By Allison Perrine
HIGHLANDS – After operating out of administrative trailers for over a year, borough officials will soon have a new place to conduct business as Highlands bonds for a new municipal building at 151 Route 36.
Renderings and proposals for the new complex, which will be adjacent to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, were presented and discussed during a special council meeting March 2 and again at a regular meeting March 3. The plans stem from years of development with Settembrino Architects, a Red Bank-based firm that was awarded a contract in October 2018 to conduct the work.
“We are building towards the future,” said Mayor Carolyn Broullon during the March 2 meeting. “As the town grows, we don’t want to build a building that is going to be not sufficient in another 10, 20, 40 years. We’re not building for today; we’re building for the next few decades.”
The former Highlands borough hall facility, built in the 1960s, was located on Bay Avenue but was damaged during Super Storm Sandy and was later demolished. Since then, administrators and police have been operating out of various trailers on Shore Drive. The
arrangement “has served its purpose in a temporary capacity,” but now has “out-lived its usefulness,” according to the borough.
The trailers are “in need of constant upkeep and provide no room for document storage,” according to the borough. “It also poses an unhealthy risk for the employees as it provides little relief from the elements, and temperature control must be supplemented by individual space heaters in the employee offices.” And the police trailers are in similar conditions “and are failing in the basic needs necessary for a professional police department.”
The new facility will be inland and above the flood zone to protect it from future storm damage. It will be a two-story, 15,000-square-foot building with police operations on the first floor and administrative offices, council and court chambers, which costs Highlands about $80,000 annually through a shared service with Atlantic Highlands.
Kevin Settembrino, founding principal of Settembrino Architects, said the site plan was designed with the intent to use the corners of Route 36 and Miller Street as a “landmark” entrance for the municipal complex. Visitors will have access to parking on both upper and lower levels of the property and bike racks will be available on the lower level. The exterior of the building will include base masonry and pale brick, along with a more modern green roof and solar panels that will power some – but not all – of the electricity used at the site.
“These colors and these images and these materials are meant to be similar to those you find at Officer’s Row and Sandy Hook. We wanted to try to get this building as close to that imagery as possible,” said Settembrino. “The building will be as sustainable as possible.”
Relocating to the 151 Route 36 location will free up space at the existing community center where several committee meetings are held, said Broullon. “Hopefully once life becomes more normal,” she said, the borough could give that space back to community members which would be “better” for Highlands.
The project is expected to cost about $11.3 million in total, including construction costs, equipment purchases and more. The borough will likely bond for about $9.5 million of the cost. Before the March 2 meeting, Highlands had already authorized Bond Ordinance No. 16-7 which appropriates $3 million for the land acquisition and preliminary construction costs, according to the borough. It also allowed the borough to bond $1.71 million with a $90,000 cash down payment, and anticipated $1.2 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding.
A Highlands resident with a home valuation of $240,000 can expect to see an annual cost increase of $184, or $15.33 monthly, in property taxes.
“These are estimated costs. Much like a road program bond, the borough uses the best estimates of what the costs would be with present market conditions,” the borough wrote in a prepared document presented at the meeting. Then bid specifications are developed and the project is put out to bid. When the borough receives the bid packages back from the contractors, officials will see “what the true cost of building and construction will be.”
Residents had a chance to ask questions during the special meeting March 2 about the project. One resident, Lorna Milbauer, wanted reassurance that the borough would not neglect other parts of town that need work because of this municipal complex.
“I think that’s a concern that we want to address because there certainly are other vital projects that need to be done in town,” said Milbauer. Broullon responded, saying the borough still has other projects in place that have been bonded for, including a study in the Waterwitch area of town. Those projects are not going away, she assured the community.
Another resident, Kim Skorka, shared a concern about some of the functions of the building and questioned why the borough will be building its own court rather than continuing its shared service with Atlantic Highlands.
“I keep hearing that we’re building this municipal building for the future. I’m curious what kind of future you’re building with the need for three jail cells, our own court which includes judge’s chambers, a restroom and an emergency exit that nobody but the judge and his assistant has access to,” said Skorka.
Settembrino explained that prisoner transfers from the processing area to the cell and to the court must be done out of the public venue so that the public and prisoners do not cross, which is why the space is necessary. Similarly, he said the judge’s entry in the court also must be separate from the public venue.
Broullon added that Highlands used to have its own court before it entered a shared service with Atlantic Highlands after Super Storm Sandy.
This article was originally published in the March 11-17, 2021 edition of The Two River Times.
