Published in the Asbury Park Press
BY JEAN MIKLE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
DOVER TOWNSHIP — The township's efforts to control what's built on the former Ciba-Geigy Corp. site took a step forward Wednesday night when the Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend that the 1,350-acre property be considered an area in need of redevelopment.
The board's action came following a brief public hearing and an executive session at which board members discussed a request for a delay by a lawyer representing Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp., the current owner of the property at Route 37 West and Oak Ridge Parkway.
"I think you are heading in the right direction," Camelot Drive resident Carol A. Benson said to board members before they voted. "This town has taken the first step, and I appreciate that. To sit here and wait for Ciba-Geigy to do something with this property is not something that's good for this town. They had plenty of time to prepare their case."
It seemed obvious even before the board's vote that the matter is likely to end up in court.
John H. Buonocore Jr., the Morristown lawyer hired to represent Ciba Specialty Chemicals, asked board members for the right to question Township Planner John J. Lynch. Lynch's eight-page report to the board concluded that the Ciba site meets the state criteria for redevelopment, a contention that Ciba plans to dispute.
"This is our opportunity to present information, to make a case," Buonocore said, "for submission to Superior Court, where this matter is clearly headed."
Planning Board Attorney Guy Ryan said the board was not required to allow questioning of Lynch, and Board Chairman Salvatore Mattia did not permit it.
The board also turned down Buonocore's request for a delay in the proceedings so that Ciba could hire its own planner and submit a report. Buonocore said Ciba wanted to present its own planning testimony.
"We should get the opportunity to be heard," Buonocore said. The board did not agree.
"They had 14 months to get representation on board," said Councilman Brian Kubiel, who is also a Planning Board member. It was in January 2005 that the Township Council asked the board to research whether or not the Ciba tract is an area in need of redevelopment, the first step toward taking control of the property's future.
Declaring the property as a blighted area in need of redevelopment allows the township greater control over future construction on the site. Otherwise, Ciba can control construction if it complies with existing zoning and planning ordinances. Township officials want to make sure it is Dover, and not Ciba, that controls what is to be built there.
Mayor: Site is significant
Mayor Paul C. Brush, also a board member, made the motion to recommend to the council that Ciba be considered an area in need of redevelopment.
"It's the most important piece of property we have in town, and frankly there was no good reason not to move forward with the recommendation," Brush said Thursday.
Council members and Brush have said that the upcoming development of the Ciba tract is perhaps the most important issue facing the township over the next five to 10 years. Faced with dwindling development in town, Dover needs to lure at least some commercial development to the Ciba property to help stabilize municipal taxes in the coming years, the mayor has said.
"They have their financial interest at stake, and we have the future of Dover Township at stake," Council President Gregory P. McGuckin said Thursday. "Ciba will do everything in their power and spend any amount of money to make sure they control what happens out there. We see it differently."
McGuckin said council members will discuss the Ciba site further once they receive the resolution adopted Wednesday. The next step would be for the council to adopt a resolution authorizing the board to prepare a redevelopment plan for the site, Lynch, the township planner, said.
The redevelopment plan would be presented to the council, which would then adopt it through ordinance. Council members would also have to decide whether to create a separate redevelopment authority to oversee the Ciba property, or the council could choose to supervise the redevelopment itself.
Most of site untouched
Only about 200 to 300 acres of the Ciba site were ever used for the company's dye- and resin-making operations, leaving a huge swath of mostly upland area that could be made available for development. The property is zoned for industrial use, and the council would have to rezone it to allow for commercial or residential development.
Last summer, Ciba officials presented a draft redevelopment plan for the property, prepared by the Manhattan-based firm HLW International LLP, that included 400 acres for residential development, 200 acres for a golf course, more than 200 acres of mixed office and retail use and a 150-acre park along the Toms River.
Remediation of pollution source areas is still ongoing on the Ciba site, and township officials, as well as the state Department of Environmental Protection, are still insisting that more than 30,000 drums be removed from a lined landfill on the Ciba property before any redevelopment can be considered.
But some development on the property in the future appears inevitable, given its prime location near the Garden State Parkway and the fact that it is the largest vacant and developable tract remaining in Dover.
Published in the Asbury Park Press 03/17/06
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