EMERSON, N.J.—As work continues on Emerson’s long-delayed 147-unit downtown redevelopment, a local business owner urged the Borough Council on Aug. 4 to adopt safeguards against future agreements that could put taxpayer funds at risk over a missed deadline.
Robert Obernauer pointed to the borough’s continuing legal dispute with Emerson Redevelopers Urban Renewal, or ERUR, over $500,000 in construction goods and services tied to the redevelopment agreement.
The borough sued ERUR in Superior Court in 2020 after the developer declined to provide the $500,000 following Emerson’s failure to meet a Dec. 31, 2019 deadline for plans and approvals related to a new ambulance building. The litigation remains unresolved.
Officials have said the $500,000 was part of an arrangement involving transfer of the former ambulance property to the developer, as well as closure of a street and commuter parking lot.
Obernauer urged the council to adopt an ordinance requiring written notice to the borough attorney and administrator, along with a “reasonable cure period,” if the borough misses a deadline under a future development agreement.
“You do not put taxpayers at risk of losing half a million dollars over a single missed deadline,” Obernauer said.
“That is basic common sense and the minimum protection Emerson taxpayers should have received,” he said.
Obernauer, who owns the local Valero gas station, 7-Eleven, and Wayback Burgers, as well as a 7-Eleven in Paramus, criticized changes made to the redevelopment agreement by a prior administration in late 2018.
He said those revisions removed construction deadlines for ERUR while leaving the borough subject to the Dec. 31, 2019 deadline associated with the $500,000. He also cited provisions allowing a fourth floor, a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, agreement, and seven affordable units to be located off-site.
Borough Attorney John McCann said the December 2018 third amendment removed redevelopment deadlines that had applied to ERUR while retaining the deadline imposed on the borough.
That deadline required Emerson to submit construction plans, obtain permits, and provide a building design by Dec. 31, 2019, to secure the $500,000 in construction goods and services, McCann said.
McCann also referred to a telephone recording made public several years ago that he said indicated the prior administration knew the deadline would likely be impossible to meet.
On Aug. 4, McCann criticized what he called “irresponsible postings” on social media concerning the agreement and said the 2018 changes were “not done in good faith.”
Following brief negotiations in early 2020, Emerson filed its Superior Court action against ERUR that June seeking the disputed $500,000.
The council did not discuss Obernauer’s proposed ordinance in detail. Officials told Pascack Press it was unclear what further action, if any, might be taken on his suggestion.
Reached after the meeting, Mayor Danielle DiPaola said, “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel. We see work progressing” on Emerson Station.
She added, “We heard his [Obernauer’s] comments and if they need to take further action, they will.”
Emerson Station’s plans call for 147 apartments along Kinderkamack Road, along with nearly 15,000 square feet of retail space.
As part of the borough’s affordable-housing agreement with Fair Share Housing Center, 29 units were to be designated affordable, including seven off-site.
McCann said Aug. 4 that recent social-media discussion had misstated terms of the redevelopment agreement, reiterating that deadlines for the redeveloper were removed in the December 2018 revision.
Last fall the council moved to revoke ERUR’s designation as the borough’s downtown redeveloper, citing multiple alleged breaches of contract, unpaid property taxes, and a lack of progress on the project. The council also authorized McCann to pursue legal steps that could lead to condemnation of the redevelopment property.
Since then, McCann said, ERUR has made progress, including paying property taxes, funding an escrow account for professional oversight, and resolving some contractual concerns. The proposed seven off-site affordable units remain unresolved, he said.
McCann said a meeting was expected soon concerning those units with the redevelopment’s special affordable-housing monitor, appointed by Superior Court in 2021. He said there were “plenty of other developers” in New Jersey willing to finish the project, including its affordable-housing obligations, if ERUR does not complete it and the borough ultimately proceeds with condemnation.
Officials said work has recently been underway and the project appears to be progressing.
Editor’s note: Accurate Builders promoted Citizen Emerson Station as recently as 2024 and 2025 as offering “New Studio, 1, 1 + Den & 2 Bedroom Luxury Rentals,” though that page is no longer live. JLL Properties, meanwhile, is advertising the project’s retail space as “Delivering Q4 2026!”
The project cleared under a previous administration that secured holdout properties in part under threats of condemnation and eminent domain. In February 2018, the Borough Council voted, 5–1, to approve an ordinance authorizing the use of eminent domain to acquire four privately owned lots on Kinderkamack Road—including Cinar Turkish Restaurant, Cork & Keg, and Ranch Cleaners—to make way for the JMF Properties redevelopment project.
The ordinance passed despite opposition from property owners, their attorney, and some residents. Then–Councilwoman Danielle DiPaola cast the only dissenting vote, objecting to the taking of personal property for a private development, then expected to yield millions in revenue, as well as the project’s proposed size.