The City Council unanimously approved a $1-million application to the state Green Acres program aimed at bringing a pocket park to the corner of Monroe and Essex streets.
Most of the initial, estimated $1 million cost would be for the acquisition of the property, Norwood Auto Parts, 125 Monroe St. State money is being sought to provide about 75 percent of the funding and federal dollars the remaining 25 percent, if all goes according to plan.
Pat McElduff, the owner of Norwood Auto Parts, told the governing body during its Aug. 3 meeting that his property has flooded some four or five times in the last seven or eight years, getting progressively worse each time. He said he met with the city officials last month with the intention of redeveloping the building, aiming to keep the business in Rahway, when the administration suggested possibly acquiring it.
The highest estimates in the application are for acquisition, $732,200 (an approximation by the city assessor); relocation assistan
ce, $100,000, and demolition, $35,000. Remediation costs are estimated at approximately $80,000 in all, based on the assumption that the land is merely historical fill, said Lenore Slothower, adding that no one knows if there are underground oil tanks or other issues. Typically, the city has been able to obtain grant funding for remediation, said Slothower, the former city planner who does some part-time grant-writing for the city.
The city is seeking funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which first must approve the Union County’s hazardous mitigation plan to be eligible for the money. County officials are working to expedite the approval — some 13 counties are ahead of the county for FEMA approval, according to Slothower — with a September deadline looming.
A no-interest, $250,000 loan from the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust would ultimately be paid back with FEMA dollars if they come through; otherwise the city would pay back the state loan in installments, according to 6th Ward Councilman Samson Steinman.
If you’ve ever wondered what they did in that building between City Hall and the Fire Department, thanks to this New York Times story from Aug. 8 about SDI Technologies: Docks For Apple Gadgets Help a Business Thrive.
The city gets the $250,000 loan from the state IF the FEMA dollars come thru…so, if those dollars don't come thru, WHICH monies is the city paying back?Relocation assistance of $100,000?..for what? If they are doing the selling, why are we paying for them to go somewhere else?
The state loan is not contingent on FEMA money. If FEMA dollars are secured, the loan would be paid off with that money. If not, the city would pay back the $250k.As for relocation assistance, the guess here is that the city is handling it like it does when it acquires business for redevelopment and has to move it elsewhere, or like when it bought out several flood-prone Central Avenue homes (Rahway Community Garden) about a decade ago.
So if we don't get the FEMA loan, we then possibly have 250k that we really don't need, or that we really shouldn't have? Right? Why pay back what you really don't need? Oh wait…politics as usual.
Kudos to the zoning board for helping preserve this neighborhood from deterioration.
This will be yet another park that won't be maintained by the city like the one on Essex which was built with federal money and now looks like crap as the city has not maintainted for months – Garbage cans go unempty for weeks, the gazebo has become a place where drug business is conducted and the cops just drive by on their way to the Dunkin Donuts.
What a GIFT! "My property floods; buy it from me AND give me money to move somewhere else!" Relocation funding?!? I could see that if it was the town that approached the property owner and asked them to move, but since it's the other way around it's just adding insult to injury!What homeowner would get this kind of deal?!? Lots of towns flood in Union County; (heck, every 15 or 20 years half of Cranford is underwater). Maybe the towns should buy up all of those houses, pay for the owners to relocate somewhere dry, and build parks too?Any independent appraisals of the property? $732K sounds high for that place, especially considering that it floods periodically!What about the two other properties between the auto parts store and the river? Don't they flood too? Oh, maybe the owners of those properties haven't yet made the appropriate political contributions….
I'm trying to confirm whether those two other properties between the auto parts store and the river flood but from what I understand so far, they don't (there's a two-family house/apartment and another commercial property). The street slopes down toward Essex Street from the river and the water comes up from the manholes at Monroe and Essex when it floods.