EAST BRUNSWICK – In one of the municipality’s latest restoration moves, the Township Council approved a resolution declaring additional properties located on Edgeboro Road as a non-condemnation redevelopment area.
“A resolution determining [and] identifying the properties in this area are in need of redevelopment on Edgeboro Road. These are properties that are Middlesex County Utility Authority (MCUA) properties that are currently not on the tax rolls, which the developer of 39 Edgeboro Road is going to be leasing from the MCUA. Through much hard work from the redevelopment agency [and] Township Attorney Michael Baker, we put together a plan with this developer. The developer just needs additional parking,” Councilman James Wendell said.
Wendell said the properties on Edgeboro Road are the perfect place for truck and car parking for the redeveloper’s warehouse, next door.
“This is going to create more revenue from the town revenue that was never even coming in because these were properties that were not even on the tax rolls,” Wendell said.
The Local Redevelopment and Housing Law authorizes municipalities to determine whether certain parcels of land constitute areas in need of redevelopment, according to the council agenda.
On Sept. 21, the council adopted a resolution authorizing and directing the Planning Board to determine whether certain properties on Edgeboro Road meet the criteria set forth in the redevelopment law and should be designated as a non-condemnation redevelopment area as that term is defined by the redevelopment law, according to the council.
The board conducted a preliminary investigation of the study area to determine whether it should be designated as a non-condemnation redevelopment area in relation to the criteria and procedures in state law, according to the council.
After completing its investigation and public hearing on this matter, the board concluded that there was sufficient credible evidence to support findings that satisfy the criteria set forth on the redevelopment law for designating the study area as a non-condemnation redevelopment area. The designation is necessary for the effective redevelopment of the area comprising the study area, according to the council.
With an unanimous vote, the council approved the resolution accepting the recommendation of the board on Oct. 26 during the council meeting via video conference.
Before the resolution was adopted, resident Justin Bodner asked how classifying it as a non-condemnation redevelopment area fits the course of its development moving forward.
Baker said as a result of classifying the properties as non-condemnation redevelopment, it means the town can negotiate a PILOT agreement with the redeveloper, adding additional revenue to the tab.
“Normally, the property has been tax-exempt, done by the MCUA. So the town gets no money for it; [however], by putting it into the redevelopment area we get not 20% or 25% of the tax revenue from it, the town will get 95% tax revenue from it. So, that’s the benefit to the community,” Baker said.
In related news, the council also introduced an ordinance amending the previously approved 36 Edgeboro Road Redevelopment Plan to include the additional properties on Edgeboro Road.
“[This] ordinance that we’re asking for which is to amend the 39 Edgeboro Road Redevelopment Plan to accommodate this additional land and property. So the building size isn’t changing. The impact is not necessarily changing at all. What [the redeveloper] is just looking for is truck parking, and I think that we can accommodate that,” Wendell said.
The township previously designated 39 Edgeboro Road as an area in need of redevelopment and subsequently adopted a redevelopment plan for that same property, according to the council.
The council introduced the ordinance, which if adopted, will amend the 39 Edgeboro Road Redevelopment Plan to add and include additional properties on Edgeboro Road. The second and final reading is scheduled for Nov. 20.
For more information, visit www.eastbrunswick.org/365/Redevelopment-Agency.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
