State Closing Wyckoff's MVC Office

The Motor Vehicles Commission office on Greenwood Avenue will close by the end of the year, regardless of whether the ShopRite project proposed for the site is ultimately approved.

Mike Horan, a spokesman for the state commission, said the Wyckoff outlet will join offices in Elizabeth and Bridgeton (Cumberland County) in closing by the end of 2010, although the state has not yet set a date for when it will leave the premises on Greenwood Avenue.

"As part of budget reductions, we were looking to close a number of agencies," Horan said. "We were being evicted (from Wyckoff)... we determined it made the right fit," when deciding on outlets to shutter, he said.

The closure will not affect staff at the Wyckoff outlet, as all employees are being transferred to the MVC's office in Oakland, Horan said.

However, there are no plans to re-establish an MVC in Wyckoff, as has been proposed by District 40 legislators and supported by the Township Committee and Chamber of Commerce.

"We can handle the customer volume in Oakland," Horan said, when asked if the MVC would consider another Wyckoff location.

Sen. Kevin O'Toole, R-40, said the fact that the MVC was being "essentially evicted" all but "sealed its fate" when the state was deciding on which outlets to close.

The businesses located in the strip mall that houses the MVC—Nicky's Best Pizza, Curves, Leslie's Swimming Pool Supplies—had all been notified that their leases will not be renewed when they expire, given the possibility of a ShopRite being approved for the location.

Inserra Supermarkets, which holds long-term leases on the property, has proposed a 62,174-square-foot store without space for additional retail. Instead, the company envisions demolishing the existing supermarket building and the strip mall to make way for the ShopRite, which would front Greenwood Avenue. The parcel's traffic flow would be altered and greenery would be added to a shopping center that is largely in disrepair.

The project is currently before the Planning Board, which will ultimately approve or deny the ShopRite plan. 

O'Toole, who has spoken at length on the Wyckoff outlet's fate with MVC Commissioner Raymond Martinez, believes the township office could have survived if the MVC wasn't being forced from the location. The pending eviction "made it easy" for the state when it was looking to cut costs, the senator said.

"We had no choice" on leaving Wyckoff, Horan said.

However, efforts had been made to try to convince the state to re-locate the office elsewhere in Wyckoff, perhaps at the adjacent Boulder Run shopping center. The Chamber of Commerce was active in lobbying legislators, and O'Toole's office joined Assemblyman David Russo's office in advocating for Wyckoff.

The Township Committee supported the efforts, although it declined to approve a resolution offered in the winter by Committeeman Brian Scanlan, lest it appeared to be trying to exert influence over the Inserra project. Instead, governing body members expressed their concern to the District 40 delegation.

"I received a number of complaints from Wyckoff residents," O'Toole said. "I lobbied long and hard" for a Wyckoff location, he said.

Wyckoff's closing will leave just four MVC outlets in Bergen County, in Lodi, Wallington, Paramus and Oakland, with only Paramus and Lodi offering vehicle inspections.

However, the Oakland outlet, at 350 Ramapo Valley Road, will be enlarged in the future.

"The director has funds to expand the Oakland office," O'Toole said. "They'll be putting a lot of resources into it."

The state still must reach a decision on when to close the Wyckoff MVC for good.

"We will give customers appropriate notice," Horan said.