That’s the question we need to ask our Mayor & Borough Council before they dispose of 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to Memorial Park.
Hear the answer this Tuesday, October 14 at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.
Take the elevator to the upper level. Enter the room on the left at the end of the hall. Make yourself comfortable.
Meeting starts at 7:30 pm, but stop by whenever it’s convenient. Stay only as long as you please. Speaking is optional.
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:
cdempsey@chathamborough.org jmathiasen@chathamborough.org
kkoronkiewicz@chathamborough.org
jstrickland@chathamborough.org bhargrove@chathamborough.org
Show you care by stopping by the next Council meeting:
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.
https://chathamchoice.org/2025/08/sworn-testimony/
https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=396 (See comments starting 1:43:24 and approx. 2:11:00.)
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.
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.
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.
In 2022, three real estate developers barged into Superior Court and demanded that the judge force Chatham Borough to let them build a 100+ unit apartment project on public parking lots and private land in Post Office Plaza, including the Cottage Deli property. https://chathamchoice.org/2022/06/what-now/
The judge refused. Instead of forcing the Borough to accept a large apartment building, he allowed the Borough to substitute a 15-unit, 100% affordable apartment house on one of the public parking lots at Post Office Plaza. https://chathamchoice.org/2022/11/great-news/
End of story? Nope.
On Wednesday, one of those developers went back into court, seeking to force the Borough to let them replace the Cottage Deli and its next-door-neighbor with a four-story, 43-unit, 15% affordable apartment project, as part of the Borough’s Fourth Round affordable housing obligation.
See it here:
Challenge filed 27 August 2025 by Vertical Realty, owner of 23 S. Passaic Avenue (0.4098 acres, block 121/lot 13) and 33 South Passaic Avenue (0.24 acres, block 121/lot 12):
[Vertical’s 27 October follow-up to the response filed by Chatham Borough:
Since then, two more challengers have filed formal objections to the Borough’s housing plan, demanding that the Court scuttle and revamp it:
Challenge filed 2 September 2025 by Danbro Properties, would-be developer of 45 River Road (0.2045 acres, block 140/lot 5) and 55 River. Road (0.2394 acres, block 139/lot 4.)
Check out this Challenge filed 29 August 2025 by Fair Share Housing Center:
Case Docket:
Who will decide those challenges? https://www.njcourts.gov/courts/civil/affordable-housing
What do those challenges mean for Chatham Borough? Ask the Mayor: https://www.chathamborough.org/government/mayor
Stop by the next Borough Council meeting, 7:30 pm, Monday, September 8, 2025 at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue. (Use the north entrance; take the elevator to the upper level.)
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.
https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=393 starting at 1:12:20.
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.
That’s what Chatham Borough Planner Kendra Lelie said under oath at the 18 June 2025 Planning Board Hearing on the new Housing Element. See for yourself starting at 1:12:20 here: https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=393
Here’s a partial transcript:
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:
cdempsey@chathamborough.org. jmathiasen@chathamborough.org
kkoronkiewicz@chathamborough.org. itreloar@chathamborough.org
jstrickland@chathamborough.org bhargrove@chathamborough.org
(Let’s hope our Planning Board won’t!)
NJ law requires every town to provide for affordable housing. Chatham Borough does that.
NJ law does NOT require the Borough to pave over the green, wooded, Borough-owned, .3-acre, vacant lot at 58 North Passaic, right next to our Memorial Park, for a parking lot and four apartments, nor to impose an overlay zone allowing 220 more apartments on the east end of Main Street without having considered any alternatives.
But that’s what the Planning Board is going to do on June 18th unless you act now:
Thomas Belding Sophia Calcaterra-Hull Susan Favate William Heap Susie Robertson Matthew Wagner Jonathan Wilcox Gregory Xikes
Facebook or c/o Clerk, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, Chatham, NJ, 07928
For background, sources, and news please visit ChathamChoice.org
Ever notice that each NJ town has its own unique character?
One reason is that each town is protected by a local Master Plan, created by residents to guide local officials in big decisions.
When asked to adopt a new regulation or grant a special exemption from zoning laws, our leaders must consider if what’s proposed is consistent with the Master Plan. If not, they must vote it down.
Changing the Master Plan can be done only by the local Planning Board, which is made up only of residents and must follow a transparent process. They review the Master Plan, discuss and air proposed changes at public meetings, take questions and comments from residents, and make decisions in public.
Unfortunately, that isn’t what’s happening now in Chatham Borough.https://chathamchoice.org/2025/05/the-secret-plan/
Essentially, our Planning Board is getting railroaded. https://chathamborough.org/boards/planning
At the Wednesday, May 7 meeting – the Board’s first since January – members learned about a major change in the Master Plan’s Fair Share & Housing Element, which was crafted behind closed doors by a special 8-member advisory committee that includes four non-residents and does not answer to the public. https://www.chathamborough.org/boards/advisory/235-affordable-housing
At that May 7 meeting, Planning Board members were told that they need to approve that major change in the Master Plan at the Planning Board meeting, on June 18. (You can see that at approx. 1:07:00 in this video: https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=368)
The only hearing scheduled to give residents chance to ask questions or tell the Planning Board what they think of the changes is at the same June 18 meeting where the Planning Board must vote to approve those changes.
That puts our Planning Board in a tight spot. Or rather, it’s a tight spot for the rank and file members, who who aren’t also Mayor, or married to the boss of the dominant party, or members of the elite committee that drafted the changes behind closed doors.
But what options do the rank and file Planning Board members really have?
Should they stand up for the right of residents to participate in the process, and risk not being reappointed to the Board by the Mayor?
Or should they go along to get along, and hope for other opportunities to protect Chatham Borough?
That’s the easy way out, but if they take it, they will have lost control of one of the most important parts of our Master Plan.
It’s time for the Planning Board to do right by residents and stand up for itself. Refuse to be bullied into approving a Housing Element they had no role in crafting. Demand a chance to do their job, and weigh alternatives.
Your opportunity to ask or weigh in about any of that at a public meeting – before it’s too late to make any difference – will be at the Council meeting this Monday, May 12, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level.
Please keep in mind that you need not say a word. You can make a difference simply by attending that meeting.
In response to the uproar over this situation, today the Mayor posted the PowerPoint presentation shown at the May 7 Planning Board meeting and put the Housing Element issue on the Council’s agenda for Monday night. https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/chathamborough/ebc8857c-bc91-11ef-ab4b-005056a89546-21f92362-28af-4727-9270-fd5a12163dfa-1746813852.pdf
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?
https://www.chathamborough.org/resident/calendar/mayor-council-meeting-23-1745879400
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?
https://chathamchoice.org/2025/02/things-fall-apart/
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, how exactly?
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.
Can’t be there in person even for 15 minutes? It’s easy to Zoom in and watch: https://www.chathamborough.org/resident/calendar/mayor-council-meeting-23-1745879400
Email the Mayor & Council:
Cdempsey@chathamborough.org
Jmathiasen@chathamborough.org
Kkoronkiewicz@chathamborough.org
Itreloar@chathamborough.org
Jstrickland@chathamborough.org
Bhargrove@chathamborough.org
Khay@chathamborough.org
Get the facts, so you can decide for yourself.
