WAYNE, NJ-Mayor Christopher Vergano is standing by his proposal for rezoning commercial and industrial areas to permit mixed-use development - including apartments - although it has met fierce resistance at hearings before the Planning Board.
Critics say Vergano's proposal would lead to drastic changes to the character of the township.
Vergano, a Republican campaigning for re-election to a second term, says there is no other feasible way to build up a sagging tax base and keep the town affordable to residents.
"We tried to come up with a plan that would increase ratables, that wouldn't cost us any infrastructure, that wouldn't cost us any new schools, wouldn't bring many schoolchildren in, and this is the plan we came up with," Vergano said at a planning board hearing this week.
Some residents contend, however, that the towship should be more aggressively recruiting businesses. Also, critics say that if apartment dwellers are added to the town's 55,000-member population, the town would have to bear the cost of hiring fire and ambulance service instead of relying on volunteers as it now does.Vergano presented the redevelopment plan to the Planning Board last month - and a grass-roots organization called Wake Up Wayne quickly formed in opposition.
Vergano is proposing eight areas be rezoned under the town's master plan, including the Mountain View business district being opened up as a transit village. The vacant Toshiba site in town would become a multi-family development site.
Vergano said the proposed small-family design of the high-end apartments would add few new students to public schools.
The issue of multi-family development remains a touchy one in many suburban towns, as a recent discussion at the RealShare NJ conference made clear. (See story here)
Some commercial real estate executives said at RealShare that the barriers to apartment development are falling as towns seek to build more lively communities and a healthier tax base; others said at the Sept. 17 confab that resistance remains nearly absolute in many communities.
Vergano insists that development of under-used properties in Wayne is absolutely necesssary to build tax ratables and keep resident taxes stable. Passaic County Board of Taxation figures show the township has lost $41 million in ratables over the past two years, and now has a $5.1 billion tax base.
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