ANOTHER UPDATE: Instead of paving Front Street to the dead end as announced in the letter (below) dated July 31, 2026, the Borough chose to pave only part of Front Street, skipping the end leading to the parcel supposedly “inaccessible” for affordable housing, as shown here:
UPDATE: “Due to a contractor delay, paving on… Front Street has been rescheduled for Monday, August 10, 2026, from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., weather permitting…”
In the past, our Council tried to increase the property tax base by selling surplus, tax-exempt, Borough-owned land, including the vacant, 0.62-acre parcel just south of the train tracks at 39 Front Street:
https://www.tapinto.net/towns/chatham/articles/chatham-borough-officials-take-steps-to-unload-pr
Today 39 Front Street remains Borough-owned, tax-exempt, and only about a block from the train station, as shown on the Borough’s official tax map:
https://chathamborough.org/forms-documents/forms/maps/1262-chatham-borough-tax-map-atlas/file
Though 39 Front Street remains vacant and tax-exempt, and ideally situated for a residence, the Mayor & Council steered clear of that site, now dubbed “rear of 16 Walnut St,” or “16 Walnut Street, rear” in 2025, when they were inventorying vacant parcels for the Borough’s state-mandated affordable housing plan:
The Mayor did not even bother to justify overlooking 39 Front Street until May 2026, when residents demanded an explanation for the Council’s plan to pave 80% of the green, taxpayer-owned lot at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to our Memorial Park behind the public library.
Screenshot of Google aerial image, marked to show the wooded, taxpayer-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic, which the Mayor aims to pave over to build the apartment project and parking lot shown above.
Only when the public outcry reached a certain pitch did the Mayor claim that 39 Front Street was not suitable for that project because it was “inaccessible.”
How can a parcel with a 50′ frontage on a downtown public street be called “inaccessible”?
Is the trouble that that end of Front Street isn’t paved?
If so, that will soon be remedied. A few days ago the Mayor’s Department of Public Works announced its plans to pave the dead end of Front Street:
Does paving the west end of Front Street make the parcel at 39 Front Street accessible?
Does paving it make 39 Front Street a suitable alternative site for the 100% affordable project that will otherwise obliterate the green, taxpayer-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to Memorial Park?
Ask your Mayor & Council using these email addresses:
jstrickland@chathamborough.org
kkoronkiewicz@chathamborough.org
mayorcouncil@chathamborough.org
Visit the next Council meeting, set for Monday, August 10, 2026 at 7:30 pm, either:
- in-person, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, or
- virtually, using details to follow at chathamborough.org.