Council Extends Redevelopment 5 Agreement by 90 Days

The Fort Lee Council passed a resolution at Thursday’s Mayor and Council regular meeting amending April’s settlement and escrow agreement that cleared the way for the two approximately eight-acre parcels of land, commonly known as “Redevelopment Area 5,” to become what officials hope will be a bustling retail and residential center near the George Washington Bridge.

Thursday’s amendment to the April 15 agreement among the Borough of Fort Lee, Tucker Development Corporation and Fort Lee Redevelopment Associates is a 90-day extension.

Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said the extension is a necessary step in a process he called “very, very complex” and “one of many aspects of Redevelopment 5 that needs to happen.”

He said it would allow the developers more time to get the borough “some of the indispensible information we need.”

“We’re providing a 90-day extension so as to allow additional time within which to prepare a redevelopment plan submitted to the planning board, seek recommendations and then act on it at the governing body level,” Sokolich said. “We’re waiting for additional information from the redevelopers.”

However he assured members of the public on multiple occasions Thursday that everything is going as planned.

“We’ve been engaging in design meetings of late,” Sokolich said. “It’s exciting. We’re getting closer, but this is one of those indispensible steps that need to be taken before we can get a shovel in the ground. There is a series of things that need to occur, but I can assure you, we are shepherding this project. We’re on it every single day; it’s not left our side since it started.”

Sokolich said that once that part of the process is complete and the plan adopted, it then goes to the borough’s planning board, which will hold public hearings on the matter.

“Once it’s deemed complete, there will then be a public notice, and there will be a series of hearings before the planning board, which I would encourage everyone in Fort Lee to attend and participate,” Sokolich said. “And then, presuming there’s planning board approval, they … submit building permits and hopefully start.”

More on Red Light Camera Enforcement Program

Also at Thursday’s meeting, Sokolich commented further on the red light camera enforcement program the Mayor and Council is considering after inviting representatives from American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the self-professed largest vendor of red light cameras in the country and the largest in New Jersey, .

“This is in its infantile stage,” Sokolich said. “I asked that entity to come in to provide us with a little information. I requested them to come in two or three years ago, and it was the collective decision of the governing body at that time that we weren’t too confident with the technology at that point.”

Sokolich added, “There are technologies that are out there that can assist us—number one: to make sure that various intersections primarily are a lot more safe—and two: they can generate revenue, especially in light of the programs of attrition that we put into place over the last three-and-a-half years.”

He said the borough hasn’t yet identified intersections where the technology and service ATS is offering would be most effective, and emphasized that the governing body has made no decisions yet regarding whether or not it will even happen.

“We’re going to take a look at it to see if there’s any intersections that would be worthy of that type of measure,” Sokolich said. “Once we focus on it, they then conduct an investigation as to whether or not it would work there. But this is still months, and months, and months down the road if it ever happens.”

Other Mayor and Council Business Thursday

Sokolich appointed assistant borough engineer Ed Mignone to the Bergen County Community Development (BCCD) Regional Committee. The position is non-paid but statutorily required, Sokolich said.

Mignone was also appointed by the council to the Bergen County Open Space Trust Municipal Park Improvement and Land Acquisition Program Regional Committee—another unpaid position.

Borough clerk Neil Grant served for four years as the mayor’s representative on the former and 11 years on the latter committees.

“I am the last original member amongst the towns in our group,” Grant wrote in an email Friday about his time on the open space, land acquisition committee. “I was also voted Chairman for all 11 years on that committee, which is voted amongst the town members who are part of the group. There are different open space committees in Bergen County based on regions.”

In a moment of levity during Thursday evening’s meeting, Sokolich asked Grant how much money he made during those 11 years.

“It probably cost me,” Grant quipped.

The council also appointed James Viola to the BCCD Regional Committee on which he has served for many years, according to Grant, who also said it’s a requirement to have both a mayoral and separate council appointment for that committee.