A plan for 88 rental apartments centered around the Mangos Grill property has been revised to move the project off the corner of East Milton Avenue and farther south on Fulton Street.
Category Archives: Redevelopment Agency
Redevelopment Agency gets two commissioners
The City Council this month approved two appointments to the Redevelopment Agency, filling two vacant seats and bringing the board to its full complement of seven commissioners.
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Redevelopment Agency, A&M settle for $215,000
The Redevelopment Agency approved a $215,000 settlement with A&M Industrial Supply last month, a year after the company filed suit in a dispute over relocation assistance.
A&M had been located on Campbell Street between Elm Avenue and West Cherry Street until last year when the property was acquired as part of the 116-unit Metro Rahway development that broke ground this summer. The Redevelopment Agency discussed the litigation in closed session during several of its meetings this year, including a 30-minute closed session at its Nov. 13 meeting.
A&M, which is still located in Rahway, filed suit in November 2012 seeking $300,000 and the settlement came about after court-ordered mediation in October. The agency will be required to make the $215,000 payment by the end of the year but admits no fault, Redevelopment Agency attorney Frank Regan said.
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| April 2013 |
A&M Industrial claimed that the agency, through Executive Director Peter Pelissier, agreed to provide relocation assistance in conjunction with selling their property to Heartstone Development. However, Regan said commissioners never formally approved and authorized payment nor was the agency ever obligated to provide assistance since it was not acquiring the property.
The only times the agency has provided relocation assistance in the past has been when it acquired properties itself, he said, such as the former Bell Drugs property on Irving Street for the YMCA’s expansion and as part of the Rosegate project on East Hazelwood Avenue. In the case of Metro Rahway, Heartstone Development acquired the parcels for the project, including the 1.56-acre A&M site on Campbell Street.
The dispute has its origins in 2005 when A&M Supply — after learning a few years earlier that its property was part of a redevelopment plan — sought relocation assistance from the Redevelopment Agency. The economic downturn delayed the project, including several changes to the plans, and A&M at times was not prepared to relocate, needing to find a suitable new location, according to the lawsuit. Heartstone acquired the A&M site in 2012 and got the project moving again.
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| November 2013 |
A&M was close to securing a new property that it had to close on by February 2013, according to the lawsuit, when in October 2012 it had been advised that the Redevelopment Agency would not be providing assistance, prompting the litigation.
A&M’s suit claimed that a Nov. 7, 2005 letter from Pelissier confirmed that the agency had adopted a resolution authorizing a redevelopment agreement with Heartstone that included $300,000 in relocation assistance. Minutes of the Redevelopment Agency’s Dec. 15, 2005 meeting indicate that commissioners were presented with the Nov. 7 letter from Pelissier to A&M, however, there’s no record of a resolution being approved.
Initially, A&M sought more funds, pointing to similar relocations in Carteret that received between $600,000 and $700,000 in assistance. The company claimed that Pelissier presented its request for additional funds to commissioners and a Dec. 22, 2005 letter to the firm indicated that its request was rejected, with the $300,000 offered previously being “all the funds that will be allocated.” The Redevelopment Agency, however, was unable to find records of executive session minutes going back to 2005.
Redevelopment Agency commissioner steps down
Redevelopment Agency Commissioner Matt Dobrowloski resigned his seat on the Redevelopment Agency, effective Sept. 25.
In a brief letter dated Sept. 25 to Redevelopment Agency Chairman William Rack, Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier and Mayor Samson Steinman, Dobrowloski thanked them for the opportunity to serve and said he looked forward to staying involved.
He is chairman of The Taste of Spring and also has served on the board of the Rahway Parking Authority. In response to an inquiry about the reasons for his resignation, Dobrowloski said his work as a Realtor for individuals and developers in the area could sometimes create potential conflicts of interest, so he thought it would be best to step down at this time.
Dobrowloski was appointed in January 2010 to fill the remaining term of Carlos Garay, who stepped down after his term after his term for personal reasons. The mayor said he hopes to have replacement candidates presented to City Council at its next meeting, which is scheduled for Oct. 15.
Redevelopment Agency commissioners, who are not paid, are appointed to four-year terms, with confirmation by City Council. Dobrowloski’s resignation leaves two vacancies on the seven-member board, which currently has five commissioners: Rack, Timothy Nash, Anthony Diege (reappointed May 2013), Paul Sefranka and Michael Staryak (appointed March 2012).
Plan is to demolish tower at Kings Inn
The not-so-iconic tower at the Kings Inn motel on Routes 1&9 will have to live on via the Internet — its claim to fame found in this video for a once-popular 1990s hip hop song — because its days are numbered.
Agency cool to preliminary plan to replace Mangos
A preliminary plan that would replace Mangos Bar & Grill and adjacent properties with a five-story residential development likely will have to go back to the drawing board to find more parking, among other concerns from the Redevelopment Agency.
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Redevelopment agreement OK’d for Wheatena site
Artist housing site to be acquired for $1 million
The former Elizabethtown Gas building will be acquired for $1 million but the Rahway Residence for the Arts planned for the site is on hold until the next application round of federal housing tax credits, which might not be until next year.
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