Secaucus and county officials gathered by the side of Paterson Plank Road last month for an official opening of Patriot Commons, a new affordable housing complex partly funded by Hudson County.
"This is a case of good bureaucrats coming up with new ideas and new plans," Mayor Dennis Elwell said. "People did their homework and helped get this accomplished."
In July, the town purchased a deteriorating five-building apartment complex at 1170-78 Paterson Plank Road from a private developer to provide low-income families with affordable housing. They used a combination of funds garnered from local developers and county affordable housing money. Many of the residents who lived in the units will remain there. Those who qualify for low-income housing will stay and pay the new rents, and those who don’t may also stay at their existing rents. The units will become affordable when they leave.
Seeking to rehabilitate housing at the entrance to the town, the Secaucus Leased Housing Corporation bought the five buildings for $1,245,000. The 20-unit building complex is assessed at $850,000 and the estimated cost of repairs could be as high as $500,000.
The county supplied $1.2 million towards the purchase of the property, $300,000 of which is rehabilitation funds from federal Community Development Block Grants and $945,000 of which is bridge financing through the county’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
The latter fund was formed in 1989 in response to the loss of 15,000 affordable housing units after the federal government ceased funding new projects – a condition made worse in the mid-1990s when the Welfare reform laws made even less money available.
Elwell said the Leased Housing Corporation of Secaucus purchased the buildings in an attempt to bring up their deteriorating condition and provide local residents with affordable housing. The corporation is non-profit and established to develop and maintain low and moderate income housing in the town.
The Leased Housing Corporation will commit up to $500,000 towards renovations. The money for the renovations comes through a local fund derived by way of developers’ fees. Under the provisions set by the state Council on Affordable Housing, municipalities are allowed to collect development fees from upcoming projects to be put towards establishing and maintaining affordable housing. Development fees to pay for these expenses are put into a local fund until needed.
The apartments will be made available to new tenants as they become vacant.
For interested residents, Mayor Dennis Elwell said the town’s Affordable Housing Board would be accepting applications for a waiting list for the units. The applications can come from anywhere in Region One, which includes Bergen, Hudson, Passaic and Sussex counties. A moderate income for a family of four would fall between $33,416 to $53,465. Below $33,416 is considered low-income.
Residents can call 867-2957 for more information.
At last month’s event, Elwell made special mention of former County Executive Robert Janiszewski, who helped get the funding for the project. Unfortunately, Janiszewski resigned last month amidst a federal probe and has not been seen since. Elwell nevertheless felt he deserved credit for the housing project.
"I thought I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Janiszewski," Elwell said. "I don’t know if he did wrong in other areas, but that does not change the fact that he did a lot of help in Secaucus. He was a valuable part of the process of our getting this affordable housing facility."
Officials around the county have said that Janiszewski’s true legacy as county executive will be for his role in providing affordable housing. During his 13 years in office, Janiszewski helped create more than 1,000 affordable housing units countywide.
Traffic report on the way
County Engineer Bob Jasek will be releasing the result of a traffic study of south Secaucus within the next two weeks.
Jasek said he is putting together the last of the numbers and will soon issue the report on its findings.
Jasek said he had requested the study for over a year, as more reports of development in the area reached his desk.
South Secaucus, Jasek said, has been experiencing steady development for the past two decades without a major transportation problem. Yet over the last several years, the situation has worsened, and with several extremely large projects slated for the area. Jasek said it was time to make sure the roads there can handle the expected traffic.
In awarding an $80,000 traffic study contract to the engineering firm Schoor DePalma on March 8, the Hudson County Freeholders hoped to give Jasek the information he needs to plan for road improvements that might help reduce potential gridlock.
The expansion of Croxton rail yards, the construction of Allied Junction rail transfer station, the impending ground-breaking on the new Expo Center, and the planned construction of a New Jersey Turnpike interchange will all create major demands on the roadways in the area, Jasek said.
The Allied Junction rail transfer station, which has been under construction since 1997, will connect various rail lines through North Jersey, allow passengers to transfer to Amtrak Trains headed into central Manhattan and will have a major impact. One of the key parts of the project is the exit from the Turnpike that would allow buses from southern New Jersey to drop off passengers at the station. State and county officials expect a significant increase in car traffic as a result, and numerous buses will bring passengers to the facility through the Turnpike, as well as local roads.
Elwell said he expects to get the report within the next two weeks, and based on those findings, he will begin long-term planning for traffic control. This could include requests to the railroads for the construction of overpasses since three rail lines cross New County Road.
"We’ll know more when we see the numbers," Elwell said.
Backstop relocated
The county has also agreed to relocate a backstop to a baseball field on the Meadowview Hospital Campus on County Road. The ball field abuts the dead end at John Street, and residents there have frequently complained about the noise.
"The county has agreed to reconfigure the field and move the backstop away from those houses," Elwell said. "We’ve been in negotiation with the county for about six months.".