Rug mill redevelopment pact not yet ready for council vote

By: Kerri Williams
   HIGHTSTOWN — This week’s Borough Council meeting was shorter than usual with one expected agenda item conspicuously absent.
   "I see that the redevelopment agreement for the mill property is not on the agenda," said J.P. Gibbons, of South Main Street, during the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting. He was the only person to mention the agreement during the meeting.
   Borough Council had been expected to vote on naming John Wolfington the exclusive developer of the rug mill property Monday after giving him the designation of conditional developer last month, pending negotiations. But those negotiations are taking longer than expected, according to Borough Attorney Fred Raffetto. He would not elaborate on the holdup other than to say that the entire agreement is still under negotiation and that bond counsel Ed McManimon has been away.
   He did say he expects the agreement to be ready for approval at the next council meeting, Nov. 20.
   "There are a number of factors," Mr. Raffetto said. "There is no snag. It’s just taking a little longer."
   Mr. Raffetto has said in the past that there are no "foregone conclusions" that the exclusive right to develop will go to Mr. Wolfington, even though the developer recently purchased the land. If the negotiations do not work out, the borough could seek proposals from other developers and obtain the land through eminent domain.
   The 7-acre former rug mill site, on Bank Street behind the municipal building, is one of only two significant pieces of property left for development in the borough, the other being the former Minute Maid plant, which was also sold recently.
   Mr. Wolfington’s Greystone Mills firm has been named conditional developer before, in the spring of 2004. The borough let that designation lapse about a year ago after Mr. Wolfington raised the number of planned units from 80 to about 130.
   The latest Greystone plan calls for 119 condominiums and eight townhouse units along with 6,300 square feet of new municipal space along Main Street on the second floor of a building with a similar amount of retail space below.