Hartz Planning New Housing
Hartz Mountain has signed an agreement with the town of Secaucus on an agreement for an impact fee related to proposed 500-unit residential development at 100 Park Plaza Drive, according to the Hudson Reporter.
An impact fee is often imposed by a government to pay for a portion of costs of providing public services for a new development. The future development will be built across from Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club in the building that currently houses ORICA Rugs.
Secaucus will use a portion of the fees to build a new middle school and acquire two school buses.
Well here we go again. I can remember when the previous administration was developing Secaucus, our current MAYOR MIKE was against it.
What happened MIKE, did you all of a sudden change your mind about overdevelopment????? Or are you enjoying being in charge and do whatever the HMDC, Sacco, and the DEMOCRATIC party tells you to do. I hope your not going to be the next mayor accused of ?????????.
You still must be getting your advice from a mayor of the past. Shame on you mike. That nose is really growing.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Let’s not over populate this town…..please think of quality of life for current residents and not just money
When Hartz proposed building rental units on Meadowlands Parkway the NJMC stated that the sewer system could handle this new development.When there is a large storm in Secaucus the infiltration and inflow on Meadowlands Parkway is excessive.What happens is the volume of sewerage is so great that the treatment plant has to discharge sewerage into the river.This means the sewerage from this development will be discharged into the river ever time we reach our capacity.This basically violates the Federal Clean Water Act .How can the NJMC state that we can handle developments like the one on Meadowlands Parkway and a future one at the mall?
In a letter to Hartz from the General Council to the Secaucus Municipal Utilities Authority it was stated ‘As I am sure you are aware, if the Authority reaches 85% of its capacity during any three month period, the Authority must implement a capacity assurance program which may require the Authority to restrict the issuance of building permits.”An impact fee is a good idea.Why isn’t the sewer problem being addressed along with the impact fee?Shouldn’t they be address together before any further action is taken? Where is the NJMC on this?
Any geography student would tell you that this is poor city planning. How can you develop community cohesion with isolated residential development?
Are you really serious ? I have been a resident for 35 years. This was a very lovely town and am proud to say i grew up in such a town. Now you have all these residental building being built there is no more room for all these people. And who will suffer the most are the children. The Elementary Schools are so over packed i think some classes maybe violating the fire code on room capacity. What about Hartz Building us 3 more Schools instead of bringing in all builidngs to house people. Crime rate is going up. I dont even feel safe walking down Paterson Plank Road anymore. This isnt the town i grew up in this is starting to look and resemble Jersey City.. So very sad .. All the lifers from Secaucus are trying to sell and get out and i always questioned it now I understand. THIS TOWN IS OVER CROWDED ALREADY.. It isnt a TOWN ANY MORE WELCOME TO THE CITY OF SECAUCUS
hey time to get out, please do that. The lifers are here and moving back.so get with it .Hartz said it will give money f or a middle school. The schools are not over their limits causing a fire hazard etc.Do you think the board of ed would allow that?.They are the ones running the schools not the superintendent who is looking for a job elsewhere. get real the streets are safe and look good. Secaucus is still small town USA whether you like it or not.HMDC has control of 88% of our land.WE have a small voice to the developers ear.You don’t like it MOVE out. Our streets are clean,safe,beautiful and we are a multicultural town blending in with the traditions here.
There is more news about this in the Sunday July 8 edition of the Secaucus Reporter, the hard copy version.
Hartz will donate 1.1M and about 80 thou for 2 buses, to go toward the new middle school.
They will get the lion’s share of the money on this one; a mil and a shade over that? No skin off their nose; they will rake it in with the profit they will gain from 500 more units.
This is also right near PROTECTED WETLANDS: how is this permissible???
Will Hartz pay for more teachers? more books? more of everything? a mil and a bit more than that? Meaningless. That amount of money will be a pittance.
Remember: YOU WILL GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
And it’s very true in this case. We will pay for the 500 new units in more ways than one…and this also is NOT the time to buy. We are still in the midst of a recession and we have an unemployment rate that is well over 9 percent, 20 percent if you count the U6 number.
We never should have touched that old Lincoln School. When that high school was put up for vote on the referendum in 1972, it should have been for grades 9 through 12 ONLY, not all 6 grades; it was a poor idea from the start. 7th and 8th graders have different needs than high schoolers that are 14 through 18 years of age.
oh really: blending in? Go have a look at the feedback from last August’s parade that the temple on Penhorn Drive had; see what you conclude after that. You are talking about strict and rigid cultural-ists that will not assimilate. it’s a FACT.
More comments:
Do the math — that school building will cost a minimum of 25M.
Whatever happened to a little issue called “Gentrification” and aesthetics?
That area is no place for a school and no place for a condo development.
I’d also wonder who is coming and going from the Mal Mart and Sam’s Club next door: one never knows who they are dealing with.
And what school would the elementary kids be going to? Huber Street? isn’t it already busting at the seams?
And Hartz is chipping in how much?
Will Hartz be providing the entire cost of extra faculty and staff, books and defraying the entire school tax cost for the new middle school?
Three guesses who is.
The former Lincoln School should have been retained. If we needed extra classroom space, the parking lot in the back could have been used or it could have been built on the premises next door, where the towers are.
We could have jumped on the former ICC before YCS took it over; we could have used that building in a pinch as a middle school.
And what happened to “referendum”? aren’t we supposed to vote on the proposal of building a school?
People were predicting the end of the world when Flanagan Way was closed at Route 3. Even when the high rise were built. Let’s all relax. We’re going to get about 65-70 school children a year from this. But we’re also going to get over $1 Million extrra EACH YEAR in extra tax money, probably enough to pay for an entire new school, not just 65-70 kids. This has the potential to deal with the overcrowding without having to pay that much. And it’s not happening tomorrow but in 5-7 years from now. The school board voted 8-0 to support it and now they nhave 5-7 years to make sure it works.
Since this is in the Meadowlands District, the town ghets reimbursed full tuition for each school child living there. That’s about a million dollars every year to go with the extra million in real estate taxes. That’s about two million towards a new school every year from a development that will produce less than 70 pupils according to the Reporter article. Do the math! It’s a great deal!
Donald Roberts: This is a sign of the times.
There are many developments like the one Hartz wants to build — South Jersey has many of them.
You’ll see a “gated community” and then you drive along and there’s nothing…and then another condo community pops up…then nothing…then another one.
There is no neighborhood, no ambience, nothing. They are clumps of housing developments and nothing more than that.
You are right: how can you more or less maintain continuity as a town and community when there are relatively isolated condo developments in what is not even a residential zone?
And some of the developments even have their own “town names” with a zip code to go along with it.
This is another brilliant idea, like the new rentals on Meadowlands Parkway — who wants to live with a shopping center on one side, swamps on another and a hotel and buisness use buidings on another?
Hartz doesn’t need the town’s permission but it helps that the have town and school board support for their application. The fact that Secaucus is going to make out big time on this is such a plus for us.Xchange at the train station is much larger and has had reeally minimal effect on the town. You don’t know they’re there unless you go down there.
@Dan: Nobody really uses the Exchenge.
Have you ever been down there after dark, either boarding or exiting a train?
It’s downright spooky. I don’t think it’s well lit.
(and the Harmon Cove train station should have remained OPEN, even after the Exchange was built and on line)
It would probably be easier to extend both elementary schools to include grades 7 and 8. The 7th and 8th graders could use the high school facilities for science and the arts. (note that the middle school model does not work for all students; it’s a proven fact)
@Itsjustme – Xchange is the housing, not the train station
I agree with Jeff. I’m sure the School Board will figure out how to make it all work. They voted 8-0 in favor, so they are all on board with it. I assume the ninth member was on vacation.
Just what Mike and Danny wanted- take Secaucus back to when Uncle Paulie was giving Hartz Mountain carte blanche to do whatever they wanted with Secaucus. Now that Amico and Gonnelli are a team, they are back to the same. What does Mike care. His only concern is making the downtown area look pretty. Like he said–He wants people to think we have a beautiful town when they drive through the downtown area. It’s too bad–but–everything about Mike and what he does is a facade. The town with it’s clock, gazebo, flowers and islands will appear to be doing well but we’ll be in the sewer just like what happened to Meadowlands Parkway when Amico gave it away. I just heard they are planning 1200 units at the old Panasonic site–has anyone else heard this?. It’s no wonder Hartz Mountain has suddenly been giving so much to Secaucus and Mike has been praising them. I guess one hand does wash the other. The school situation is probably the reason he insisted on taking control of the Board of Ed.
@Just What We Need–you are correct. Mike’s nose is growing and that is exactly the reason why he has always been known as “Pinnocchio.” He doesn’t care. He always bragged about how he was going to retire down south. He’ll screw us, then leave–but–the center of town will be adorned with flowers, oversized planters(that take up entire sidewalks), clocks and gazebos–oh and how could I forget–SIGNS. Landscaping is Mike’s idea of effective town government the guy don’t know his *#$ from his elbow Hey, at least we have a mascot..lol
I would be leery of building a residential community there. Besides this being a commercial area, the property is situated in wetlands that are at sea level. Sam’s Club already has serious structural issues and is located only a few hundred feet from there. This area is very prone to flooding and would be very vulnerable to serious storms like the one last year. You are also located right next to a big commercial area including Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart and will have to endure a lot of traffic to get in and out of your complex.
@Take Back Secaucus: I would not doubt there is housing that’s going to magically show up once Panasonic moves out.
It would be nice if the hospital could expand and add to their campus and use the former Panasonic building, or raze that building and build something new…. I wonder what the likelihood of that happening is?
You haven’t seen anything yet. Just wait until Panasonic is gone.
Why can’t we buy that piece of land and use it for what we want to use it for?
Just hearing about more building going up is making me sick to my stomach. Enough already. The bus stops into Manhattan are flooded with new faces…but the number of buses remains the same so inevitably people who travel during rush hours are now standing more. There are more gangs of kids hanging around town after hours, with no supervision. Go through town in the middle of a work day and it’s jammed with cars and strange faces. We cannot accomodate any more people. The town may be spread out, but the infrastructure doesn’t work for more residents. There is a loss of that sense of community that we had just a few short years ago. Please, please someone in our electorate, get a spine and say no to Hartz Mountain. They are not doing us any favors.
As there is a lot of misinformation floating around here in cyberspace about this important issue, let me try to set the record straight with some of the relevant facts in this post to give some insight into the decision making process. I would like to emphasize that this decision was made by the Governing Body after much thought and after studying the issues thoroughly.
Hartz Mountain first approached the Town with the idea of building one large 500-unit luxury rental building that would that would consist of studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments.
They also claimed that, because of the increase in the value of property, the increase in taxes would more than cover any increase in the cost of Town Services.
After learning of Hartz’s intentions, we began to raise our concerns with, what we feel is the biggest issue with any project, the ability of our schools to handle any increase in children. When looking at our schools we see that the elementary schools are nearing capacity and we have some capacity in the secondary level remaining.
While being concerned over the impacts on our educational system, we also had to keep in mind the reality of the chance of this project being approved in the future. The harsh reality is, that with or without our support, this project would be subject to Meadowlands Commission approval. In addition, in all likelihood the Builder’s Coalition and housing advocates would have also joined in a fight to support this project, which would have resulted in a question of not if this project would be approved, but only how quickly.
Rather than spending untold amounts of taxpayer’s money on lawyers to fight a fight that in all probability we would lose, much like when the Town lost the fight against Allied Junction, we instead tried to negotiate the best outcome for this project.
The end result of these negotiations, we feel and the School Board agrees, was positive. First, Hartz has agreed to split this project into four different buildings rather than building the entire project all at once. This will result in the project being phased in over several years rather than see all of the units being built and occupied at one time.
Second Hartz has agreed to build only studio, one and two-bedroom units, the units that typically have the least impact on our schools. In fact, Hartz has agreed that 65% of the market rate units will be studios and one-bedroom units. In addition, they have agreed to build the minimum amount of affordable units as permitted by the Council on Affordable Housing in Trenton. Once this entire project is built, we expect to see approximately 17 children coming from the market rate units and about 46 children from the affordable units. Again, remember this project will be phased in so these children will be expected to come at the rate of 10-12 students per year. These are not numbers that we imagined, but instead “real world” numbers based upon the amount of children generated by Exhange at Secaucus Junction.
Third, Hartz has agreed to provide the Town with an impact fee of $3,200 per market rate unit or about $1,200,000 in total. Additionally, they have agreed to provide two School buses to the Town. We have agreed to give both of these buses to the Board of Education as well as the entire developer’s fee to provide monies for the school to work on planning for a Middle School addition to the High School.
Fourth, Hartz has also agreed to repair as well as plow the snow on all of the roads within the development, which will result in no impact on our DPW.
In addition to the impact fees, the development will generate revenue every year. Because this project will be in the Meadowland’s District, we will get a credit for each of the students that attend school from the project. Based upon the above estimates, we expect that to decrease our payments to tax sharing by about $205,000 per year. In addition, the present tax bill on that property is about $365,000 per year. Conservatively, after the project is completed, the property will generate more than $1,465,000 per year in tax revenue. We are committed to utilizing some of these revenues to fund the middle school project to lessen the impact of the school.
I have also heard some complaints about this project being in the wetlands. While it is true that there are wetlands surrounding the present building, none of the new construction will take place on the wetlands and any flooding issues will have to be addressed to the Meadowlands Commission’s satisfaction before they approve the plans.
As an aside, one of the comments above appears to be spreading a rumor that Hartz is interested in putting housing on the Panasonic site. While I understand that concern, residential development on that site does not make financial sense. One of the bills we helped to get signed granted special State Tax incentives to any property negatively affected by the Transit Hub legislation. As such, this site is one of the few in the State that is eligible for this special incentive. For Hartz to develop this site in any other way would mean forgoing these lucrative incentives, a move Hartz is not likely to make.
In closing, I hope that with the actual facts regarding this project readers can see why, with the expectation that this project would be approved regardless of the Town’s wishes, we attempted to negotiate the best outcome for the for our residents.
Thanks Mayor, it seems to make sense now.
While we have you Mayor, can you tell us where our councilmen live?Do all the councilmembers live in the ward they were elected to serve ?
Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli Responds to Hartz Criticism | eSecaucus.com – Secaucus (NJ) News and Information commented on eSecaucus.com – Secaucus (NJ) News and Information:
[...] July 6, 2012 Hartz Planning New Housing [...]
Go to a town meeting and ask candycane. Don’t be afraid, anyone can speak. This article is about new housing.
Let me refresh your memory AMAZING HOW A POLITICAL DONATION CHANGES SOMEONES MIND
http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/2410163/article-Secaucus-town-council-candidate-profiles-Two-slates–one-independent-discuss-the-issues?
Looks like the little man Anthony is back making comments. Same old comments, just a different screen name.
The building and the housing are in a flood zone.
And how picturesque: you can live right next door to a Mal Mart and Sam’s Club…and right accross the street from a parking deck that leads to a hotel and LA Fitness.
it’s just as lovely as living at the Xchange and living right next door to a sprawling warehouse and truck terminal.
That traffic at the Mall during rush hour is stop and go. The Town should be asking for a traffic study before making any decisions,traffic studies are required by NJMC regulations. If Secaucus residents demand a traffic study it will show that 500 units are out of the question. The Mayor and BOE decision can be stopped with a traffic study.
I don’t see any benefits of this development unless you are Hartz or in Real Estate. Without even doing an impact study I can’t see any good coming out of this. I see more traffic and more potential problem with flooding and strain on other town resources. There are fees generated but also there will be a lot more cost from this project. I just don’t see the rush with pushing this through if it wasn’t even approved yet by the Meadowlands Commission.
Although the schools are important, there are also other factors just as important such as: traffic, town resources and quality of life issues which impact everybody, not just those with students in the town’s school system.
Since this project was in the early stages I am sure that Hartz would have given a better deal if you waited, it seems like the first offer was taken here? I don’t think it would have to come to a lawsuit, but I think the town gave in too soon and did not even make this information public until it was already approved.
Didn’t Gonnelli’s son just open a real estate business? Isn’t Constantino’s brother is the mortgage broker at the company? Is this why Gonnelli infiltrated the school board? Questions…questions.
Would it be cheaper in the long run to add an extra science lab and several classrooms to Huber and Clarendon and put the 7th and 8th grades back into each of those schools vs. building a brand new middle school building?
It has been proven that the middle school model is NOT for every student. Some kids do not mesh well with a middle school environment.
It is also an aesthetic issue and a gentrification issue. You build a condo complex smack dab in the middle of what is not a residentially zoned district??
Have a look at the Xchange, Osprey Cove and the development next to the Rec Center. I dare you to say that all 3 developments are beautiful, pleasing to the eye and fits right in with the surroundings it is in.
And tell me that the Xchange and Osprey Cove are in a great neighborhood, ideal for kids and others.
Baker Estates doesn’t fit in with the neighborhood, either. You have 1 and 2 family houses across from the development and then you have Baker Estates, walled in and separated like a fortress.
Residential units will soon be abandoned becaus of very bad smell