News from Skylands CLEAN, Inc.

Rehab tab set at $2.3 million
Redevelopment project slated for factory site

By Teresa Edmond
Staff Writer
Suburban Trends
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008

The mayor and council adopted an ordinance that green lights the acqusition of an abandoned industrial site for $2.3 million.

Out of that $2.3 million, around $2.2 million would be bonded. The bond ordinance was introduced at the March 10, 2008 council meeting and adopted at the Dec. 8 meeting.

The adopted ordinance would let the borough move forward with redeveloping the US Aluminum site, one of several areas borough officials are targeting for redevelopment, according to Borough Administrator Tom Carroll.

The contract gives the borough the option to get out of it and transfer site ownership to the redeveloper. Once the redeveloper gets ownership of the US Aluminum site, which could be between 12 and 18 months, the council would adopt a resolution to cancel the original bond ordinance.

The US Aluminum site was once considered for the location of a new borough hall, a civic center and any future uses, but then municipal officials decided not to use the site for these purposes.

Building a new borough hall would address the numerous problems that plague the current borouigh hall, an almost 100-year old structure with antiquated heating, inadequate restrooms, and cramped officed space.

The ordinance doesn't authorize any borough official -- including Carroll himself -- to withdraw $2.2 million from a bank, Carroll clarified. In order to do that, the mayor and council would have to adopt another resolution.

"In order for the governing body to enter into the contract, it has to have the authorization in place, not necessarily the cash," Carroll said.

Residents John Maiello questioned Carroll about whether it's possible the municipality would use US Aluminum as an alternative location for the new municipal hall.

Maiello also said that borough officials shouldn't redevelop businessess during a "severe" economic recession when there are already empty business spaces throughout town and neighboring towns.

But he commended municipal officials for planning to keep the US Aluminum site a a light industrial site just in case the need for business redeveopment happens.

Result of site investigation
Last spring, the borough hired Somerville-based environmental consulting J.M. Sorge for up to $75,000 to investigate the presence of any remaining contaminants on the US Aluminum site.

J.M. Sorge informed borough officials that based on its investigation, the amount of contamination on US Aluminum is "not significant," Carroll said, and that it's possible to get the site "cleaned up to industrial standards."

"There's a level of comfort that we can get that property cleaned up into something useful, viable, and friendly to the neighborhood, which would bring in good tax ratables and bring people into town to use our businesses' services," he said.

Copyright, Suburban Trends, 2008.