Planning Board Approves First Steps to Redeveloping Property

Bridgewater's Township Council directed the Planning Board to investigate possible redevelopment of the former Weyerhauser Company site on East Main Street, but when considering redevelopment, board attorney Thomas Collins offered a few precautions.  

"That finding can involve the use of eminent domain for the purpose of redevelopment," he said at Monday's Planning Board meeting. "That's a big step and that's a step that's often potential for litigation."

According to the state Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, a property must meet at least one of seven possible criteria making it possible for a municipality to take control of the property and make a redevelopment plan for its use, Township Planner Scarlett Doyle said. Since the essence of redevelopment is removing the property from the current owner's control, she said it's crucial to follow the procedures outlined in the law carefully.

The board approved a resolution to have Doyle, Collins and Township Engineer Robert Bogart begin assembling the information needed to determine if the property meets the conditions required to enable the township to place it in a redevelopment plan. 

Which Doyle said should only take about two months because of information about part of the property she has already collected—two lots in the area have been subject to development applications for senior housing projects since 2005, but neither project was able to receive final approvals from the Planning Board before the plans were withdrawn.

"I have a tremendous amount of information from previous investigations," she told board members.

The panel will be looking to see if the property meets such conditions as being unsafe or unsanitary, creates a detriment to nearby properties, or are substandard for building codes. Other possible reasons for redevelopment include being overcrowded, in a state-designated Urban Enterprise Zone, or has been owned by the county or municipality for more than 10 years, though Doyle said these conditions likely don't apply to the property in question.

The township professional staff will report back to the Planning Board with an analysis of which, if any, of the criteria support redevelopment. The board will then hold a public hearing, and if redevelopment is approved, will forward the recommendation to the Township Council, for a vote also following a public hearing.