[Music] this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meeting act notice of this meeting was provided to the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and the Highland Park planet on January 5th 20124 and was posted on the borrow Hall website at www. HB bor.com and on the bulletin board of borrow Hall 221 South fth Avenue Highland Park New Jersey and has remained continuously posted as required by law Dennis can you lead us in the pledge allegiance to flag the United States of America and to the stand na indivisible andice all roll call Mayor Foster here councilwoman Cana here councilman George councilman H here council president H here councilwoman Kim Shan councilman sorry council person pastelic here special Council Balman here by Road administ H here okay discussion items are Financial disclosure for DNL urban renewal LLC which is otherwise known as Superfresh and then we're going to go to resolution resolution number 20-24 202 24-2 executive session regarding Redevelopment negotiation on track a and litigation JSM versus Park may I have a motion to adopt or reject motion to adopt can I have a second second roll call councilwoman cona yes councilman George councilman Hal yes council president hsh yes councilman ponik yes and now it's time for public discussion see that we have no one in audience um we're going to move to those on Zoom it's now time for public comments speaker has 3 minutes but can comment on any topic the borrow clerk will monitor the time and will offer a 30 second warning and then indicate when 3 minutes has has lapsed the session will wrap up by 900 PM excuse me mayor anyone on Zoom uh the discussion item we skipped over you're were supposed to talk about it oh I'm sorry I thought you were just trying to get the business out of the way okay so now discussion item and then public comment after that if you don't mind okay discussion item so uh attorney Balman I'm sorry got I am so sorry I'm a little bit off my game I don't know why um so I think it's important to um we're going to discuss a financial agreement for the new operator of the grocery super freshh and I think it's really important for us to uh sort of go back to the past about a year or more ago um when we first found out that the grocery store was closing um I would say there was a loud cry from the public and G Body um we can't let that happen we have to we have to solve that problem um that began a process that's taken us to better part of year or more to where we have today where we have a grer Who is about to invest $6 million into that uh building including work on the inside and the outside um and that only happened because this company body had the foresight to figure out how to put themselves in a position have tools necessary to entice that operator to come to Highland Park I think I would uh be remissed if I didn't say that when we began this process I certainly wouldn't have bet that we could pull this off but the Govern body sure we thought we could um and what began there was so they turned to professional team and ter and our myself the planers they said how how do we put ourselves in a position to attract a grocery store and we said well we have to put it in an area of need to Redevelopment we have to adop the Redevelopment plan um and then we have to go out in the world and try and find our grocery store we did that um we began the process by first designating the area we retained a professional to analyze the area it was a fairly simple analysis only because it was a banked grocery store and it was certainly outdated in need of significant improvements we then adopted the plan um as a way to try and entice that developer we said that you could do some residential and the grocery store no matter what you want to do under this new plan there has to be a grocery store part of it simultaneously I know the mayor I know ter I Know Myself we're all out knocking on doors for grocery stores wake Fern Food Town um You Name It We were calling around to see who would come to tyland park and take over this project because it was clear here from the community from the people that spoke here that this is an integral part of final Park this is a must have this is something that we need to provide for the communities it's not just a I'd like to it's a necessity for this community that likes to walk it's a necessity not to have the downtown with this huge empty store in all it and lo and behold through that process um with the help of plot papul who certainly were involved in this process and I I have to say they were new to the process but we were we work with them really closely mayor did Terry you know all was to try and work them through the r process and as a result here today I'm so happy to recommend to you um for the consideration of your next main a financial agreement that would uh provide the redeveloper with a payment of taxes for up to 30 years that payment of Li taxes is going to be roughly it is going to be $50,000 a year increasing by 2% a year for the life it terminates at the grocery store it's entirely driven to entice this operator or an operator but this one in particular now to come to auto park and operate and invest again they're investing $6 million into the into this building that's huge for us um the taxes normally might be about 100,000 so the discount is about 50,000 um I think if we had asked the taxpayers back in a day divided the number of taxpayers of $50,000 which you pay that amount of money for us to have a grocery store that's I think the answer would have been overwhelming yes so at the next meeting um we're going to introduce an ordinance for consideration by governing the ordinance will approve a financial agreement and the financial agreement as I described is pay taxes at $50,000 a year increasing by 2% a year terminating the gross e where terminates the as part of this process we did gather a lot of information about the grocery store the operator we have we've seen the plans they have for them um we we've seen they had a Prov approv formula which you'll see in the application um that shows that they need this um pilot but most important a pilot is leg with the definition is it has to we needed to influence the vocational DEC decisions of the probable occupants those are the legal words influence the vocational decision of the probable occupants there is no doubt that this pilot influenced this operator to come here and occupy this building and put $6 million into the project so um again I think that I was skeptic I apologize I um when we first started this process there Wen a lot of grocery stores out there and it's a unique size facility um we had to find the right entity and we did we found an entity if you go look at some of the other stores pretty nice um I'm familiar with that because I worked on the grocery store but not for them but um for the property owner um in middle middle SE really nice um that one also was empty for a very long time and they figured out how to make that one works so these are people that are and by the way they're investing their own money into this facility um so this is an entity that's here to stay they're putting their money with their MTH is and other Park's role in this is to um take about $50,000 I take half the taxes that we normally get in order to get done here um for this product so I the the mayor I think is going to recommend it in her letter um still her Thunder um and I certainly recommend as professionals this is a winwin win for cork huge Plus thank you so much um you know I'm glad that you gave a little narrative overview because I was watching uh news2 I was watching news2 and they were showing um down in Brick New Jersey that they were out they were without a supermarket for over 10 years and they say that Rich time to get a supermarket back into any location is 10 years so Highland Park we are blessed we work really hard and I'm so happy that we're going to be able to have our own Supermarket back less than two years a year and a half and we're going to be back in because they closed last March and here we are this March looking to sign an agreement to officially have them in town with the 50% um deduction and you know the pilot that we're giving them and to have our own very super our very own Supermarket because a lot of our seniors one of the things that they need most is an inton Supermarket not only seniors just about everyone because we all go H and there's not a supermarket you know want to run for something and I know my son said to me the other night you got to hurry up and get the supermarket because I needed milk on my way home and I forgot and I have no milk you know but we all need it we all use it so I'm really happy about that and I'm quite sure my Council colleague is going to be urging us to sign whatever paperwork necessary to get our supermarket in um with that said I guess we go to public discussion or do we have any discussion here in the day anyone have anything to add council member h i I would just uh briefly add that that this is been warp speed and it has been um pushing by every member of the goverment body but certainly by the mayor as well the mayor is is has has taken a strong lead on making sure that this happens wanted to say thank you to her um and to Terry and to Joe um and and to everybody for for this process um it was a lot of hard work a lot of stress and a lot of um but um this is the right thing to do it's the right thing to do for Highland Park it's the right thing to do for um all of our residents um and and and I'm just so happy that I don't have to run out for ketchup or mayonnaise you know someplace far away um right before shop is dinner so thank you very much it's a great opportunity for so it's teamwork I would just add that Matt just basically said everything that I wanted to say so just say thank you again for all of your hard work and really excited and looking forward to this vote in uh one week yep yeah so tonight being consistent with the mayor and the council's desire to be as transparent as possible we're just explaining it tonight there's no vote and then the application will be uploaded and people can take a look at it and the financi upload and then will be an introduction of ordinance and there'll be another vote to adopt the ordinance so this is going to be a three meeting reveal it tonight introduce the ordinance adopt the ordance approach well as long as the council members are on board I'll be happy to sign yeah no if if it's like a one in Middle sex burrow then then that will be a huge win for a park uh because I took I took a trip up there and it's beautiful uh and it really is uh you know and it's such an upgrade compared to what we had just I really want to drive that point home is that what we had before was really an aging model um and the Super Fresh is is in tune their model is tuned for small town uh for for small downtowns in town locations and it's just really exciting a huge upgrade pressure produce lot of variety and like you said it's on Supermarket exciting so it's Super Fresh one other the things that for me is that people're going to read it they're going to ask try tack right here so this in order to get this pilot there's a Redevelopment Bond Associated yes Redevelopment area bond is non recours to the municipality meaning the bond holder that when we issu this um will only be able to the property owner it's a necessary legal uh mechanism to allow us to have the fixed $50,000 increasing every year as opposed to some of the other formulas so we intentionally did that it's a it's a nominal Bond it's paid for for by the property owners on top of the 50,000 so it's not I'm sorry it's within the 50,000 it's $3,000 a year basically uh to pay have the B over time and to uh sort of wrap this up we will go to local finest board and ask for their blessing as well so that'll be the last step so not only will the Govern body the local fin will have to give their blessing as well which fully exp thank you my my I did have a comment but sorry I couldn't tell you looking at me um I just it actually builds off of what uh coun member H said was um just to reiterate there's not one shred of the old store inside that building right now that is true the floors are gone the ceilings gone every grocery case is gone and that was actually Property Owners decided to make that decision that so that we will be getting an upgrade uh to your point and and so um and I did get a look inside um a few weeks back and it was really it was like wow you know there was nothing in there but it was it was pretty trous so I just wanted to reiterate that point uh this isn't a a Band-Aid on the old store this is going to be a brand new store within the envelope of the old building and some and some some outside improvements yes with some side improvements yes y okay um now we have public discussion and we do have I don't see anybody in person there's no one in person I'm sorry besides there's no one in person now we go to those unending on Zoom all right and this is where we're in you're G have to help me with the time I'm GNA call on uh phone number ending uh 4445 please state your name for us and address hi Lois lebing um mayor or Terry would you one of you whose microphone is working clearly please translate what the first speaker was saying I couldn't hear the other two speakers toward the end of the first speaker's discussion I heard grocery store here I'm thinking it's six other items they're talking about so that microphone either the person was a foot away or it's underwater it just garbled I could not get another word so I'm interested in that but I have other questions could someone just give of what the discussion I did hear T Terry clearly Clearly say that there's nothing left of the old it's going to be a new store in the envelope so uh what we described was Joe I would maybe back off your mic a little bit and maybe and let's test it with I don't can you can you no no no I I um it wasn't you I think I think it was Matt maybe she was um Lois let me ask you a question did you hear what our attorney Bowman had to say clearly about the super no no I I didn't know who it was I didn't the first speaker was a male and until the end when I heard the word grocery store I have no clue not one syllable came through got you got okay I got it yes i i s a little feedback how about all right let me try it one more time I won't take you through the whole history where we got how we got to where we are today other than to say one year ago we found out that the existing grocery store operator was leaving Highland Park and we embarked upon a oneye effort to put ourselves in a position to offer a payment and of taxes to to the grocery store community in an effort to attract that grocery store to holl Market we successfully did that and toight uh we're describing for the public we not voting the financial agreement which will be signed between the burrow and the operator the tenant in the new grocery store which will provide for a payment in Lal taxes for the period of 30 years which effectively is about half of what the taxes would norly be $50,000 increasing by 2% per year 3,000 of which is going to a Redevelopment area Bond and the Redevelopment area Bond um is a mechanism required to allow us to use this formula for the pilot and the last comment was we uh we won't be doing anything tonight in terms of our vote we'll introduce the ordinance at the next meeting and we'll adopt it at a subsequent meeting after a public hearing and then we'll have to go to local fir where to get their blessing d okay I heard I heard about a third of it but I heard the pilot 50,000 something 2% no it's that microphone is underwater it is just garbled but I have questions about the Redevelopment or to the Redevelopment entity may I ask that now or would that be later does this have to do with Superfresh no not exactly at the end of March we were promised that the Redevelopment something will be uh shown at the high school is that still on target that's not under discussion at this time but yes it's still on target all right well I'll hold discussing only the supermarket at this time okay so I will wait and thank you I heard bits and pieces of it but that microphone needs to be replaced I can hear you clearly I can hear as I said Terry and the other two guys come in and out thank you I'll hold on thank you have a public discussion yes mayor just give a moment um and just for the record looks like we have seven attendees and one more hand raised up um Mary forsberg please state your name and address hi um Mary forsberg um 317 Highland uh Dennis Street in Highland Park um I reiterate what Loa said I'm glad she called because I couldn't understand a word of what um uh attorney Bowman was saying uh I I was so curious like um the the Frederick is $100,000 a year and um I know we need a grocery store more than we need another apartment building but um how did I'm curious about how you came up with $50,000 a year with a 2% increase per year and what was it that um the Stop and shot paid and what would have paid under the new revaluation so the difference is it was about half of what the otherwise applicable taxes would be and it was a a number that we thought would be enough to entice the operator and it did but we weren't prepared to do any I hello I I'm sorry couldn't I still couldn't understand what you said what did you say is half of what the Stop and Shop used to pay yes so the Stop and Shop was paying $100,000 a year in property taxes yeah roughly yes and so why did you come up with 50,000 he thought it was appropriate number that would entice the new operator but at the same time we didn't we thought half was about the right number to entice the new operator we were right well it worked they came but I mean I guess that's some question is whether that really is the right amount of money I don't know what to say as I said before it takes about 10 years to get a su to get a supermarket into any location we were fortunate enough to entice a supermarket to come the um the area was deemed area in need of free development and we put the caveat that there would be a pilot attached to anyone coming into that a because we desperately need a supermarket in that that will come into Highland Park we didn't have 10 years to sit around and wait without a pilot to say let's wait for Supermarket to get to Highland Park we did what we thought was best to bring a supermarket into our town that is sorely needed so and I I would add that we were more likely to get something else yes something very different so can I finish my question so you said the area is in need of Redevelopment and we were lucky to get a supermarket what is the status of all the Redevelopment plans that you you uh you know paid uh um lrk to do Mary at this at at this moment we are discussing the Super Fresh Supermarket that's coming in that's what's on the agenda and that's we're what we're discussing tonight but it is'll have an opportunity to discuss uh the other Redevelopment plans at another time but tonight the focus is on the Super Fresh but this is part of the Stop and Shop Redevelopment plan yes it is so it seems like a fair fair thing to ask about what you're going to do with rest of that area we're out of time thank you thanks Mary sorry any other person give me one moment hold on looks like Kieran Crowley's up next please state your name and address hi can you hear me yes uh Kieran Crowley 218 Harrison Avenue um congratulations on getting to this stage in the deal I've got a couple of questions just on some specifics um I Heard the attorneys say this business is here to stay um but of course it's a business so things can change so can you tell us what the penalty Clauses will be if they exit after one year or two years or three years the uh pilot will go away the tax payment leaves terminates so they would owe uh I guess they'd have to go back to the original tax rate is that what you're saying no no whatever they pay they pay without be car the property owner would get the benefit of the tax exemption any longer sorry I'm just going to ask for a clarification again the the audio is not great so what happens is um in the financial agreement they have the taxes if the grocery store leaves the tax exemption leaves with it oh so from therea but they they wouldn't have to I I I would think you'd want to have a clause in there that they commit actually commit for three years or five years and if they don't you could pull away this um tax benefit could you no they signed a 20 year lease with the with the property owner which we have a copy of so they're committed for 20 years is the problem okay thank you um and I guess similar to the question by the previous caller so um what does the contract say about any future development of track D does it limit it in any way it doesn't address any other development any other development would be subject to the Redevelopment plan is zoning and they'd have to come in and go through all the approvals um like normal they have to get a Redevelopment agreement um so they're not entitled to anything as a result of this agreement for the balance of the property I can tell you that the grocery store did reserve a fair amount of parking for its facility so there is a limited area that actually um develop mostly so there so there's nothing there's nothing that let's say inhibits going ahead with some of those track D plans is that a fair statement oh I'm sorry oh yeah thank you thank you so just I'll I'll I'll just rephrase that for for my clarity so is there anything in this agreement that would limit that development that Redevelopment plan that was put together you know at great speed a year ago the only limitation is between the property owner and the Tenant um who as you could imagine Reserve make certain reservations of land hot spaces things like that in order the operator the new grocery store is limiting the current owner of the property in certain ways so they can have a profitable grocery store but that's as between the landlord of okay thank you time um looks like that was our last uh hand up thank you all right is all very excited all right so um that ends our public discussion and now we're going to move to resolution which I jumped over so quickly resolution uh 20242 executive session regarding Redevelopment negotiation track a litigation JSM versus Highland Park may I have a motion to adopt or reject motion to adopt second roll call councilwoman Cana yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes councilman P yes okay now it's time for a for public comment [Music] number oh my God I have my I have my paperwork all mixed up so I'm sorry okay that goes there this goes here all right I a motion second okay so now it's May I have a motion to aurn to Executive session all in favor I okay I carry good night everyone see you at the next council meeting thing