Category Archives: City Council

City Council

Council to introduce sidewalk cafe ordinance

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The City Council is scheduled to introduce an ordinance at its regular meeting Wednesday night, establishing regulations and licensing for outdoor sidewalk cafes. The ordinance (O-19-12) would come up for a public hearing and final approval at the July 9 pre-conference/regular meeting, and would take effect 20 days after/if it’s signed by the mayor.

The annual application for a sidewalk cafe would be accompanied by a $500 fee. The fee would cover the cost of the location being inspected and plans reviewed by the police chief, fire chief, city engineer, health officer and construction official.

Director of the Department of Building, Planning and Economic Development Richard Watkins told the governing body tonight that there is no existing ordinance and the city needs a method to regulate and license the practice since it would be a private business operating in the public right of way, requiring indemnification to protect the city as well as neighbors. The ordinance would require a minimum of six feet of paved sidewalk and not operate past 10:30 p.m. (11:30 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and certain holidays).

Watkins said that Hotel Indigo has expressed interest in a sidewalk cafe and while no other restaurants have yet to do the same, he’s hopeful others will follow. Until now, eateries have had sidewalk seating under special arrangements with the city, he said. BYOB restaurants would be included in the ordinance.

Watkins estimated the process of filing an application until approval for a restaurant might take two to three weeks.

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City Council

Ordinance would allow temporary, ‘pop-up’ uses

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The City Council is scheduled to adopt an ordinance Monday night that would allow property owners to use vacant storefronts as “pop-up” galleries or cafes until a tenant can fill the space.

City Council President Samson Steinman said the amendment will strengthen the city’s current outdoor dining ordinance while also allowing the temporary use of vacant storefronts for such things as “pop-up” galleries or cafes.

As an example, he cited an Irving Street property currently under renovation (across from the Klavierhaus Piano Conservatory) that is likely to participate. The ordinance would amend existing regulations to include permanent or temporary food establishments and outlines the application process, which includes a $45 fee.

Pop-galleries are being employed in Chicago’s Loop area and this 2009 story from The New York Times details various neighborhoods in New York City where the initiative has been employed. Some places have even used parking spaces to create “pop-up cafes” — decked out with seating, tables and plants — including Lower Manhattan, Westport, Conn., and Austin, Texas.

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City Council

Alternate parking plan for Water’s Edge

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Almost two dozen more spaces will be constructed under an alternate parking plan to accommodate the 108-unit Meridia Water’s Edge project. The developer, Capodagli Property Company, will pay $25,000 for 3,700 square feet (in red on this accompanying map) to build spaces for the rental project, in addition to constructing 22 spaces (in green on the map) for use by the Rahway River Condominium Association.

The 22 spaces will be created along the levee in the outdoor parking lot adjacent to the library building, which is owned by the condo association. The Redevelopment Agency, which is a 50-percent owner of the association along with Rahway Office Center, approved the sale of the property at its meeting last week. The City Council is scheduled to introduce an ordinance next week that would grant an easement to allow construction on city property.

The $25,000 sale price was based on the sale of land for the five-story Water’s Edge project. The Water’s Edge plan that gained approval proposed the use of 21 existing parking spots out of the roughly 160 spaces, which the newly created spaces will replace, along with 87 spaces on the ground floor below apartments.

The condo association needs the parking for future tenants of the commercial space above the library and could not provide for parking related to Water’s Edge unless additional parking would be provided and paid for by the developer, according to Redevelopment Director and City Administrator Peter Pelissier. “The intent is to have a zero loss of spaces for the condo association while providing the spaces needed by Meridia, at no cost to the condo association.”

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City Council

New commissioner for Redevelopment Agency

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Michael Staryak was unanimously confirmed by City Council on Monday night as a commissioner to the seven-member Redevelopment Agency, replacing Nancy Saliga, whose term expired. His four-year term runs through 2016.

Saliga was a commissioner since the inception of the agency more than a decade ago. She first was elected as an at-large City Council member in 1990, and her current term expires in 2014. Staryak has served for many years on the Board of Education and his current term concludes this year (.pdf); no word on whether he’ll seek re-election to the school board.

Unlike a few other recent appointments put forth by Mayor Rick Proctor, Staryak’s appointment was confirmed unanimously by the governing body, along with a new Republican commissioner on the Alcohol Beverage Control Board (Eric Rickes, 2014) and a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment (Andre Bryant, 2015).

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City Council, tax appeals

Almost $1 million in PILOTs in 2012 budget

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The $49-million municipal budget anticipates almost $1 million of revenue from various PILOT (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) agreements, including the first from one of the Park Square properties.

The total $961,000 in PILOT revenue is up from the $783,000 in the 2011 budget and breaks down as follows:

* Lower Essex St – Denholz Management (Rahway Plaza Apartments) – $366,000
* Landmark – $150,000
* Parking Authority (River Place) — $170,000
* Rosegate — $25,000
* Senior citizen housing — $250,000

Landmark, which broke ground on the Irving Street side of Park Square (2 Park Square) in 2006, appealed its assessment in Tax Court, getting it reduced from $6.05 million to $4.077 million.
The Main Street side (1 Park Square) is assessed at $8.965 million.

The PILOT agreement had the developer paying taxes on the assessed value of the parcels as they previously existed. Landmark will begin paying 20 percent of its assessment this year, which will rise 20 percent each year until it reaches 100 percent (which would be 2016).

River Place was constructed on property owned by the Parking Authority, which receives an annual payment from the development’s owner and splits it roughly in half with the city.

The city budget also anticipates $660,000 in revenue from red light camera fines. About $1 million was realized in the Transitional Year budget, which covered the six months of July-December 2011.

The amount to be raised by taxes in the budget is $33.455 million. The proposed municipal tax rate for 2012 is 2.287 (per $100 of assessed value), so the average assessed home ($133,000) would see municipal taxes of $3,042, compared with $3,046 estimated last year. (Remember, municipal taxes make up only a portion of your overall property tax bill; the others being schools and county). Presented to City Council by the administration in February, the municipal budget will be up for a public hearing and vote at the March 12 meeting.

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City Council, Commercial, Downtown, Polls

Poll results: Which grocery store do you want?

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The phenomenon that is Trader Joe’s jumped out to a strong, early lead in our latest poll and held steady for weeks at the 60 percent mark until voting closed last night. It was really a race for second place from the start:

Continue reading Poll results: Which grocery store do you want? →

City Council, tax appeals, taxes

Another look at Merck’s tax appeal settlement

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The city’s tax appeal settlement with Merck & Co. added approximately $400 to the average home over three years, according to my estimate. Merck & Co’s tax appeal settlement that was approved a year ago cut the property tax bill for the pharmaceutical giant by at least $4.5 million over three years, reducing its overall tax assessment in Rahway by $82 million, or more than 26 percent.

The appeal affected the tax years 2010-2012 and my estimate includes some assumptions based on 2011 tax rates for 2012. The biggest hit looks like 2011 (see the end of this post). My estimate doesn’t include some other costs the city might have incurred, such as appraisals, litigation and borrowing, only an attempt to quantify how much the new assessments affected the average home.

Overall, the city’s valuation dipped from $1.549 billion to $1.486 billion in 2011 and $1.467 billion in 2012 as a result of the settlement, according to the letter sent to residents last year, explaining the settlement.

As part of the settlement, Merck withdrew its appeal in 2009 and received a cash refund of overpayment of taxes that year of $1.6 million. All told, that’s at least $4.5 million, based on 2011 tax rates, that had to be made up somewhere on the tax rolls.
Some explanation of how I arrived at this estimate: The average home in Rahway is assessed at $133,000. Every $13.30 in municipal taxes on the average home generates about $149,000 in tax revenue. Feel free to check my work in this Excel file; the key figures also are listed below (tax rates can be found on the city’s website). For 2012, I used the 2011 tax rate since the county and schools have not set their tax rate, while the municipal tax rate has only just been proposed.

Merck’s overall assessment was reduced from $312,368,300 to:
– $280,878,500 for 2010 (-$31,489,800)
– $249,699,700 for 2011 (-$31,178,800)

– $230,000,000 for 2012 (-$19,699,700)

Merck’s property tax bill shrank approximately:
– $1,614,797 in 2010 [$144 for average home]
– $1,797,458 in 2011 [$161 for average home]
– $1,135,688 in 2012 [$101 for average home]

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City Council, taxes

Council introduces municipal budget

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Municipal taxes are expected to eclipse $3,000 for the average assessed home ($133,000) this year, according to the $49-million budget introduced by City Council on Monday night. The municipal budget makes up about 38 percent of the overall tax bill, which also is made up of the school and county taxes.

The municipal tax levy — the amount to be raised by taxes — is proposed at $33.455 million, down slightly from the $34.118 million estimated for all of 2011, which was split between the second half of the 2011 fiscal year budget and a 2011 transitional year budget. The proposed municipal tax rate for 2012 is 2.287 (per $100 of assessed value), so the average assessed home ($133,000) would see municipal taxes of $3,042, compared with $3,046 estimated last year.

The city’s net valuation dropped from $1.489 billion to $1.462 billion, a decline of $27 million or almost 2 percent, due primarily to Merck’s tax appeal. City Financial Officer Frank Ruggiero told council members that $1.5 million of a $3-million settlement with the Union County Utilities Authority will be used as revenue this year, offsetting the loss of about $1 million in tax revenue this year due to the multi-year tax appeal settlement with Merck. He said the city also plans to become more aggressive in its debt reduction in the 2012 budget.

The City Council introduced the 2012 municipal budget by a 7-0 vote, with two members absent. Final adoption and a public hearing is scheduled for the March 12 regular meeting.

The City Council in November approved a transitional year budget covering July-December 2011, as it moved from a fiscal year budget (July to June) to a calendar year budget this year. Municipal taxes were about $1,522 for the average home for the six-month transitional year budget, and about $2,416 in the last fiscal year budget.

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