Landfill
Landfill
Redevelopment Update 10/07
On September the 4th, 2007 the Borough Council unanimously adopted the
revised
Redevelopment Plan for the Landfill project. Titled the “Somerville
Landfill & Station Area
Redevelopment Plan”, this document provides the specifications
and details needed by
developers to evaluate the project in real terms and to make a judgment
as to whether they wish
to pursue the project or not.
This Plan is the end result of a two year long public process began in
October of 2005 with the
first of a series of public forums and workshops designed to allow residents
to work with Urban
Planners and Borough officials to create a vision for the ultimate redevelopment
of the landfill
area.
Over a period of 16 months a series of increasingly intensive workshops
provided residents the
opportunity to design in detail the overall uses for all portions of
the redevelopment area. Factors
they addressed included; cost of environmental clean-up, cost of site
preparation and
construction, wetlands preservation, road network, utilities infrastructure
and property tax
generation among a myriad of other factors, the result of these workshops
was the award winning “
Landfill and Station Area Vision Plan” adopted by the Borough
Council in January of 2007. This
Vision Plan formed the basis for the revisions to the original redevelopment
plan for the area
which had been written in 1998.
It is anticipated that by the end of October 2007, a RFQ/P (Request for
Qualifications and
Proposals) will be issued by the Borough to the redevelopment community.
This request will be a
detailed document that will specify to potential developers the process
for submitting proposals,
the requirements they will have to meet to qualify, how proposals will
be evaluated and the timing
of responses among other details.
Potential developers will have a number of months to prepare and submit
proposals to this
request. Responses will be screened by the Redevelopment Committee
(using a pre-defined set
of criteria) and those deemed most suitably “Qualified” will
be invited to make public
presentations of their proposals. Once the public presentations are
complete and public
feedback received, a final determination will be made as to who will
be designated as the
Boroughs Redeveloper of the Landfill Redevelopment Area. Through this
process it could be
possible that more than one developer is selected, depending on expertise,
qualifications and
experience.
Once designated the developer(s) will enter into an agreement with the
Borough for the project,
this agreement will detail the financial and other obligations of all
parties involved and define the
time-line for development. We can reasonably expect that within 12 months
of signing the
agreement the redeveloper will be presenting preliminary plans to the
Borough for review.
Other Important Facts Relating to this Project
The redevelopment area or zone as it is sometimes referred to include
public and private lands
and comprises of approximately 160 acres, extending from the Somerville
Railway Station to the
Raritan River. It is bisected by Route 206 with the lands to the east
of this road consisting of
wetlands and flood plains. The adopted Redevelopment Plan addresses the
redevelopment of
the larger area west of 206 extending to the Railway Station. Detailed
maps are on the Borough
web-site.
The creation and development of the Vision and Redevelopment Plans
has been funded by
grants or direct contribution by; NJ TRANSIT, New Jersey Department
of Community Affairs– Office of Smart Growth, New Jersey Department of Transportation and Somerset
County through
it’s Economic Development Incentive Program (EDIP).
Environmental investigation and testing has been funded through grants
for Somerset County
EDIP and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection through
the HDSRF grant
program.
While the Redevelopment of this area is a Borough initiative, NJ TRANSIT
is a partner in this
project; they are the largest landowner with the exception of the Borough,
the Somerville railway
station has been identified by NJ TRANSIT as the most important on the
Raritan valley line and
much of the initial construction will be on NJ TRANSIT property.
The Borough and NJ TRANSIT will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) that will
define the roles, expectations and responsibilities of both partners
throughout the project.
Based on 2006 calculations the project when complete will generate an
estimated;
• $9 million in tax revenues,
• Generate 460 new jobs,
• Generate a (post tax) payroll of $20.6 million,
•
Generate $88.7 million in annual personal expenditures. (Refer to Vision
Plan pages 33& 34).
During construction this project can be expected to create directly or
indirectly up to;
• 2,500 jobs,
• Generate $140 million in payroll,
• Generate $113 million in personal expenditures. (Refer to Vision Plan
page 34).
You can direct questions relating to this project through the Borough
web-site or directly to
Redev@somervillenj.org by phone a message can be left at 908-725-2300
extension 1905.
The other Redevelopment Projects
The Landmark Center
The East End Area of town
The Kirby Ave. Area