A newly hired special redevelopment attorney will likely recommend Sept. 8 whether the borough should focus entirely on its stalled redevelopment plan in an effort to fulfill its affordable housing settlement by February 2021 or also continue efforts to rezone the 14-acre area for affordable housing.
On Aug. 11, the council unanimously approved hiring Joseph P Baumann, Jr., of McManimon, Scotland & Baumann LLC, Livingston, as special redevelopment counsel. The borough council will likely hear from Baumann at its Sept. 8 meeting, said officials.
Efforts to determine Baumann’s hourly rate were not returned by press time. His hiring resolution does not provide compensation details but notes his employment is “through December 31, 2020 or until a successor is qualified or appointed.”
After Councilman Frank Pizzella highlighted the redevelopment effort’s status in his report, Pizzella, Mayor John Ruocco and borough attorney Mark Madaio went back-and-forth over where redevelopment and rezoning efforts stood and what needed to happen so that the borough will fulfill its agreed-upon affordable obligations.
Madaio was directed by Ruocco and the council to request an extension of a mid-February 2021 deadline imposed by its affordable settlement with Fair Share Housing Center and state Superior Court. Madaio said he would file for an extension on Aug. 12.
As of Aug. 25, Ruocco said no response on its extension request had been received.
Pizzella noted the Covid-19 pandemic had prevented the borough’s Economic Redevelopment Committee he chairs from meeting to move redevelopment forward. Alternately, Ruocco pointed out that the committee could have met although state agencies advised against making major local decisions without holding in-person meetings to allow for full public input.
Meanwhile, to avoid defaulting on its February 2021 affordable agreement deadline, Ruocco had instructed Borough Administrator Chris Tietjen in July to “take whatever actions are necessary” to rezone the redevelopment zone for inclusionary housing at a maximum density of 28 units per acre. Ruocco said this rezoning would satisfy the Superior Court and he termed Tietjen’s actions an “insurance plan” to protect the borough.
In November 2019, the council approved a $19,140 contract with DMR Architects to produce a redevelopment plan for the area, although it was unclear whether a plan had been produced. If council members consider the plan a draft, it does not need to be released under the open public records law. Following such a request, no documents were returned by press time.
Ruocco said Aug. 11 that the borough “was not close” to any redevelopment agreement currently and he did not anticipate a redevelopment agreement in place by year’s end. He noted Pizzella’s efforts to shepherd the redevelopment process but added the effort was “not at a final step to a redevelopment plan.”
Pizzella, Ruocco and Madaio said they were hoping to get immediate counsel from Baumann about whether to pursue rezoning or redevelopment, and noted that a final direction may depend on whether an extension to fulfill its obligations is granted.
All three expressed concern about not getting to “an 11th hour” situation with fulfilling affordable obligations, and Madaio said the “worse-case scenario” is officials pursue a two-track plan which simultaneously includes moving on rezoning and redevelopment.
Pizzella warned that rezoning a potential redevelopment area could enable a property owner to sell property in the zone which could then lead to “something you never wanted” to be part of a redevelopment zone.
“You want to rezone as an alternative but you want to rezone at an appropriate time,” Pizzella said. He stressed requesting an affordable housing extension “to have time to move on the redevelopment plan.” He said he believed Fair Share Housing Center would likely grant an extension due to delays caused by the pandemic.
Following up on evolving plans, Ruocco told Pascack Press Aug. 25 that redevelopment might be the best option.
“It appears that a redevelopment plan could be adopted by the governing body by year-end 2020 without any immediate buy-in from a developer, and that plan could satisfy [Fair Share Housing Center’s] deadline. Having said that, simple rezoning is still an option being considered as a mechanism to satisfy our affordable housing requirements,” wrote Ruocco.
Another variable to a possible redevelopment plan’s success is the role of Waste Management, Inc., which months ago agreed to stop accepting waste at its former trash transfer station, and was in discussions with town officials about redevelopment options.
Both Pizzella and Ruocco mentioned that the timing and scheduling of either a redevelopment or rezoning effort could be a sticking point if the deadline is not extended.
The 14-acre area was declared “an area in need of redevelopment” in May 2019 following a DMR redevelopment study. The zone includes 17 lots in the borough’s industrial area, bounded by Knickerbocker Avenue, Prospect Place and Patterson Street, including Brookside Place and Piermont Avenue.