POST OFFICE PLAN MOVES ALONG WITH MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS ON NEW INVESTOR

The lack of information about the former Maplewood Village post office project continued this past week and will likely go forward as the Planning Board on Tuesday plans to consider a final resolution on the site plan, and a very secretive transfer of interest in the project occurred last week.

As we first reported on Thursday, the Township Committee gave initial approval to allowing developer Joe Forgione of JMF Properties to transfer the tax abatement, or PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes), to a new entity controlled by car dealer and minor league baseball owner Stave Kalafer.

Steve Kalafer

During the TC meeting, which neither attended, Mayor Vic De Luca and Township Attorney Roger Desiderio took pains to make clear the action was legal and did not require any public hearing or other approval.

But they did not state why the change was being done, what interest Kalafer would now have in the project -- which will create a three-story, 20-apartment unit, five-store complex -- or why Forgione sought his addition to the project.

Interestingly, at the same meeting, the TC and Deluca properly grilled a local homeowner whose house had been abandoned and is now slated for demolition. Two weeks earlier developers of the long-delayed Daibes Construction project on Springfield Avenue were subjected to harsh TC scrutiny, as they should be, and eventually deemed unfit to continue.

Joe Forgione

Contacted for comment, Kalafer did not respond, while Forgione said only that the site plan would not change and that Kalafer would "probably" invest in the project. Deluca also did not respond to requests for clarification.

At the meeting, former Mayor Fred Profeta asked why this was being done with no public input.

Advocacy group OHNO60 posted a critical item on its website that laid out concerns about the PILOT transfer.

And, of course, if you look on the Township website front page, there is no notice of the Planning Board meeting on Tuesday. You can see the agenda HERE.