Stemming the growing tide of development

Kushner tract deal could eliminate 267 houses on south side of Town Center

By: Cara Latham
   WASHINGTON — It’s a move that township officials are calling a fresh start for development on the south side of Town Center — one they say will bring ratables to the township’s overburdened taxpayers.
   Mayor Dave Fried announced on April 10 that he has signed a letter of intent for the township to purchase — at price tag of $11.5 million — a 72-acre parcel of land known as the Kushner tract on the south side of Town Center. The deal could eliminate 267 previously approved housing units from being built on that property, allowing township officials to eventually rezone the property for commercial uses and perhaps even for age-restricted housing, Mayor Fried said April 13.
   Township Administrator Mary Caffrey said Tuesday that the township does not yet have a buyer lined up to sell the property, and that township officials are still gathering more information about different financial options to fund the purchase.
   Earlier this month, Sam Marrazzo, one of the other two property owners in Town Center, agreed to eliminate 36 apartments and convert two floors of one building on his 8.5-acre property into office space.
   While it’s hard to calculate exactly how much money the township would save, eliminating 267 houses would prevent anywhere from 150 to around 450 new students from entering the school system and adding to the overcrowding and tax burden on an already cash-strapped district, Mayor Fried said.
   And that’s the just one piece of the puzzle. The deal would also eliminate problems that have been holding up the development of Town Center on both sides. The proposed Southerly Bypass connecting Washington Boulevard with Route 130 in Hamilton, which the state is no longer willing to fund, might not even be necessary now, according to Mayor Fried.
   "I think this really gives an opportunity to start fresh and also an opportunity for the town to catch its breath," Mayor Fried said. "With this, we should be able to get the south side of Town Center moving this spring. Moving into the summer months, we should really start seeing the south side of Town Center start to happen."
   The Kushner tract — the largest of the three projects that make up the long-delayed south side of Town Center — is currently approved for 83 single-family homes, 72 townhouses, 38 duplexes, 46 condominiums and 28 apartments, according to a press release sent last week by the mayor.
   Mayor Fried’s signing of the letter of intent brings the total amount of housing units halted from being built in Town Center to more than 300 within the span of a month, officials said.
‘A vicious cycle’
   A vicious cycle that includes rising school enrollment — particularly rapid in the last five years as Town Center grew to include 400 housing units — a lack of around $2.2 million in state aid to the school district, and stalling on the state’s part to fund the bypass and follow through on its Smart Growth initiatives, has blocked the progress of the commercial development in Town Center, Ms. Caffrey said last week.
   If the township had not reached a deal regarding the Kushner tract, the amount of housing could have even added as many as 400 to 450 students to the school district at a cost of about $10,000 per pupil, Mayor Fried said. That many children could have added $4.5 million to the school district’s budget annually, Mayor Fried said. So, in a sense, through the purchase, the property will be paying for itself in a matter of three years, he said.
   The new students would have placed even more of a burden on the township school district, which is already looking at the possibility of a referendum to build a new elementary school due to current overcrowding. By the time a new referendum and school is built to house those students, the district might have had to again build another new school to hold those students coming in from the Kushner development, Mayor Fried explained.
   "With the probability that there’s going to be a new referendum for an elementary school in September, the fact of the matter is we can’t accommodate" the increase in students, he said. At the same time, the Township Council and Board of Education filed a joint federal lawsuit last month against the state over what they claim is a discriminatory school funding formula. For the past five years, Washington has had no core curriculum aid.
The deal,
past and present
   In January, Mayor Fried announced he was looking into using eminent domain to condemn the properties and block the construction of 459 houses on Route 33 — including the Kushner tract — because the school system couldn’t support all the new children the development would generate. He said then that if the proposed 459 houses were blocked, it would also mean that the bypass would be in jeopardy because the developer of those houses would also be responsible for building the bypass.
   The bypass had been touted as a necessity so that Route 33 from Washington Boulevard to Route 526 could be turned into the Town Center’s Main Street. It would have been one lane in each direction with a 5-foot shoulder. Main Street would have had one lane in each direction with on-street parking and a bike lane. Half of the proposed bypass would have rested in Hamilton.
   Ms. Caffrey said township officials will meet with the state DOT to redesign and figure out what to do with the road network now that the deal is in place.
   After hearing Mayor Fried’s announcement in January, Sam Marrazzo and the owners of the Kushner property, Kushner Corp., came to township officials "and it was kind of phenomenal how it came together," Ms. Caffrey said.
   Because the project was going to create a tremendous amount of housing density and traffic, the permitting process to get the projects in Town Center moving was also hurt, she said. Now if the township takes away the biggest chunk of that density, and "if we don’t over-design it, we won’t run into the same wall," she said.
   Ms. Caffrey said that while the township has been collecting taxes on the Kushner property, "it’s not performing the way it’s supposed to be performing for us." That’s because Washington is only collecting taxes on undeveloped land as opposed to land that has ratables on it, which would have given the township more tax revenue.
   Mayor Fried said the property owners of the Kushner, Marrazzo and King tracts (the last an 11-acre commercial property owned by Bill King that will still contain the Robbinsville Inn restaurant with retail and apartments on top and in back), made their plans thinking that the state Department of Transportation was going to pay for the proposed southerly bypass to Route 33. State officials had said they were not longer willing to pay for it, however, Ms. Caffrey said.
   "The folks who signed the agreements in 2000 had every reason to believe they were doing the right thing," she said during the Township Council meeting April 12. "Town Center works as a neighborhood. It’s a wonderful place to live. I don’t want anyone to think that we as a town think it’s a bad place or hurting the town. The state has hurt us, and it’s threatening the success of Smart Growth everywhere if we don’t make a lot of noise."
Moving forward
   Mayor Fried said a subcommittee would be set up on the Planning Board to look at rezoning the property and how to deal with the bypass issue.
   "The old bypass is not going to be necessary," he said, adding that one option might be to create an entirely new road that to help move traffic off Route 33 and extend it around Route 526.
   The deal is also a win for the King and Marrazzo tracts because both sides of the road will have the same sort of scale and distance from the road and will visually compliment each other, Ms. Caffrey said.
   Because the Kushner property doesn’t have a lot of Route 33 frontages, "I think what we will be looking to do is allow the current property owners on Route 33 to expand their projects," Mayor Fried said.
   The Kushner tract would have about 200,000 of office space. There will probably be more office uses than retail, he added. The King and Marrazzo properties have more of the trial uses because they have the bulk of the Route 33 frontages.
   Township Attorney Mark Roselli said at the April 12 Township Council meeting that the purchase is being done for a "significant public purpose."
   The deal is possible because the state hasn’t cooperated, because neighboring Hamilton hasn’t cooperated with the issue regarding the bypass, and because the projects have been stalled as a result.
   "No one’s doing anything," he said. "It’s a process that Washington Township is left to its own … to do what it has to do. It’s a bold move, but it’s one that’s a necessity for the township."
   After an agreement of sale is reached, the Township Council will be asked to approve it, he said.
   Ms. Caffrey also said at the meeting that state and county planning officials have recommended that the township get the permits on the projects ahead of time and then go through the reselling process. The township is looking at different options for funding the purchase, she added.
   Mayor Fried said that the township’s goal is not to hold onto the property for very long, but also that "the cost to the taxpayers should really be pretty minimal."
   He also said that even though smart growth policies have not worked out well for the township so far, "I commend the state for changing the policy once they realized that it didn’t work for us."
   "In addition, I think they should take some responsibility and help us. It’s not good to not adjust the mistakes and not work with the people in areas where it didn’t work."
   This is just the first step in clearing the air and meeting again with various state departments, and township officials will have the opportunity to "set aside all the things that haven’t worked and try to make this work," Ms. Caffrey said at the meeting.
   "I’m feeling more positive than I have in almost two years," she said. "I think we are going to get some relief of some sort. I think before the year is out, something’s going to give."