TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—The township has a second chance to put an offer on the Washington Township Swim and Recreation Club, 6.4 acres on Ridgewood Boulevard North, as soon as this month.
Trustees of the private club evidently have been negotiating with Mayor Peter Calamari’s administration to develop a deal for the township’s purchase of the club after a bid from an unidentified summer camp organization fell apart at the last minute.
That’s according to a confidential New Year’s Eve afternoon email from trustees to their fully bonded membership, made available to Pascack Press from several sources.
The 2021 property listing, by NAI James E. Hanson, noted the property was offered on an exclusive basis and was improved with an Olympic-sized pool, a kiddie pool, a large clubhouse, and a food concession area. The property is served by public water, sewer, electricity, and gas.
The listing description said the property is zoned AA and permitted for single-family homes as of right.
The description also noted nearby and prominent stores, hospitals, and schools, and added that the property was an “ideal location for single family, townhouses, 55-plus living or assisted living.”
It is zoned neither for townhouses nor senior living congregate homes, and does not lie within the town’s affordable housing overlay zone.
If the town takes over as owner/operator as a public good, presumably it would form a public utility board to oversee it, and borrow for the purchase and any essential repairs.
The listing noted the property was assessed at $1,382,600 and paid annual property taxes of approximately $34,357.
In June the township bid $1 million — $600,000 for the property and $400,000 for improvements and renovations — but bondholders snubbed the offer.
The purchase was proposed to cost taxpayers about $18 per year for the bond’s 20-year payback period, though those figures were challenged.
In its New Year’s Eve letter to bondholders, the club’s elected board of trustees spoke of the deal’s collapse and hopes for next steps.
“In the past five months we have encountered an arduous negotiation process, due to Covid practices in place and the sorting of the buyers contingencies. Our Realtor and lawyer met the moment and when we finally were ready to sign the contract, the buyers encountered an unexpected stumbling block,” the club said.
“This halted proceedings and we in turn spoke with our mayor once again about the prospect of the possible township purchase. The very close election in November only meant more time passed. We are now moving forward along with our lawyer and are prepared and hopeful for a resolution from the mayor and new council in January,” it added.
The club’s leadership said, “We will update membership with additional details in the coming weeks. The board wishes you all a very happy and healthy 2022!”
We reached out to Calamari, township attorney Kenneth Poller, Council President Stacey Feeney and club trustees for comment ahead of our print deadline, which is Wednesday. No one has yet replied, though we will update this piece if we get word.
The annual sine die and reorganization meetings are set for Jan. 3. A special council meeting is set for Jan. 6. Due to a sharp spike in Covid infections, town hall is closed to non-employees until at least Jan. 10, and meetings will be held virtually. Visit the town’s Meetings & Agenda page for access information. Meetings are streamed at WCTV-NJ.
Swim club members watching for progress
The club, established in 1963, is owned by its members, who pay for a share of the pool. Each share was listed at $725, which can be paid all at once or over a five-year period.
Sources who made the confidential email available to Pascack Press requested anonymity, in part because they weren’t authorized to do so and in part because some said they are owed long overdue bond refunds that a deal would facilitate.
In September 2019, club co-president Loretta DeTitta told Pascack Press, in our coverage of the board’s financial troubles and families’ growing frustration over stalled bond repayments, “We’re this tiny business. It’s seasonal. We’re struggling and need additional income, membership, whatever; it’s really not that much. It’s not, in the grand scheme of things. But here we are.”
She said, “When new members join, it says in the bylaws, those monies will be repaid. Or ‘when monies are readily available.’ We have no money.”
She said, “We need a white knight or a queen, a white queen. That would be great.”
DeTitta added at the time, “Something needs to happen. We’ll either fold—and that means sell it to a developer, I guess—or maybe the town can assist us. That would be the two things that would happen,” she said.
She added that the board had reached out to possible donors in town, but because the club isn’t a charity any such donations would not be tax deductible.
Then covid struck, and the pool has been closed ever since.
In July 2021, after we were told a vote had taken place that favored a summer camp outfit over the township’s stewardship, DeTitta told us, “The process at the moment is still private and confidential.”
(See “Town pool purchase sunk? Calamari fights back for land buy as a moon shot,” Pascack Press, June 24, 2021.)
Members speak out
This Jan. 1, after learning the sale had fallen through and leaders were in new talks with the township, one bonded member who sent us a copy of the trustees’ email and is not privy to the talks wondered what deals were being cut without taxpayers’ knowledge.
Others wondered if the bidding process had been reopened to other bidders or only to the township.
Yet other residents privy to the email wondered if the township was offering a price similar to its $1 million offer made in June 2021 that was ultimately rejected by swim club bond holders in favor of an undisclosed offer evidently made by a competitor.
Debate, disappointment in township
In July 2021, then-councilman Michael DeSena, challenging for mayor as an Independent, told Pascack Press that of 72 bonded members eligible to vote, 49 weighed in, with 35 voting to sell to the summer camp, 13 to sell to the township, and one voting to sell to Superdome Sports.
Voting members we spoke with at the time said they were unimpressed with Calamari’s vision for the property. The mayor said on June 24, 2021 that the town was agreeing to a two-year effort to operate it and if that operation cannot break even at that point it likely would close.
Many of those calling in to town meetings in support of the purchase said how much they looked forward to a pool.
Calamari, a Republican, said in his appeals for council support of $1 million for the property that the land could serve a variety of needs.
He posted amid the bond resolution debate, “The first use I would like to research is leaving it as a swim club. All the infrastructure is in place for it. I would like to review the numbers the existing club has to see the expenses and then estimate how much income it will need to generate.”
He emphasized the resolution on negotiating for the property “does not bind the town to anything yet. The town and the property owners decided to agree on a purchase price before further negotiations regarding the terms of the sale.”
At a subsequent meeting, DeSena pressed Calamari for the origin of the $850,000 figure.
Eventually Calamari said, “It was a negotiated number.”
DeSena initially withheld a yes vote for the larger sum on the grounds that the administration had not undertaken a feasibility study for taking over the pool.
After proponents rallied for the deal, DeSena voted yes.
After the club rejected the town’s offer, Calamari posted his sentiments on his official Facebook page.
“Obviously I, and I am sure a great majority of residents will share in my disappointment by this decision. The offer the town made was exactly what the [club] board asked for,” he said.
He added, “I am, however, proud and grateful for the level of enthusiasm and motivation shown by the public in contacting the elected officials to express their opinions.”
He asserted “It also bears mentioning that I was informed a deciding factor in their choice was the underwhelming interest and enthusiasm and apparent lack of commitment shown by some council members during the council’s vote to acquire the property and make a good faith effort to make a town pool viable.”
That characterization drew a sharp denial and rebuke from DeSena, who later walked back some of his reaction against Calamari.
DeSena is off the council. Re-elected with Calamari was Tom Sears, affirmed after he filled in for the late Arthur Cumming. With them on the dais arrives Daisy Velez, the town’s public affairs officer.
— With John Snyder