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Time to Act to Protect the Belle Avenue Neighborhood

PUBLISHED BY TEANECK VOICES

5/1/2023

Contents:


  • It's Time to Act to Protect the Belle Avenue Neighborhood
  • Who's in Charge Here?
  • Time to Communicate the Municipal Budget Process
  • Where are Your MOST $$$? You Volunteered Them, You Deserve to Know Where They Are!
  • Council's Development Forum - a Reminder & a Video
  • This Week in Teaneck - 5/1 to 7
  • The Planning Board's Confusion about its Own Attorney
  • Municipal Revaluation Information Meeting - 5/25


Announcements:


  • Development Forum - 5/2 in person or by zoom
  • Yard Sale - Church Street Defense Fund - 5/6 & 7
  • Are You Applying for the Site Plan Review Advisory Board?
  • Career Exploration Internships - 5/19
  • Teaneck's 5K Race - 5/21


Contacting Teaneck Voices

Time to Act to Protect

the Belle Avenue Neighborhood


Last Wednesday (4/26/2023), Dr. Phil Yucht, wrote a letter to the Manager and to Council. Dr. Yucht is one of the very articulate Belle Avenue homeowners, flood victims and activists who have recently relentlessly been pushing Teaneck government to meet its responsibility to mitigate the flooding that for decades has poured into the basements and garages of that neighborhood’s homes. It is time for Teaneck to work through the bureaucratic obstacles and approve the flood remediation steps in Sagamore Park. Teaneck Voices is proud to reproduce below the correspondence that Yucht this week sent to Council and the Town administration:

----------------------------

Dear Council Members,

The potential for flooding on and around Belle Ave will continue unless remediation efforts are completed as quickly as possible. The township, that neglected to remediate this problem for many decades, now has several options in order to get the detention tank installed in Sagamore Park. Mr. Kazinci wants to take the option that will take the longest time - the least risk to the township. But you, the Council, can direct him to take the quickest route to completion - the least risk to the homeowners. I urge you to vote to direct him to do so. Given that you have that option at your disposal, should you choose to take the option that would take the longest time to complete and our homes flood again, the residents will hold the township responsible.


After listening to Margaret Baker repeatedly about the construction literally at her front door, I went yesterday to personally meet her. We stood outside on her steps and talked about this travesty and the lack of consideration for residents, while car after car whizzed by to either get onto or exit from Route 4. It was constant non-stop traffic. I can only imagine what it will be like when the first apartment is completed, let alone the second. And she and the other residents will have no sunlight until midday at best.


This is truly a nightmare for the residents in that area and I feel terrible for them. The people who will be living in these buildings will have no walking access to retail without getting into their cars. Had I been as active in the town as I am today, I would have made every effort to stop this from ever happening. I don't understand what the Planning Board and the Council at the time were thinking and why they thought this was a good idea. I can understand why one might have wanted to redevelop this area, but not on this scale.


That said, we are now facing the potential for another development project of massive proportion on American Legion Drive and Beverly Road. None of the residents in either area want that to ever happen and we will do everything in our power to stop it. However, you, the Council, have the power to overturn and rescind the AINR designation for the two municipal parking lots and for the Stop and Shop supermarket site. Really – the supermarket is an AINR?


I read the rationale for that – totally bogus and not at all valid rationale for that designation. The State Supreme Court recently overturned an AINR in West Orange for lesser reasons. But the former Council had their own agenda to approve these AINR's. Everything about this plan is simply wrong.


We have a new Council with members that have a different view of how development should take place in our suburban, not urban, town. So I urge you to overturn the AINR's for these three properties. I understand why you may not want to do that, given that the developers and private landowners may sue the town.


Let them do that – after all, the town made a foolish decision for which we may have to pay. Such is life when one does the wrong thing. The town made a foolish decision to not fix our flooding problem, and the residents have had to pay.



Turn this one around and make it right before it's too late and we're stuck with a bad situation.

Dr. Philip Yucht

Who's in Charge Here?

In his Letter to the Editor (above), resident Phil Yucht uses a phrase that hasn’t been heard in Teaneck for over 10 years:

         

  Mr. Kazinci wants to take the option that will take the longest time - the least risk to the township. But you, the Council, can direct him to take the quickest route to completion - the least risk to the homeowners. I urge you to vote to direct him to do so.


From 1947, when Mr. Paul Volcker, Sr. was Town Manager until 2010, through the tenure of Ms. Helene Fall, the two phrases initiating action on behalf of the residents were:


Manager:        What does Council direct me to do?

Mayor (speaking for Council):  Council directs the Manager to……….


Has any body heard that question or that statement in recent weeks, months or years?


Who are the players in a Faulkner Act Council-Manager Form of Government (which is what we have here in Teaneck)?


·       The Residents. We residents are the STOCKHOLDERS of this entity known as the Township of Teaneck. Our money, through the property taxes we pay, enables the town to function and provides us with the Quality of Life we vote for.


·       The Council. The Council, elected by the Stockholders who are supplying the money, are our Board of Directors, elected to use our funds wisely and as we desire.


·       The Manager. The Manager is our CEO, hired by the Council, serving at the Council’s will, and reporting to the Council.


The residents attend Council meetings (essentially stockholder meetings) to observe the Council act in their behalf. They expect the Council, most critically to decide what must be done and the priority in which actions must be taken. They then expect the Manager in the Manager’s report to say: “Council directed me to ……… This is what I have done in response.”


Let us take you back to Council Chambers during any regular Council meeting from 1947 until 2010.


·       The Residents. As now, residents filled the seats on the floor of the chamber to watch and, during Good & Welfare, question their representatives, as the councilmembers decide and enable the policies and activities that will create the lives promised the residents by their social contract, the Master Plan.


·       The Council. The councilmembers, seated on the dais, speak directly to the Manager and direct the Manager to enact their decisions. Council provides this direction publicly so their stockholders, the residents, see and hear their Council acting in their behalf.


·       The Manager. The Manager communicates to and acts for the residents.



·       As protocol and tradition held for at least 63 years, after the council voted on an ordinance, resolution, or consent agenda – or prior to adjournment, the Manager would turn to the Council and ask, “What does Council direct me to do?


For the example that preceded this article, Phil Yucht’s Letter to the Editor, the Mayor should reply, “Mr. Manager, please put the resolution of the flooding on Belle Ave. and surrounding streets, as top priority on your To-Do list. Please report to us on your progress at the next council meeting on date.



Council, use your authority and take responsibility: The ball is in YOUR court.

Time to Communicate the Municipal Budget Process

As of noon on Monday, May 1, as Teaneck Voices was getting its copy finalized for this newsletter, we began to track down where on the website residents could access the budget that Council had introduced on 4/18, 2023. We knew it should be available given the following state statute:

Teaneck Voices’ website had published that to-be-introduced budget prior to the 4/18 Council meeting. Click Here And we have now finally found it on the Town website.

Could you have found it? Only if you were persistent and adept enough with Town website architecture to find the 4/18 resolution itself and then looked under its attachments to see the following 2023 Budget document in pdf. (You can access it if you Click Here.)


Who knew from that opaque title to look for the Introduced Budget


But still missing today is the 2023 User Friendly budget that would allow the average resident to understand what is going on in the muni budget. Teaneck only publishes this required document after the budget is adopted. Council should require it be produced much earlier.


Teaneck Voices believes that the single most important task of any municipal governing board is to produce a sound and understandable municipal budget. That means frequent and comprehensible communication to the public should accompany each of the steps as Town officials evolve the different pieces of the budget – its capital plan, its use of municipal open space $, significant changes in the costs of particular services, etc.


Teaneck Voices readers have recently pointed out to us that Madison NJ is a magnificent example of a municipality which has clearly and concisely developed precisely such a multi-step and clear annual budget process. That process is described effectively on its borough website at Click Here. It is well-worth a quick trip to that website. Teaneck is 3 times the size of Madison but could surely seek to emulate that borough's budget process and the commitment to public communication this budget process embodies. 


PS: As Voices goes to print, the Township has just now – at our insistence - finally placed the Introduced Budget where you might expect to find it -- in the budget documents section of both the Manager and Finance Department. But why again call it 2023 budget document.pdf. How about calling it what it is: the 2023 Introduced Municipal Budget?

Where are Your MOST $$$? You Volunteered Them, 

You Deserve to Know Where They Are!


Five times since 2004, Teaneck Council has proposed a referendum to see if Teaneck voters will voluntarily tax themselves in order to support open space expansion and recreation improvement. It is called the Municipal Open Space Trust (MOST) . Each time the majority of the voters have said YES! And the Town kept collecting that 1% additional tax every year - $524K in 2022.


Since its inception, Council has supported there being a Municipal Open Space Trust (MOST) committee which is to advise Council on how annually to spend this extra half million $ for open space and recreation projects. Its current members are found at Click Here. MOST’s long-time chair, Ken Hoffman, is also the chair of the Parks, Playgrounds and Recreation Advisory Board


But neither of his Boards meets very frequently – and when they do meet, they typically do so back-to-back beginning at 6:30 on Wednesday evenings. And the town website does list those meetings for this Wednesday (5/3). But it provides neither access nor agenda information for either one. It is a specific responsibility of Advisory Board chairs to provide these.


In fact, the last time any information about MOST recommendations appeared on the website was for the Committee's recommendations for 2020 


Voices believes the last MOST meeting was sometime in the Fall of 2022, but there are none of the required minutes available to verify that.


Since the public deserves some information about how its MOST money is being spent, Voices decided to go looking for any recent financial reports about MOST. We found 3 places that provide data (page 63 of the muni budget that was introduced on April 18 and two snips from the most recent 2022 Township Annual Financial Statement (AFS).


Immediate questions:

·       Did Council approve the $327K that was spent last year on recreation projects (in so, for which projects was MOST used)?

·       Why is the Town budgeting $200K of these funds to cover salaries and wages? 

·       Is that $1.918M actually the money Teaneck got when PSE&G strung wires over our parks for which it had to pay diversion fees, but which Teaneck cannot actually spend until we reach agreement with NJDEP about what we did to increase open space/parks?


We suspect that our readers will have many more questions as they read through these 3 imaged sources below. Perhaps the MOST committee will have good answers if it is asked on Wednesday. These are, after all, the added taxes we agreed voluntarily to provide.

But again, Voices does not know how or where you are to access these meetings, let alone ask questions. Voices asked Chair Hoffman about both, but has not yet received an answer. 

Council's Development Forum - 5/2/2023

TOWNSHIP OF TEANECK DEVELOPMENT FORUM

Reminder, the Township of Teaneck Development Forum

is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.

in Gym 2 at the Richard Rodda Center. and by zoom: Click Here

                                                                                   passcode 521518

Send questions to development@teanecknj.gov

A related video follows -

See also the Announcement section of this Voices edition

This Week in Teaneck - May 1 to 7, 2023

Teaneck Development Forum – Tuesday 5/2/2023 at 7:00 pm – Rodda Center Gym 2 – in person or by zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86987369646

Passcode: 521518) see other info in this edition


Municipal Open Space Trust (MOST) committee – Wednesday 5/3/2023 at 6:30 pm – No additional

information available at this time


Parks Playgrounds Recreation Advisory Board (PPRAB) - Wednesday 5/3/2023 at 7:30 pm – No additional

information available at this time


Board of Adjustment (Zoning Board) – Thursday 5/4/2023 at 7:00 pm. Typically by zoom but no other information available at this time

The Planning Board's Confusion about its own Attorney

After a resident raised questions about why a previously unknown attorney had signed on its behalf certification of the Stop & Shop litigation dismissal, the Planning Board on 4/26 tried [unsuccessfully] to sort out who is now its attorney and how its new attorney should be chosen. This video records that entire PB discussion.


The entire issue is fraught since the Board’s recently resigned attorney (Eyerman) had been recused for months from most PB meetings and

a separate conflict attorney (Kelly) had taken his place.

 Query: Is the current PB actually a functioning entity?  

Municipal Revaluation Information Meeting

Teaneck Property Revaluation / Revaluación de la Propiedad

As directed by the Bergen County Board of Taxation and the New Jersey Division of Taxation, the Township of Teaneck is revaluing all taxable real estate for the 2024 tax year to ensure uniform and equitable assessments. The Township has entered into a contract with Appraisal Systems, Inc. to conduct the revaluation program. 

There will be one more public meetings held regarding the revaluation at the Richard Rodda Community Center on May 25th, 2023 from 7pm-9pm. 

For more information on the revaluation program, visit the Appraisal Systems website here. or Revaluation Brochure-Spanish.pdf 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Development Forum 5/2 at 7:00 pm - In-person in Rodda Gym 2 or Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86987369646

Passcode: 521518

Township of Teaneck New Jersey - Advisory Board and Statutory Board Application (teanecknj.gov)

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at Click Here. More information & the application are here: Click Here

Contacting Teaneck Voices


By Email: teaneckvoices@gmail.com

By Phone: 201-214-4937

By USPS Mail: Teaneck Voices, PO Box 873. at 1673 Palisade Ave. 07666

Teaneck Voices' Website is www.teaneckvoices.com


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