BY ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
Staff Writer
EDISON — Depending on whom you talk to, the dedication of the Oak Tree Pond site last week was either an open space preservation milestone or a developer’s political coup.
Mayor George A. Spadoro stood on the site Nov. 4 and declared victory in acquiring the parcel, after a “long six-year effort to preserve this historically significant Oak Tree Road pond area.”
He ripped up blueprints of an earlier site plan to transform the 5.2-acre site into retail space by developer Jack Morris, who Spadoro critics have said contributed heavily to his campaign.
Morris “may have” contributed to the various campaigns of his political career, the mayor said.
“But if he gave, it was not a major contribution,” Spadoro said. “In fairness, though, I’ll have to check into that to be certain.”
But the cooperative effort to save the site, not politics, was the important issue, he said.
“There are some cases where I beat my chest and take credit, but the action to save this historically and environmentally significant property came from a unique partnership,” Spadoro said on Monday.
At the dedication the mayor also spoke of his initial “shock” when he learned in the late 1990s of the plans to pave over most of the spot near the pond he skated on when he was a kid.
“Shock? Though he probably didn’t realize it himself, my young son had witnessed his first Oscar performance,” said former Republican Township Councilman Robert Engel (from 1992-1996). “The drama spewed from Mayor Spadoro was unbelievable. I’m young, but I wasn’t born yesterday.”
Engel said it was hypocritical for the mayor to pretend that he hadn’t known of the development plans, which had been approved by the Planning Board.
The property’s purchase was an ethical conflict from the start because it was owned by Councilman Charles Tomaro’s stepfather, Thomas Swales, he said.
Tomaro recused himself from all action on the land, the mayor said.
“This citizens group took the reins, informed me, and I joined the effort and did everything I could,” Spadoro said in response to Engle’s charge. “The history of this site is a long and sordid one. The fact is, that I am hardly the one who had charge of all the details. If the citizens had not organized and filed suit, that historical land may now be paved with a strip mall.”
The deal earned Morris a substantial profit on the tract within a six-month turnaround, Engel said.
Morris had a deal in 1999 to lease the property from its owner, Thomas J. Swales, according to county and township records.
The land was deed-restricted, Spadoro said. The only way the township could acquire it was via condemnation.
Morris bought the property from the Swales estate for $1.4 million on Oct. 16, 2001, according to county deed records.
“Some council people voted against the initial condemnation effort — the very people who ended up critics of the purchase,” Spadoro said. “That is why we had to wait and negotiate and the price went up. We could have bought it for $4.8 million and had an extra acre as well.”
Six months after Morris bought the property from the Swales estate, the township bought it back for $5.6 million on April 11, 2001.
“Land in Edison is not cheap,” Spadoro said. “It grows in value every day. Wherever you choose to buy land, you’re going to pay. That doesn’t mean you don’t buy it.”
Environmentalist and former Republican Township Council-woman Jane Tousman disagreed with critics’ charges that the price and way the property was acquired may have been wrong.
She said that though she felt “the means may be pushing it here to justify the ends, it was worth it, because once an environmental and historic treasure like this is gone, it is gone forever.”
Tousman was also treasurer of STOP, the group formed to fight the development of the site.
“I felt it was brought home for the public,” she said.
But Engel contends the money was brought home for a politically connected developer.
“That is a mindless accusation,” Spadoro said. “The Constitution requires that no matter who you are, you must be compensated for property you own, even if it is used for preservation. Even a politically connected developer must be compensated if land is purchased or condemned for open space.”
In the end, Spadoro said the transaction was fair to Edison taxpayers.
That’s why such a diverse group of people, including environmentalists and people of both political parties, supported it, he said.
Before the township had worked out a deal to buy the tract back from Morris, STOP had launched its own fight to stop development.
Permits had been granted to Morris for building because he was leasing the property, Spadoro said.
But in 1999, right before the construction started, the group found proof of environmental and historical significance and got court orders to stop work.
The final deal to save the tract called for the township to let Morris keep one acre to build a Commerce bank next to the site and a Walgreens across the street.
But the property where Morris was supposed to build the Walgreens was and is the site of the Oak Tree Bus Terminal.
Township officials then declared the area in need of redevelopment, which paved the way for the condemnation of the bus terminal, after its owners, Salvatore and Elvassa Quagliariello, would not sell.
Middlesex Superior Court Judge James P. Hurley ruled against the condemnation earlier this year.
“Adoption of [this] redevelopment plan did not serve any legitimate public purpose and, in fact, has the effect of closing down a lawful, functioning business,” Hurley said then. “If allowed, the township’s action would result in public taking for private purpose.”
“That’s all great, but in the end, Morris still got the best end of the deal — taxpayer money in his pocket for this property at a crazy, inflated price,” said Anthony Russomanno, local Democratic municipal committeeman who spearheaded a fight against the extension of the open space tax.
Russomanno also served on the township’s Open Space Committee from 2000 to earlier this year.
“This property is where most of our open space tax money went,” he added. “It had to be the most expensive property in the state.”
Council Vice President Parag Patel disagreed.
The Oak Tree Pond site was purchased with $2.17 million of environmental infrastructure trust fund low interest loans and $610,000 of township funds for open space, Patel said.
“The state and county thought the purchase was worthwhile and valuable, and contributed $3 million to the project,” he said.
Former Councilman William Stephens, who voted against the initial condemnation and purchase effort, questioned the sudden price hike when Morris began negotiations with the township.
Stephens, who was a sitting councilman at the time and negotiations went from $900,000 to $2 million to $5.6 in a few months.
“The final appraisal was for $4.8 million,” he said.
The site’s Revolutionary War history is far more important than price haggling, Tousman said.
“Even though we overspent for the site, we got it,” she said.
“At the end of the day, we did the right thing,” Spadoro said. “We couldn’t get an earlier vote to condemn for a lesser amount and we don’t have ‘pretty please’ in our system.”