The City Council is set to approve a revised redevelopment plan that will consolidate more than three dozen amendments to the existing, 15-year-old redevelopment plan.
Category Archives: City Council
Water rate increase coming
The City Council last week introduced a new ordinance (O-11-13) that will raise water rates by about $20, or about 15 percent, effective April 1. The ordinance will come up for a public hearing and final approval at the March 11 regular meeting.
After the water utility ran a deficit of $170,000 in 2010, water rates were raised last year by about 5 percent last year. The City Council at the time considered a recommendation by the city administrator of increasing rates 5 percent for three consecutive years, but the governing body instead sought to address it on an annual basis.
The ordinance would increase the minimum monthly charge from $11.41 to $13.12, an increase of $1.71, nearly 15 percent. The ordinance stipulates increases of 2 percent annually through 2016. The increase would generate about $487,000 for the remaining eight months of 2013, or $13.68 to the minimum user.
In a Feb. 7 memo to Mayor Rick Proctor, Chief Financial Officer Frank Ruggiero explained that the additional revenue will reduce or eliminate the need for the city budget to supplement water utility operations, enable the utility to again become self-liquidating, and fund upcoming capital improvements.
“This amendment would be in the best interest of the city to have the Water Utility Fund be self-liquidating and not rely on the current fund to supplement the operations,” Ruggiero wrote in his memo to the mayor.
City Council introduces taxi fare hike
The City Council last week introduced the first taxi fare hike in seven years and will vote on the measure (O-12-13) after a public hearing at its March 11 regular meeting.
The three taxi zones in Rahway currently are $4, $5 and $6, and the increase would hike fares $1 in each zone, making them $5, $6 and $7; essentially an overall increase of about 20 percent. Boundaries of the three zones are laid out in this Google Map.
Owners of the two Rahway taxi companies requested a fare hike in a December letter to the mayor and City Council. The last increase in taxi fares was November 2005.
Artist housing PILOT approved
The City Council passed a series of measures on Monday night aimed at bringing affordable housing targeted for people in the arts and entertainment industry to the Arts District, including a financial agreement that will provide a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT).
State of the City 2013
Mayor Rick Proctor focused his State of the City remarks last night on regional flood mitigation efforts and the city’s response to Hurricane Sandy while touching on some redevelopment topics. He also warned of a tough budget year, thanks to another water utility deficit that will raise water rates.
Public hearing on PILOT for artist housing
The City Council on Monday night will hold a public hearing and final approval for a financial agreement that includes a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) for the Rahway Residence for the Arts to pay the city at least $33,000 annually. Mayor Rick Proctor also is expected to deliver the State of the City address at the same meeting.
Council moves forward on arts housing measures
The City Council passed a series of measures last month to move forward with a proposed affordable housing development geared toward artists at the former Elizabethtown Gas building.
Ordinance 3-13 — introduced Jan. 14 and up for final approval on Feb. 11 — would execute a financial agreement between the city and the AFHDC for the affordable housing project, for a term not to exceed the agency’s mortgage for the project, with an annual fee to be determined as a percentage of annual gross revenues, not to exceed 20 percent.
The city would collect between $33,000 and $38,000 based on 6.2 percent of a projected $617,000 in gross rents, according to Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier. That percentage was requested by the developer but is still under negotiation with the Redevelopment Agency, he said, adding that the length of the mortgage has not been agreed to yet. The property is currently assessed at about $500,000, making for an annual property tax bill of about $30,000. The Redevelopment Agency is negotiating the purchase of the site at Central Avenue and Hamilton Street from AGL Resources, the parent company of Elizabethtown Gas.
Also up for final approval at the Feb. 11 council meeting will be an ordinance (O-3-13) to amend the redevelopment plan. Representatives of the Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation (AFHDC) are expected to appear at one of the February council meetings to address questions about the proposal.
A resolution (AR-4-13) also approved by council declared the project will meet an existing housing need and that the Redevelopment Agency will make a mortgage loan to the AFHDC, which will construct, own and operate the 69-unit facility.
Ordinance 2-13 would amend the Central Business District (CBD) redevelopment plan for Block 167, Lot 1 (the former Elizabethtown Gas Building), stipulating permitted principal land uses and permitted bulk standards (including up to 75 units per acre, a maximum four stories/50 feet, and minimum lot area of 30,000 square feet), and minimum number of parking spaces (1 per unit, with a maximum 0.33 spaces per unit provided on site).
The AFHDC initially proposed 60 units but has since increased the idea to 69 units and the organization recently came before the Redevelopment Agency with survey findings it believes show very strong demand for artist housing. They told the agency that additional low-income housing tax credits for Hurricane Sandy-affected areas are included in legislation that was considered by the House of Representatives on Jan. 15. Original development costs were estimated at $15 million, based on the 60-unit plan, including subsidized low-income housing tax credits of 4 to 7.5 percent.
Exec minutes provide few details on settlement
With no public comments from any parties involved in the settlement and release agreement with the former city administrator, we turn to the minutes of two executive sessions last month that led to the deal.
Continue reading Exec minutes provide few details on settlement