Myth: It’s over. Chatham Borough must sacrifice the vacant, Borough-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic Avenue to build four apartments right next to Memorial Park.
Reality: It isn’t over. Once the Judge has ruled on Chatham’s affordable housing plan, the Borough Council can propose an alternative site or project.
Source:Sworn testimony of Chatham Borough Planner Kendra Lelie at the 18 June 2025 Planning Board Hearing on the new Housing Element of the Borough’s revised Master Plan:
Q: Planning Board Member William Heap: Kendra, let’s say the Plan is adopted. It is approved. And somewhere down the line, somehow, magically, another piece of land appears. Is there room after approval for a little bit of horse trading?
A: Kendra Lelie:So, after the approval from the Court, it is not uncommon that things happen, things change… Maybe something better comes up – and a better opportunity comes up. So yes, it’s a possibility.
Contrary to popular rumors, Chatham Borough need not build housing on the wooded, Borough-owned lot at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to our Memorial Park.
But the Mayor & Council will sacrifice that green lot anyway unless you tell them not to!
Starting 1 January 2026, the Borough can offer alternative ways to complete the new Housing Element of the Master Plan.
Q: Planning Board Member William Heap:Kendra, let’s say the Plan is adopted. It is approved. And somewhere down the line, somehow, magically, another piece of land appears. Is there room after approval for a little bit of horse trading?
A: Chatham Borough Planner Kendra Lelie:So, after the approval from the Court, it is not uncommon that things happen, things change… Maybe something better comes up – and a better opportunity comes up. So yes, it’s a possibility.
What can you do?Ask the Mayor & Borough Council:
What substantive steps have our Mayor & Council been taking to prepare to identify better alternatives to developing 58 North Passaic Avenue?
When will the Mayor & Borough Council begin to search for better alternatives?
This time, will the Mayor & Borough Council perform due diligence on all parcels, including sites the clandestine Affordable Housing Advisory Committee never gave proper consideration, as well as sites the Committee never considered at all?
Stop by the Council meeting, Monday, 8 September 2025, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave. (Use the north entrance. Take the elevator to the upper level. Speaking is optional.)
Is it too late to preserve the wooded, Borough-owned lot at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to home plate at Memorial Park?No!
In case you haven’t heard, that lovely, green parcel is targeted for development under a controversial Master Plan amendment that also allows construction of up to 206 new apartments on the busy east end of Main Street.
In June, Hundreds of residents protested that plan, but to no avail.
If the Mayor & Council choose instead to sacrifice 58 North Passaic without having considered all the alternatives, they will lose the chance to achieve a better outcome for Chatham Borough.
To avoid that fate, the Mayor & Council must begin searching for better options immediately after Labor Day.
What are they doing about that?
What substantive steps have our Mayor & Council been taking to prepare to identify better alternatives to developing 58 North Passaic Avenue?
Stop by the Council meeting, Monday, 8 September 2025, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave. (Use the north entrance. Take the elevator to the upper level. Speaking is optional.)
Incredible but true: Our elected officials aim to sacrifice the little, green, wooded, Borough-owned lot at 58 North Passaic, right next to our Memorial Park, for two buildings, with four apartments and a parking lot.
On June 18th, the Planning Board will approve that development unless enough residents start emailing questions today to mayorcouncil@chathamborough.org, and go to the Planning Board meeting this Wednesday, June 4, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, Chatham.
The Borough had that nearly 0.3-acre site on its wish list for 25 years before putting up taxpayer dollars to buy it for recreation. Check out the following clips from the November 15, 1981 issue of The Chatham Press and the November 17, 1981 issue of the Morristown Record:
Borough taxpayers shelled out $68,000 to acquire that land by deed dated March 31, 1982.
Now the Council is trying to steamroll the Planning Board into sacrificing that green lot by cramming in a 4-unit housing project and parking lot, to satisfy 4/6 of the Borough’s new affordable housing quota.
Screenshot
The Borough needs to consider other ways to satisfy its housing quota so that we can preserve that green, grassy, treed, Borough-owned lot.
You can help! Attend the Planning Board meeting on June 4, 7:30 pm, at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue. Chatham Borough. Use the north entrance and take the elevator to the upper level.
Showing up shows you care, even if you arrive late and leave early. Speaking is optional. Please bring a friend.
You won’t be able to ask questions if you Zoom the meeting, but it’s far better than not attending at all. Log in following the directions on the Borough home page www.chathamborough.org. Don’t log out even if you can’t pay attention.
Really tied up on June 4?Email the Mayor & Council right now:
Hearing conflicting claims about affordable housing? Like to separate the facts from spin & fiction?
Free ice cream at Scoops, a slice at Bucky’s, or coffee at Fleur de Sel for the first person who can find a factual error in the following post.
MYTH: Chatham Borough has a history of shirking its affordable housing obligations!
REALITY: Not so. The Borough has met its affordable housing quotas so far.
MYTH: Before June 30, Chatham must agree to build affordable housing on the green, woodsy, vacant, Borough-owned lot at 58 N. Passaic, right next to Memorial Park, or else the Borough will risk lawsuits that would destroy the town!
REALITY: Not so. Like virtually all other NJ municipalities, Chatham Borough has until the end of June to revise the Housing Element of its Master Plan to meet a new quota, but the Borough is NOT required to build anything on that particular green, woodsy, vacant, Borough-owned lot right next to Memorial Park, and the Borough cannot be held liable for declining to let a developer build there.
MYTH: The Planning Board must have had a good reason for choosing to develop that green, woodsy, vacant, Borough-owned lot right next to Memorial Park!
REALITY: No, the Planning Board did NOT select that lot for development. Only a few political bosses even heard about it before May 7, when a non-resident expert told the Planning Board about a proposal to change Borough policy by changing the Housing Element of the Master Plan, an amendment they won’t see until at least June 6, but will be steamrolled into adopting on June 18.Start approx. 46:00 here: https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=368
MYTH: The Borough Council must have had a good reason for choosing to develop that green, vacant, Borough-owned lot right next to Memorial Park!
REALITY: The Council did NOT vote to select that lot for development. Half the Council never heard about it until a few days before the Planning Board first heard about it on May 7. The Council never even mentioned it in public until the May 12 Council meeting, when residents started asking questions. The Mayor said they couldn’t talk about it, but the reason, if any, was not clear. If the Council can’t discuss a change in Borough policy, who can?
MYTH: There must be some explanation. Nobody would sacrifice a green, wooded, vacant, Borough-owned lot right next to Memorial Park without having determined that it was the best – or only feasible – option.
REALITY: So far nobody’s shown any evidence that anybody considered any alternatives before targeting that green, woodsy, vacant, Borough-owned lot right next to Memorial Park.The expert who presented the idea to the Planning Board said essentially, we owned that lot, and the developer wanted it, so we made a deal. Start approx. 1:09:00 here: https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=368
MYTH: The Environmental & Shade Tree Commissions must have approved targeting for development this green, woodsy, vacant, Borough-owned location right next to Memorial Park!
REALITY: No, neither Commission was even consulted. The Environmental Commission members who aren’t also political bosses didn’t hear about it until residents broke the news to them at the May 14 meeting. The only person on the Shade Tree Commission who knew about it was Council member Karen Korenkiewicz, who kept mum about it until a resident shocked the Shade Tree Commission with the news at its May 22 meeting.
MYTH: This wasn’t a secret, back-room deal, so there must be some record as to who chose that green, woodsy, vacant, Borough-owned lot and why!
REALITY: On May 7th the expert told the Planning Board the proposal was the work of a certain “advisory committee.” But the committee she credited with developing the proposal has NO public meetings, NO agendas, NO minutes, and takes NO public input. It isn’t even on the list of advisory committees on the Borough website as of yesterday.
MYTH: They’re going to do what they’re going to do. You can’t make any difference!
REALITY: Yes you can make a difference. You did it with the rolling reassessment, the peddler curfew, Post Office plaza, and the Middle School Arts Center. You can do it again. Our local leaders tend to consider their actions far more carefully when faced with strong public interest in an issue.
So whatever your views:
Talk to friends on the Council, Planning & Zoning Boards, and the Environmental & Shade Tree Commissions.
Write mayorcouncil@chathamborough.org and shadetree@chathamborough.org.
Attend or Zoom the Council meeting on Tuesday, 5/27/25 and Planning Board meeting on 6/4/25, both at 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level.
Who is responsible for the Master Plan amendment our Planning Board won’t see until June 6, but is under pressure to adopt on June18, setting Borough housing policy for the next ten years?
Why did our Borough Council let someone concoct such a plan 100% behind closed doors, without any public input?
Why does that plan include developing a vacant, green, woodsy, Borough-owned lot right next to Memorial Park?
58 N. Passaic Avenue
Was it ok for our Borough Council to skip presenting that plan in public, skip voting on it, skip running it by the Shade Tree Commission or Environmental Commission, and instead simply pay a hired planner to present a summary to our Planning Board?
Did the Council have an obligation to explain, release, or disclose the actual plan BEFORE turning it over to the Planning Board?
Did having the planner tell the Planning Board about the plan really muzzle the Borough Council as claimed?
Is the Planning Board required to approve the plan, which it won’t even see until at least June 6?
If the Planning Board is required to rubber stamp the never-before-seen plan, which the Council has never voted on or even discussed in public, then who is responsible for the policy decisions that will guide local decision making for the next ten years?
Why does the Council President say answering questions like that would expose her to “legal risk”?
Ask her: Jmathiasen@chathamborough.org
Ok with you if the Planning Board votes to develop that green, vacant, Borough-owned lot right next to the park without having justified or explained that choice?
UPDATE:There’s ONE more Council meeting before the political bosses steamroll our Planning Board into approving the sacrifice of the vacant, green, Borough-owned lot at 58 N. Passaic! ONE last chance to talk the Council off this ledge! That chance is TUESDAY, May 27, 2025, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Main Street, upper level. (It’s set to start at 6:30 pm, but probably will be open to the public at approx. 7:30 pm.)
Great turnout at the May 12th Borough Council meeting. People showed up to hear and talk about the proposal to sacrifice this precious, Borough-owned, open, green lot at 58 North Passaic (just north of Memorial Field) to build an apartment project.
But who came up with this whole scheme? Who chose these particular sites? What else did they consider?
Why would they choose to develop this green, vacant, Borough-owned lot, right next to Memorial Field?
Why not put that apartment project at a better location, preferably on a lot that’s already developed?
Why didn’t we have a chance to weigh in on the decision? Why can’t we see the actual proposal until June 6? Why didn’t we even hear about it until May 4, more than a year after the new law kicked in?
Unless you can talk some sense into our leaders WELL BEFORE JUNE 18, they will do away with that little green space on North Passaic forever.
Last good chance to make a difference is the Council meeting on May 27th, 7:30 pm, at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.
Have you heard about the Borough’s proposed affordable housing plan for 2025-2035? The Planning Board heard about it last night.
They’re going to vote on it on June 18, and after that it will be the heart of our Master Plan for the next ten years.
Of course, Borough residents and other taxpayers will have to pay for it in taxes, traffic, and quality of life, but you aren’t allowed to actually SEE the plan until June 6, nearly a month away.
And after that, you won’t have a chance to ask questions or comment until the June 18 meeting where the Planning Board votes to adopt the new plan.
Your only real chance to ask questions or comment before then is at the Council meeting this Monday May 12th, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.
You indulge in restaurants, travel, parties, gifts, and concert tickets, and then discover you don’t have enough money left for necessities like your mortgage payment or groceries.
What should you do?
Incur more debt? Make your spouse take a second job to cover necessities?
That’s what our Mayor and some Borough Council members seem to think.
Faced with an urgent need for two or three new fire trucks to replace a dangerously aging fleet, they continued to prioritize lower priority expenses, like public art, street decorations, concerts, parades, celebrations, tennis courts, and the Stanley Center.
Now they’re tying to tell us that the Borough can afford the desperately needed ladder truck only because the Borough is moonlighting as a real estate developer to bring in new PILOT income from the giant Ivy apartment project on River Road.
That’s the thrust of the April 28 budget presentation, an extended infomercial for PILOTS, starting at approx. minute 1:39:30 here:
That might make sense if the Mayor & Council were required to place a higher priority on the fun stuff. But it isn’t. The Council’s highest priority must be public safety, including adequate fire trucks. The fun stuff must come second.
At that April 28 meeting, Mayor & Council ignored all that, and tried to justify the Ivy PILOT deal (and warm you up for the next PILOT project in the pipeline) by claiming a good chunk of the revenue will be put aside for the ladder truck.
Don’t fall for that.
In fact, the PILOT payments go into the Borough’s general fund, along with revenue from various other sources, including your property taxes.
Because money is fungible, there is no way Mayor Council can say if a certain dollar came from property taxes, or PILOT revenue, or some other source, like the ECLC rents or the parking fees.
Pretending they can is pure spin.
Simple fact is, every time they raise spending, you lose the tax break that the PILOT payments could afford.
Time to tell our Mayor & Council to do the right thing:
First, take care of absolute necessities, like the ladder fire truck. before considering secondary expenses and discretionary items likepublic art, concerts, parades, celebrations, decorations, and the Stanley Center.
Second, the Council should NOT use the PILOT revenue as an excuse to increase spending. Use it to reduce the tax rate.
Third, if the Council wants extra goodies, let the voters decide whether or not to sacrifice the tax break to get those goodies.
After all, it’s your money they’re spending. Find out how the Mayor & Council aim to spend it while there’s still time to influence the outcome.
Stop by the next Council meeting, May 12 at 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.You don’t need to speak.
You first heard about the Ivy on River Road and the new building on Main Street too late to make your opinion count?
Love it or hate it, the time to weigh in is BEFORE they break ground.
Consider the NEXT two big decisions facing Chatham Borough:
First, how will the Borough satisfy its affordable housing quota (RDP) for the next ten years?
That’s something the Planning Board must decide before the end of June. So far they haven’t let us in on their thinking.
What are the options?What do they have in mind? How many new apartments can we expect? Where might they be built? What will they cost us in higher taxes, more traffic & environmental issues, and lower quality of life?
Second, what about the Council’s upcoming Redevelopment Plan for River Road, a 500-unit project, TWICE the size of the Ivy, and almost certainly property tax-free?
Why would the Mayor & Council pursue such a thing, knowing the project is NOT needed to satisfy the Borough’s RDP affordable housing quota and would NOT count toward the quota?
Of course the project would enrich the lucky redevelopers, but would it benefit Borough residents in any way? If so, howexactly?
If you care about the future of your hometown, you will start asking those questions before it’s too late, or at least observe a meeting to show you care.
Go to the Council meeting at 7:30 pm this Monday, April 28 at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level. You need not speak or even stay to the end.
