside Washington School and Memorial Field as a natural, tree-filled open space instead of allowing it to be stripped and overdeveloped by a very impractical and intrusive housing development.”
She said, “That unspoiled acreage provides an attractive backdrop and ‘amphitheater’ for our community, sporting, and school events, and I trust that the council’s future enhancements to the property will make it even more beautiful as an open space feature in our community. Very, very grateful, indeed, for the outcome.”
A couple of years ago, the township received a $550,000 county Open Space grant to help fund the property’s acquisition as open space.
When a Pascack Press reporter visited the site on Friday, April 25, observing the property from a sidewalk along Pascack Road, piles of debris could be seen outside the rundown barn, whose roof had fallen in. On the front porch, we observed a crutch apparently bracing part of a collapsing porch roof.
A DPW employee on site warned that the public should keep off the property.
From the Pascack Road view, it appears some gutters and siding are falling off the home, which had been in disrepair for a decade or more. The township’s code enforcement officer previously cited the owners with a “nuisance” violation for the porch’s collapsing roof and rundown barn, but it was held pending a nearly yearlong “due diligence” period undertaken by the township before closing.
Contaminants on site?
After a first study last fall that suggested contaminants such as fuel oil, “historically applied” pesticides, asbestos insulation, and lead-based paint were present on-site, the township decided to undertake a second investigation into the presence and extent of so-called historically applied pesticides.
That second study and its results by Lisko Environmental LLC, Belmar, were not made public by township officials, citing the confidentiality of negotiations for 450 Pascack Road.
Notably, the environmental consultant did not recommend a second follow-up study because the contaminants found did not exceed state environmental standards. Township officials decided to approve initiating a second study in mid-November in a closed session meeting.
The second $5,700 study by Lisko Environmental was to investigate so-called “historically applied pesticides” on the property. The study was authorized in closed session on Nov. 12 by Administrator Mark DiCarlo, with the mayor and council’s approval, DiCarlo previously told us. He said survey results were expected by December 2024.
However, despite Pascack Press public records requests, no test results were released, as officials cited ongoing negotiations — permitted under OPRA — to exempt their release. Pascack Press again requested a copy of Lisko’s second investigation results following Calamari’s post.