FROM THE COURIER NEWS (Gannett Co., Inc.)
October 9, 2006
Plans such as depot sale, traffic changes will rejuvenate township, mayor says
By PAMELA SROKA
Staff Writer
HILLSBOROUGH -- Transforming the 438-acre General Services Administration Belle Mead depot into parkland, bringing commuters back onto Route 206 with a projected multi-million dollar bypass and creating a thriving downtown area are future goals envisioned by township officials.
The topics were discussed during a meeting last week among Mayor Carl Suraci, Kevin Davis, clerk and business administrator, and Courier News editors.
In recent weeks, the Township Committee and Somerset County have voted in favor of buying the 438-acre GSA Belle Mead supply depot on Mountainview Road for $17.5 million.
A resolution on the Board of Freeholders' meeting agenda last week authorized the county to enter into an option purchase agreement with the federal government for $17.5 million, plus associated costs not to exceed 5 percent of the purchase price.
Crediting it as a "crowning achievement" during his year as mayor, Suraci said preventing the depot from being auctioned to a developer and gaining federal funds for the remediation of the land were the township's priorities. The depot, owned by the federal government, lies in the township's proposed research and development zone off Route 206. The site also is near the county's 3,000-acre Sourland Mountain preserve and adjacent to the township's Ann Van Middlesworth Park.
"This is going to have some significant impact in Hillsborough," Suraci said about the purchase.
'Highest and best use'
Federal regulations say the property, once used as a camp for Italian prisoners of war during World War II, must be offered first to government agencies before being auctioned in a public sale. Regulations require the land to be sold for its "highest and best use" at fair market value, Suraci said.
Based on reports made by former state Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Christopher Daggett of J.M. Sorge Inc., an environmental consulting firm for Somerset County, Suraci said the multi-million cleanup would involve removing mostly metals -- such as ore -- and polyaromatic hydrocarbons on the site. The cleanup is expected to take at least two years to complete, and its exact cost has not yet been determined, Suraci said.
Davis said concrete existing on the site could be marketed to businesses such as golf courses, which cut up the concrete for use in covering the course. He added that a few buildings also still exist on the site.
Suraci said township officials envision turning the site into a community center and recreational area. He added that one option could be moving the municipality's youth baseball complex on Willow Road to the site. Little League representatives and neighbors surrounding the site have been at odds over the use of the complex's seven fields.
Suraci said that as Hillsborough continues to grow, the high school at the corner of Raider Boulevard and Amwell Road might need to expand and could move its recreational fields into the park area of the depot. The current fields could then be built on if an expansion was deemed necessary to meet growing enrollment, Suraci said.
But one unironed wrinkle in the plan is an unresolved lawsuit, officials said.
In 2005, K. Hovnanian Homes proposed to build homes on a 700-acre area adjacent to the GSA property, as well as on the property itself, but township officials said the development did not fit with the township's vision of the area.
Hillsborough Properties filed a lawsuit against the township in March 2006 ,stating the developer did not want the township to rezone the 700-acre area -- currently in an "economic development" zone -- to a "research and development, parks and recreation" zone. The township had recommended rezoning the property in its new Master Plan.
Hillsborough Properties had an option to sell the property to K. Hovnanian to build the 700 homes. However, Davis said Hillsborough Properties has not appeared before the township's Planning or Zoning boards asking for relief.
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