Affordable housing at the Madison Recreation Complex? Bad Idea.

On Friday, June 14, Madison Republican Mayoral Candidate Rob Catalanello issued a statement on the announcement by the governing body of Madison NJ on the proposed location of a new housing development.

We have sent this statement to the local paper, the Madison Eagle, however, they will not print our statements or submissions.

At the June 10 Borough Council meeting, the governing body announced plans to build 40 affordable housing units at the corner of Ridgedale Avenue and the entrance to the Madison Recreation Complex. The land is currently fenced off due to previous contamination caused by pesticide/fungicide use.

"Traffic nightmare"

This location, the entrance of which is at the intersection of Central and Ridgedale Avenues, is a traffic nightmare during the high school pickup and drop-off times, more complicated now that parking is no longer allowed on Burnet Ave and student overflow parking is diverted to the MRC lot.

Adding 80 or more vehicles to the traffic mix once the project is complete will lead to increased accidents and compromise the safety of students who drive, walk, bicycle, or are dropped off at school. It will also pose significant risk to the residents of Cheshire Home, located on the other side of the MRC entrance road. Students who are forced to park in the MRC lot must traverse cross-country to get to class. Will the new development interfere with the established route?

The traffic impact of construction vehicles during the build-out phase of the project has clearly not been taken into account, either. Just ask any parent who drops off or picks up their child at the High School how they feel about the prospect of numerous construction vehicles clogging up the already congested intersection and see how they respond.

Restricted use for land

The proposed development is on land that was purchased with Morris County Open Space funds. For years, the Recreation Advisory Committee has asked for permission to build a Field House, or enclosed gym space, on the property to enhance Madison's recreation facilities. There is even an open item on the RAC agenda for such a facility. For years, current members of the governing body and borough administration have told the RAC that it was illegal to build on this land because it was purchased with Green Acres and/or Open Space funds. If it is illegal to build a field house for recreation, how can it be legal to build affordable housing units?

No community input

Several months ago, this same Affordable Housing development was slated to be built next to the Rexford Tucker apartments, on Belleau Avenue. The residents of Belleau were not informed of the decision and the proposed council vote was only discovered because one Belleau resident was reading the council agenda for another item. Prior to that, the proposed location was on Walnut Street, and the result was exactly the same as what just occurred at Belleau Ave. There has been no community input on the decision, nor is council informing residents of any decisions, or potential locations. I believe that if one wants different results than what one is getting, one must try different approaches. Affordable housing mandates from the State are not going away. Likewise, affordable housing does not deserve the negative stigma that is often attached to it. We need to work together as a community to solve this vexing problem. That requires leadership and vision, and I believe I am best qualified as Mayor to deliver both.

More questions than answers

Once again, there are more questions than answers from the governing body. No doubt the governing body and borough administration will come up with some sort of convoluted explanation for the fictitious narrative that they have fed to the RAC about the field house and lack of communication with residents about the location of the affordable housing development. As late as June 3, the Borough Administrator responded in writing to a request made by the RAC through the Recreation Director to use the land in question to construct a gymnasium by informing them that it was not allowed because, “The entire MRC site is funded by Green Acres with restrictions except for the 2.167 acre environmentally restricted area. That area, however, is under Morris County Open Space restrictions.”

When asked for an explanation on the preferential treatment for the Affordable Housing development, the borough declined to answer, except to say that the RAC would receive a letter explaining their decision.

Is this how we want to treat our neighbors? Is this how we treat volunteers? Is this the sort of leadership Madison deserves? I think not.

I truly hope that our current municipal leadership is not going to claim that some sort of ‘executive privilege’ is to blame for the misinformation. Claim they had to misrepresent the facts, either directly or through omission, because of ‘negotiations’ they were having with the state’s affordable housing representatives. Executive privilege is not a get out of jail free card, and our governing body uses it too much. If elected, I will use a very strict interpretation of the law in order to promote openness and transparency in municipal government.

Madison deserves better!

Someone needs to take responsibility for the misinformation that was presented to the volunteers on the RAC. The residents of Madison deserve to share their opinion on the location of the affordable housing development before a secret decision is made. One would think the governing body would have learned about communicating with residents and the importance of openness given the fiasco that is going on with the Madison Theater. Apparently not. Madison deserves better leadership.