Lexington Insurance agrees to pay up to $3.5 million to rebuild complex
By Christina Whittington, Special Writer
HIGHTSTOWN — After months of special meetings held by Borough Council regarding the future location of the Borough Hall, action on the facility’s future was taken this past Tuesday.
Council members passed Resolution 2012-229, which calls for Borough Hall to stay at its original location on the North Main Street municipal owned property, passed 5-1.
It is the site where the vacant complex — closed since the floodwaters of Hurricane Irene last August — still stands, empty and unused.
Council President Lawrence Quattrone voted no.
The resolution will next move to the Planning Board for review.
”I think that it provides good direction to the Planning Board,” Councilwoman Gail Doran said.
It’s been more than a year since Hurricane Irene forced Borough Hall and the Police Department to relocate due to damages caused by intense flooding. The Municipal Court has long since been operating out of Robbinsville while borough administrative offices have been working from inside the Public Works building on Bank Street.
The Resolution 2012-229 states the intent of council to have borough hall administrative offices and the Police Department located in the same general area as where the former complex operated from with the option to also include the Department of Public Works and the Municipal Court at the same location subject to further determinations made by the borough.
”I think this resolution is a nice balance between a very preliminary decision and the detail (the Planning Board) wanted and I and the mayor will explain at the next Planning Board meeting that this is as much detail as we can offer at this point,” Councilwoman Doran said.
The resolution also directs Municipal Clerk Debra Sopronyi to provide the Planning Board with a complete copy of the file of documents the Borough Council has considered and relied upon in determining to pursue this capital project at the property. This would include any and all reports, charts, analysis and meeting minutes to assist the Planning Board in understanding the reasoning for this determination.
Borough Attorney Fred Rafetto did note that while he was preparing the resolution he reached out to Borough Planner Tamara Lee and Planning Board Attorney Gary Rosenweig to seek their input.
”They are obviously aware of the 45 day provision that is in the municipal land use law and they both asked me to make a point at the time you adopt this resolution that the Planning Board would like the council to consider providing them with additional time beyond the 45 day statutory time period,” Mr. Rafetto said.
Mr. Rafetto stated the Planning Board had requested a time period of 60 to 90 days so that they could provide the council with what they consider to be a thoughtful review as opposed to one that they feel might be rushed because of so many other things on their agenda.
”I would object to the Planning Board getting more than 45 days. The reason we are doing it this way is to give it to them piece by piece,” Councilwoman Doran said.
”This isn’t the final decision on the whole thing. It is a step in the process and it didn’t come out of left field. This is something that we have talked about meeting after meeting and Planning Board is aware of it. We have talked to the Planning Board about it and this is not new news,” Councilwoman Doran continued.
”This is piece meal and essentially we are not changing the use of the property. We are just letting them know we plan to use the existing piece of property for the same use,” Councilman Robert Thibault added.
On Wednesday, Borough Administrator Michael Theokas did confirm to the Herald that the resolution has been referred to the Planning Board and by statue it has 45 days to respond.
In other news, the Borough received good news regarding Borough Hall from Lexington Insurance, the excess insurance carrier through its Joint Insurance Fund.
Mayor Steven Kirson, Council President Quattrone, Councilwoman Lynne Woods, Mr. Theokas, Borough Construction Official George Chin and architect Ric Perez of Perez Radosti held a meeting with representatives from the insurance company earlier on Tuesday.
It was determined that after a deductible $500,000, the insurance company would be responsible for the cost of rebuilding the Borough Hall on site. Initial estimates of this project range from $3 million to $3.5 million.
”We will get a brand new facility,” Mayor Kirson said, noting that it would cost taxpayers at the most $500,000.
The borough’s claim with the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Hurricane Irene damages to Borough Hall, including a deductible payment, is still being contested.
”In the policy there are different sections and there is a loss of property and we are getting zero for that. But a good fortune is that that building was so old and out of code, every aspect of it, another section of the policy says that we have to rebuild up to current code. That’s good news,” Mayor Kirson said.
Mayor Kirson indicated that a letter was needed from Borough Engineer Carmela Roberts indicating that Borough Hall was in a flood zone.
Mayor Kirson said that the timeframe to complete the knockdown and rebuild of the property would be a long term deal.
”We are anticipating possibly a three year project to get back in there,” Mayor Kirson said. “The good news is the next piece of the policy states that the insurance company would be responsible for the temporary housing of the Police Department and borough administrative offices until the project is completed.”
The council also learned that the borough was not eligible to apply for a Letter of Map Amendment — that was discussed at the Sept. 4 council meeting.
According to Borough Engineer Roberts, a survey revealed that part of the Borough Hall building sat in a flood zone, making it ineligible for the LOMA.
The next Borough Council meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Oct 1.
The next Planning Board meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9.