DUI Lawyers in Wanaque, NJ

Long frustrated by the state of the Lakeside Manor townhouse development site off Mountain Lakes Drive, Wanaque officials have moved to condemn it.

On July 10, town council members voted in favor of designating the site a condemnation area in need of redevelopment and making it eligible for eminent domain.

Local officials in 2016 designated the site a non‐condemnation area in need of redevelopment, citing deterioration and neglect. The following year, they approved a redevelopment plan and a settlement with the owner. The agreement allowed principal owner and developer Jacinto Rodrigues to form a new company called Wanaque Urban Renewal Corp. and accept the borough's payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, offer to execute the project.

The unfinished townhouse was demolished down to its foundation. The redevelopment, however, never occurred. Deadlines were missed, and borough officials voided the deal.

In the July 10 resolution approving the condemnation of the site, officials described their efforts to see the site redeveloped as "Herculean."

Considered abandoned by borough officials, the site has become detrimental to public health, safety and welfare, according to a Planning Board decision in 2022. By condemning the property, borough officials can control the redevelopment effort.

The original plan called for 64 townhouses in a neighborhood fitted with shade trees, street lights and sidewalks. Later pared to 47 units, the development began to take shape in 1999. Water and sewer infrastructure was buried. Development restrictions in the state's Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act in 2004 halted the project. Those restrictions were eased for the site by a 2011 court ruling, but the project remained stalled.

Late in 2014, officials with Greentree Investment Group inked an agreement to purchase the Lakeside Manor project from Rodrigues' J&S Group, Inc. It was never executed, however. The company and its affiliate Mountain Lakes Estates, Inc. still own the site, according to tax records. The entities have until late August to legally challenge the borough's redevelopment designation, according to state statute.

Attempts to reach Rodrigues on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

WANAQUE — Borough officials are gearing up for the acquisition of the Lakeside Manor townhouse development site off Mountain Lakes Drive by eminent domain.

An ordinance pending adoption in October may set the stage for the condemnation of the property and its transfer to the local government for redevelopment, borough records show. The ordinance would usher in a new amendment for the borough's redevelopment plan for the partially improved site that establishes "the necessity and authorization for condemnation."

The site's future remains in limbo due to a looming court battle between the borough and the longtime property owner. A case management conference for a year-old case regarding the Borough Council's 2023 decision to condemn the site is expected in the coming week, state Superior Court records show.

Originally envisioned as a 64-townhouse neighborhood with shade trees, streetlights and sidewalks, the project was reduced to 47, units and construction began in 1999. Although the infrastructure for water and sewers was installed, and one building was constructed, development was halted in 2004 due to restrictions under the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act.

A 2011 court ruling eased those restrictions, but the project remained stalled. Borough officials ultimately began to rescind approvals, citing deteriorating site conditions, and developed a redevelopment plan for the site, leading to legal appeals from the property owner, J&S Group Inc.

The sole constructed building has since been demolished.

The pending amendment to the redevelopment plan would be the fourth since the plan was adopted in 2016. According to borough records, it would consolidate the properties and terminate the previously approved site plans. The principal permitted use on the property would nonetheless remain attached multifamily residences, records show. The total units would be capped at 62.

Last year, the Borough Council voted to designate the property as a condemnation area in need of redevelopment, making it eligible for eminent domain, roughly seven years after classifying it as a non-condemnation area in need of redevelopment due to its deterioration and neglect. That previous action led to litigation and a settlement that allowed developer Jacinto Rodrigues of J&S Group Inc. to form Wanaque Urban Renewal Corp. and take advantage of the borough's payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, program to execute the project.

The project restarted. Roads were paved. However, the full vision never materialized. Deadlines were missed, and the borough ultimately voided the agreement. The property, now considered abandoned, was deemed a public health, safety and welfare hazard by the Planning Board in 2022. What was built was demolished to the foundation.

Rodrigues' J&S Group Inc. and affiliates, however, said in court filings that they were prevented by borough officials from proceeding with construction or transferring the property to another developer. They have also argued that town officials have intentionally devalued the property amid valuation proceedings in federal court and failed to show why the site should be condemned.

3-minute read

NorthJersey.com

State officials this week rebuffed a North Jersey District Water Supply Commission plan to build a pair of solar panel islands on the Wanaque Reservoir.

Officials at the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities said the plan's benefits were outweighed by a failure to address site-specific concerns raised by the board, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Highlands Council.

The system as proposed would consist of two floating platforms topped with solar panels, according to commission records. Each "island" would be about 10 acres in size and positioned on the reservoir's surface near the commission's water treatment plant on F.A. Orechio Drive in Wanaque., records show.

According to Highlands Council records, the project in 2021 received an exemption from regional development restrictions through its classification as a public utility upgrade. However, officials at the Board of Public Utilities have cited concerns that the solar arrays would end up at least partially on prohibited land in the environmentally sensitive Highlands Preservation Area, board records show.

On Jan. 10, board officials denied an eligibility waiver for the project's participation in the second round of the state's Competitive Solar Incentive Program. More specific information was needed to address land use concerns and gain Department of Environmental Protection support, they said. In official correspondence, board officials cited a need for further waivers, permits and restoration plans.

During the board's Jan. 10 meeting, Commissioner Zenon Christodoulou said it was a difficult decision to make and encouraged developers to "be a little bit more precise with their filings."

"Part of what we're trying to do is get as much renewable energy out there as we can," he said.

The North Jersey District Water Supply Commission in late 2023 was one of several applicants hoping to join the incentive-based program established by the state's Solar Act of 2021 and overseen by the Board of Public Utilities. Designed to encourage the development of 3,750 megawatts of solar production by 2026, the program offers renewable energy credits for hitting solar production milestones.

In full operation, the 10 megawatt direct current system proposed for the Wanaque Reservoir could produce enough electricity to power about 6,000 to 7,000 homes. Officials of the commission, who in 2019 set a goal of powering its operations entirely through renewable energy by 2024, plan to use it to generate roughly 90% of the annual energy requirements.

Popular in Asia, floating solar panel systems are relatively new in the Garden State. One solar system operator, New Jersey Resources Clean Energy Ventures, opened the state's first in 2020. It now runs that 4.4 megawatt facility in Sayreville and a 8.9 megawatt array at the Canoe Brook Reservoir in Millburn that went online in 2023. In a statement, company Vice President Robert Pohlman said the systems create "new opportunities for underutilized bodies of water, allowing space that would otherwise sit vacant to enable large-scale renewable energy generation."

The systems are simple in concept. Solar panels are attached to rafts that are interconnected and anchored to prevent drifting. The water helps keep the panels cool. The panels work to limit evaporation.

There are drawbacks, however. The costs are higher, and there are risks of disrupting a water body's ecosystem with large light-blocking arrays, experts have said.

For the proposed project on the Wanaque Reservoir, the arrays would cover less than 1% of the 3.6-square-mile reservoir's surface area. Land disturbance would be limited to land already used by the facility and along existing roads, commission records show.

Commission officials could not be reached for comment after the board decision but have argued against land use concerns by saying the project will not occupy any open space within the sensitive Highlands Preservation Area environment. The reservoir was built in the 1920s, after a municipal coalition formed with the goal of developing water supplies throughout North Jersey.

A town had to be razed. More than 70 buildings, including a 19th-century paper mill, were destroyed to make room for the water. Four cemeteries were moved.

The reservoir opened in 1930. Today, it serves about 3.5 million people and includes a 21-mile aqueduct that feeds Newark's Belleville Reservoir. Another 18-mile aqueduct, constructed in the early 1980s, can supply about 80 million gallons of water per day to the Oradell Reservoir. A third, which covers about 11 miles, can move up to 250 million gallons a day from the Passaic and Pompton rivers north to replenish the reservoir, according to commission records.

2-minute read

NorthJersey.com

POMPTON LAKES — Borough officials are pushing forward with more downtown redevelopment efforts, recently approving a 30-year payment instead of taxes agreement for a four-story, 23-unit apartment complex at 60 Wanaque Ave.

Local officials reviewed the project's financial and municipal impacts in March, including the PILOT or payment in lieu of taxes deal their experts tell them should bring in about $2.5 million in municipal revenue over the next 30 years.

The project by Pequannock-based Soojian Brothers Construction is slated for the former gas station site across the street from the Pompton Lakes Town Square retail complex and adjacent to Tatiana’s Tailor & Dry Cleaners, local records show.

Estimated at a cost of $6.3 million, the development was one of a handful in recent years identified by borough officials as ideal for a PILOT agreement that would provide the borough with annual revenue based on the larger of either a percentage of gross revenue or the amount of conventional property taxes.

Bryan Morris, a borough consultant from Phoenix Advisors, said during a borough council meeting in March that the agreement would generate an estimated average of $83,000 in net revenue over 30 years. With a 20-year agreement followed by typical tax revenue distribution for 10 years, the town might net about $1.75 million, he said.

Additionally, the agreement allows the borough to collect a 2% annual administrative fee, of which 5% would go to the county, during the term of the agreement, he said. Land taxes would continue to be distributed to the county and school district, Morris added.

Steve Mlenak, an attorney with Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis representing the project developer, said that without a PILOT, the project would not happen and the site would remain as it is — responsible for about $5,600 in annual property taxes, according to county records.

The plan for 60 Wanaque Ave. is one of many in a multi-year effort to revitalize downtown Pompton Lakes and establish new tax revenue sources. Once a regional shopping destination, the downtown has struggled in recent decades in comparison to its heyday in the 20th century, according to borough officials.

After being granted a redevelopment plan amendment by council members, the project is expected to have commercial office space on the first floor rather than retail storefronts, a key component of other projects involved in the revitalization program. The new retail space — as well as new residential units — included in downtown redevelopment projects have caused some concern among residents in recent years regarding parking, traffic and the potential displacement of existing businesses.

While the PILOT agreement was approved unanimously by the borough council, Councilwoman Jennifer Polidori said there were some questions that went unanswered on taxpayer impact and council members only received pertinent information on the deal the day of the vote. She called the dissemination of information before the vote "an absolute disgrace."

Mayor Michael Serra said the details were generally left up to the town's consultants, who gave a presentation on the PILOT agreement on March 12, ahead of the vote. The town's consultants are experts in PILOT agreements and negotiated the deal, he said.

"They recommended everything," he said during the council's March 26 meeting. "It didn't come from this council."

Serra said the agreement, one of dozens inked in the region in recent years, is set to bring the town about 95% of the site's property taxes for its duration. The town's 2024 cut was about 25% of total property tax, state records show. The remainder went to the county government and school district.