02/04/10

Last week the "new council" put out a Request For Proposal for the development of 35 acres of Clinton Township-owned land adjacent to the Windy Acres open-space site. (The RFP incorrectly refers to "Windy Acres" -- the proposed project is actually on a subdivision which is no longer part of the Windy Acres open space site.) This is the biggest municipal project ever proposed -- over 150 apartments in 4-story high-rise buildings -- yet there was no public presentation.

This project is a clone of the Presidential Palace atrocity that Lebanon Boro is building on Cokesbury Road. Do you believe that the taxpayers and voters of Clinton Township don't care that "the new council" has launched development of a Presidential Palace in Clinton Township?

The public was given no opportunity to see any presentation about this massive project, to ask questions or to discuss this 150+ unit municipal development before the Council put out an RFP. There are plans referred to in the RFP -- where are they?

Last week the Council also awarded a contract for over $60,000 to a hydrogeological consultant to figure out where water will come from for this project -- but less than half will actually be paid to the contractor. The larger part of the award will be paid to a subcontractor without any award to that company. This is a no-bid contract award where the bulk of the funds will be funneled to a non-professional business that does not qualify for a no-bid contract.

The idea behind a town partnering with an affordable housing developer is that the developer will assume all the costs of development and make its money back through rental revenues and federal subsidies. This includes getting water and sewer for the project. In fact, the RFP you just issued includes development of water and sewer for the project:

"All public utilities necessary to serve the 100% affordable rental residential development contemplated on the Windy Acres site in this RFP must be provided to the site by the developer. Sanitary sewer and water service may include the extension of public sewer and public water lines to serve the development. If necessary, on-site wastewater and potable water must be provided."

Why did you just spend over $60,000 to develop water for the project -- when it's already in the RFP and to be paid for by the developer who wins the award? That's a waste of taxpayer money?

Had "the new council" done a proper public presentation to disclose the details of the RFP and no-bid contract, perhaps the public might have pointed out this and other problems -- before you spent taxpayer money. Had "the new council" gotten advice from the standing Township COAH Committee -- comprised of the heads of the Planning Board, Zoning Board, Environmental Commission, Historic Commission and knowledgeable citizens -- you might have avoided wasting taxpayer money. But the COAH Committee was not convened or asked to review the RFP or the hydrogeological contract. The "new council," which promised full public participation and open government, decided to act in isolation, without public input and without the input of the major boards and committees that serve the Township.

Neither this RFP nor the water contract were on the agenda until "the new council" -- which is a super-majority that effectively controls all major decisions -- came into office. What I wanted to ask you when I e-mailed you twice was, Are you going along with all this? You voted YES on both items.

What happened to the new high standards of the "new council"? You and Spencer Peck and Jim Imbriaco and Peter Marra promised us transparency and responsible government. How do you launch a 150+ rental-unit municipal development project without even showing taxpayers what it will look like?

Clinton Township's own Presidential Palace is 4-story apartments, an isolated ghetto of affordable housing, all in one location. Do you believe your constituents want this? The only explanation offered at last week's meeting is that this is a "COAH project" -- yet the Executive Director of COAH just resigned and legislation has been introduced to abolish COAH and a large part of our obligations? We already have a sufficient COAH plan and COAH is essentially dead. Clinton Township has taken an assertive position on COAH for the past several years -- why all of a sudden is "the new council" giving in to COAH like this?

When will the details and the plans (which have already been given to bidders) for the Windy Acres project that are in the RFP be put on the web site so the public can see them? Why didn't you show this to the public first?