By Jacqueline Durett
Correspondent
EDISON—The Hartz Mountain development on Route 1 may be getting a new neighbor where the Clayton Block concrete company currently sits.
Township Attorney Bill Northgrave explained to the Township Council and residents at the May 11 council meeting that Clayton had come to the township to ask whether the site, currently zoned light industrial, could be considered as an area in need of redevelopment.
“They had some potential uses in mind,” he said of Clayton. “They wanted us to start the process, so we’ve started the process.”
That process included a presentation by planning firm Heyer, Gruel and Associates of Red Bank to the Planning Board at a special meeting on May 5. The firm found that the site met the criteria to be designated an area in need of redevelopment, and the board agreed. The matter was then referred back to the Township Council at the May 11 meeting so the site could be officially designated as such.
Residents did have some feedback on the issue at the council meeting, particularly as to why this was the process of choice, how access from Route 1 would work, and how the property might be used, especially with the Hartz Mountain project recently restarting after a multi-year stall.
However, because Clayton would be selling the property, the township’s role in the process is limited. “We don’t get to dictate who it is,” Northgrave said of a buyer. That would be different if this had been a condemnation process, he said.
Resident Rich Sweeney said he felt a developer would only be interested in the property if it could be mixed-use (e.g., a mix of commercial and residential). “A lot of developers don’t even like to come in without mixed-use [zoning].”
Northgrave said, however, that even though the township wouldn’t be part of the sale, there are controls in place to evaluate a developer’s request. “The short answer is, could they ask for mixed-use residential? Yes. Could they ask for a nuclear power plant? Yes. Am I under any illusion that anyone on this council would be voting yay to even refer a plan over to the planning board for a review if it were a mixed-use residential on that site, or if it were a nuclear power plant on that site? No I don’t believe so.”
Resident Walter Stochel asked why an applicant interested in the Clayton property wouldn’t just apply for a use variance instead of Clayton itself pursuing a redevelopment designation.
Sweeney said he also was concerned that the township would give the developer an extensive tax abatement. He said he saw the detrimental impact of 30-year tax abatements in New Brunswick.
“I mean, 30 years for free taxes? I would love that,” he said. “I would stay in Edison until after my grandkids left town.”
The resolution on the designation was unanimously approved.
