BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield Township Council unanimously approved a resolution that authorized the Bloomfield Planning Board to investigate amending the town’s redevelopment plan to allow using the strip of land that the Sacred Heart School building and Nardiello Hall sit on to build a 212-unit residential building, tearing down the two building that are a part of Sacred Heart Church. The buildings are owned by the Archdiocese of Newark, which could lease the land to a developer for the potential project.
The buildings are old; the church itself, a rectory and a convent all fall within the boundaries of Bloomfield’s historic district. But the school, which is closed, and Nardiello Hall, a former schoolhouse, have not been recommended to the Historic Preservation Commission to be preserved, according to Councilman Rich Rockwell. Rockwell is the council’s liaison to the HPC.
Several members of the public attended the meeting to express their opposition to tearing down the buildings, saying that traffic and a lack of parking in the Bloomfield Center section of town would be worsened by 212 apartments being built in the area.
“I’m imploring the council to consider the purpose of the larger redevelopment plan and the residential properties,” resident Brian Greco said at the meeting. “Concerns about the rising school population, the lack of parking in our town center, the loss of historic buildings and traffic issues have all changed rapidly with our expanding growth. These are not addressed by rezoning commercial property to mixed-use residential.”
The property for the possible project backs up to 10 residential properties, including Greco’s. Greco said adding another towering building to the area would affect the lives of those residents.
“Consideration will have to be given for how big that impact should be, and the residents who are directly affected should be an integral part of that discussion,” Greco said. “This parcel of land was marked as part of the commercial corridor. It is my understanding that this land was never intended to be residential, as part of our town’s well-developed, thought-out, phased development plan.”
Linda Sant’Ambrogio, whose family has lived in Bloomfield for more than a century, said at the meeting that she would like the buildings to be preserved instead of being torn down.
“I feel like this town is changing in a way that’s really negative,” she said. “We seem to be tearing things down that are part of our history that don’t need to be torn down. I think there are a lot of other issues with all of the apartment buildings going up, (such as) abatements being given to developers, and we homeowners pick up the taxes that they’re not paying. Who is going to pay them? I am. Our taxes are high enough as it is. Especially at this time, people need stability.”
Mayor Michael Venezia said that Sacred Heart has been reviewing offers to lease the buildings for several years now with a committee and nothing has been finalized. The resolution that the council approved is to allow the planning board to investigate the possibility of rezoning.
“Nothing is set in stone,” Venezia said at the meeting. “Sacred Heart has been at this for a couple of years now. They created a committee and they’ve reviewed plans and reviewed offers. Nothing is set, but they do have a finalist. That’s where we’re at with what’s going on there.”
Township attorney Michael Parlavecchio said the proposed plan for the Sacred Heart site would not have any commercial use; it would not be mixed use. It is only proposed to build residential units.
“This is a referral; this isn’t approving any project,” Parlavecchio said. “This isn’t naming any developer. This will go to the planning board. The planning board will have it at a public meeting.”
If the planning board does recommend making an amendment to the redevelopment plan, it would be sent back to the council for approval by an ordinance with a public hearing. A potential developer would then make an application to be designated as the site’s redeveloper, which would also be presented at a public meeting and voted on.
“This is Sacred Heart’s property; this is what they want to do with the closed school,” Parlavecchio said. “They’re looking to make different use of property that they’re no longer using. While I agree that it’s certainly a nice structure and a historic structure, it’s not the township of Bloomfield telling them that they should be knocking this down. It’s coming from the other way with the development plan.”
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