After over an hour of public comment, the Bloomfield Council voted 5-2 against a resolution introduced by Councilman Joe Lopez to hold a public referendum on whether Bloomfield should purchase the site of the former Scientific Glass property on Lion Gate Drive.
The council had voted to appropriate $10.5 million to purchase the property for use as open space and public recreation (including the issuance of $9.975 million in bonds or notes) at last week’s regular council meeting. Councilman Lopez, who voted against the appropriation, had said at that time that the issue should be on the November ballot as a public referendum. The property is currently owned by a developer who intends to build 104 townhouses on the site.
The motion to hold a referendum was seconded by Councilman Carlos Bernard, who said his constituents wanted a referendum on the purchase.
However, the other members of the council all spoke in favor of moving forward with the purchase of the land without a public vote.
Councilwoman Davis spoke about the long-term costs of allowing the planned development to go forward, including increased traffic, flooding, and other costs to the township. She said 40 years from now, she would like to believe that people would look back and say they were “forward thinking” in preserving the land rather than allowing development to proceed.
The conference meeting had to be moved to the Council Chambers to accommodate a large crowd, many of whom had been alerted by a mysterious robocall from “The Concerned Bloomfield Citizens” that went out on Sunday to a subset of Bloomfield residents urging them to come make their voices heard regarding the planned $10 million expenditure for the property.
Ed Brasseur spoke during public comment about the call, saying it was a 202 area code, and that reverse lookup showed it was a political call originating in Washington, DC. He went on to urge the council to put the question of whether to purchase the Lion Gate site to the voters. “This should be approved by the citizens and not this group alone,” he said.
Many other residents also spoke against purchasing the property, and either urged the council to put it to a public vote or not move forward at all with the purchase.
Former Republican mayoral candidate Russell Mollica said that Councilman Nick Joanow, whose property is adjacent to the site in question, should have recused himself from last week’s vote on the appropriation, which passed on first reading by a vote of 5-1, in Mayor Venezia’s absence. The council needed five votes for the bond ordinance to pass on first reading.
Mayor Venezia and Councilman Carlos Pomares refuted the claim that Joanow should have recused himself. Pomares said that would mean he would need to recuse himself from any votes that affected the Historic District just because he lives there. Venezia also said that the mayor and council are elected to make these kinds of decisions, and pointed out that the public does not vote on the $75 million budget that is adopted each year by the council.
A number of people also spoke in favor of preserving the property as open space, including representatives from the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, NJ Baykeeper and the Sierra Club. They confirmed that grants are available to help reimburse the township for the expense. Susan Hebert, who has worked to preserve the property for over a decade, spoke about all the people who had supported this idea from the beginning and urged the council to move forward with the plan to buy the property.
Mayor Venezia announced there would be a public meeting on Wednesday, July 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers to address residents’ concerns about the funding of the purchase. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, he urged anyone with questions to contact him via email and he would answer their questions:
BloomfieldNJ residents I understand that there are many of you that have questions and concerns regarding the township purchasing the Liongate / Scientific Glass property. We will be having a forum with our financial consultant and environmental consultant on July 30th at 7:30 pm in Council Chambers. If anyone has any questions before the meeting on any aspect of this or can’t make the meeting, please feel free to e-mail me at michaeljosephvenezia@gmail.com
I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.”
The appropriation of the funding will be voted on second reading at the August 11, 2014 council meeting. The public will be allowed to speak again before the vote.
Also during the public comment period, a group of neighbors from Maolis Avenue thanked the mayor and council for addressing their concerns about a property in their neighborhood that is being used commercially and is an eyesore in their neighborhood. Barbara Brown urged that the township turn the property, which is situated between Maolis Avenue and Clinton Street, into open space to address flooding issues as well as aesthetics. Mayor Venezia said that he, Community Development Director Glenn Domenick, and Councilman Carlos Bernard would be meeting with the property owner on Tuesday afternoon.
In other business, the council voted to refer the proposed development of South Junior High School to the Planning Board in order to request an impact study for the project. Mayor Venezia also stated that the developer, who has owned the property for 12 years, has finally gotten financing for his project. After the meeting, Venezia said part of the developer’s agreement to receive historic tax credits for the building called for him to preserve the auditorium inside the historic school building, which closed in 1987.
The council voted to hire a Deputy Court Administrator, a Public Defender, and one Firefighter. They also approved Police Department promotions and agreed to hire 12 new police officers for the upcoming Police Academy class in September.
Councilman Carlos Bernard asked Acting Police Chief Behre whether the department’s current mobile command unit could be repurposed as a police substation. The creation of a substation had been approved by the public via a referendum last November. Behre said the current unit is quite old and needs a lot of work. However, police consultant Sam DeMaio said that refurbishing and updating the current mobile unit might be more cost effective than acquiring a new/used one. He confirmed that a mobile unit is the way to go, rather than a storefront location, as it enables the unit to move to different neighborhoods to stabilize them as the need arises. Bernard requested cost information be available at the next conference meeting.
Members of Greener Bloomfield spoke during public comment to introduce themselves and urge the council to support re-certification of Bloomfield as a Sustainable Jersey community. The council later passed a resolution to apply for the re-certification.
The next council meeting will be a regular meeting to be held on August 11, 2014, at 7 p.m. in the council chambers.
“Former Republican mayoral candidate Russell Mollica said that Councilman Nick Joanow, whose property is adjacent to the site in question, should have recused himself from last week’s vote on the appropriation, which passed on first reading by a vote of 5-1, in Mayor Venezia’s absence. The council needed five votes for the bond ordinance to pass on first reading.
Mayor Venezia and Councilman Carlos Pomares refuted the claim that Joanow should have recused himself. Pomares said that would mean he would need to recuse himself from any votes that affected the Historic District just because he lives there. Venezia also said that the mayor and council are elected to make these kinds of decisions, and pointed out that the public does not vote on the $75 million budget that is adopted each year by the council.”
COUNCILMAN POMARES – if it was your neighbors property that was being voted on – I would hope that you would recuse yourself. ETHICALLY it would be the right thing to do.
THIS PROPERTY IS COUNCILMAN JOANOW’S NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR – he NEVER should have been allowed to vote on it.
Joanow’s constituents — the people who elected him to represent them — share his neighborhood and many of them live close to the Liongate property. His proximity to the site enhances his appreciation of its impact upon residents. He was 100% correct to vote on this issue.
The idea that proximity to an issue is detrimental to clarity of position is wrongheaded: by that logic the people who are most effected should have no say.
I stayed for the entire public part of the meeting. The council comported themselves with intelligence and dignity.
Since Joanow had/has a vested interest – has always said that he doesn’t want to see a development from his balcony. It WAS/IS wrong for him to be allowed to vvote on it.
I’d respect you more if you posted with your own name – did you stay to the end because you are ON the council
I should hope that the council members have a ‘vested interest’ in the town.
twisting twisting- Joanow has a vested interest in the view from his balcony
No Pat he was elected to his position and should do his job. I’m sure his neighbors are equally vested in their view and property values. And I’d respect you more if you didn’t attack everyone who you disagree with but we both know that will never happen.
Pat, your posts are getting worse and worse. According to your logic, Carlos Bernard shouldn’t vote for a police substation in the third ward. And, the at-large memebers shouldn’t vote for anything where their residences are located. That logic is just plain dumb!
Joanow was an advocate for this property before he took office. Regardless of where his house is located, he’s not wrong. Greenlands are more valuable to a community than more housing.