Staying the course on Skillman Village

Deputy Mayor Brad Fay of Montgomery
    As an elected official, I was disappointed to learn Montgomery will have to wait longer than we hoped to proceed with the redevelopment phase of the Skillman Village project. Last month, the Township Committee announced that the three finalist redevelopment teams had declined to submit proposals at this time, due to current economic conditions.
   Yet I remain confident that, when the economy improves, Montgomery will achieve our citizens’ vision for a “village within a park” at the 250-acre site. The entire community can be proud of what has been accomplished at Skillman Village:
   1. The site was finally purchased from New Jersey after a decade of difficult negotiations pursued by officials of both political parties. With the purchase, Montgomery prevented an enormous housing development that would have driven up our school taxes by untold millions.
   2. Rather than “flip” the property immediately to a developer, the township took control of the site and cleaned it up. This was the only way to give residents real influence over the timing and method of cleanup – a critical matter given the location of the Village Elementary School. Had a developer bought the property, we would still have a contaminated property surrounding young school children.
   3. The environmental cleanup has proceeded swiftly, with no health or safety violations, and with an immense amount of sensitive work completed during the summer when children were not present. The remediation required the removal of four times more underground steam pipes than expected, but at no additional cost to taxpayers due to the fixed-price contract we negotiated.
   4. The township has just been awarded a $1.5 million grant to offset our cleanup costs, and is eligible for more such grants.
   5. After cleaning the site and restoring the lake, Montgomery owns a property that is far more valuable than when we took possession.
   The Township Committee has been conservative with its financial planning and debt management for Skillman Village. After reviewing our latest debt obligations including Skillman Village, our high credit rating was reconfirmed just recently.
   Some have suggested that it would be worth $250 extra in taxes per year, per household, to simply set aside the property as open space, but we can do much better: Create a large park complimented by a walkable village that addresses important community priorities including tax revenues, attractive destinations, medical facilities, some good jobs, civic uses and a community gathering place.
   How do we get there? The next step may be to undertake, at developers’ expense, detailed planning to determine, among other things, which portions of the land are going to remain open and preserved, and to apply for state and county grants to support the preservation.
   From the beginning, the acquisition of NPDC and creation of Skillman Village has been a community-wide project, one that provides an opportunity to shape our destiny as a community. It’s a project that deserves everyone’s continued support, even during this political season.
Brad Fay
Deputy Mayor
Montgomery