MY TURN / JEAN STOCKDALE

Redevelopment of Farmers' Market sparks debate

Negotiations are underway to replace six houses along Raritan Avenue with a mixed use condominium building and a community arts center.

Excerpts from an open letter to Highland Park citizens and residents

Redevelopment is moving fast at the site of the former senior center and the adjoining municipal parking lot [220 Raritan Ave.]. The developer, Dornoch Mgmt, has had success consolidating private properties on the block. By purchasing private properties and combining them with the public land the Borough wants to sell, the developer overcomes somewhat the obstacle of adequate parking for his proposed four-story building containing 21 condos, first-floor retail, and a Borough-run arts center.

SURPRISES

Minutes of the January 2007 Redevelopment Agency [RDA] meeting state that the Redeveloper Agreement was being drafted, with "issues such as parking, borough's cell tower agreement, property title transfer, arts center management, etc. to be addressed" and that the draft of the Redeveloper Agreement was to be circulated to commissioners for comment before finalization.

The listed issues have far-reaching consequences. Either they have not been worked out, and are left vague in the Redeveloper Agreement (meaning decisions will be made by the developer rather than the government), and we are in for shocking surprises when the building goes up; or they have been worked out, but the public does not know how they have been resolved.

WHOSE DECISION IS IT?

At its March 7, 2007 meeting, the RDA took the stance that it has no power to change anything in the Redevelopment Plan, but only to carry out the plan; and that even when there are mistakes in the plan, bad ideas that cannot work or will not bring about the public good, the agency has no power to change it and actually only Borough Council can change what the plan specifies to be built.

To its credit, the RDA has specifically required Dornach to provide some space for the Farmers' Market, even though there is no mention of the Farmers' Market anywhere in the 77 page Redevelopment Plan. Unfortunately, on other important issues, the RDA takes a position of "It is not up to us, talk to Borough Council."

THE APPROVED PLAN

The plan states a "Community Arts Center space of at least 14,200 gross sq. ft. with movie theater and gallery building space dedicated to the Borough and a 2500 sq. ft. open space plaza for public gatherings is required. Development fronting onto the required open space plaza must incorporate a cafe use opening onto it."

PLAZA ON RARITAN AVENUE

The building presented by the developers provides a 5300 sq. ft. theater and 6,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail. The space behind the developer's proposed building, where the Farmers' Market will take place, will be very small.

I urge [Borough Council] to amend the plan to delete the plaza on Raritan Avenue, so that this 2500 sq. ft. of outdoor space can be moved to the back of the building, giving more room for the Farmers' Market. To build a public plaza right against Route 27 where the traffic and noise are most intense is a poor use of our land resources when signicant and demonstrated community needs -- the Farmers' Market and youth recreation -- make better use of this outdoor space.

We already have several places up and down our main street, from Dunkin' Donuts up to Pithari Taverna, with cafe tables for outdoor use. We do not have to use public land to accomplish this feature in the downtown, nor should we consider a commercial activity (a cafe) to be a public or arts use. Nor in any way should the Borough operate a cafe, in competition to privately owned eating establishments along our main street.

COMMUNITY USE

The government's main job is to create infrastructure. The Borough needs to see to it that "community uses" in this building will serve the greatest public good ...meeting significant, demonstrated public needs that cannot be otherwise met through market forces or private enterprise.

Public land is being sold to build a private building that will make a lot of money for the developer. If this building does not serve maximum public good in its uses, it undermines sustainability in Highland Park.

ARTS CENTER MANAGEMENT

Is the Borough going to administer the theater? Do we want to spend tax dollars subsidizing a theater? If the theater is going to be run by a company or an organization, who is going to be the judge of whether the theater's activities are "dedicated to the Borough"?

If the goal is to provide programming that is educational or affordable, that is usually going to be at cross purposes to the goal of making money -- even to the goal of not losing money. How much money does the Borough plan to spend per year, to have this theater? What is the exit strategy if it costs more than what they are planning to spend?

I haven't heard anyone point to a single operational movie theater in the USA that is being used as the model for how we are going to run this, either as a function of the borough or as a public/private partnership. ... [No one] has provided so much as a written outline of what activities will take place in the space, how they will be funded, and how they will serve the public good.

It seems dangerous to sign a Developer Agreement that gives the developer the go-ahead to build something that we as yet have no idea of how it is going to work, so how can the Borough tell the developer what it should look like?

You, my friends and neighbors, have put four years of hard work into the revitalization that has brought our downtown to the point where it is now, and we cannot afford to leave all these questions unanswered and give the developer the go-ahead to build what he is proposing. I am not against having a theater, but I am against going into it blindly. Aren't you?