MVA President John James and Maplewood Village Alliance Director Julia Doran made their plea at the Township Committee Budget Hearing on Saturday, stating that the pending demolition of the post office and subsequent construction of the new retail/housing complex will have a "significant impact" on the merchants and residents.
"This is going to have a great impact on our village and on our merchants and it needs special care in the coming year," James told the TC. "Our new initiatives for the coming year really center around the Post House construction, management, beautification and then events, promotions and marketing."
Toward that end, the MVA is requesting an additional $50,400 in Township funding for needs specifically related to the impact from the demolition and construction. About half of that would be for printing, banners and other media expenses aimed at alerting would-be shoppers to parking and other ways to visit the Village and avoid disruption from the project.
That is in addition to the regular annual $13,500 in Township funding for the MVA, which would be the same as last year. The Alliance's total regular budget is $80,000, with most of that from an assessment on its members and merchants.
"We feel there is going to be a significant amount of impact (for 12 months)," James told the TC. "We put together a proposal that had monthly media and printing, that had some professional fees to spend time marketing during this and it also had implementation fees for various events."
Doran added, "We need to do things in addition to what we normally do so merchants don't see a significant fall off during that time."
They even have a working slogan for the Village and the new development that will include a three-story building with 20 apartments and five retail shops: New Jersey's Best Downtown is Just Getting Better.
The MVA officials said some of the special events being considered to promote the Village and the new project might include a groundbreaking, demolition party, and ribbon cuttings, "to try to put a positive spin on what we are doing, trying to be ahead of it, make some of these things fun and interesting."
At this point, the MVA funding requests remain unapproved and will not be put in place until the entire budget is approved by the Township Committee, likely sometime next month.
11 comments:
Shouldn't the Post Office Site developer be paying for this cost? Why should it be the burden of the taxpayers. It is the developer who is disturbing, maybe upending for almost 2 years the downtown Village. Don't we pay enough in taxes?
This is out of control spending by our TC, along with all the rest. Make a list...Post Office give away, Parkign lots, Church, WC debacle, and more...why are we paying for all of this? Let's invest in our schools instead.
A party for demolition of a site that is in seal able condition?
Now the alliance is seeing the 'significant impact " the event will have on business for a year ? NOW . Where were they during all of the discussions ? Were they not agreeing to all of it ? There are ways to do this without adding anything to the budget ..and is the role of the VA to have figured that out ..
This entire situation continues to be an affront to the citizens of this town. This should, unquestionably be the burden of the developer. Not meaning to beat a dead horse but I still can't fathom the rationale behind the mayor and town council selling this site for only $1 million (the avg. price of a house in Roosevelt Park) and why the developer was given tax rebates as well?
The MVA can EAD. They endorsed the project for the new customer-residents. They said they would make more money, not less.
I'd rather the 50k go to trying to keep some teachers in the district rather than PR to something that is already proving to be a money pit, we sold for less than the price of a house on Hickory, paid for abatement, gave a PILOT, loosing parking, they don't seem to have any plans to fix the sewer in the street, the town is going to float a 600k bond to buy lots we already have access to, add to all of that the loss of charm that won the best downtown in NJ as well... this is getting crazier and crazier by the day...
For any resident living in our Community there are so many underlying reasons why many Citizens were concerned about the P.O. re-development Planning Process with the lack of Full Transparency in Governance process by TC when a wealthy Developer got away with purchasing the P.O. site at a Sales Price Far Less than Market Value, along with a PILOT and as our Tax Payers are continuing to subsidize the Development as they are now being asked to pay more money towards Funding .. to float a 600K Bond to buy parking Lots in order to fix the sewer lines for the Developer and now the Village Alliance who voted for this P.O. proposal wishes to ask for more money (our Taxes).. Let the Village Alliance find other alternatives such as asking the wealthy Developer to contribute more towards their own expenses. This is absolutely Ludicrous in how TC voted on the P.O. site and how we as Tax Payers are only now being asked to contribute more money.?
It is becoming more problematic for our Community to hear only now about the news after finding out how poorly this PILOT / Development agreement was reached by the TC and Developer for the Post Office site. Why weren't these details in the PILOT agreement more forthcoming to the Public.? Transparency and in Clarity of the Terms of the PILOT when additional Demolition and Construction Costs will have to be absorbed now by Maplewood Tax Payers to float a $600K Bond on behalf of a wealthy Developer to fix sewer line.? And now the Maplewood Village Alliance have the audacity to ask for more Tax Payer money to offset disruption of demolition / construction of P.O. site.? What happens if the Timeline to complete this P.O. site with all of the demolition and construction goes beyond the initial demolition / construction period which was agreed upon between the TC and Developer.? Who will ultimately pay the Price.? Will the Village Alliance ask for more money in following years as a result of their full endorsement of this PILOT / Post Office redevelopment agreement with a wealthy Developer.? This is absolutely Foolhardy .. Let the MVA ask the Developer to contribute more towards the their MVA expenses rather than asking the Maplewood Tax Payers to fund a poorly agreed upon PILOT / Post Office Sale by the TC to a Developer who is substantially benefiting at the expense of our Residents and Tax Payers. When is the next TC election.?
Next TC election? - not soon enough...How about a recall election?
25% of registered voters on a petition gets you a recall.
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