Local businessman, licensed attorney and political watchdog Jeff Feld, right, addresses City Council at its regular meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 7, including, seated from left, city business administrator Chris Hartwyk, South Ward Councilwoman Jamie Summers-Johnson, at large Councilwoman Donna K. Williams and at large Councilwoman Adrienne Wooten.
ORANGE, NJ — The Orange City Council unanimously passed three new ordinances on second reading related to the redevelopment of the old YWCA site on Main Street at its regular meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 7.
But, according to local attorney Jeff Feld, those ordinances are null and void, due to a legislative procedural mixup, saying, “Orange never published notices of the second reading public hearings on the three Rec Center ordinances,” on Friday, Nov. 16. “Last week’s actions were null and void.”
However, Orange business administrator Chris Hartwyk said this was only partly accurate and there is a way to remedy the situation.
“The Clerk’s Office emailed the ordinances and request for publication, as they usually do. The email was not delivered and the Clerk’s Office failed to discover the email of nondelivery until after the Nov. 7 meeting,” Hartwyk said Sunday, Nov. 18. “How to fix it? At the council meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 20, a new public hearing for the affected ordinances will be set for the first meeting in December and the public notice will be published,” Hartwyk said.
“It’s a delay, not a fatal flaw. These types of mistakes happen. But fortunately, they are correctable.”
“As per the clerk, this is true,” said City Council President and East Ward Councilman Kerry Coley on Monday, Nov. 19. “There will be a second public hearing on Dec. 4 to correct this issue.”
Ordinance No. 49-2018 approves an agreement between Orange and the J. Rossi Paint and Wallpaper store to relocate from its current building, which sits on the same side of the street as the YWCA and which is needed to facilitate the mixed-use redevelopment project Hartwyk brokered with developers to the building at 425 Main St. currently owned by former Orange chief financial officer Jack Kelly and former fire Chief John Gamba. The ordinance also provides for the city “to make improvements to 425 Main St. necessary for business operations and to accept the transfer of real property from J. Rossi and Wallpaper, Joseph Rossi and Annemarie P. Rossi to the city of Orange Township.”
Ordinance No. 50-2018 is a bond ordinance that authorizes the acquisition of 425 Main St. for $1.99 million, “providing for the acquisition and renovation of 425 Main St., appropriating $3 million therefore and authorizing the issuance of $2,857,000 bonds or notes of the city to finance part of the costs thereof.”
Ordinance No. 51-2018 is a stop-gap measure needed to facilitate the YWCA redevelopment deal, according to Hartwyk.
“These three ordinances are related to the revised project plan for the Health and Wellness Center, formerly referred to as the Rec Center, and they authorize the acquisition of certain properties, so that we can square the corner of Main and High Street and have a larger footprint, where we intend to do a mixed-use development project, which will include a new Health and Wellness Center, for approximately 45,000 to 60,000 square feet and a residential component above it and a parking component below it,” said Hartwyk on Wednesday, Nov. 7.
He added that the YWCA redevelopment project, including the new Health and Wellness Center, provides for the demolition of the old YWCA building on Main Street and the building at 403 Main St. to make way for the new mixed-use facility. The mixed-use designation of the new building means it will generate revenue that can eventually be used to offset the overall cost of the redevelopment project, he said.
“The Y property has been tax exempt for all these years and, at the conclusion of this project, it will be subject to taxation and/or (payment in lieu of taxes) payment,” said Hartwyk on Saturday, Nov. 17. “The acquisition of the property that we have now has been accomplished through a $2.5 million state legislative grant and there is approximately $1 million of that grant left. It’s a little under $1 million, but that is still available to us.”
“We have to acquire some additional properties, because we’ve changed the project and we have qualified several developers, who have shown proof of funds and signed term sheets, stating that they will reimburse us if they are the selected developer for the cost and the money that we lay out for the acquisition of those properties,” said Hartwyk on Wednesday, Nov. 7. “So this $3 million that we have in Ordinance 51, at most, we will be going to notes for a short period of time and then that will be paid off and retired by the selected developer. The actual cost of construction of the new facility will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $8.5 million to $10 million and we’re pursuing what we call a capital stack of grants. If, at some point in time, it becomes clear that we’re not going to be able to raise all of the $8.5 million to $10 million, we will have to come back to the council and the public and explain why, before we can go forward.”
Hartwyk admitted “there is the potential that it could cost the city money” but he said “that is not currently the plan.”
“I have identified a number of grants that we can pursue for the construction component of this project that would be the city’s, but there is a possibility that it would cost us some money. I’m trying to avoid that,” said Hartwyk. “We always try to do things without costing taxpayer money. This is a creative project, just like the Crane Street project that we discussed tonight is a creative project, where the private developer is putting up $3.5 million to build a deck or an additional level to the deck, which provides 160 parking spaces for the city, and we get the revenue from it. That’s never been done before in this city.”
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