HILLSDALE—Preliminary estimates for a community center and turf field provided by a consultant total nearly $16 million, said the mayor at the Dec. 7 council meeting.
No decisions on whether to move forward on a community center or turf field have yet been recommended by a temporary steering committee or council members.
Several council members disagreed with Mayor John Ruocco’s disclosure of estimates and details provided by its consultant, DMR Architects, noting they thought all members agreed to release the figures at the Dec. 14 meeting.
At the Dec. 14 meeting, Council President Abby Lundy said the council likely would release the the documents soon after the council’s 2022 reorganization meeting, which is scheduled in person for Jan. 4 (sine die at 6:30 p.m., reorganization at 7).
On Dec. 14, both Lundy and councilman Anthony DeRosa again took exception to Ruocco’s early release, on Dec. 7, of the approximate $16 million estimate for a new community center and artificial turf field prepared by consultant DMR Architects.
De Rosa called Ruocco’s early release “a violation of committee process and certainly our trust” and said that Ruocco’s action “must call into question my trust for the mayor.”
Lundy said the Steering Committee and council now has the DMR Architects’ documents and the Steering Committee has plans to meet before year end.
Ruocco said he did not feel any information provided by DMR Architects qualified under the state’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) to be kept under wraps and said it was important to inform the public.
He said so far the citizens advisory committee that he appointed to work with the Steering Committee had not been consulted or used as a focus group to advance the discussion about a community center or turf field.
[Related: See John Ruocco in Letters, Page 2.]
Also, Business Administrator Chris Tietjen, a Steering Committee member, said his notes said that members had agreed to wait until Dec. 14 to speak publicly about the DMR estimates following a tour of a similar facility that DMR had recommended.
The mayor said he never agreed not to release the information, though he said the actual “draft documents” provided by DMR Architects to the Steering Committee for a Community Center and Turf Fields, were not publicly accessible via a public records, or OPRA request.
Ruocco recently sent a letter to the state’s Government Records Council that handles complaints about the OPRA law after he and council members disagreed over whether a “draft” conditional redeveloper’s agreement that was to be voted on that night should be released prior to a council vote and discussion.
On Dec. 7, Ruocco said he did not believe the information provided by DMR should stay under wraps until the Dec. 14 meeting and provided it during his mayor’s report. Ruocco had subbed for councilman Zoltán Horváth during his absence at a Steering Committee meeting as an ex-officio member.
However, council members, including Lundy and Anthony DeRosa, disagreed with Ruocco’s early information release, noting the committee agreed to wait until after members had toured a community center in Hackensack that DMR recommended as being similar to what was being proposed.
DeRosa said the mayor said one thing during the committee meeting and did another in public while Lundy said the mayor was reporting on DMR so he could “skew it to your agenda and say things that you want to say.” Ruocco said he would report facts only, “no opinions will be released.” Replied Lundy: “We’ll see.”
Ruocco said preliminary “conservative estimates” from DMR put possible costs for a 21,000-square-foot community/recreation center at about $11 million and for new artificial turf at Centennial Field at about $4.6 million.
He noted DMR also provided estimates for field improvements at Memorial FIeld ($600,000) and at Beechwood Field ($100,000). He stressed that “no action” was taken on any of the options discussed by DMR.
Ruocco said DMR showed a concept floor plan that provided a full-size regulation basketball court that can also be used as two half-courts; two multipurpose rooms, each 1,300 square feet that can be combined into a 2,600 square foot room; and a third multipurpose room of 1,000 square feet.
Moreover the plan includes a full-service kitchen, an administrative office, two restrooms, a mechanical room, and lobby space.
He said DMR presented pictures of possible buildings, including how it might be placed on the Stonybrook Swim Club site or West commuter lot downtown. In addition, DMR showed how a new turf/soccer field would look at Centennial Field, and also how a regraded football field might appear at Memorial Field.
A more formal presentation of DMR Architect options for a community center and turf field, along with elaboration on estimates, and Steering Committee opinions and recommendations, will likely occur over the next few months, officials said.
At the meeting’s end, Ruocco said he was “frankly disappointed” about certain council members’ reluctance to apprise residents about DMR’s community center and turf field suggestions and possible costs.
Ruocco said it was “frustrating” that the Steering Committee did not consult with the Citizens Advisory Committee — both committees he appointed — before initiating planning efforts with DMR Architects.
He said it’s “very frustrating” to realize council members prefer to keep information from the public rather than to share it.
“That’s not true,” interjected De Rosa twice.
“That’s not true at all,” added Lundy.
When Ruocco objected to both speaking, noting he was doing his council commentary, DeRosa said, “that doesn’t mean you can lie.”
Lundy said, “And you’re not council, you’re the mayor; it’s council commentary.”
Pizzella attempted to intervene to calm matters.
Ruocco then told Lundy she was “out of order” and Lundy replied, “Thank you.” That ended the back and forth among Ruocco, Lundy and DeRosa, but Ruocco added another caveat.
He urged the council to “slow it down and think of all the residents who may not want to use a community center or an athletic field” and given that preliminary cost estimates “greatly exceeds” the $10 million originally estimated for both projects.
Ruocco previously opposed the council when it allocated $500,000 in this year’s budget as a down payment needed for issuing bonds, noting the council had made no decisions yet about either project.
After citing the nearly $16 million cost, Ruocco questioned the cost and tax increase likely, on top of a possible 2023 referendum to build a new George G. White Middle School that he said was estimated at $68 million.
Given that tax hit, Ruocco said he would likely urge a referendum on the community center and artificial turf projects.
School officials have said that if the proposed site for a new middle school passes muster, the school board will consider a bond referendum in March 2023 to replace the nearly century-old building.
School officials told Pascack Press that they anticipate a final replacement cost estimate by January 2022, though councilman
DeRosa also told us that an estimate of $65 million to $75 million was discussed by the ad hoc committee looking into middle school replacement. DeRosa was a committee member.