Marlboro maintains pursuit of property

BY TALI ISRAELI
Staff Writer

The grounds and buildings of the former Marlboro State Psychiatric Hospital have deteriorated significantly since the facility closed in 1998. Photos taken on Sept. 7 show the present conditions. Gated windows (l) are a reminder of the hospital's 60-year history. After almost 10 years of trying, Marlboro officials have not given up their hope of acquiring the Route 520, Marlboro, property that formerly housed the Marlboro State Psychiatric Hospital.

Municipal officials have formed an advisory committee comprising residents to help put together a plan for future negotiations concerning the hospital property.

Marlboro officials have been in negotiations with representatives of the state Treasury Department to acquire the 411-acre property since the hospital was closed by the state in 1998 after more than 60 years of operation.

According to Councilman Steve Rosenthal, the township has assembled a good team of bipartisan residents who have expertise in various fields. The goal is to have the group in place no matter what the political party of the administration in Marlboro is, he added.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT PILLING staff The members of the advisory committee are: Tina Freedman, who has an environmental background; David Spiewak, with a commercial development background; David Klockner, who has an architectural and building restoration background; Edison Wetlands, an environmental activist company; John Gamza, a resident and business owner with a legal background; Peter Bellone, the chairman of the Marlboro Planning Board; Mitch Jacobs, who has a legal background; Mike Swarkz, a certified public accountant; Councilman Joseph Pernice, who was part of the hospital property negotiations with the previous administration; Neil Betoff, with a commercial real estate background; and Rosen-thal, who brings a business financial background to the table.

Rosenthal said with this team in place the township has in effect formed its own consulting committee at no cost to residents. The group is currently reviewing documents from previous administrations in order to understand why negotiations with the state have not progressed in the past eight years.

Rosenthal said the committee is starting from square one because there are several issues he believes should have been dealt with earlier.

One of the issues Rosenthal believes took some steam out of the potential sale of the property came up in 2004 when the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) adopted a new set of protections for what were labeled Category 1 (C-1) streams.

C-1 streams have been designated by the state as critical bodies of water that require the highest level of environmental protection. Included in the regulations is a buffer zone that prohibits development within 300 feet of a C-1 stream.

Although Big Brook, the stream that runs through the hospital property, is not a C-1 waterway, it is downstream from the Swimming River Reservoir, which is classified as a C-1 body of water, according to DEP officials.

Under the DEP guidelines, because Big Brook feeds into a C-1 stream, it is subject to the same protections as C-1 streams, including the 300-foot buffer zone.

In regard to the hospital property, having a body of water that requires a buffer of that size would significantly reduce the amount of buildable land available on the site. This factor could make the property a less attractive deal for a potential developer.

Another issue that has been a factor in the negotiations over the years is the cost of the property and the cost of a possible environmental cleanup of the site. It is not exactly certain what a cleanup of the property would involve.

According to Rosenthal, the cost to purchase the property from the state could be between $5 million and $10 million. The cleanup costs could range from $10 million to $30 million, he added.

Rosenthal said the cost will determine if a deal can be struck. Speaking about a potential cost in the tens of millions (for the property and the cleanup), he said, "We'd look like fools acquiring it, it would bankrupt our town. We don't want to spend $8 million to acquire a $30 million liability."

According to Mark Perkiss, the treasury department's public information officer, the state is not permitted to discuss the possible cleanup costs associated with the hospital site.

Perkiss said negotiations with Marlboro representatives are an ongoing matter and there is no timetable set for the sale of the property. He said the state is modeling the Marlboro negotiations on the sale of a state-owned hospital property in Montgomery Township, Somerset County. According to Perkiss, in that instance the state sold the property to the township; however, the municipality was responsible for the cleanup.

Rosenthal said Montgomery Township purchased the 250 acres from the state for $8 million.

In addition to educating themselves on the previous issues surrounding the negotiations of the Marlboro hospital property, Rosenthal said the committee members are also focusing on the property's current situation and possible ideas for the future of the land.

The committee is in the process of applying for a $2 million state grant which would be earmarked for environmental testing on the property. Rosenthal said this money would give the township a better idea of what the remediation costs would be. The committee should know more regarding Marlboro obtaining the grant in about a month, he added.

"We need to get to the bottom of the numbers because without them it's really impossible to make a decision," he said.

Rosenthal said the committee members are also brainstorming about possible ideas for the development of the site if the cost to purchase it is reasonable.

In order to get a better idea of what Marlboro residents would like to see happen to the hospital property, the committee put out a questionnaire at Marlboro Day, Sept. 10. The questionnaire will also be on Marlboro's Internet Web site, Marlboro-nj.gov.

In addition to the questionnaire, the committee has brought in redevelopers who have done work in New Brunswick, Long Branch and Asbury Park in order to gain a professional perspective regarding what could be built on the property, Rosenthal said. Environmental law firms have also been brought in to discuss the possibility of environmental immunity, he added.

According to Rosenthal, environmental immunity would mean that Marlboro could purchase the hospital property without the state or the DEP coming after township officials regarding the remediation of the site.

"At every meeting we are picking up three or four educational ideas about this property," the councilman said.

When Rosenthal ran for a seat on the Township Council last year he, along with his running mate Councilman Jeff Cantor, stated their desire to build upscale boutiques and restaurants on the hospital property.

Rosenthal said although that idea is not completely out of the question, he does not believe a village area of that nature would be feasible with the way the property and costs currently look.

Other ideas the committee is looking into more closely include building a private school, data centers, county parks, or preserving open space on the property.