This Week in Teaneck – Council 11/22/2022

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This Week in Teaneck – Council 11/22/2022

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: There are 2 more council meetings in 2022:

·       This week on Tuesday, 11/22//22 at 8pm. This will be both in-person in the council Chambers  and on zoom (Click Here for zoom then passcode 834446 ). Click Here for Agenda.

·       Tuesday, 12/13/22 at 8pm

On Wednesday, 1/4/2023, The new Council will hold its Reorganization, installing the 3 successful “RISE for Teaneck” candidates as Councilmembers for 4-year terms each, and electing a mayor and one or two deputy mayors.

Since the present council is a “lame duck” council, the public should expect that 4 agenda items will, if approved, further implement aspects of the Areas in Need of Redevelopment (AINR) redevelopment program that the top 3 vote-getters among the incoming Council members aggressively reject.

To see how strongly Belcher, Gee and Goldberg, [and Young, too] disapprove of AINRs as the way to do development, take a moment to review their statements at the NETPBA Forum on 10/19/22. Click Here and go to 24 min &42sec. That 8 minutes of forum video presents a devastating and accurate critique of how and why an AINR development program is completely wrong for Teaneck.

In their critique, these 3 Council winners described elements of the long-running Teaneck Voices critique of the secrecy, inefficiencies, serious financial mistakes and degradation by blight that are fostered by the current Council’s adoption of the AINR redevelopment regime. For access to these prior Voices stories Click Here, and Click Here, and Click Here

IT IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT THAT RESIDENTS SPEAK OUT ABOUT THESE FOUR ISSUES AT ORDINANCE HEARINGS AND G & W AT THE FINAL TWO 2022 COUNCIL MEETINGS

Let’s take each of the 4 new 11/22 Council AINR agenda items separately:

1)      359 Alfred Avenue AINR: The first agenda item to be addressed on 11/22 is one where the 2^nd AINR property of Alfred Avenue has asked for – and the Town is prepared to give – totally unexplained and presumably colossal give aways of future tax income by approving tax-exempt PILOT status to the proposed AINR developer.  Teaneck has already approved as “AINR-worthy” this second Alfred Avenue property where a 277-unit 6-story apartment building is to be constructed.

Now, based on the only (scant) data we have, Council is poised to give a luxury-development developer (chosen in-secret and not competitively) what Teaneck Voices has calculated to be a $450-500K annual reduction of payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) for each of 30 years when those payments are compared to what Teaneck is receiving for the similar-sized Avalon development on Windsor Road.

In 2022 dollars, that means this agenda item will deliver to that developer a $15M gift that Teaneck taxpayers will pay for. How else will Teaneck lose? The Township and BOE will over 30 years be providing services to the residents of that new facility which cost it far more (again, likely $15M more) than this developer pays to Teaneck.

Is it any wonder that Council, at its previous pre-election meeting on 10/25 very quietly decided (without explanation) to table this ordinance until after the election?

When can you challenge Council on this? There will be a public hearing prior to the Council vote on this ordinance early in the 11/22 Council meeting -and you will have 3 minutes to present your views!

Here are the basics and how you can access that “give-away” agenda item:

Ordinance No. 47-2022 APPROVING LONG TERM TAX EXEMPTION AND AUTHORIZING EXECUTION OF FINANCIAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN TOWNSHIP OF TEANECK AND TEANECK URBAN RENEWAL PHASE II, LLC REGARDING THE 359 ALFRED AVENUE (BLOCK 6002, LOT 3) SIX STORY 247 UNIT RESIDENTIAL BUILDING REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council of the Township of Teaneck that Ordinance #47-2022 pass upon second and final reading and that the Township Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to advertise the same according to law and to provide the appropriate notices in accordance with law.

Or Click Here http://teanecktownnj.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?ID=7465

(Of special note is the following, for which the Township has provided no information whatsoever.)

• WHEREAS, the Entity has made request to the Township for a long-term tax exemption pursuant to the Long Term Tax Exemption Law and has presented a revenue projection for the Project which sets forth the anticipated revenue to be received by the entity from the operation of the Project as estimated by the Entity, and the Township having reviewed same and found it acceptable and of benefit to the Township.

2)       89 The Plaza AINR: In that same time frame, Council will hold a required public hearing prior to its vote to approve Ordinance 50-2022, a redevelopment plan for the AINR designated property at 89 The Plaza.

In fact, substantively this lot’s redevelopment plan is reasonable – a 6-story facility that is virtually identical to the one the Board of Adjustment approved in 2020.

If essentially the same plan was already approved by one land use board, why is this property listed as part of the State Street AINR. What made it suddenly blighted? There is no other logical explanation except the following:

Every time an AINR redevelopment plan is approved in Teaneck it is followed by a developer’s request that the property be given the special tax break we have just discussed – a PILOT. And thus far under the AINR program that has always meant that projects which would normally be taxed at rates comparable to those that all the rest of us pay will get a huge a tax break deal. And thus far, each of those AINR tax break deals has resulted in the town receiving from the AINR-designated developer, for decades, a rate far less than we voter property owners pay – and, in fact, less than what it will cost the town to provide services to the residents of each AINR development for at least the next 30 years.

Here is the reference to introduced Ordinance 50-2022 that will put this same special deal process in motion for the as yet unnamed developer of the 89 The Plaza project: http://teanecktownnj.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?ID=7468

• Ordinance No. 50-2022 ADOPTING A REDEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR 189 THE PLAZA (BLOCK 5005, LOT 1.01), TOWNSHIP OF TEANECK, NEW JERSEY, PURSUANT TO N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-7 BE IT RESOLVED by the Township Council of the Township of Teaneck that Ordinance #50-2022 pass upon second and final reading and that the Township Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to advertise the same according to law and to provide the appropriate notices in accordance with law.”
• Or Click Here:

http://teanecktownnj.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?ID=7468

During Good and Welfare there will be an opportunity for residents to comment on the other two AINR action items.

3)      140 State Street AINR. This AINR item (Ord 49-2022) would introduce a redevelopment plan for the property at the north-east corner of State Street and Queen Anne. The same concerns about tax breaks for AINR properties will likely apply to this State Street property after the redevelopment plan is approved.

However, research to address concerns about this ordinance and its strange timing can await full public scrutiny until January 10 when this ordinance is scheduled t be proposed for adoption.

One concern is why the redevelopment plan has not been reviewed to-date by the Planning Board despite the Town planner originally  having assigned this redevelopment plan to the PB in September. The original introduction of this ordinance had been placed on the agenda in September, and then withdrawn without explanation. Teaneck Voices will seek clarification in the coming weeks.

4)        Amended Conditional Designation of Crossroad Companies as the developer of various lots and areas within the American Legion AINR area. When residents questioned the scope of the Stop & Shop litigation settlement as having stipulated many additional agreements concerning the two AINR’s that sandwich the Cedar Lane retail district, they were told (Click Here for Voices story) – and Voices quoted them – that nothing about those AINR’s had been decided. But, in fact, the original resolution designating Crossroads Companies was part of the consent agendas in September. So, what has now occasioned this “amended” version of the Crossroads designation which calls for significant reshuffling of what will and will not be owned by Crossroads in the redeveloped AINR and what are its responsibilities as designated developer of the AINR? Residents deserve to get a full explanation.

Here is where and how to review this Crossroads resolution Click Here

278-2022 AMENDING RESOLUTION 249-2022 CONDITIONALLY DESIGNATING CROSSROAD COMPANIES, INC. AS THE REDEVELOPER FOR BLOCK 819, LOTS 1, 13, 14, 16 & 17; BLOCK 705, LOT 4.01; AND BLOCK 707, LOTS 1, 2 & AND A PORTION OF BLOCK 707, LOT 5

Residents will want to press Council and/or Township Counsel for clarification of Crossroads Company’s roles. Resident apprehension about being misled about what is happening with this AINR has not lessened as the mysteries grow!

Attorneys Fees: Additionally, residents concerned with litigation costs incurred by the Township attorney may want to note that this month’s Attorney’s firm billing showed $55+K in hourly costs on top of the $20+K for the monthly retainer.

And the resolution to approve the one settlement brought to Council this month (Res 287 Click Here) failed (again) to include how much we tax payers incurred to cover the costs of the settlement and the long-running and extensive Town attorneys’ fees billed in order to reach that settlement.

In sum, Voices hopes that whether by in-person attendance or zoom participation, the successful public who voted in November will join us in careful observation of all that Council does before the new Councilmembers take office – and in supporting them thereafter!