As the Hillier redevelopment project appears to be on the verge of striking out, a West Windsor landowner is winding up to deliver a pitch. Steve Goldin of Stonewall Drive says his company, InterCap Holdings, would not only conduct a charrette process for the redevelopment zone, it would fund it as well. ##M:[more]##Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh says Goldin’s involvement could be a possibility.
“It would be better if the administration and the council could come to terms on how to proceed,” said Goldin, whose company owns four properties totaling 25 acres within the redevelopment zone. “We can give the town a process that may cause the administration and the new council majority to come together.”
Goldin proposes that the township undertake a better charrette process than the one it paid $330,”000 for Hillier Architects to organize. Goldin says in order to accomplish its goals, the township would need to take part in a process that costs $1.5 million.
“That’s what it costs to get the right breadth and depth of consultants,” says Goldin. “I don’t think there is any municipality that will spend that much. If you don’t have the budget to do it the way it should be done, you need to find a way to fund it.” InterCap is also funding a project by the non-profit National Charrette Institute to develop standard criteria that communities could use when commissioning a charrette.
He says if InterCap were to revisit the planning process, it would be capable of creating consensus by providing a week-long charrette held on consecutive days. He says his company would better publicize the event, provide a more interactive web presence, show better visual demonstrations of land use and traffic solutions, and would give participants more complete information in a more timely fashion than did Hillier’s process.
He says if the necessary research were to begin this summer, the charrette could be held by March, 2008. He envisions a process wherein participants are given devices to input how strongly they felt agreed or disagreed with a particular part of the plan. The system would instantly calibrate the audience’s reaction.
“I thought the people involved did a fine job given the resources they had,” said Goldin, who is also chairman of the New Jersey chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism. “Everyone on all sides of the issue had an unrealistic expectation for what the result of the process would be. Other towns hire expert consultants to be advised what to do. West Windsor hires expert consultants and tells them why they’re wrong.”
Hsueh said altering the township’s plans would involve getting the approval of council. He said also that Hillier’s input would still have to be considered.
“I think there needs to be some clarity, politically, about what is going on.” says Goldin. “Both sides are coming to realize that nothing productive is going to happen if they don’t work together. If there is paralysis, we might consider moving forward on our own.”
Goldin’s opinion on the shortcomings of West Windsor’s public process have been formed by his participation in the Hillier workshops as a stakeholder, by classes at the National Charrette Institute, and by the role he played in the Hamilton Township redevelopment process. As president of the Columbia Group, Goldin was hired by Hamilton Township to draft its redevelopment plan. Since the beginning of the process in West Windsor, officials have been vocal about avoiding Hamilton’s fate.
Goldin created the site plan for a residential development in Hamilton’s redevelopment area. The plan was approved by the planning board, and construction is underway, but Goldin is no longer involved. “I sold my share in the company and decided to go in a different direction,” said Goldin.
Goldin, a 1982 graduate of Harvard, has an MBA from Columbia. He has been the executive assistant to John Lynch, the former mayor of New Brunswick, and former state senator. In September, Lynch pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion. He and his business partner, Jack Westlake, used a consulting company to accept and hide kickbacks from contractors.
Goldin said he does not believe the stigma of having been involved in the Hamilton redevelopment will hurt his chances of being involved in West Windsor’s planning. “I think that experience is beneficial. I was able to see first-hand how a township should not go about its redevelopment. That is why we structured InterCap with a commitment to the open public process,” says Goldin.
He says West Windsor’ project is not similar to Hamilton’s. “In setting a course, West Windsor decided they wanted a different process than Hamilton.”
Goldin says that while his version of the project would be privately funded, his company would take measures to ensure that the residents would guide the process. “I’m not trying to take control of the process,” he says. “I advocate forming a blue ribbon committee — a group of people from the town, the mayor, someone from other side of aisle on council, a representative from the PJNC, the little league, the farmer’s market, the schools, and property owners, and business people. That committee would provide direction to the consultants, to assure the residents that the process is open and fair.”
Both Mayor Hsueh and Charles Morgan have met with Goldin. InterCap represents at least one large company that he says has interest in moving its headquarters to the area. None of the three will divulge the name of the company, but Goldin says it would be interested only in relocating next to a train station, and would require between 200,”000 and 300,”000 square feet of property, as opposed to most companies in the area, that currently lease less than 5,”000 square feet.
Goldin’s analysis of demand for office space at the train station are similar to what Hillier has said on the subject. “Companies in New York are paying $75 per square foot for office space. The going rate here is $35. Companies are willing to relocate if they can be within walking distance of a train station,” says Goldin. “The types of companies we’re talking to have a lot of intra-day travel. They want housing adjacent to the offices so their employees that who in New York could have ‘crash pads’ where they would spend nights if they needed to. That kind of housing wouldn’t have a negative effect on the school system, but the township would still be able to get the residential taxes.”
Goldin says housing would have to be a part of the redevelopment plan, and says mixed-use buildings would account for at least part of the residential development. “Every transit-oriented development in the country has mixed-use. People want to see the main street corridor redeveloped. They want to improve traffic flow, and beyond that, the broad issue is scope and scale. The township should decide what should be there, if anything,” he says. “If you go through the charrette process again, the public will come to their own conclusion about what will be best for the township. They need to have all the facts, and they need a fresh analysis done. They need politics removed from the process.”
Goldin started Intercap Holdings in February, 2006. In the time since, the company has purchased four contiguous sites along Washington Road near Station Drive. The 25 acres include 14 Washington Road, 20 Washington Road, 34-44 Washington Road, and 50 Washington Road. The properties include a number of office buildings known as Washington Park, and companies such as Linseis, Wang, Keane, and the West Windsor Parking Authority.
Morgan says Goldin has approached him with his idea for a new charrette process.
“If he is saying the Hillier plan failed, then I agree with him,” said Morgan. “But I’m not sure there is a whole lot of patience or appetite here for more charrettes. I told him I didn’t want to be a part of any discussions about the process that were not part of the public arena.”
Council President Linda Geevers doubts that the idea will be met with much support. “In my opinion, the residents will not stand for a developer-funded charrette process,” she said. “It must be community driven.”
Meanwhile, the current process has stalled. The mayor and Council President Linda Geevers have called for Hillier’s presentation to continue with a second public presentation of the final plan.
The meeting was initially set for June 18, but once the administration asked to postpone the date, Morgan and Will Anklowitz stalled, refusing to agree to a date until after Sunday, July 1. On that date, they will gain a majority on council when their running mate from the May election, George Borek, is sworn in, replacing Franc Gambatese. The three are likely to vote one of the three to the position of Council President.
The reorganization meeting will be held at Town Hall on Sunday, July 1, at 9 a.m.
