Mayor, Council to Hold Special Meeting on Amending Redevelopment 5 Plan

The Fort Lee Borough Council passed a resolution Thursday and introduced an accompanying ordinance that would expand Redevelopment Area 5 by about two-thirds of an acre by integrating five parcels of land adjacent to the roughly 16-acre area. The Mayor and Council also scheduled a special meeting and public hearing on the ordinance (Ord. 2011—25) for Dec. 22.

The resolution passed Thursday determined that the five parcels taken together qualify as an “Area in Need of Redevelopment” in accordance with the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law after the Fort Lee Planning Board held a special public meeting Nov. 30 on the matter and made the recommendation.

The properties are identified on the Tax Map of the Borough of Fort Lee as Block 4851, Lots 2, 3, and 4; a portion of Block 4855, Lot 2 and lands within the street right-of-way that were vacated by the realignment of Central Road with Federspiel Street as part of the Main Street widening project.

According to the council resolution, the Planning Board received no written objections and took testimony from members of the public, including the owner of Block 4851, Lot 4—a one-story building housing a retail, clothing and apparel store, , at 179 Main St.—before making its recommendation to the borough’s governing body.

The ordinance the council introduced Thursday would amend the plan for Redevelopment Area 5 to include those properties, which are all located along the north side of Main Street abutting the redevelopment area.

“I don’t think people realize how long and tough a trail it was to get to where we are tonight,” said Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. “We’ve reached a milestone.”

Sokolich went on to describe the properties surrounding Redevelopment Area 5 as “odd-shaped parcels of property,” most of which “were created as a result of a road re-alignment project that we did a few years ago.”

“[We’ve now] merged them or brought them into the redevelopment zone,” he said.

Borough attorney Lee Cohen said the borough owns all but the one property.

“You bought the properties to make roadways; you made your roadways and you vacated your roadways and realigned your roads,” Cohen explained. “And these are what you call gores; these are little corners that you can’t build on. They may be irregularly shaped. They’re ‘sliver properties’ for lack of a better term. You paid nothing for these. You didn’t buy these as properties. You bought the properties and cut them up, and this is what was left over after you paved the road.”

Soklich said the borough doesn’t want to continue to own the slivers of land in part because it doesn’t want to maintain insurance on them or be liable if something happens on them like a person tripping and falling.

He also said the land is “for the most part worthless because you can’t build on it.”

“By operation of law, it gets merged with the adjacent property and now becomes part of our rateable base,” Sokolich said.

Asked if he was concerned that the property owner involved could potentially hold things up by asking for a tax appeal, for example, Sokolich said, “We’re hopeful he won’t.”

The Record recently reported that “[the property owner] and his partner are open to selling their lot.”

In response to a question about the timing of the meeting—Dec. 22, Cohen explained that after the Planning Board makes its recommendation, “you wait a statutory period of time; then you do it at the next available opportunity so we can get spades in the ground.”

Noting that the meeting was scheduled for a Thursday at 8 p.m.—the usual day and time for Mayor and Council meetings—Sokolich said the decision was his call.

“I’m not going to stall this development because I’m running out of meetings,” he said. "Making this decision on Dec. 8 gives us two weeks to publicize it."

Sokolich added, "That project is as important to Fort Lee as the George Washington Bridge was when it came here, and I’m going to do everything I can to meet the developers’ timeline because in my view it’s in the best interest of the community."

The mayor also said he’d “accept” any “heat” for calling the special meeting because of the importance of moving the project forward.

“We’re going to continue to go on as aggressive a path as we possibly can to get this 46-year-old vacant parcel of property online,” Sokolich said.

The special meeting and public hearing is Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. in ’s council chambers. The purpose of the meeting is specifically to discuss the ordinance passed Thursday amending the plan for Redevelopment Area 5.