ROBBINSVILLE: Plan advances for new municipal offices

Council also introduces tax incentives for mega-warehouse

By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
   ROBBINSVILLE — The Township Council has adopted an ordinance giving the mayor authorization to negotiate a deal with Roma Bank to purchase the third floor of a new commercial building in Town Center.
   The ordinance permits financing the project through the sale of $2,009,250 in municipal bonds. Township Attorney Mark Roselli has said that figure is preliminary, and the final sales price will be determined once negotiations are complete.
   The ordinance was adopted by a 5-0 vote at the July 12 Township Council meeting.
   Roma Bank plans to break ground in August on a three-story building near the bank’s headquarters at 2330 Route 33. Roma President and CEO Peter Inverso said earlier this month the bank would sell the top floor to the township as commercial condominium space for municipal offices and lease the first two floors as retail and office space. The building is expected to be done in 2014.
   Robbinsville currently leases 8,000 square feet of municipal office space in the Sharbell building at 1 Washington Blvd., however township offices are divided between the basement and the second floor. The rent for 2012 is $160,512 and scheduled to increase in 2013. The mayor says it will be cheaper for the township in the long run to own office space, rather than to continue leasing.
   The township began renting space in the Sharbell building in 2005 when a mold infestation caused the closure of the municipal building on Route 130. The building was bulldozed earlier this year.
IN OTHER NEWS, the Township Council voted 5-0 at the same July 12 meeting to introduce an ordinance to provide tax incentives to Matrix if it proceeds with plans to build a 1-million-square-foot warehouse in a redevelopment zone along Route 539, between I-195 and Gordon Road. State law allows municipalities to offer tax abatements and exemptions to spur economic activity in redevelopment zones.
   The public hearing and adoption vote on the ordinance is set for July 26.
   The ordinance would establish a 20-year Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program that would provide tax breaks to Matrix 7A Urban Renewal LLC if it builds the planned 1,039,500-square-foot warehouse.
   ”It’s not really an exemption, it’s an incentive,” Mayor Dave Fried told a resident who had questions about the financial arrangement during the council meeting.
   ”They’re actually going to be paying taxes, just a lower amount,” Mr. Fried said.
   Township Economic Development Director Tim McGough said Matrix would make $13,755,000 in payments to Robbinsville in lieu of property taxes over the next 20 years. The township’s share of that revenue would be a $7,361,693; the county’s share would be $2,046,845; and the Robbinsville School District’s share would be $3,997,776.
   The remaining $348,686 would be earmarked for the county library system and the open space fund, Mr. McGough said.
   The mayor noted that most of the vacant land in the redevelopment zone is currently being used to grow crops — a use that generates only “a few thousands dollars” in tax revenue annually for the township .
   The gigantic online retailer Amazon has announced it is looking to build two mega-warehouses, each about 1 million square feet, in New Jersey, but it has refused to identify the locations being considered.
   Matrix Senior Vice President Ken Griffin, who attended the council meeting July 12, declined to identify possible tenants for the warehouse project or say whether he is talking with Amazon.
   ”We are building this totally on speculation,” Mr. Griffin said.
   The tax break authorized by the PILOT ordinance only applies to a 176-acre section of the Matrix Business Park in the redevelopment zone created in 2011. The rest of the 434-acre business park will still pay full property taxes.