Belleville Council OKs tax exemption plan

The Belleville Township Council has delayed approval of a development measure for Cortland Street and OK’d another for Franklin Avenue.

The council tabled approval of a financial agreement that would have the developer, Terry Street Urban Renewal LLC, pay the municipality $3.48 million through the course of 14 years in lieu of regular property taxes.

Terry Street Urban Renewal intends to build an 115-unit apartment building at 91 Terry St. and 371 Cortland St. The measure will be heard at the council's Tuesday, Feb. 14, meeting.

Approval of the Payment In Lieu Of Taxes assessment, or PILOT, was delayed after residents opposing the proposal came to the meeting focused on a page out of the developer’s agreement, which had received initial approval Dec. 19.

By ordinance, the council needs to vote on the measure twice.

The questionable clause in the agreement, which residents speaking to the council raised concern about, states that municipal employees be given the first opportunity to occupy up to 2.6 percent of the units in the building. That amounts to three units.

Township Attorney Thomas Murphy said the clause in the agreement is an “unenforceable provision.” He proposed the council postpone approval of the financial agreement, which the council did.

“It caught me by surprise,” Mayor Raymond Kimble told the Belleville Times afterward. “I read the developer’s agreement prior to this meeting last week, and I didn’t see it.”

Kimble reiterated his support for the 115-unit apartment building, saying that it would beautify the neighborhood and bring more tax dollars.

“We’re not getting the full taxes that we should be getting for that property,” he said. “Have you been down there?”

Open government advocate Lee Dorry, the founder of Essex Watch, a community advocacy website, had obtained the developer’s agreement through a public records request.

By a 6-to-0 vote, the council approved a tax abatement for a 9.13-acre tract, located at the intersection of Franklin and Belleville avenues, where a developer has proposed 245 residential units as part of a rehabilitation of a vacant hospital.

Councilman Kevin Kennedy was absent.

Councilman Joseph Longo, who members of the audience said was in the hallway before the meeting, called in his vote by phone.

That measure, too, met with opposition from the public.

“It’s the same thing as the Cortland Street project,” said resident Vincent Frantantoni, who has been organizing community members opposing the project in Belleville’s 4th Ward. “It’s going to make a lot of money at our expense.”

Frantantoni had previously cited a state report showing school districts, which would typically glean half the taxes a municipality collects, do not obtain those funds through PILOT agreements.

Township Tax Assessor Kevin Esposito explained the benefits of the agreement for the municipality.

“What happens with a PILOT agreement is the municipality receives 85 percent of every dollar bargained for,” Esposito said. “So at the end of the day, we can say the municipality is not losing revenue.”

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