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Presented with three options to address the city’s aging water treatment plant on Westfield Avenue, the City Council likely will approve a $1.4-million bond ordinance (O-34-13) to cover preliminary costs of upgrading the nearly century-old facility.
Continue reading Upgrade likely for aging water treatment plant
The 15-year Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) requested by Metro Rahway would be $265,000 annually, according to a revised ordinance (O-35-13) that the City Council is expected to approve tonight. The council will meet for a combined conference agenda/regular meeting at 7 p.m.
City Council is slated to approve the fourth Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) for a new development in the last 18 months. The governing body last month introduced an ordinance for a PILOT for Metro Rahway and will have a public hearing and final vote at its meeting on Monday night.
The city is looking to buy out a third West Grand Avenue residential property near the Rahway River that is prone to flooding.
Continue reading Third W. Grand Ave site targeted for acquisition
The City Council last month passed a resolution to “commit to a goal of 10 percent reduction in impervious surfaces” at municipally-owned facilities by 2015.
The city “will make best efforts to reduce impervious surfaces, including equivalent storm water runoff reductions, to set an example to communities that storm water management is a serious matter,” the resolution stated.
The resolution cites communities in the Rahway River Watershed as suffering in excess of $50 million in damages to households and businesses from Hurricane Irene in 2011. “The overdevelopment of properties and the elimination of pervious surfaces throughout the watershed have compromised the ability of the region to manage its storm water without such major damages as seen during Irene.”
This piece in Atlantic Cities, “The Way We Build Cities Is Making Them Flood,” essentially blames the urban impervious surfaces (parking lots, anywhere that water can’t drain, like asphalt), for flooding in the Chicago area — only not where you’d think.
A Hamilton Street apartment complex was awarded a roughly 13 percent refund on its property tax bill over two years after a judgment by the state Tax Court.
Continue reading Hamilton Apartments successful in tax judgment
The City Council on Monday unanimously approved the reappointment of Anthony Diege to another four-year term to the Redevelopment Agency board commissioners.
The City Council unanimously approved vacating a portion of Dock Street that will allow the developer to redesign portions of Meridia Lafayette Village.
Continue reading Council approves vacating 13 feet of Dock Street