Bridgewater Officials Argue Over Center Of Excellence Project

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Politics, yelling and heated arguments between Bridgewater council members prevented them from civilly discussing the Center of Excellence project proposed for the now-vacant 100-plus acre Sanofi-Aventis property on Route 202/206 during Thursday night’s agenda meeting. An ordinance to possibly revoke the project altogether was tabled as well.

The meeting began with a group of concerned residents, called Preserve Bridgewater, who packed the meeting to air their concerns over the project, specifically the traffic it will bring to the area.

"We don’t want this to become another Hillsborough," said one resident referring to the traffic issues on Route 206 in Hillsborough Township. "We don’t want people saying it’s a bad place to live because you can’t get out of it in the morning."

The applicant, CIP II/AR Bridgewater Holdings LLC, has plans of building a hotel, supermarket, fitness/wellness center, restaurants with outdoor dining, around 400 luxury apartment units and boutiques.

• See Related: Largest Development in Bridgewater's History Proposed
• Related: Bridgewater Approves Plan For Possibly Largest Redevelopment Plan in Township's History

One resident, Andrew Levin, also asked the board to have Mayor Danial Hayes, and two planning board members Ron Charles and Debra Albanese, recuse themselves from the COE project due to conflicts of interest. He noted how Hayes is using the project as part of his re-election campaign and the board members are helping to work on his campaign.

Following more than two dozen residents who spoke, the council took a look at several ordinances and resolutions regarding the project.

A resolution regarding a PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) with the developer was withdrawn by Councilwoman Christine Rose. The second resolution regarding how to divvy up the taxes that would be received by the township from the developer was unanimously passed.

The biggest controversy revolved around an ordinance introduced by Councilman Filipe Pedroso and seconded by Matthew Moench. The ordinance called for the council to revoke the project agreement with the developer of the Sanofi-Aventis property because they failed to file specific paperwork to make their application complete.

Pedroso stressed the importance of passing the introduction of the ordinance at the meeting because otherwise the developer would have a heads up and be able to file the appropriate paperwork.

"We have given the developer every opportunity to bring this back to the table," Moench said of the proposed project. "I think by introducing this ordinance we are allowing us to get the process started of vetting it fully."

Council members Rose, Howard Norgalis and Allen Kurdyla and township attorney William Savo all expressed concerns about the ordinance.

"Has anyone asked the developer to sit down and talk before we go to Def-Con 5?" Rose said.

Norgalis questioned the council’s legal right to revoke the developer agreement.

"As much as I want to can this project, I won’t do it unless it is legal," Norgalis said.

Savo advised the council that the township could lose jurisdiction over the property and could also wind up in court being sued by the developer if they decided to move forward with the ordinance.

"If we table this we are allowing the developer time to file the paperwork," Pedroso said.

Kurdyla pointed to the recent lawsuit that Bridgewater lost with Al Falah over the construction of an Islamic mosque in December 2014. As a result of the settlement, the mosque was allowed to be constructed on the 10.75 acre property on Route 202/206 and the township had to pay $5 million.

"We just went through a hell of a lawsuit over the mosque development where we had everything in order and we still got hammered," Kurdyla said. "Now we are potentially opening the door for a lawsuit that could knock our socks off!"

"Let’s cut the crap already!" Kurdyla yelled then ripped the proposed ordinance into two.

The ordinance was eventually tabled to allow the council to research it further. Pedroso and Moench voted no to tabling the ordinance while Rose, Kurdyla and Norglias voted in favor.

Discussions on the ordinance and the Center of Excellence will continue at the township’s regular session on Monday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m.

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