Being responsible and accountable for developing its own redevelopment plan, selecting a separate attorney for redevelopment, and designating both the Township Council and the mayor as the redevelopment entity are all things that worked out well for Robbinsville’s own redevelopment project, Robbinsville Mayor David Fried told the West Windsor council and about 40 residents in an open mic session on May 5.##M:[more]##
Fried was invited by the council to the May 5 meeting so residents and council could get a sense of what worked well — and what didn’t — in Robbinsville as the West Windsor council works on developing its own redevelopment plan for the 350-acre Princeton Junction train station area.
While the development of the Washington Town Center on the corner of Routes 33 and 130, which has taken place over the last 12 years, was developed during what was a rapidly expanding market, “I would have done more of the commercial up front and then proceeded with the residential units,” Fried told the council and residents. He said he would have also gotten all of the approvals from state agencies prior to construction. “Now, I’ve got half of the Town Center and half of the roadwork, and it’s been a struggle to get the other half,” he said.
Still, Fried said, the council’s creation of its own plan allowed the township to go through the process a lot more effectively. “From our perspective, I don’t think we would have gotten the product and look without it,” he said, pointing out that township officials were able to design everything right down to the sidewalks.
Selecting a separate redevelopment attorney, as opposed to giving that responsibility to the township attorney, is a good idea, he said, because “you don’t know where you might go with redevelopment, and sometimes it might be awkward for a township attorney,” especially given the ever-changing redevelopment laws at the state level, Fried said.
Councilwoman Heidi Kleinman asked: “Exactly what is an entity, and how did your town approach that decision?”
Fried told the council that Robbinsville decided that it wanted both the mayor and the council to be the redevelopment entity because when a municipality instead sets up a separate redevelopment agency, that agency is only accountable to itself, and not the government. “We didn’t want a redevelopment agency to turn into what wasn’t the will of the residents, and then have to explain to the residents who the redevelopment agency was and why it was doing what it was doing,” he said.
“We really want to be held accountable,” Fried added. “We really wanted it to be with council and the mayor.”
Councilman Charles Morgan asked whether the council had delegated the responsibility of creating a redevelopment plan to its planning board, or whether it came up with the plan by itself. Fried said the council designed the redevelopment plan, but has a close working relationship with the planning board. And because of “ever-changing” redevelopment law, the council and mayor have sent the plan back to the planning board a few times for another look, he said. “It’s a living, breathing thing,” Fried said.
Morgan also asked who paid for the redevelopment, and whether Robbinsville used tax increment financing — a method proposed to be used in West Windsor in which amenities in the redevelopment area could be funded without risking taxpayer money. Instead, bonds would be issued to private and institutional investors that will finance redevelopment. If the bonds can’t be repaid, those investors can’t look to West Windsor taxpayers, but instead will have to fully bear the risk of loss.
Fried said that all of the development in Robbinsville has been paid for by private developers. “We’ve been fortunate all of our improvements were done by the developers,” he said. “In hindsight, we would have liked to have done tax increment financing,” he said, pointing out that when the project began 12 years ago, tax increment financing was not a well-known or heavily-used method. “I’m sad that we didn’t do it.”
Morgan also asked whether Robbinsville hired an investment consultant to make economic, build-out, and school children impact assumptions.
While Robbinsville did hire a consultant, Fried said, “unfortunately for us, it was just about 100 percent wrong, primarily on the number of school children.” He said that the initial projections of the numbers of children to be brought in by the development were inaccurate, compared with the high number of 1.5 children per house on average that the township has seen now. The reason the consulting firm told Robbinsville officials that far fewer children could be expected was because the development of 700 units — primarily townhouses and about 300 lofts — would have very small lots. But it was the school system’s good reputation that made it attractive to families with small children, he said. Now, Robbinsville is “$80 million in debt, primarily because we’ve been building schools,” he said. The school board has told the township it may need another elementary school, Fried said.
Morgan pointed out that West Windsor-Plainsboro school board member Stan Katz has projected that enrollment in the WW-P district will plateau, and that over the next couple of years, the district will actually be losing about 100 kids a year. Katz also projects redevelopment would bring in about .28 kids per unit, which is also a number that David Listokin of Rutgers University, another expert, has agreed with. So, Morgan said, it would take 300 units to level out the number of school children, according to Katz’s numbers.
On the south side of Town Center, Fried says he is pushing for the commercial development to be built first, and the residential later, so that more commercial ratables could be brought into the township’s tax base.
Resident Marshall Lerner said he’s gone to Town Center and noticed that there have been a lot of vacancies in the commercial properties. “Our challenge hasn’t been getting tenants,” Fried said in response. “Our challenge has been getting buildings done.”
And with the commercial, Fried said, “we clearly didn’t put in enough parking,” Fried said. He said the township thought many people would be walking to the Town Center, which hasn’t turned out to be the case, and the parking situation has actually gotten worse. Since then, the township has had to add another parking lot.
Council President Will Anklowitz asked whether Robbinsville had a quality bidder resolution — a resolution that would ensure that construction companies bidding on large township projects provide pension plans, health benefits, and apprenticeship-training programs for their employees, which has been another hot topic for debate in West Windsor. A resolution on that matter is on the agenda for the council’s meeting on Monday, May 19.
Fried said that to date, Robbinsville does not have one. But in one section of the redevelopment area, “we had a building that was not done well and had to be rehabbed,” he said. “We are going to be much more careful.’
Fried said housing units in Town Center mostly consisted of three or four bedrooms, but that the township is now only allowing two bedrooms or less. West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said that in West Windsor, the proposal is to only allow two bedrooms or less. He asked whether Fried thought this would make a difference. “I would assume that would make a difference,” Fried said, saying he doesn’t know any of the specifics of West Windsor’s plans.
Hsueh asked Fried why Robbinsville didn’t take a phased approach when it came to doing redevelopment and constructing the housing units. Fried said he thinks that in hindsight, that may have been better, but it has been a challenge because the two access points — routes 33 and 130 — are controlled by the state. The township had signed agreements with the state DOT commissioner, which were “lost” later on, he said, after the township looked at building a $2 million bypass road.
Resident Al Lerner asked what specific strategy Robbinsville used to get developers to fund improvements and amenities, including two lakes and two parks, according to Fried. Fried said it all came down to planning ahead. “We had negotiated everything up front,” Fried said. “We knew how it was going to work.”
