By Allison Perrine | aperrine@tworivertimes.com
FAIR HAVEN – In an attempt to kickstart multiple borough facilities upgrades, the borough council is looking to purchase property at 623 River Road to build a new police station and borough hall.
Should it be approved, the borough anticipates spending $3.4 million purchasing the property and over $9 million in construction fees and soft costs, totaling $13 million. It plans to spend $20 million total in facilities upgrades throughout the town.
But the plans won’t go through if some borough residents have anything to say about it.
About 100 residents attended a question-and-answer session presented by borough administrator Theresa Casagrande March 5, many voicing their objections to the plans. Many argued $20 million was too expensive and said the council has not been transparent about its intentions. They also said the community will see a great loss if the businesses that currently occupy 623 River Road close, especially the hot yoga studio and physical therapy offices.
The vote and public hearing on Ordinance 2020-02, which would allow for the purchase of the River Road property, was scheduled for Monday night. But after news broke announcing two presumptive positive cases of novel coronavirus in Little Silver and Hazlet, the hearing was postponed. It will be rescheduled to a future date and will be advertised and posted on borough communication platforms.
The borough has spent four years searching for locations for improved borough facilities. Its goals are to construct a new public works building with parks maintenance facilities, a new municipal building and police station on River Road – outside of a residential neighborhood – and to convert the existing municipal building/library into a library and community center.
Now the proposal is to build a new department of public works complex on Third and Allen streets, to build a new police station and borough hall at 623 River Road, and renovate the current borough hall/library into a library/community center. The borough plans to take on a 30-year bond to make these major capital purchases over time.
The 13,484-square-foot brick building at 623 River Road sits on a 1.44-acre parcel. It is owned by Reiss Manufacturing, Inc. and has an assessed valuation of $2,788,500. According to Casagrande, owners of the building approached the borough about the sale. Several businesses occupy the space, including Synergy Hot Yoga, Steve Scanlon Photography, Live Well Physical Therapy, Rosenberg and Fecci, In Tough Integrative Massage LLC and more. Representatives of several companies at 623 River Road declined to comment about the borough’s plans when visited by a reporter Tuesday.
At the March 5 question-and-answer session, Casagrande fielded questions from a sea of concerned residents. Many different topics were discussed during the nearly two-hour-long meeting, but everyone seemed to agree that the existing police station on Fisk Avenue must be addressed. Parts of the department are deteriorating, have mold issues and are not ADA-compliant.
Resident Diane Mevorach said there are many different options the borough can take to get a new police station aside from displacing the businesses at 623 River Road. That includes a potential shared service with Rumson, she suggested. Noting that Rumson’s police station is already new, Mevorach said residents of most other towns would have to drive further to their police station than it would be for Fair Haven residents to get to Rumson.
She also questioned whether the borough could demolish the existing police station on Fisk Avenue and rebuild it as it exists today because it is historic.
“There’s many, many options other than taking a good person’s building and displacing several businesses. The neighbors next door don’t like it, the businesses don’t like it,” said Mevorach. “It’s just a minute down the street. We’re only 1.6 square miles. We don’t need 13,000 square feet.”
She suggested the plan go to a vote for residents to weigh in on, which received a round of applause.
The article originally appeared in the March 12-18, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
