Presentation Scheduled On Sept. 27 About Chatham Borough's Proposed Post Office Plaza

CHATHAM, NJ — “It’s simply not going to happen,” Chatham Borough Mayor Thaddeus Kobylarz told attendees at Monday night’s Chatham Borough Council meeting about a former developer’s plans for a five-story apartment complex in the heart of Chatham’s downtown at Post Office Plaza.

He said for well over a year that plan has not been under consideration; and there is no redevelopment contract pending.

Kobylarz addressed the subject of Post Office Plaza during his mayor’s comments segment at the meeting saying the November 2019 proposal was off the table, with the borough planning to seek community input on Post Office Plaza at upcoming town halls that will be on “an appropriate small scale and constitutes overall enhancement of the community, without compromising its small village feel.”

At the next council meeting on Monday, Sept. 27, Kobylarz said Chatham Borough's planner will be presenting about a scaled-down proposal.

His full remarks are in the video below:

A flyer and corresponding website on the project have been circulating, which Kobylarz described both as containing falsehoods. He said the creators of both had knowledge that they were disseminating information that “was totally inaccurate.”

He said the individuals behind the flyer and website knew the borough’s status on the project, having regularly attended council meetings where the update were given; and the path forward. That flyer, Kobylarz stated, indicated that the 2019 plans for Post Office Plaza “were still in play.”

On the other hand, Kobylarz said that redevelopment plan was widely criticized at past meetings, with the 2019 project not an option being considered at all.

Conversations have since restarted with another developer, Kobylarz said, to determine their willingness to scale back the development proposal from 2019, something he said the creators of the flyer and website were aware of.

“There is no redevelopment contract at this point,” Kobylarz told the public on Monday, discussing his report on it at the June 28 council meeting.

At that meeting, Kobylarz said that he and Councilmen Len Resto and Frank Truilo had been in discussion with the new lead developer, the KRE Group; and had been speaking with them since January 2021.

Kobylarz said in June that KRE was willing to “reduce the original density that was proposed in November 2019,” of the Post Office Plaza potential development, by 50 percent of the original 238-unit proposal, as well as the building’s height.

A park was also under proposal for the Post Office Plaza redevelopment area, to be called the “Chatham Village Green.”

In the middle of the COVID crisis, Kobylarz said Monday that the borough has been “under siege by a lawsuit from a certain developer to compel construction of a five-story, multi-family apartment block,” in the Main Street historical district between Washington Avenue and Railroad Plaza North.

The lawsuit was given traction by vulnerabilities that arose during state law review of the borough’s 2016 fair share housing agreement, the developer, Kobylarz said, attempting to “exploit these vulnerabilities.”

He said the borough vigorously fought it, rather than settle it; and the borough prevailed in court.

However, the borough couldn’t speak about it while under litigation, Kobylarz said.

The lawsuit was the impetus of the amendment to the borough’s 2016 fair share affordable housing requirements, which if the borough disagreed to the amendment, Kobylarz said it would have placed at borough “at greater legal peril.”

During the public portion of the meeting, with many residents speaking and some calling in, resident Brigid McMenamin asked where the inaccuracies were in the flyers that had been distributed.

Full public comments from Monday's meeting are in the video below.

She wanted to know when residents will start hearing about the options, including the town halls, as she said they have been circulating for about a year as well.

McMenamin also asked as per the June 14 settlement agreement, she assumed all options would be explored in a timely manner to coincide with the settlement agreement’s timeline.

Resident Fran Drew suggested that 12 office buildings in Chatham Borough contain thousands of spaces that could be converted into affordable housing units, with the majority for lease or for sale.

Freddie Bicknese, a Republican candidate for Borough Council in the upcoming election, thanked Kobylarz for his comments about the development, including the litigation update. However, Bicknese said the Post Office Plaza issue “isn’t completely resolved.”

“I haven’t heard anything from the other six elected officials,” Bicknese added, stating the only member of Chatham Borough council who has publicly discussed it has been Kobylarz.

Bicknese recommended a special meeting before the upcoming November election where the remainder of the council, he believes, should express their thoughts about the project.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.