MANCHESTER – Township officials approved several ordinances concerning land purchases and redevelopment plans during its most recent meeting.
Those ordinances included the passage of one calling for the purchase of property for open space at 3576 Ridgeway Road and at 3110 on Route 547.
Councilman Robert Hudak said that this property was very developable “so it is a good property” to purchase for open space purposes.
An ordinance granting a 15-year tax exemption for a self-storage facility project to be constructed by Whiting Storage Urban Renewal was also approved. Council President Sam Fusaro noted that all of the township’s redevelopment sites “were in places where there were either issues of oil being spilled, environmental issues or snakes so to make the property useful and viable again we have offered these incentives.”
Responding to a resident’s concerns about losing tax revenue on the property, Fusaro said “we’re losing a lot less than if the property remained undeveloped.”
Mayor Kenneth Palmer added, “this project was a PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) and the township will actually get more for municipal revenues than it would under the normal tax obligation. When you do this PILOT, the developer doesn’t have to pay a portion of the school tax and the reason why we are open to doing PILOTs for commercial properties is basically because they are not sending kids to the public schools so the amount we would get is more than what we would have if this was a normal tax scenario.”
The mayor responded that he couldn’t give an exact figure to what the firm was saving in taxes over a 15- to 20-year period but “we are getting more than we would have in a normal tax situation and as Council President Fusaro said if we didn’t develop the property. I believe this property has been vacant for 50 years.”
He said he believed there was a small house or building on the property years ago.
The mayor noted that the township does want to see more commercial businesses coming into town and that the PILOT program is serving to assist with that effort. He noted that while in this case tax money would not be collected to help support the school system in the township, the township assists with paying for class 3 resource officers “which serves their benefit. If the school comes to us and needs something, we do it because we sometimes have more flexibility budget wise.”
“The amount that the township will generate from this proposal far exceeds what it would be if it wasn’t developed,” Mayor Palmer added. “The $12,000 they pay now; we’re going to get far more from that landowner than we do right now.”
Also approved was the redevelopment plan for 2132 Route 37, a non-condemnation redevelopment area. “This was actually approved several months ago. The developer sat down with some of the nearby residents and came to an agreement to move certain berms so it would not be so close to residential homes so this is just making those changes from the original plan,” Fusaro said.
Manchester will also purchase vacant land located at 3101 Route 547 through an ordinance which was passed during the meeting.
Officials also authorized the adoption of a redevelopment plan on 2121 Lake Road which is a non-condemnation redevelopment area. Fusaro said was associated with the plan for the storage facility.
Another land sale was introduced among new ordinances for first reading at 608 Amsterdam Avenue. This will require a minimum bid of $5,00 and the second reading of the ordinance will be held on September 28.
Also introduced was an ordinance concerning various capital improvements and other related expenses for the Department of Public Safety and appropriating $750,000 providing for the issuance of $712,500 in bonds or notes.
Fusaro said this concerned Emergency Medical Service bonds. “The EMS is working wonderful for our residents but some rigs have some issues. We borrowed three rigs from Brick.”
A resolution for an emergency appropriation was also approved declaring a need for the purchase of the EMS vehicles and equipment.
The Township Council also recognized National MIA/POW Recognition Day which is held on the third Friday of September each year.
Members of the governing body also noted the 19th anniversary of 9/11 earlier in the month and Council President Fusaro noted how a last-minute decision to cancel an appointment to instead attend a township council meeting, had saved his life.
Fusaro said, “I was supposed to be at a special meeting at the Pentagon and I was serving as council president at the time and we had an important measure we were voting on and it was split so I decided to cancel that meeting for the council meeting. Not too many councilmen can say their life was possibly saved by not cancelling out on a council meeting.”
