The Bloomfield council voted unanimously last evening to approve a redevelopment agreement between the township and the developers of the former Annie Sez property and adjacent buildings on Broad and Liberty Streets (Block 243).
Community Development Director Glenn Domenick explained that the mixed-use development will include 140 apartments, 98 of which will be one-bedroom apartments, with the remainder having two bedrooms. He stated that one-bedroom apartments will be rented for $1,635 per month, and two-bedroom apartments for $1,832 per month. Domenick said that the developer would be choosing retailers for the first floor, a process that has not yet begun.
The council also approved a financial agreement with the developers by a vote of 5-1, with Councilman Carlos Bernard voting no. Councilman Michael Venezia was absent. The financial agreement provides a 30-year PILOT program (payment in lieu of taxes), which includes funds designated to go to both municipal and school-related township costs. An impact study had been performed that indicated the new housing would bring in up to five additional children to the town. According to state figures, the cost per student to the township would be $7,400 per student, and the amount designated for the schools would allow for more than that number. Overall, the township would be receiving $290,000, or 88%, of the $330,000 provided annually by the PILOT program. The PILOT amount will also increase over the years.
Councilman Chalet disagreed with the low number of children expected to come in to the development, pointing out that many people are being forced to downsize their homes and may be moving in to apartments with children. Mayor McCarthy said he disagreed “wholeheartedly” with Chalet’s opinion and that the estimate could just as easily be too high as too low.
In other business, the council voted to approve the hiring of four firefighters to replace four who are expected to retire in 2013. The firefighters would enter the academy in September and be ready for duty at the beginning of November. The hirings will ensure that the number of firefighters will be restored to 78 by the end of the year.
At the beginning of the meeting, Karen Lore, Director of Health and Human Services, announced that the township had received a “Shaping New Jersey” grant to combat childhood obesity, and was therefore able to fund a study by the Department of Transportation to assess potential bike routes in Bloomfield with no extra cost to the taxpayers. She introduced Layla Fritz of the DOT, who then presented the initial assessment of nine potential corridors where bike lanes and other bicycle-friendly facilities could be added.
Fritz explained there were numerous bike crashes in certain areas, particularly along Broad Street, over the past three years, resulting in injuries but no deaths. In order to make bicycling less dangerous, the DOT recommended a combination of solutions depending on the width of the roadway and the presence of parked cars. The use of marked bike lanes, with or without a striped “buffer” area, “sharrows” indicating shared lanes for bicyclists, and signs urging motorists to share the road, were recommended. These solutions can be accomplished simply by restriping the roads at the time of scheduled resurfacing, Fritz explained.
A Public Information Center showcasing the plans for bike lanes will be held on Tuesday, June 18, 2013, at 6 p.m. at the Law Enforcement building on the second floor outside the courtroom. It will be followed by a presentation of the plans at 6:30.
Many of the roads in the plan are county roads, which would require approval and cooperation of the county to incorporate the new bike lane demarcations when the roads are resurfaced. Township engineer Paul Lasek said that when the county approved the township’s plans for revamping the North Center streetscape, they did not allow the inclusion of sharrows. Health Officer Mike Fitzpatrick said county engineers and representatives would be included in the meeting on June 18.
The next council meeting will be held on Monday, June 17, 2013 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers.
“Councilman Chalet disagreed with the low number of children expected to come in to the development, pointing out that many people are being forced to downsize their homes and may be moving in to apartments with children. Mayor McCarthy said he disagreed ‘wholeheartedly’ with Chalet’s opinion….”
As a Bloomfield Realtor, I would subscribe to the opinion of my fellow full-time Realtor, Chalet, as opposed to that of our part-time appraiser and Mayor, Maybe when he returns to his old job next year, on a full time basis, he’ll see the light.
140 apartments will bring in 5 children?? What an absolute load of horse manure.
Why aren’t we letting one of the current projects get finished and see the result before we pile on the vacant spaces ?
Well, at least the new parking garage just got 140 new customers.
I think $1,635 is a bit high for a 1 bedroom in the center of Bloomfield. That would put you on par with a 1 bedroom in Hoboken, Stamford, CT and even the UES. I think the highest 1 bedroom (above a storefront with no parking) should be set at $1,300 or lower
Jimmytown, you could almost rent a house in some oarts of town for the price of a two BR unit.
$1,635 per month or $1,832 per month also seems like a lot for living across the street from a college dorm building.
and yet another TAX ABATEMENT. THANK YOU BLOOMFIELD TOWN COUNCIL.
KUDOS TO YOU COUNCILMAN BERNARD FOR VOTING NO!
Geoff, you are far too kind to the Mayor. I would lean more towards latebloomer’s comment. The Mayor knows very well the manure he’s shoveling. I can hardly contain the disgust I have for him, and he’s at his most pathetic when he parrots the developers claims about the number of new kids coming with all these developments. We’ll be paying the price for this for decades to come, as will our children.