Matawan officials respond to train station letter

Matawan officials respond
to train station letter
By josh davidson
Staff Writer

MATAWAN — Borough officials disagreed with a letter sent out by Aberdeen officials to its residents detailing its ideas for redevelopment of the Aberdeen-Matawan train station.

The letter, "Station Plaza Moves Forward: An Open Letter to the Community," was sent to Aberdeen residents two weeks ago.

The letter angered Matawan officials because of statements that the borough is not concerned about traffic and other problems its plan may present.

Aberdeen’s plan will attract federal dollars needed to fund major traffic improvements that are already desperately needed, the letter states.

The township will not begin any phase of the project until the proper amount of funding for these efforts are received, Deputy Mayor Owen Drapkin said.

"If we don’t get the funds from the government for the train station, nothing is going to be done," he said.

Aberdeen applied in March for $99 million in federal aid to begin a $750 million road improvement program for areas surrounding the train station.

The letter accused the borough of planning to go ahead with its train station project with or without the major transportation improvements required to accommodate the increase of traffic it would create.

The borough’s developer plans on making traffic improvements as its engineer sees fit, Matawan Mayor Robert Clifton said.

"The Matawan project, it appears, just uses Aberdeen for access roads to its revitalization plan, and envisions our land around the train station as the ideal location for their increased parking needs," the letter states. "We will not allow this plan to happen."

Aberdeen does not have access roads to the train station, Clifton said. All of those paths go through Matawan, he said.

"Any developing done in Aberdeen, those commuters would come through Matawan," he said.

"I think [Aberdeen’s] plan, as it stands now, will be putting more of a burden on our roads," borough Councilman Paul Buccellato said.

"Matawan has also been outspoken about its vision for Station Plaza, which, unfortunately, has taken on a different scope because the borough has chosen to ignore regional priorities," the letter states.

"We obviously disagree with that," Clifton said. "I don’t understand what the rationale for that is."

Matawan is blindly focused on building residential development at the train station, according to the letter.

"Such development would substantially increase the enrollment in our shared school system, and therefore the school tax rate, thus eliminating the financial benefits that would be gained through the economic revitalization plan," the letter states.

If the project worsens traffic conditions and jeopardizes the township’s neighborhoods, the Aberdeen Township Council is prepared to move away from the plan and seek other redevelopment opportunities, according to the letter.

The statement that Matawan is the only municipality looking to build more housing in the project is contrary to interrogatories read in the beginning stages of a lawsuit filed by Silver Oak Properties, Buccellato said.

Damages listed in the lawsuit include 390 housing units valued at $6,500,000 in net profits that the suing developer could receive, according to preliminary interrogatory statements.

Interrogatories are questions sent by a defendant’s attorney and returned by the plaintiff’s attorney on behalf of their client prior to the trial process, Buccellato said.

Borough Attorney Brian Mullen said he sent interrogatories to Silver Oak Properties’ attorney David P. Lonski, of Shamy, Shipers and Lonski, New Brunswick, in March.

Aberdeen’s principal developer, Silver Oak Properties Inc., Monroe, filed a lawsuit in January with the state Superior Court, Freehold, seeking to disqualify Matawan’s developers.

The suit names the borough of Matawan, Mayor Clifton, the council and developers, NJ Transit, and Aberdeen.

Aberdeen selected the six-company Station Plaza consortium in November, lead by Silver Oak Properties, to redevelop its 60 acres surrounding the train station.

In December, Matawan chose three separate companies to develop its 40 acres.

Columbia Group, LLC, Princeton, is the lead developer along with K. Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., Edison; and Mack-Cali Realty Corp., Cranford.

The borough officially ended its in­terlocal service agreement and joint management committee with Aberdeen through a resolution passed April 17.

"[Aberdeen’s] own developer pro­posed residential units so they should read their developer’s statement before they comment on our plan," Clifton said.

Clifton is not sure which Aberdeen officials are responsible for the letter’s statements, he said.

He would only respond to opinions of elected officials, he said.

"If it was [Township Manager Mark Coren,] I’m not going to respond to the opinions of an employee of the town," Clifton said.

Aberdeen has not released specific plan details to the public, Buccellato said.

"I think this mayor and council have been more forthcoming," he said refer­ring to Matawan. "We’ve always been up front in giving the people informa­tion."

Aberdeen wants to move its plan forward leaving Matawan behind, Clifton said.

Aberdeen selecting its own developer before Matawan showed that the town­ship was moving in its own direction from the beginning, Clifton added.

The letter spells out what township officials said are advantages to its rede­velopment plan. The Aberdeen proposal will provide significant tax relief in the township and Matawan by helping bring the right mix of offices, restaurants, ho­tels and retail stores to the area sur­rounding the train station, according to the letter.