Jones Lang LaSalle


N. Arlington OKs development
Thursday, April 20, 2006

By CAROLYN FEIBEL
STAFF WRITER
NORTH ARLINGTON -- Over the jeers of residents, the Borough Council voted 4-2 Wednesday night to sign an agreement with a developer to build 1,625 residences along Porete Avenue.

Cherokee EnCap will build the homes and 50,000 square feet of retail along the road, which is in the shadow of a landfill and is home to warehouses and light industrial businesses.

But many of the business owners don't want to leave and have vowed a court battle if the town condemns their properties for the Arlington Valley project.

The possibility that the borough could use eminent domain has aroused emotional opposition to the project and has become the No. 1 issue in the June primary election.

"I sympathize with each and every business owner affected by the project," Mayor Russ Pitman said. "Believe me, the use of eminent domain is a last resort."

The project would bring much-needed tax relief, Pitman said. The new borough budget, also introduced Wednesday night, would lower the tax levy on the average home by $128, with the tax rate cut to $1.17 from $1.24 for every $100 of a home's assessed value. The reduction is partially the result of a $486,000 payment from the developer.

"Other towns are raising taxes; we're reducing taxes," Pitman declared.

Cherokee would pay North Arlington $17.3 million in development fees during the next four years, and $3.75 million to help the borough fulfill its affordable housing obligation.

After Arlington Valley is finished in 2010, the borough would take in about $16 million a year in the form of payments in lieu of taxes, Pitman said.

Even after the borough pays for policing the development and for accommodating an additional 350 schoolchildren, the borough would have $6 million left over to reduce taxes, he added.

But many residents said they did not trust those projections and accused the mayor of condemning the town to years of crowded schools and roads.

"The Belleville Turnpike will have utter chaos," said Barbara Gangi, a 34-year resident. She held a poster that said, "Eminent Domain Abuse" crossed by a red bar.

Councilmen Peter Massa and Steve Tanelli voted against the agreement.

"This deal smells," said Massa, who is running against Pitman for mayor in the Democratic primary. "This is a rotten deal for North Arlington. It's great for the guys who are set to make a lot of money on this deal."

Massa said he would ask the state attorney general and the U.S. attorney for New Jersey to investigate the agreement.

Tanelli said he opposed the seizure of businesses and the inclusion of 65 units of affordable housing. The project would lead to the "complete urbanization of this borough," he said.

The council also introduced an ordinance limiting its power to condemn homes for private developer, but Massa and Tanelli voted against it on its first reading because it would not protect businesses.

Peter Goodman, owner of Goodman Sales on Porete Avenue, said he does not want to move his plumbing supply business.

"The farther away you move, the more employees you lose," he said. "They're selling the town a bill of goods," he said of the council.

Goodman has joined the North Arlington Property Rights Coalition, a group of 15 businesses that has hired lawyers and consultants to fight the developer.

The group has said that condemning the businesses would take away $1 million in current tax revenue and displace about 500 jobs.