[ back ]
WANAQUE - Revelopment study advances
(by Teresa Edmond - Staff Writer - October 22, 2008)
WANAQUE - The Planning Board approved a redevelopment study for five targeted areas in the borough so the document would be submitted to the Borough Council for its perusal.
Eminent domain for residential owners is “taken off the table,” said Robert Benecke of the Moonachie-based firm Benecke Economics because “we’re trying to obtain the buying from various property owners.”
At the Oct. 16 Planning Board meeting, Benecke presented his company’s Oct. 6 borough redevelopment study, which determines if the properties are eligible for redevelopment needs in accordance with state law.
The Oct. 6 study does not approve any development to take place; its purpose is only to evaluate whether the proposed properties are feasible for such plans. This study is different from the 2007 Ringwood Avenue redevelopment study, which focuses on properties south of Doty Road.
The commercial properties in the Haskell business district, on Ringwood and Third avenues, are included in the redevelopment study because borough officials are hoping to secure grant funding for its redevelopment.
The study also lists the statutory criteria associated with each property, which depict such conditions that may not provide suitable living or working environments and therefore could be considered for redevelopment according to the local housing and redevelopment law.
A property listed with an asterisk (*) in the study indicates that redevelopment cannot occur on this lot without the owner’s consent.
The study’s information is the product of several months spent investigating these areas for possible redevelopment. Done this past summer up to last month, such research included gathering tax assessment and property maintenance information from the tax assessor’s office and photographing the properties’ exteriors.
Redevelopment would not commence without the residential homeowners’ approval, according to Borough Administrator Tom Carroll, adding that notices were mailed out to the homeowners. The study breaks down a group of 25 properties – an estimated total of 13.5 acres – into five areas. Such areas include sections of Ringwood Avenue that encompass Borough Hall, the Rhinesmith Property, and the former U.S. Aluminum industrial site on Fourth Avenue. Union Avenue and Union Court are not included in the Oct. 6 report.
Benecke submitted four exhibits to the Planning Board: the study, the maps and two other documents. One of those documents is a May 18, 2005 letter confirming the closure of the U.S. Aluminum property. The other document is a 1999 evaluation from Tri-State Architects indicating Borough Hall’s deteriorating condition.
On July 14, the Borough Council adopted a resolution authorizing the Planning Board to determine whether these properties qualify under local redevelopment and housing law. Those areas include Midvale, a commercial area of Haskell in the area of Second and Fourth avenues, and Union Avenue and Union Court.
Since there are two parcels on that Fourth Avenue property, Benecke suggested that those two parcels could be combined into a single 5.5-acre property if redevelopment were to occur.
The borough is paying Somerville-based environmental consultant J.M. Sorge to investigate if there is any more contamination on the U.S. Aluminum property.
“We’re working diligently with the (U.S. Aluminum) property owner to clean that property so there’d be no … issues with property deterioration so it can be redeveloped in an appropriate manner with the plan going forward,” Benecke said.
Interested residents can go to wanaqueborough.com to check out the Oct. 6 redevelopment study.
Resident John Maiello said that the borough should think about the property owners if the council approves the redevelopment proposal and then carry it out.
“You have your responsibility to us that this redevelopment plan is included correctly for everybody,” he said.
[ back ]
