By Christina Whittington, Special Writer
HIGHTSTOWN A plan to turn the former Rug Mill on Bank Street into a new Borough Hall was presented to the council and public Wednesday night.
The proposal, to be carried out in four phases if adopted, was presented by council members Lynne Woods and Selena Bibens.
Since Hurricane Irene swept through the town last August, Hightstown’s Borough Hall and police headquarters were forced to relocate due to damage caused by flooding.
Since that time, the fate and future location of Borough Hall has been a heavily debated topic at many Borough Council meetings where not only the public, but members of the council have given their opinions on the future location of Borough Hall.
”We wanted to do a presentation this evening because, obviously, we have a major, several major problems in Hightstown,” Councilwoman Woods said.
The options that have been discussed for Borough Hall have been the Lucas Electric Property on Mercer Street where the Police Department has been located since the aftermath of Hurricane Irene; returning to the current location of Borough Hall on North Main Street; and the Shangle and Hunt Property on Broad Street, no longer a viable option because that property no longer is available.
”We wanted to explore what that (the Rug Mill site) could look like, and we wanted to go over that option tonight because it was never seriously discussed or explored,” Ms. Woods said.
Phase 1 of the plan proposes the borough purchase the Rug Mill for an estimated price of $800,000, restore the municipal administrative office for temporary use at an estimated cost of $258,000 and demolish the construction office, the Police Department and Public Works garage at an estimated cost of $207,000.
Also included in the first phase was relocating the police and the court back downtown. A possible location for that would be the parking lot behind the Ely House on Bank Street with the option of a modular building with an estimated cost of $400,000.
Phase 2 of the plan includes creating a nongovernmental-based development team, applying for historic designation and looking for possible grants and following up with the progress of the environmental cleanup of the Rug Mill site.
Also included in the second phase is creating space for Borough Hall offices on the second or third floor of the Rug Mill building, opening up the bottom portion by replacing with columns or making it a lobby area, then moving Borough Hall into this location , leaving the rest of the existing building available for rent or sale.
Phase 3 of the plan would be to explore creating a destination mall in part of the brick portion of the Rug Mill, connecting the municipal building to the mall with glass or windowed walkway and deciding what would work to create a draw to Hightstown for the remaining portion of the brick section of the Rug Mill building.
Phase 4 of the plan includes determining the future of the blue-and-white warehouse portion of the property.
”We have found out that the property (blue-and-white warehouse) has many different deeds on it, the existing structure back there, the blue-and-white warehouse has been sold off,” Councilwoman Bibens said. “Obviously, whoever is the owner currently would have to be a willing participant. It could only make it better.”
Ms. Woods said developing the Rug Mill site would benefit Hightstown by creating green/open space for downtown, providing an opportunity for commercial rent or sale of the existing Borough Hall once the move is made to the renovated portion of the Rug Mill. This money then could be reinvested back into the project or wherever was deemed appropriate.
Other benefits include using the remaining portion of the Rug Mill site to provide an opportunity for further growth and development, creating a future ongoing revenue stream for the borough through commercial rents and residential taxes.
The project’s cost was estimated at $1,665,000 as the minimum. There would be a projected $65,278 tax revenue loss, according to the presentation.
The borough’s insurance claim is in the amount of $837,821.75.
”We all know that at the end of the day, we have to have a price tag, and we are all in agreement that we are going to spend money. Just how much?” Ms. Bibens said.
She added, “The temporary annual loss of tax revenue you have to spend money to make money. We will regenerate the tax revenue over five to 10 years.”
Ms. Woods said, “This is not a formal business plan. I am not asking anybody to say let’s buy the Rug Mill. That’s not what I am looking for. What I am looking for is conversation about it.”
Mayor Steve Kirson said, “It was very impressive; a lot of work went into this (presentation. I certainly support the idea of having an independent redevelopment agency. I think it would be very positive to get it away and remove the political aspect of it. As the council changes, it makes it more difficult for developers to have continuity to talk to the same people.”
Council President Larry Quattrone asked, “Do I want to become a partner with a developer? I am not too sure that I would like to do that. I don’t know if that always works.”
”I am just worried about coupling this with our progress on Borough Hall right now, said Councilwoman Gail Doran. “ I would really not like to spend this whole meeting talking about the Rug Mill redevelopment. The purpose of this meeting was to talk about the Borough Hall.”
”If we renovate just Borough Hall, according to the numbers we have gotten, and knocked down the police station and Public Works garage, that would be about $900,000. If we do the Police Department and Borough Hall itself, clean them and get them up to code, that’s about $1.9 million,” Councilman Rob Thibault said.
The roughest estimate, according to Mr. Thibault, is the possible purchase of the property behind the Ely House and going with a typical modular building.
”My inclination is let’s look at the most inexpensive way to provide offices for the borough staff and provide some shelter for them so they can do their jobs. In my mind, we do not need to spend $4 million; we can’t afford $4 million,” he said.
Hightstown resident and Planning Board Chairman Steve Misura said, “The council seems to be trying to find alternates to the Lucas property. There are good ideas out there; there are good discussions. One thing I will say about the Lucas property is, it seems like the simplest solution. It may not be the least expensive option, but it seems like it is the quickest and the simplest.”
”I know a lot of people that I have a lot of respect for have spoken very strongly in favor of the Lucas property,” said Skye Gilmartin, former Hightstown council member. “I am not in favor of one or the other, but I would like to see a presentation of this quality to the public on the Lucas property; $3.6 million is a big number, and I understand the simplest and the quickest way, but that is a very big number.”
A special meeting has been scheduled for Aug. 22, but the time and location are to be determined.
This meeting will be to discuss the option of purchasing the property behind the Ely House and buying a modular structure to be placed in that location. The meeting will be open to the public.

