Wanaque seeks title on long-vacant property to move redevelopment project forward
“Known on tax maps as block 425, lot 5.01, the 1-acre parcel runs parallel to Boulevard between Second and Fourth avenues. Real estate taxes of roughly $100,000 are owed on it, and owner Robert A. Futterman has been deceased since 1961. Attempts to contact Futterman’s heirs or obtain a title on the property have so far been futile.
The empty lot is included in the borough’s Fourth Avenue Residential Overlay Zone. In December 2013, the council designated Greentree Development Corporation, LLC of Howell as the parcel’s redeveloper. That firm’s plan to build an 80-unit mix of condos and townhouses called Lakeland Village is still going through the preliminary approval process. Greentree recently completed the 88-unit Parkside residential complex on the former site of the American Candle Factory.
Although it will remain primarily vacant, the lot in question will be used for drainage, a catch basin, and an entrance way to Lakeland Village.
As explained by economic consultant Robert Benecke of Benecke Economics in Moonachie at the June 9 meeting of the Borough Council, the Futterman lot could have been seized more easily prior to an amendment in the state’s Local Redevelopment and Housing Law last year. New Jersey Assembly bill 3615, passed in September 2013, limits the use of eminent domain to properties that “discourage the undertaking of improvements” in addition to being underutilized.”
Stewart, Holly. North Jersey.com 16 June 2014.