The courage to do right by Chatham
How did Chatham Borough manage to escape the Kushners’ big, reckless, commercial overdevelopment scheme that would have destroyed downtown Post Office Plaza, wiped out parking, tied up traffic, and jeopardized our schools? Simple: Borough Council president Irene Treloar had the courage to vote her conscience on May 2, 2022. Thanks, Irene!
Now thanks to a wise Morris County judge, Chatham Borough will have a chance to build 15 affordable apartments at Post Office Plaza – and not 85 unaffordable apartments.
#KEEPCHATHAMSMALL
The rich Kushner developers are still trying to force Chatham Borough to let them build a 100-unit rental apartment project at Post Office Plaza – instead of our own 15-affordable apartment house, which the Borough Council voted to approve last May 2.
Will the Kushners get away with that?
Find out this Thursday, August 25, when the Honorable Stephen Hansbury will consider if it’s better for Post Office Plaza to house 15 families or 100 families with no place for children to play.
Interested? Come to the Morris County courthouse, Court & Anne Streets, CR 151, at 1:30 pm on Thursday August 25, 2022.
You read in the local paper about an August 9 hearing on the Kushners’ sore looser lawsuit against Chatham Borough over the fate of Post Office Plaza? Not so!
The judge has postponed that hearing to August 25, when he’ll also consider Final Compliance and related actions by Fair Share Housing Center.
Nearly three years ago, Chatham’s Mayor & Borough Council granted a Kushner family-led partnership the exclusive right to submit proposals for a Borough-sponsored real estate development at Post Office Plaza.
Kushner and partners failed to come up with a proposal acceptable to the Borough.
Best they could offer was a hulking, 100-rental unit, commercial apartment/retail project. It would have provided 15 affordable apartments, but wiped out existing public parking, clogged up traffic on Main Street, cost taxpayers heaven-only-knows-what, and destroyed the small town charm of our Borough. Residents didn’t like it.
On January 26, 2022, our Mayor & Council let the exclusive period lapse, and began to entertain other proposals. On May 2, they voted to build a modest, 15-family, all-affordable apartment house at Post Office Plaza.
Instead of accepting that decision, on Wednesday, June 8 the Kushner partnership asked an affordable housing judge to force our Mayor & Council to accept the commercial real estate project they had just voted down.
The judge chose July 8 as the date for a hearing on the Kushner motion, making it unlikely that the judge will decide as expected on June 24 whether Chatham has fulfilled its affordable housing obligations. https://chathamchoice.org/2022/05/whats-next-for-post-office-plaza-2/
Last Friday, June 10, the Borough Council cancelled its regular Monday, June 13 meeting, only to turn around and schedule a special meeting for 5:00 pm this coming Wednesday, June 22.
Behind the scenes, our paid experts have been revising a key Borough document called the Housing Element & Fair Share Plan to satisfy the Borough’s obligations under the Secret Agreement dated June 14, 2021 as amended (paragraphs 8(b)(iii) and 12.) https://chathamchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/06-14-2021-Settlement-Agreement-Chatham-Borough-MRS-L-1906-15-Fully-Executed.pdf
The revised Housing Element will be up for approval at two special meetings set for the coming week, both at 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level, and virtually as indicated in the links below.
May 26 – Planning Board
https://www.chathamborough.org/component/dpcalendar/event/3895
May 31 – Mayor & Borough Council
http://chathamborough.org/component/dpcalendar/event/3896
Here’s a link to the proposed Housing Element, which the Planning Board and Council are expected to approve in the next few days:
Here’s the document the Planning Board adopted:
#KEEPCHATHAMSMALL
1 June 2022 – New Deadline for Amending the Housing Element and Spending Plan as required by the 14 June 2021 Agreement
Here is the document the Borough Council must amend by June 1:
Please note that the amendment will require a special meeting of the Planning Board, because it has cancelled both May meetings.
Below is the document Jonathan Drill used to create that June 1 deadline only after he had misled Borough residents on an April 6 Zoom, falsely claiming that the Council must name and sign a developer by June 1:
24 June 2022 – 1:30 pm – Virtual Hearing on Compliance with the 14 June 2021 Agreement:
At that 24 June hearing, the Judge is expected to decide whether or not the Borough has fulfilled its obligations under the agreement of 14 June 2021 and should be allowed to retain its immunity from builder’s remedy lawsuits until 1 July 2025.
For the Zoom link, contact Jonathan Drill, jdrill@sksdlaw.com, by 22 June.
For copies of the implementing documents, contact Acting Clerk Steve Williams at 973-635-0674 or swilliams@chathamborough.org.
1 July 2025 – End of Borough’s Immunity from Builder’s Remedy Lawsuits – Fourth Round Begins
Chatham Borough dodged a bullet last week.
Our Mayor cast the tie-breaking vote in the choice between the two leading proposals for the redevelopment of Post Office Plaza. He sided with the three Council members who had voted to build a modest, 15-family, all affordable apartment house, rather than the 100-family, mixed-use project favored by the other three. https://www.tapinto.net/towns/chatham/sections/real-estate/articles/chatham-borough-mayor-kobylarz-casts-tie-breaking-vote-for-post-office-plaza-chooses-15-100-affordable-housing-over-kre-100
The Mayor made the right choice, as it was the smallest and best of the options presented. But those options were too limited. All five involved new construction and the sacrifice of at least some public parking. We’d be far better off using existing apartments to meet our affordable housing quotas. https://chathamchoice.org/2022/04/whats-the-rush/
Our Mayor & Council will soon have another chance to pursue that so called ”market-to-affordable” option when they enter negotiations for the fourth round of affordable housing quotas due in July 2025. We must urge and encourage them to seize that opportunity.
For a different take on the history of POP check out this LTE by Republican CBC candidates: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/chatham/articles/the-post-office-plaza-process-too-little-too-late?fbclid=IwAR1l65e6sGNI27dSSVopUA7QC67OytVcrjMq-pcQkoBE8vR3HN3Ly_t_6TQ
This Monday, May 2, our Council will vote on the future of Chatham Borough.
Will they vote for the good of our hometown? Or chase the hope of big revenues?
No amount of revenue can ever justify jeopardizing the lives of our volunteer firefighters.
Call 973 701 6811. Leave a message. Tell the Mayor & Council that if we MUST build at POP, you prefer the smallest and safest option, which is #3.
Come to the Council meeting this Monday, May 2, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level.
