Debate Over Turkey Farm Rages On In Chester

Frank and David Banisch were at it again Tuesday evening as the pair held another meeting to discuss the Larison's Turkey Farm project with the Chester Borough Mayor and Council as well as the residents assembled.

Frank Banisch took the floor first and spoke of the feedback Banisch Associates received since the previous meeting on Feb. 19. According to Banisch, the overarching theme was keeping the open space and country feeling which comes from that area of town. In addition, other central themes were:

• Wanting to be a thriving destination
• Providing economic and fiscal utility from the property
• Managing traffic

Banisch offered some advice on what he thinks could be a good transition for the land. A redevelopment designation, or blight, could be beneficial to the community as a whole.

"One of the things I think you need to consider, and you don't have to take me up on this, but it's worthwhile to explore whether a redevelopment area designation could be an appropriate way to deal with the site," Banisch said. "I say that for a couple of reasons. We know that certain conditions on the site can be documented and meet the statutory criteria for redevelopment.

Banisch said that designation could help the borough financially as there are advantages to both the redeveloper in the ability to negotiate a payment in lieu of taxes and other beneficial agreements.

"The payment in lieu of taxes has advantages to the borough because where ordinarily the taxes that are paid for property mostly go to the county and school district and maybe 10-15% end up here," Banisch said. "Under a payment in lieu of taxes, which might very well be almost exactly the same as the taxes that would have paid otherwise, that payment doesn't go to counties and schools, it goes 85 percent to the borough. So for the period of time that that payment in lieu of tax agreement was in effect, the borough would have a supplemental source of income coming from the project."

Banisch said that the blighting process means that the borough must go to the property and identify its negative characteristics. He added that "it doesn't have to take years or even lots of months, it can happen fairly directly."

David Banisch concurred with his brother regarding the blighting process and said, "I would embrace it as a concept that should be looked at and very seriously considered."

Mayor Bob Davis said that if there's one thing he doesn't want to see on the site it's office buildings, to which council member Matt Finney agreed.

"I'm thinking about 16,000-square-foot office buildings on the property, if we go into a blighted situation I don't think I'd like to see office buildings on the property," Davis said. "That's something I'd like to see taken off the table."

Residents Weigh In

Residents then had a chance to speak during the public portion, and voice their opinion they did.

"Unfortunately, I don't think we can keep that parcel of land countrified," said Ray Picone. "We got plenty of country around here, but if that was the case we wouldn't have upscale malls nearby. We would've had a different concept altogether, we would've kept everything country."

Picone also said he wasn't in favor of using the land for affordable housing.

"It doesn't bring in any money first of all," Picone said. "What we need is bringing people in, we need business. It needs restaurants or things that are going to bring people to the town."

Jenny Vilot was adamant that two of the proposals should be nixed.

"There's a rumor that two things you're considering are a pharmacy and a bank. I just know that that is a big negative, there's already six banks minimum and two pharmacies in town," Vilot said. "I think some sort of motel, bed and breakfast would be very good use for that site. There's really no housing in Mendham, Chester, Long Valley, so it could be a destination for people and I don't think it would create a lot of traffic; some but not like supermarket traffic."

Donna Manuel liked the possibility of a restaurant moving onto the property, but not the hotel.

"I think if we had a good restaurant people would come," Manuel said. "A lot of people in Chester love to go out for dinner. But I disagree with a hotel, I don't think anyone's coming to stay over in Chester."

Property Owner Shares Vision

Following the public discussion, the current owner of the Larsion property, Harold Wachtel, had a chance to voice his opinion and offer up an idea for the land via real estate developer Mitch Berlant.

"I've been coming to the Turkey Farm since 1963," Berlant said. "I understand that's the center of town and you're looking to keep your historic town in place, what I would like to develop there would be a park-like setting with a bed and breakfast, a restaurant and a catering facility."

John Wyciskala, Wachtel's attorney, spoke of the hardships his client has had to endure through this whole endeavor.

"This is something to keep in mind, [Wachtel] said he's had this property for 13 years," he said. "My client is into this property for well over $10 million; he’s got a $5 million mortgage that he has to pay the carry on month in and month out. That mortgage 13 years ago was $5 million, there's been nothing to support this property, there's been nothing to pay down this debt, all it's been is money going out. He's at a point where he just can't do it any longer. There's been a lot of talk of economic viability here, but I'm not sure anyone's taken into account exactly the amount of money Mr. Wachtel has into this property."

The debate will continue during the council's next meeting on March 19, Davis said.

"We're going to be talking about finalizing the vision statement and moving into a discussion about the way we want to zone this and some ideas," Davis said.