Township Committee Gives Mark Built an Ultimatum

The Maplewood Township Committee resolved to give Mark Built Home of Union until 7 p.m. on Friday, March 4 to sign a memorandum of understanding saying that the developer would go forward with the proposed project to purchase and develop the old police station site on Dunnell Road.

If Mark Built does not sign the memo, the town will issue a request for qualifications seeking other potential developers for the site and move forward with demolition of the building.

"The Town would take the property down," said Mayor Vic DeLuca. The mayor brought the issue to the township committee because the town must put up 5% of the cost of demolition — or $30,000 — upfront. The amount must be figured into calculations for the 2011 budget.

Under the agreement in principle with Mark Built, the developer was to demolish the building.

Later the Township Committee agreed to allow the Maplewood Fire Department to use the old police building on the site for search and rescue training — due to environmental remediation issues, no walls or ceilings are to be penetrated. The Fire Department will be able to penetrate the garage roof for training — after remediation is completed.

DeLuca joked, "During search and rescue, see if they can find a developer."

Here are eight more things you should know from Tuesday night's Township Committee meeting:

• The town awarded a contract to Phillips Preiss Grygiel LLC for $3,250 to study potential uses for the future of the U.S. Post Office site on Maplewood Avenue. The Post Office will be vacating the site by January 2013. This "allows us to start the process of determining the future of the site," said DeLuca.
• The Township Committee agreed to move forward with designating Memorial Park, Town Hall and the grounds beside and in front of Town Hall as historic. The designation would mean that the Town would grant the Historic Preservation Commission an advisory role in any substantive material changes to the buildings or lands — however, the Commission has no legal jurisdiction over the Township Committee.
• The Committee passed an ordinance creating the Maplewood Arts Council and dissolving Arts Maplewood. The newly formed council, said Committee Person Jerry Ryan, will "focus the arts more broadly" in town as well as "better integrate the arts into more activities in town."
• Vice Mayor Kathleen Leventhal read a proclamation declaring March as Women's History Month in Maplewood. DeLuca presented a proclamation for Development Disabilities Awareness Month to Addie Davis of Arc of Essex Maplewood.
• During an inspection on February 22, Health Office Robert Roe found grain moths and moldy meat at the Maplewood Market on Springfield Avenue. He shut down the business and issued a summons for a March 17 court date. The business, which had previously had its , reopened after remediating the problems. The Board of Health decided to increase inspections of the business to once a week. However, Deputy Mayor Fred Profeta urged Roe to make a recommendation to the Board to revoke Maplewood Market's food license once again. "How much do we have to document before enough is enough?" asked Profeta.
• Marykay Pavol and other neighbors from Richmond Terrace asked the Committee to look into the ticketing process related to snow removal. Pavol said she and other neighbors whose paths were clear of snow on Feb. 4 nonetheless received summonses for not clearing their sidewalks of snow and ice. At the February 17 court hearing, all the summonses were dismissed because "the person who wrote the tickets had no evidence to show," said Pavol. "This seems minor, but I had to take a half day off from work." Pavol noted that another neighbor — a single working mother — was unable to leave work and simply pleaded guilty and paid the $130 fine. "It's not a little thing," DeLuca assured Pavol. "We will follow up with the court administrator and the prosecutor."
• Representatives of PSE&G appeared before the Township Committee to answer questions about the solar panels that are being installed on utility poles throughout town. PSE&G Director of Renewable Energy Projects Frank Czigler explained that the panels were part of $515 million investment by PSE&G in solar and renewable energy to meet a mandate to generate 30% of its energy from renewable resources by 2020. Czigler said that 200,000 poles statewide will be hosting the 2' x 5' panels. Ultimately, there should be between 330 to 400 panels on poles in Maplewood (that's 10-15% of the 3,276 PSE&G poles in town). Czigler said the panels are noiseless, give off no heat, contain no hazardous chemicals, and are shatterproof. He said tax credits for the panels would lower rate payers' energy bills but would not show up as a line item reductions on statements. Czigler and his two cohorts from PSE&G were grilled by Profeta who questioned the safety of the panels. DeLuca asked, "What right do you have to put these up?" PSE&G Assistant General Regulatory Counsel David Richter assured the Committee that PSE&G "has every right" to use public rights of way and its poles to supply and distribute energy. Ultimately, DeLuca apologized for not passing along the notification of the program that he received via phone from PSE&G Public Affairs manager Everton Scott although he felt that PSE&G should have sent out a letter and visited the committee before installation. DeLuca also said, "Overall, the program is a good one. We ought to move forward."
• Joseph Faccone of Samuel Klein and Company, certified public accountants, reviewed the Township's position vis-a-vis budget cap requirements for the 2011 budget. Long story short, the town is in position to find sufficient revenue and savings to bring in the budget under both the 2% levy cap and a 3.5% appropriations cap (allowable by ordinance and bankable for next year's budget ... more about that later) — without cutting services or jobs. However, if the Committee wants to bring the tax levy increase closer to 0% — as proposed by Profeta — that would necessitate using almost all of the town's 1.6 million in surplus (instead of $1.2 million, leaving $400,000 in surplus). DeLuca noted that last year, tax appeals — totally more than $600,000 — were paid for out of surplus. Ryan stated, "I don't think it's worth it to deplete surplus to get to a 0% increase." Profeta argued that there were potentially other sources of revenue not being considered by Ryan. More details on the budget will be forthcoming after the next Town Budget Meeting scheduled for Friday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m....