Mill redevelopment takes on new shape

BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer

Helmetta officials are reviewing a new plan for the redevelopment of the snuff mill property and hope to have a builder on board for the project within the next month.

The borough’s redevelopment committee has suggested changes to the previous redevelopment plan, and the latest version is now before the borough’s Planning Board, Mayor Nancy Martin said.

“Basically, their role is to say if the plan is consistent with the master plan,” Martin said. “I’m hoping by the end of this week we’ll have the amended redevelopment plan for review, and our planner will be making a presentation on April 14 at 7 p.m., regarding the changes he’s made to the plan.”

The Borough Council is expected to choose a redeveloper at its first meeting following that presentation, the mayor said.

The zoning, location and density of the buildings within the plan have all been changed.

“Our administration was totally against the prior plan,” Martin said, referring to the snuff mill zoning put in place in 2003 by Mayor Frank Hague and a Borough Council with a largely different makeup. “It called for something that we didn’t believe belonged there, and this plan — it’ll fit right into the center of town.”

Under the new plan, fewer than 250 units will be constructed, and all of them will be age-restricted. The old plan did not require age restrictions.

The former redevelopment plan last year brought the borough into negotiations with Helmetta Lenape, the owner of the snuff mill, who proposed 271 age-restricted units alongside retail stores. Negotiations between the borough and the developer failed, however, and officials decided in September to end the talks and work on a new redevelopment plan.

Martin said the age-restricted guidelines are being included in the new plan to prevent added schoolchildren, thus bringing in taxpaying homeowners who do not add to school costs for existing residents.

The commercial portions of the redevelopment will now be located on what officials refer to as parcels 2 and 5 of the 31-acre property, so that the buildings do not act as a separation between existing residential units in the area and those to be constructed as part of the redevelopment, Martin said.

The residential units are now slated for parcels 3 and 4, while parcel 1 will remain as open space.

“We wanted to keep the residential [units] in the residential side of town,” Martin said.

Also, the height of the buildings will be reduced, as the original plan allowed for buildings of up to 10 stories.

“We pretty much made the plan to conform with the surrounding neighborhoods,” she said.

Another significant change in the plans concerns the existing snuff mill buildings — the committee has rescinded its bid to save the factory buildings, which have been mostly vacant since the mill closed in 1993.

“That wasn’t our goal,” Martin said of saving the buildings. “At one point we had thought maybe we could save one building for recreation, [but] we just feel that they’ve been neglected for so long.”

There are residents who would like the buildings to be preserved, the mayor noted, but she believes it is in the best interest of the town and the redevelopment effort to remove that condition from the plans.

“They’ve been an elephant sitting in the middle of town for so long,” she said. “We’d like to clean up the site and bring a breath of fresh air to the town.”

Martin said plans to build a hotel with a conference center have also been removed, but the committee would like to see a recreational center on the property.

Martin said the committee is deciding between four possible redevelopers — Helmetta Lenape LLC, Millennium Homes, Kaplan Cos., and Kalian and Co.

Two of those firms, Helmetta Lenape and Kaplan Cos., also presented plans when the borough solicited proposals in 2003.

“The redevelopment committee is having a tough time making a final decision,” Martin said Monday. “We really got some great plans.”

Martin said the committee has basically narrowed it down to two of the four plans, but said it is premature to discuss which ones.

“They’re all basically similar,” she said. “I think once they become available, people will see why the developer that’s being chosen is going to be chosen.”

Martin said Helmetta Lenape has not received any special consideration just because they are the property’s owner.

“We went in there just looking at each plan individually, talking to each developer individually, and I think in the end it’s going to be the plan that will suit Helmetta the best,” Martin said.