Now at last our Mayor & Council can finally hold a public forum on their decision to pave 80% of the unique, green, taxpayer-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to our Memorial Park!
Aerial view of vacant, wooded, taxpayer-owned 58 N. Passaic, marked to show site chosen by Council for construction of 4-apartment, 7-parking space project. Source: Google images
What do the Mayor & Council plan to do with that wooded parcel? They plan to chop down most of the trees to build four apartments and seven parking spaces:
Diagram of the 4-apartment, 7-parking space project designed for the vacant, 0.3-acre parcel at 58 North Passaic. Source: PowerPoint first revealed to the Planning Board on May 7, 2025, outlining the Fourth Round Affordable Housing Plan created by an insider-only committee that met behind closed doors, kept no records, and even left the Council in the dark until late April, 2025.
Wait. What?!
For the past year, residents have been asking how the Council had chosen that site for the project, how much it will cost taxpayers, and the pros and cons of the alternatives.
Residents got few answers. Borough experts said the Mayor & Council could not consider alternatives until a judge had certified the Borough’s affordable housing plan.
Now Judge Allen has officially certified the Borough’s housing plan:
That means now our Mayor & Council can finally hold that public forum and residents can finally get the facts on the plan to sacrifice 58 North Passaic Avenue.
The only question is, when?
Should our Mayor & Council hold the public forum right away? At their regular meeting on August 10, 2026? Maybe in September, when most residents are back in town?
Tell your Mayor & Council what you prefer, using these addresses:
In fact, that AJDM proposal PREDATES the Redevelopment Plan. When the Council first unveiled that Plan, on April 14, 2026 https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=488the Planning Board ALREADY HAD details of the proposal, as you can see in the following letters, dated March 6 and 27, 2026:
What that means is that as of April 14, 2026, when the Mayor & Council presented their Redevelopment Plan to the public, they already knew what the developer was prepared to build without the benefit of such a plan or a PILOT tax exemption.So, contrary to the official explanation, the developer’s proposal cannot be the reason the Mayor & Council chose to reject the Plan at the June 22 meeting.
One thing we do know is that vote was risky. It triggered consequence under an agreement the Council had approved last December 8, 2025:
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What does that mean for Chatham? How was it risky for the Council to vote NOT to adopt the Plan for River Road?
“If the Borough does not adopt a plan by July 1, Fair Share Housing Center has the right to re-open this issue to ask for the existing affordable housing overlay zones to even higher density in that area. Fair Share Housing Center may also request changes to the adopted plan if they do not believe that the plan will lead to a successful project.” (p. 5)
Will Fair Share – or anyone else – seize that opportunity to demand greater density on River Road or reopen the Council’s Fourth Round plan?
Meanwhile, after months of legal wrangling behind the scenes, at the June 22nd meeting the Council also voted to consent to a court order the public couldn’t see until it was filed with the court the following day.
What does that order mean for Chatham? Why did the Council authorize the affordable housing lawyer to sign it after fighting over the terms of that order for months?
For clues, check out the letter the Borough lawyer had filed with the court on May 14, 2026:
Have you seen your latest Chatham Borough tax bill?
Then you’ve also seen Mayor Dempsey’s enclosed letter, full of rumors, myths, and misinformation about the Borough’s plan to pave over the wooded, taxpayer-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic Avenue.
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The Mayor’s letter doesn’t answer any of the questions driving the growing demand for a public forum on that project.
Why would the Mayor wish to pave that green lot, right next to our Memorial Park?
How much will that project cost Borough taxpayers?
What are the alternatives?
What are the pros and cons?
Tell the Mayor & Council you expect straight answers:
attend the public Council meetings on Monday, June 22, and Monday, July 13, 2026, 7:30 pm, at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level. (Come as you are, whenever you can. Sit where you like and leave when you please. Speaking is optional.)
Don’t accept the usual nonsense:
MYTH: The Borough must develop 58 North Passaic to meet the state’s affordable housing quota.
REALITY: The state did not target 58 North Passaic for development. It was selected by eight Borough insiders who met only behind closed doors and claim they kept no records. All we know is they had many options, including some on Main Street.
MYTH: Developing 58 North Passaic would help the Borough meet its affordable housing quota at no cost to taxpayers.
REALITY: Nothing is free. Borough taxpayers would be ultimately responsible for ALL of the costs of building, operating, and maintaining the North Passaic project, as the Council agreed on March 9, 2026.
MYTH: Developing 58 North Passaic is the only way to meet the Borough’s affordable housing quota without buying land.
REALITY: Of course, there are other options. One disadvantage of building the project at 58 North Passaic is it would mean the permanent loss of trees, fresh air, natural habitats, and the opportunity to use that land to benefit all residents.
MYTH: The only alternative to developing 58 North Passaic would be a much bigger project, with much higher density.
REALITY: In fact, the Mayor’s contractor is willing to build the same project, with the same bonus credits, at ANY location in the Borough.
MYTH:There is no other potential location.
REALITY: The viable options include both other Borough-owned land and privately-owned sites.
MYTH: It is too late to consider alternatives to developing 58 North Passaic Avenue.
REALITY: In fact, it is too early to consider alternatives. The Borough cannot propose one until after receiving its Certificate of Compliance.
MYTH: Even proposing an alternative to developing 58 North Passaic would put the Borough at great risk of lawsuits.
REALITY: If it were risky to propose an alternative, the Borough’s experts would have warned about that when they spoke at the Planning Board hearing on June 18, 2025 and at the Council meeting on December 8, 2025. They didn’t. The affordable housing lawyer and planner warned only that such a proposal must wait until after the Borough receives its Certificate of Compliance.
MYTH: It would take too long to select and develop another location.
REALITY: We haven’t seen any evidence to back up that claim.
Myth: Buying a privately-owned lot as an alternative site for the project would be expensive – too expensive for taxpayers.
REALITY: With an irreplaceable, taxpayer-owned asset at stake, the question is not whether buying an alternative site would cost us, but whether it’s cost-effective: Is preserving one of the last few green spots in town worth that? The Mayor can’t say. She chooses not even to estimate the cost to the typical homeowner.
MYTH: Environmentalists are trying to force the Mayor &. Council to spend our money to preserve the tree canopy at 58 North Passaic Avenue.
REALITY: All we are asking the Mayor & Council to do is to hold off paving over that green lot until after a public forum, where people can get basic facts, ask questions, and get answers. The Mayor & Council can do that at no cost to taxpayers now that a local has offered to pay the experts’ hourly fees. If 58 North Passaic turns out to be the best choice for Chatham, so be it.
MYTH: The questions about the 58 North Passaic project have been asked and answered at many Council meetings.
REALITY: While residents have been asking questions, the Mayor &. Council have not disclosed even basic facts, such as cost estimates and the viable alternatives rejected without explanation.
Enough is enough. Demand an answer:
When will the Council hold a public forum on the plan for 58 North Passaic Avenue?
attend the public Council meetings on Monday, June 22, and Monday, July 13, 2026, 7:30 pm, at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level. (Come as you are, whenever you can. Sit where you like and leave when you please.
In that video, the Mayor & Council sit on the raised dais, poker-faced and apparently oblivious to the Snailster’s antics until a longtime Borough resident calls and brings it to their attention.
“There is a puppet snail in the background…” observes the caller. “It’s quite distracting…When I’m looking at a speaker, all I see is the snail puppet… Are you aware of that?” (1:59:36)
“No, I have no idea what you’re talking about, ” replies Mayor Dempsey.
So the caller specifies the location of the stuffed snail. Council members perk up and peer at the podium. Smiles cross their faces. A giggle sweeps the Chambers.
“Do you see that?” asks the caller.
“We’re all good. Keep going,” says the Mayor, neither confirming nor denying having seen the Snailster’s stellar performance. And no wonder.
In effect, the clever snail danced circles around our Mayor & Council’s new policy requiring walk-on participants to give their names and full home addresses on live television and Zoom.
Of course, our Mayor & Council don’t give their own home addresses at public meetings. They don’t even disclose them in state filings almost nobody ever sees. Too risky for them.
Perhaps once upon a time requiring such personal disclosures at Council meetings created no barrier to public participation, Today, it does. Those meetings run live on cable tv and Zoom, and in reports and videos permanently posted online, making each speaker’s name, address, voice, words, and moving image readily available to everyone all over the world forever.
Requiring such personal details undermines the purpose of Public Comment by making it impossible for residents to participate in local government without advertising in real time that they are not at home. That and other resulting risks discourage participation by residents who live alone or with vulnerable family members, lack security systems or personal protection devices, or simply like to maintain a little privacy.
Solution? The Mayor & Council could easily gather any necessary personal information off-camera, as does the Board of Education.
Only thing is, that might lead to more public participation at meetings.
The next two Council meetings are on Tuesday May 26 and Monday, June 8, 2026, at 7:30 pm at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.
Rest assured that you won’t need to sign in or out. There’s no dress code. Come as you are. Arrive at your convenience, sit wherever you like, leave whenever you please.
Think it’s too late to save our green, wooded, Borough-owned 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to home plate at Memorial Park?
Assume that green gem is destined to be paved over for four apartments and a parking lotand nothing can be done about it?
That’s what some would have you believe. But it’s not so.
The Borough’s housing lawyer and planner have confirmed that the Borough can propose an alternative site for that development. We have no reason to think an alternative wouldn’t be accepted.
So, when will the Council consider and discuss alternatives to needlessly sacrificing 58 North Passaic Avenue?
See how the Mayor & Council answer that question at their public meeting this Monday, January 5, 2026, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.
Please note: This is a public meeting, convened for the benefitof residents and taxpayers. You are the boss. Arrive at your convenience. Use the north entrance. Go left through the door. Take the elevator to the upper level. Enter the double doors at the end of the hall. Sit anywhere. Observe anonymously or participate during the Public Comment period if you prefer. Leave whenever you please.
Really can’t be there? (Working swing? Grounded? Under house arrest?) Zoom the meeting here:
The public meeting starts 7:30 pm TONIGHT, Monday, December 8th, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue. (Take the elevator to the upper level.)
Have our Mayor & Borough Council found a good way to resolve the legal challenges to Chatham’s 6/18/25 Master Plan amendment for affordable housing?
A possible settlement is on their agenda for the December 8th Council meeting, and the Council may even VOTE on it during the public session, which starts 7:30 pm TONIGHT at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.
To find out what happened last night, keep scrolling down!
Yesterday shortly before 5:00 pm, our Mayor & Council made their way to Borough Hall, filed into Room 301, and shut the door behind them.
They were behind closed doors for a special meeting to discuss recent developments in the litigation over their controversial Master Plan amendment of June 18th.
That’s the Master Plan amendment that includes sacrificing the green, vacant, Borough-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to Memorial Park.
The Borough adopted that Plan over the objections of more than 90% of residents polled, who want the Council to consider preserving that parcel by putting affordable housing on other Borough sites.
Nearly two hours later, the door to Room 301 swung open and out trudged the Mayor & Council.
They refused to answer questions posed by residents, citing the advice of Borough lawyers.
They didn’t promise to consider alternatives to 58 North Passaic Avenue in closed session, or even to hold off signing a development agreement for that site until residents have had a chance to weigh in.
All we know is that the next settlement conference in that case has been set for November 20:
The Mayor & Council also chose not to answer any questions about their plan, commissioned one year ago, to Redevelop the rest of Chatham‘s River Road, south and west of the massive, 245-unit Ivy complex at the corner of River Road and Watchung Avenue.
Unless a developer chooses to pay extra to set aside more affordable rental units than required by law, the new project would put 500 new apartments adjacent to the Ivy and no doubt insist on an exemption from paying millions in property taxes, just as the Ivy has.
For more information, attend the next Council meeting, this Monday, November 10th, 7:30 pm at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue. Take the elevator to the upper level. Use the big doors down that hall on the left.
Do you know what’s happening in Chatham Borough? Find out before it’s too late. Attend the Borough Council Meeting:Monday, Oct. 27 🕢 7:30 pm 📍Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave.Or, at the very least, Zoom from the calendar at chathamborough.org
For years, Council candidate Karen Koronkiewicz enjoyed the loyal support of career firefighter and Ground Zero alum Captain Robert Penn, a respected longtime Borough resident.
Not anymore.
Now even Captain Penn has washed his hands of Karen and her political bosses, in part over their mishandling of the new Housing Element of the Master Plan.
Karen played a big role in that fiasco.She is on the back room committee that opted to let an unspecified developer pave over 58 North Passaic Avenue, the green, Borough-owned lot right next to home plate in Memorial Park.
Though she represents the Council on the Borough Shade Tree Commission, Karen dismissed that wooded lot as “useless” and agreed to sacrifice all but one tree without first weighing the alternatives or taking public input.
At the October meeting of the Shade Tree Commission, Karen flatly refused to explain why she had withheld that pubic news from her Commission colleagues, including her own running mate Miles Gilmore.Could the reason for her silence have something to do with the location of the most obvious alternative site?
With Karen’s re-election at stake, the rest of the one-party controlled Mayor & Council aren’t talking either. They would have you believe they cannot talk about it because it’s in litigation and settlement talks. That’s utter nonsense.
In fact, there’s no gag order, and settlement talks are NO excuse not to explore alternatives in executive session, so the Mayor & Council will be prepared to update the public on alternatives once Chatham Borough receives its Judgment of Compliance and Repose, likely in January.
It’s high time the Mayor & Council did the right thing: consider alternative ways to satisfy the Borough’s housing quotas without sacrificing the green lot right next to home plate in Memorial Park.
How can one person help persuade them to consider the alternatives? It’s easy.
Attend the Council Meeting:📅 Monday, Oct. 27 🕢 7:30 pm 📍 Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave. Take the elevator to upper level. Enter the last room on the left. (Your presence matters. Speaking is optional.)
If it turns out that 58 North Passaic Avenue is the best bet, then so be it. But to hand that lot to a developer without due diligence would be unconscionable.
Despite growing public opposition, the Mayor & Council still aim to sacrifice the wooded, Borough-owned lot at 58 North Passaic Avenue – right next to Memorial Park – without having considered the alternatives!
Will you stand for that?
”It’s as green as Kermit the Frog.”
Tell the Mayor & Council:
You’re with the 90% of Chathamites who want to preserve that green lot for the benefit and enjoyment of current and future generations.
It is irresponsible to sacrifice that precious parcel without having carefully considered each of the potential alternative sites.
Residents deserve a chance to weigh in on the alternatives before they make decisions like this one, that will permanently change Chatham Borough
Use the north entrance. Take the elevator to the upper level.
Arrive when convenient. Stay only as long as you please.
Speaking is optional.
What the heck is the above all about?
Last spring, residents flatly rejected a Master Plan amendment, hastily developed behind closed doors, which included needlessly sacrificing the green parcel at 58 North Passaic to help satisfy the Borough’s new affordable housing quota.
Residents urged the Council to consider alternatives that could satisfy that quota, while also preserving that green land for current and future generations.
On June 18th, the Planning Board rubber stamped the take-it-or-leave-it plan. Though the Borough’s experts noted that the Council could later nominate alternative sites, some Council members insisted that the plan was a done deal.
But then two informal Facebook polls revealed that more than 90% of Chathamites want that wooded, Borough-owned parcel preserved for the benefit of current and future generations.
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And now a growing chorus of residents is stepping forward to implore the Council to come up with alternatives that could preserve that precious public land. Several attended the September 8th Council meeting.
The looming threat to 58 North Passaic Avenue has become an issue in the current race for Borough Council.
Incumbent Council Member Karen Koronkiewicz (who co-designed the plan) suggested that the Borough might be able to build four apartments on the small lot at 58 North Passaic without chopping down most or all of the trees there.
”If you’re going to build four apartments,” scoffed challenger Joe Barrette, “you have to cut the trees down.”
He’s right about that, as the below aerial views of 58 North Passaic demonstrate. The first shows the site, almost covered what trees, and the second, which shows what the Council aims to build there, states that it will preserve ONE such tree.
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At the September 10th debate, first time candidate Miles Gilmore, a member of the Shade Tree Commission, professed little understanding of the housing issue. He proved it by speaking eloquently in favor of protecting the trees at 58 North Passaic, while advocating acquiescence to the Council’s current plan, which will make it necessary to chop down virtually all of them.
Let’s hope Mr. Gilmore will look into the housing plan, and realize that the only way to preserve those trees is to preserve 58 North Passaic and put the new apartments elsewhere in the Borough.
