Another Redevelopment Zone in Middle

COURT HOUSE – Middle Township is moving aggressively on the use of state redevelopment statutes to jump-start an economic rebirth in the municipality. 
Originally proposed by the township’s Economic Development Commission, the concept of using redevelopment and rehabilitation zones in many of the decaying commercial areas offers flexibility to the governing body in dealing with potential developers.
Increasingly, developers in the state are looking for fast-track processes that short-circuit traditional bureaucracy as well as tax incentives that may include PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) plans and tax abatements.
The township has designated the area in Rio Grande surrounding the deserted concrete plant on Route 47 near Railroad Avenue and a long swath of commercially-zoned parcels along Route 9 from Court House south to Rio Grande and along Stone Harbor Boulevard east of the Garden State Parkway.
At its April 2 meeting, Middle Township Committee introduced another ordinance designating a redevelopment area along Indian Trail Road to Oyster Road.
Up to now, the township has been careful to make clear that eminent domain, (meaning condemnation authority), would not be part of the redevelopment plans.
With this new zone on Indian Trail Road, condemnation will be part of the redevelopment plan because of a unique circumstance related to the parcels in the area.
The area designated under this third redevelopment zone has a large number of unusable, undersized lots. Called “newspaper lots” because some of them were actually given as prizes for subscriptions many decades in the past, the original owners of the property may be deceased or don’t even remember that they own it.
According to township officials, the condemnation provisions in this new redeployment plan, provisions which only apply to the demarked land off Indian Trail Road, are needed to allow the township to accumulate and aggregate these small, odd-shaped parcels into a larger land area that may attract a developer.
Township Solicitor Frank Corrado said it was not the township’s intent to use eminent domain for any occupied property.
No changes to zoning are included in the redevelopment plan which has been sent back to the Planning Board for concurrence.
During the public comment regarding the new ordinance, Daniel Lockwood, a former mayor and member of the township committee, called the redevelopment plan for this area of Indian Trail Road “a road map for affordable housing.”
He said that large sections of the designated area are owned by one person, so any deal the township makes concerning the new redevelopment zone is likely to be only with that individual.
“I am proud of the efforts Middle Township has made in affordable housing, but it’s enough right now,” he said.
Township officials did not engage Lockwood on the issue of affordable housing as one possible outcome of the redevelopment effort.
The township’s special counsel said that the step to consolidate the old newspaper lots was a necessary step toward any type of redevelopment.
“If a prospective developer has only the township and one property owner to deal with, that is preferable to having 250 property owners, many unknown,” said the township’s special counsel for redevelopment efforts.
The areas designated in the two earlier redevelopment plans are commercial areas likely to only attract a developer with commercial plans for the site.
The new area is largely wooded and could be open to multiple uses.
A public hearing on the ordinance will be held at the Township Committee meeting May 7.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.