BAYONNE — City Council members are expected to vote on the tax abatement for the Resnick hardware store site redevelopment plan next week.
The City Council during last night’s caucus finalized the agenda for its Feb. 15 meeting, scheduling a vote on the financial agreement for the controversial redevelopment plan that calls for a 10-story, mixed-use building to be built at 46th Street and Broadway, the site of the now-closed hardware store.
First Ward Councilman Tommy Cotter and city Business Administrator Joe DeMarco touted the plan, telling The Jersey Journal at Wednesday night’s caucus that the project would bring significant business to the city.
But the vote may not be unanimously passed.
Third Ward Councilman Gary La Pelusa Sr. — who has expressed concerns with the Resnick development before — told The Jersey Journal today he has concerns, specifically with the financial agreement of the development, rather than the development itself.
“Generally, I’m against financial agreements that do not pay their fair share of taxes for education and the community,” La Pelusa said.
These financial agreements, or payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT), substitutes the typical tax structure — which brings in tax revenue for the municipality, county, education system, and public works system — and instead designates specific percentages of gross revenue from the developers to be paid directly to the city and county (typically 95 percent to the city and 5 percent to the county).
The abatement would run for a period of 30 years from the date of the agreement, and would bring in 12 percent of the development’s annual gross revenue in payment to the city and county.
READ THE PROPOSED ABATEMENT
The payment would increase to 13 percent after the 13th anniversary of the commencement date, according to the financial agreement.
The development is expected to generate an annual revenue of more than $3 million, according to the abatement — with the city set to receive over $340,000 a year.
While La Pelusa said he’s generally not against development, in this particular case he has concerns pertaining to the height of the building.
The building proposal calls for 10 floors — a sharp contrast to the two-story buildings that dominate the surrounding area — with the bottom floor designated for commercial development and the top floors slated to have between 91 residential units and 150 parking spaces, according to previous reports.
“It a 10-story building, and the most we’ve had is four-and-a-half (in the Third Ward),” La Pelusa said.
The plan, first introduced in April 2016, has not gone without push-back from residents of the neighborhood.
The project faced a lawsuit earlier this year that claimed, among other things, that it did not comply with the municipal stormwater ordinance and an environmental impact study was not submitted. That lawsuit was dismissed.
Next week’s City Council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, in the City Hall Council Chambers, 630 Avenue C.
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