Franklin Council tables redevelopment plan
By Scott Baker
FRANKLIN — After about 18 months, countless hours of meetings and testimony, and at least $18,000, the Borough of Franklin has decided to shelve their five-part redevelopment and rehabilitation plan until they get more concrete interest from developers.
The plans, which broke the borough into five development sections A through E, have been a near constant on agendas for both the planning board and borough council since last spring.
Most well known was the plan for the eastern section of Area E — the Route 23 corridor — which includes the NJ Division of Parks and Forestry Building, two residential properties immediately east of that building, and the small strip mall and plot of land across from Starbucks belonging to Group 5 Development, which was the proposed site for a Super Walmart before the project recently fell through.
Recommended for rehabilitation by the planning board was Area B, which includes much of Main Street, while the other four areas were recommended for redevelopment. Rehabilitation is “an undertaking, by means of extensive repair, reconstruction or renovation of existing structures, with or without the introduction of new construction or the enlargement of existing structures,” according to the NJ state local redevelopment and housing law. This differs from redevelopment, where, according to the state’s redevelopment handbook, an area may be viewed as abandoned or underutilized and therefore "not being used to its full development potential. As a result, the area may not be effectively contributing to the municipality’s economy or its long range community development objectives.”
After the planning board made their final recommendations, the borough had three main options, according to Franklin Mayor Paul Crowley; accept the plan, reject it, or table it for future use. The main reason not to accept the plan, he added, was that “it [would] cost us a lot of money.”
Crowley then suggested tabling their plan until developers show interest. As of now, he said, “the best chance of anything being done is with the Miner’s Cove,” which is on Main Street, but not a part of Area B. In the future, if a potential buyer was looking for a tax abatement, it would be possible to expand Area B to include the property.
While the entire council agreed with Mayor Crowley’s decision to table, there was some frustration. “It’s not wise to continue spending money on plans and put them on the shelf,” Councilman Nick Giordano said.
In an interview last year, current Democratic candidate for borough council Patricia Rowett shared a similar view. “Franklin comes up with all these schemes and nothing ever happens,” Rowett said, recalling over 20 years of projects that never came to fruition.
Councilwoman Susan Gardell brought up the Town of Newton and their current stance on redevelopment, which includes no action without a signed letter of intent from a developer. “I admire their conservative thinking,” she said, agreeing with the decision to table.
State aid was mentioned as a possible source of funding, but Crowley said the majority of New Jersey’s redevelopment and rehabilitation money is going to the shore, leaving Franklin unlikely to get any.