Chatham Borough Council President: We're Taking 'Baby Steps' on Redevelopment Plan for River Road; Residents Wary of a PILOT

CHATHAM, NJ – Chatham Borough Council President Jocelyn Mathiasen told the public that the council is taking “baby steps” in moving toward a redevelopment plan for River Road during a discussion on the topic at Monday's meeting.

Mathiasen pointed to two presentations from Chatham Borough Redevelopment Planner Fran Reiner and indicated there will be a future public vote on whether to move forward with a redevelopment plan for River Road (see below).

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Chatham residents at the meeting were wary of another PILOT agreement (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes), such as the one made with the Ivy Apartments on River Road. A PILOT facilitates redevelopment while allowing the council and residents to have some input on what is built.

Chatham resident Bill Heap was one of several in attendance at the meeting to express his skepticism about PILOT agreements and was critical of the council's decision to share taxpayer PILOT money with the Chatham Board of Education (see below).

Mathiasen said that there will be public input with three public meetings “if we decide to proceed" and added that council members can be contacted by email and set up meetings with individual members.

Council members Justin Strickland, Karen Koronkiewicz , Irene Teloar and Katherine Hay all said in one form or another that nothing had been decided and that the public would have input on the decision.

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Council member Brian Hargrove declined to offer his opinion when given the opportunity. Chatham Borough Mayor Carolyn Dempsey was out of town and did not attend the meeting virtually.

New Jersey's bureaucracy will be handing down a state-mandated affordable housing obligation for Chatham Borough in October and the council and mayor will be under a deadline to outline a plan to meet those requirements over the next 10 years.

That puts the focus on the development of River Road, which is already an agreed-upon zoned area where affordable housing can be built. A ccording to Chatham Borough Planner Kendra Lelie , there are 20.2 acres of possible redevelopment of the Gateway 1 overlay zoning on River Road and nine acres in the Gateway 2 overlay.

Chatham resident Brigid McMenamin asked to see the comparison between a PILOT and standard taxes and described sharing PILOT money with the BOE as a “stealth tax” on taxpayers (see below).

Council member Strickland encouraged engagement from the public (see below) and said he would be making River Road redevelopment decisions based on data gathered.

“No one has decided anything,” Council member Hay said. “This is square one, if not square zero.”

Council member Treloar noted that redevelopment is already allowed on River Road now (see below) and the decision is whether to help shape what is built there.

Council member Koronkiewicz said that the options are being “very carefully” considered and that residents should be considering the pros and cons (see below).

Chatham resident Evelyn Penn said that “we are in danger of losing our quaint little town” with large redevelopment plans (see below) and noted that there are still sitting members of the council who voted for a 5-story, 100-unit rental building at Post Office Plaza. Then-Mayor Thaddeus Kobylarz made the tie-breaking vote against the larger building and for the 15-all affordable units.

Mathiasen, Koronkiewicz and Dempsey were the council members who voted for the 100-unit building at Post Office Plaza and resident Bob Penn said the council had to “earn back his trust” after the way plans for redevelopment have been shared with the public in the past (see below). He wants to see the numbers of a regular tax rate vs. a PILOT before any decision is made.

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