Firm hired to analyze Marlboro hospital redevelopment blueprint

Firm hired to analyze Marlboro
hospital redevelopment blueprint
Township Council wants
professional examination
of planned uses for tract
By jeanette m. eng
Staff Writer

The Marlboro Township Council has hired a New York City firm to provide an analysis of the redevelopment plan the council has approved for the 411-acre property on Route 520 that formerly housed the Marlboro State Psychiatric Hospital.

Marlboro officials remain in negotiations with the state Treasury Department to purchase the now-unused property.

During a special meeting of the council held Nov. 25, the governing body hired North American Realty Advisory Services of New York City to serve as consultants on the redevelopment of the hospital tract.

The firm has been retained at a fee of $25,000, payable in the amount of $10,000 upon signing the agreement and $15,000 upon submission of the final written recommendations to the council.

Councilman Barry D. Denkensohn offered some insight into the council’s intentions in hiring a consultant.

"We have been working with dozens of developers and views have been changing since the original redevelopment plan (was approved). Now we are considering a market analysis from a private company in order to make sure that our redevelopment plan is appropriate," he said.

The redevelopment plan approved by the council calls for a mix of commercial-corporate, limited residential and municipal uses on the hospital property. At present, the property is zoned for residential development on 10-acre lots.

According to the township, North American Realty Advisory Services will provide recommendations in Phase I with regard to area development, changes necessary in the redevelopment plan, market research, planning, construction economics, financial analysis, governmental and community relations, marketing, and standards for evaluating redeveloper project solicitations, as well as a plan of action. A formal report and presentation of findings is expected to be made to the council in January.

According to information provided by the township’s public information office, North American Realty Advisory Services has 40 years of nationwide experience assisting corporations and communities to solve 1,000 divestments of large, unique and distressed properties, including the revitalization of former hospital facilities, including the redevelopment of Jersey City Medical Center, the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Meridian, Ct., the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center in Dover, N.Y., and the reuse of the Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Va. — all large tracts.

During a public comment session at the Nov. 25 council meeting, several people who spoke urged the members of the governing body to take environmental responsibility into account during any potential development of the hospital property.

Katie Buckley of the Navesink Swimming River Group, which is a subwatershed regional council of the Monmouth Coastal Watersheds, spoke of a need to "promote the preservation of open space of most, if not all, of the [hospital] property."

Buckley spoke about two streams on the hospital property that she said the council should consider in its decision-making.

According to Buckley, one stream, Big Brook, transects the hospital property and is impaired for phosphorus, fecal coliform and macro-invertebrae. She said Willow Brook, into which the northeastern portion of the hospital property drains, is impaired in the same way.

"Increases in impervious cover across the site could further impair these bodies of water, which could affect the drinking water quality and the quality of life for everyone," Buckley said.

Esther Greenberg, president of the Monmouth County League of Women Voters, supported the protection of the nearby Swimming River Reservoir.

"We want to restate our concerns ... on the need for careful planning and stringent safeguards in the development of this tract. It is critical to the protection of the Swimming River Reservoir, which under current rule making will be a Category 1 Watershed, that attention be paid in the redevelopment of this site to on-site compaction of soils and that provision be made for adequate forested and naturally vegetated buffers of headwaters/stream areas," Greenberg said.

Nancy Post, who is a member of Marlboro’s Burnt Fly Bog-Imperial Oil Citizens Advisory Committee, also offered an environmental perspective.

"The [redevelopment] plan is a weak attempt and not a worthy document to base the fate of 411 acres upon," Post said.

Post asked members of the council about the status of a citizens panel that had convened in the past to discuss the reuse of the hospital property.

"At this point in time, while we are already working with (hired) professionals, I don’t feel it is necessary to have a citizens advisory group," Denkensohn said.

Subsequent to the council’s hiring of North American Realty Advisory Services on Nov. 25, Stephanie Luftglass, director of Marlboro’s public information office, said it is the council’s belief that a citizens component will be added to the discussion at an appropriate time in the redevelopment process.