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Readington aims bond measure at Solberg Airport
BY JENNIFER WEISS
Star-Ledger Staff
The Readington Township Committee introduced a $22 million bond ordinance
this week to acquire Solberg Airport and surrounding land or an interest in
the land for preservation.
The committee also authorized the law firm Connell Foley in Roseland to
obtain appraisals for 726 acres of the roughly 750-acre property.
Though Committeeman Frank Gatti and Mayor Gerard Shamey denied that Monday's
action was the beginning of an eminent-domain proceeding, the move mirrors
the steps township officials took in 2001 when they initiated proceedings to
condemn the property.
"This is just another step in the negotiating process," Gatti said
yesterday. "That's all this is. It puts some pressure on the family, for
them to maybe reconsider their position."
The airport is owned by siblings Thor Solberg, Lorraine Solberg and Suzanne
Solberg Nagle. Their position has recently included a runway limited in perpetuity to a length of 5,000 feet, instead of the township's preferred length of 3,735 feet.
Nagle said yesterday the family would prefer a longer runway because "the
longer the runway, the safer it is."
The perceived value of the airport is also an issue. Appraisals of the
property since 2000 have come in all over the map -- from a low of about
$9.5 million (commissioned by the township) to a high of $42 million
(commissioned by the Solbergs).
Nagle said she was surprised and dismayed by recent developments and would
prefer to see the public hearing pushed back two weeks so it is not held the Wednesday after President's Weekend, when many residents may be out of town.
"I just don't understand what the big rush is," Nagle said. "I still think
that we should have a third party, objective person, and try to sit down as
neighbors and negotiate."
Engaging the assistance of a professional mediator, public policy experts
and the staff of the state Department of Transportation would keep
discussions "transparent" and "help us define the criteria necessary to
satisfy the needs of both the community and general aviation," Nagle and her
siblings wrote in a recent letter to the township.
Last July, township officials introduced a bond ordinance similar to the $22
million bond measure introduced Monday. They abandoned the ordinance the
following month, after hundreds of residents packed the municipal building
for a meeting that was shut down by the fire marshal.
At a subsequent meeting held at a larger venue, Holland Brook School,
officials announced the start of good-faith negotiations with the Solbergs.
Negotiations fell apart last month, and township officials held an
information session Jan. 17 at which experts presented testimony on the potential effects of airport expansion, including increased noise, decreased home values and harm to local wildlife.
If the $22 million bond ordinance is approved, the township plans to request
funding from state agencies including the Green Acres Program, the Garden State Preservation Trust and the Department of Transportation.
Shamey said yesterday that negotiations can and must continue by law, and
will continue, and he put them in the context of eminent-domain proceedings.
"If the town were to proceed by way of eminent domain, the law requires a
certain period of good- faith negotiations to take place," Shamey said.
If the township were to proceed by eminent domain, the law requires that the
local governing body obtain an appraisal, approve the appraisal, make a formal offer based on that appraisal and then engage in good-faith
negotiations, he said.
Jay Rhatican of Connell Foley, the special counsel the township hired in
August solely for work on the Solberg Airport, is an attorney with specialties in land use and eminent domain. When asked whether the township's hiring of an expert in eminent domain was a coincidence, Shamey said no.
But he said the township committee had not voted to use eminent domain and
would prefer to make the airport owners a contingency-free cash offer.
"That's not why we're passing it (the ordinance), so we can imminently jump
to eminent domain," Shamey said. "We want to put ourselves in the position
to make them a contingency-free cash offer and show them that we are serious
that the money's in place… it can still be resolved without having to
resort to eminent domain."
The township initiated eminent- domain proceedings in 2001, but in 2002, the
state Department of Transportation stepped in with a $22million offer of its own. The Solbergs' deal with the DOT fell through last summer.
A public hearing on the bond ordinance introduced Monday will be held Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 6:30 p.m. at Holland Brook School.
Jennifer Weiss works in the Hunterdon County bureau. She may be reached at jweiss@starledger.com or (908) 782-8326.
Copyright © 2006 NJ.com
Date: February 8, 2006 Source: NJ.com
URL: http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1139381793201290.xml?starledger?nso&coll=1&thispage=1
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