Raritan Council Turns Down Raritan Mall Redevelopment for Second Time

RARITAN, NJ - The Raritan Borough Council, on July 16, unanimously declined to adopt a redevelopment plan to construct apartment buildings where the defunct Raritan Mall is currently located.

The council had previously agreed at its June 25 meeting to reconsider the redevelopment plan after unanimously turning the plan down at the May 7 meeting.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

The proposed apartments would have included 275 one- and two-bedroom units in a five-story building, with 42 affordable units, on the 12.2 acres of property.

The council wasn’t necessarily voting to approve the project, as it would have needed to get approved by the borough’s planning committee before it could break ground, but they were deciding whether to rezone the area from mixed use to residential so the apartments could be built.

Before the council voted against the project, council president Don Tozzi proposed delaying the proposal until December or January to give the council time to consider all the concerns raised about the project, with councilman Adam Armahizer saying he’d like to wait until next May to give him enough time.

However, Mayor Nicolas Carra pointed out that if the council has concerns about the project, they should decline the proposal, as anything new brought before them would involve changes and not just the same proposal.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

Of the around 30 people that attended the meeting, about half a dozen spoke about the proposal, and all were against the redevelopment.

Resident Roger Copt passed out a fact sheet to the council members outlining why the apartments are a bad idea, which included the owner having fire code, building and property management violations, and five 55-gallon drums stored on the property.

Copt said the mall is the last undeveloped property in the area, and they would prefer a grocery store built there instead of apartment buildings.

“Every community around us has a grocery store, every community around us has a drug store,” Copt said. “We have nothing. Absolutely nothing. And when you talk about economic redevelopment, if you’re giving all the property away for housing, what are you going to use for economic redevelopment? Why do we need a chamber of commerce? We don’t need that, we have all apartments. This is the last shot that Raritan has. If this goes through, we’re done. You might as well forget about Raritan because we will have become the apartment capital of New Jersey.”

Marc Leibman, an attorney with Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC who represents a property near the mall, said they oppose the development because of various environmental issues with the property.

“There were fines of $12,500 for failing to properly delineate the environmental contamination, and there is methane under this property,” Leibman said. “There is contamination on this property. There is flooding on this property. There is nothing in this redevelopment plan that should give anybody any comfort as to the environmental sensitivity to a property that was used as a municipal dump for 20 years. And it wasn’t 20 years like 1980 to 2000. It was back in the day when people were putting chemicals, oil, junk, paint right into the ground, and it’s all over that.”

John McDonough, the applicant planner, tried to assuage some of the concerns that were raised, saying the apartments will not ruin the area.

“Community character,” he said. “As I look around this site, I see five-story buildings, that’s what the applicant is proposing. We’re not proposing buildings that are excessively big. I see a footprint, an L-shaped footprint that the applicant is building upon, we’re not increasing the developmental footprint here as well. You have a massive sea of asphalt out there now. This applicant is going to green up and improve both the visual and environmental quality. So for the concerns about fear, for the concerns about change, I get it, I do this every night, I see this every night. The essence of redevelopment is site betterment, and this is right on par with what we’ve been seeing happening throughout New Jersey.”

Lenny Dimentman, the owner of the property, and others involved in the project, tried their best to answer the questions the public had about the property.

Dimentman said they are aware of the environmental issues, and that they have worked with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which has approved the planned redevelopment.

Resident Bill Cunningham said it’s an insult that McDonough would commend the property owner for the work they’ve done with the mall.

“It’s an insult for you to give him kudos for what he’s done to that property, for the years that he’s had that property,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham spoke about the five barrels sitting on the property that have become an eyesore, and said he wishes the property owner would do something about it.

“You know what, listen to me, that property, no money has gone into it,” Cunningham said. “It looks like crap because you have done nothing to improve it or make it better. Someone spoke about the five metal barrels behind the building. I’ve come before this body for two years and questioned why that isn’t removed from there. You can remove those barrels from there as just a good faith effort. You’re not showing any consideration for this borough.”

Councilman Umesh Agrawal asked Dimentman where they were getting the $98 million they needed to finance the project, and Dimentman responded that they were getting some of it from equity, which prompted Agrawal to ask if they had been approved for the debt.

Dimentman said it’s too early in the process for their debt to be approved.

After the failed vote, resident Jennie Rooz said she’s happy that the zone change wasn’t approved and that it was telling that there wasn’t anyone from the public that spoke in favor of the ordinance.

Dimentman said it’s too early to tell what they’re going to do next with the property, that they’re disappointed and that he didn’t want to provide further comment on the vote.

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net