North Arlington Councilman Peter Massa

COUNCILMAN CALLS ON U.S. ATTORNEY
TO INVESTIGATE ENCAP HOUSING DEAL
North Arlington -- Councilman Peter C. Massa is writing to state and federal law enforcement authorities asking them review the agreement that the mayor and council majority have approved with Cherokee-Porete LLC to build a massive housing development in the meadowlands commonly referred to as EnCap.

PRESS RELEASE

Peter C. Massa
Councilman, North Arlington, NJ

April 24, 2006
COUNCILMAN CALLS ON U.S. ATTORNEY
TO INVESTIGATE ENCAP HOUSING DEAL North Arlington -- Councilman Peter C. Massa is writing to state and federal law enforcement authorities asking them review the agreement that the mayor and council majority have approved with Cherokee-Porete LLC to build a massive housing development in the meadowlands commonly referred to as EnCap.

In a letter to the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Christopher Christie, Massa, who along with Councilman Steve Tanelli voted against approving the agreement last week, said “there is strong indication that the developer’s agreement I noted represents the worst of backroom political negotiations – the kind of dealings your office has been trying to eradicate.

Massa, who has spent 40 years in law enforcement, said the council was not given adequate time to review the mammoth developer agreement document and noted that the council has not done its independent due diligence before entering into an agreement with the developer. The 184 page Memorandum of Agreement between the borough and Cherokee-Porete LLC and a 150 page addendum were delivered to the council barely 24 hours before the April 19 council meeting, giving the council inadequate time to review the documents or ask questions about them.

In addition, Massa noted that: “The only financial analysis presented to the council to date has been that of a firm hired by the developer, NW Financial of Jersey City – which employs the son of the Borough Attorney as its managing director. The fact of this apparent conflict of interest was never disclosed to the council.�

Massa also noted that Mayor Russ Pitman and developer have made repeated statements saying that the project is necessary to clean up contamination at the Porete Avenue industrial site, But he notes, neither the mayor nor the developer have produced any documentation indicating either the level of contamination or its threat to the community – if any exists. The mayor contends the Porete Avenue properties must be condemned via eminent domain in order to remove the pollution threat. Property owners are contesting the eminent domain claim.

Councilman Massa also said the state and federal authorities should examine the financing of this project through the NJEDA and the NJEIT, which he says, “seems to be delivering to the developer a taxpayer-subsidized financing program that may not be in the best interest of taxpayers.

Massa and Councilman Tanelli maintain that the EnCap project is a bad deal for borough residents that will destroy the character of the community and force taxpayers to pay millions in additional taxes to subsidize services for the project that will outweigh any new taxes from the development.

“We have seen no independent verification that the EnCap project will ever produce the kind of revenue the developers speculate it will,� said Tanelli. “We have tremendous concerns about what appears to us to be misleading information on taxes that the mayor and the developer have presented to the public.�

Massa said he had no choice but to go to law enforcement authorities to see if they will “use their resources to do what the mayor and the borough attorney will not allow the borough to do.

“Someone has to protect the public, and it obviously is not going to be Mayor Pitman,� said Massa.

Peter C. Massa
Councilman,
North Arlington, NUJ
201-997-7808

April 24, 2006

Mr. Christopher Christie,
United States Attorney, District of New Jersey
970 Broad Street,
Newark, New Jersey 07102

Dear Mr. Christie:

I am a councilman in North Arlington located in Bergen County and I'm writing to request that your office conduct a review into the developer’s agreement between the Borough of North Arlington and Cherokee Porete LLC – a division of Cherokee Investment Partners – for a proposed project named Arlington Valley.

The project proposes to build in excess of 1,600 living units in the meadowlands over some 75 acres of property.

This agreement – which I have enclosed – has been fast tracked for approval by the Borough Attorney and Mayor. I have reason to believe that this agreement is not in the best interests of the people of North Arlington and, in fact, is a lopsided contract in favor of the developer. And I believe the Borough Attorney and the Mayor have been colluding with the developer and the developer’s attorneys to take advantage of the people of North Arlington.

I believe the mayor has abdicated his fiduciary responsibilities and supports an agreement most residents oppose. And I believe the Borough Attorney and the Mayor have, for the most part, excluded the council from playing a meaningful role in these deliberations over the course of the last 10 months.

I have devoted over 40 years of my life to law enforcement and I'm not in the habit of making such charges that could seem political in nature, but there is strong indication that the developer’s agreement I noted represents the worst of backroom political negotiations – the kind of dealings your office has been trying to eradicate.

Allow me to point out a few of my concerns:

 The mammoth document and its attachments were delivered to the council barely 24 hours before our April 19 council meeting, and a resolution authorizing the council to give the mayor the authority to enter in to the agreement was a last minute addition to the council agenda There was no time to for the council to thoroughly read and digest this important document, and no opportunity to question its provisions. The ability to debate the merits of the agreement did not occur.

 To this point the borough council HAS NOT done its due diligence on behalf of the people of North Arlington with respect to the agreement. The Borough has refused to hire impartial, outside consultants to review the documents with respect to claims by the developer of the financial impact of the project on the borough.

 The only financial analysis presented to the council to date has been that of a firm hired by the developer, NW Financial of Jersey City – which employs the son of the Borough Attorney as its managing director. The fact of this apparent conflict of interest was never disclosed to the council.

 The developer is appealing their current assessments on property they purchased for less than $500,000 now valued at over $8 million, according to local press reports. It has not been revealed if the developer already has an agreement to sell these parcels upon rehabilitation and we have no documentation on how the appeals with impact future tax collections by the borough.

 In published reports, the mayor and the developer have made repeated claims as to the tax benefits of this project without the proper documentation on the cost of borough services and impact the project will have on local public schools. Mayor Pitman has worked hand in hand with the developer's Public Relations firm in the hope of putting the best possible face on a very questionable arrangement.

 The mayor and developer have made repeated statements saying that the redevelopment project is necessary to clean up contamination in the industrial site in they community (along Porete Avenue), but have produced no documentation indicating either the level of contamination or its threat to the community – if any exists. Yet the mayor and the developer insist on rushing to condemn these properties claiming they are an environmental threat to the community. This claim, in my mind, is without merit.

 The developer has made questionable claims in printed advertisements and direct mail fliers making it appear as though the Arlington Valley project is endorsed by the former president of the U.S, Conference of Mayor – James Garner -- a former mayor of Hemstead N.Y. Upon research we learned the mayor’s comments were taken from a 2004 press release on a Brownfield agreement between the conference and the developer and have nothing to do with the North Arlington project.

 Following a March 28 rally attended by nearly 400 residents of North Arlington, who oppose the project, the mayor was asked to put the agreement up for a vote via public referendum. He refused and instead rushed to bring this agreement to vote three weeks later.

 The financing of this project through the NJEDA and the NJEIT seems to be delivering to the developer a taxpayer-subsidized financing program that may not be in the best interest of taxpayers.

Councilman Steven Tanelli and I cast the two dissenting votes on this agreement on April 19 before about 100 people opposed to the project. Neither Steve nor I posses the wherewithal to conduct an investigation into the real impact that the Arlington Valley project or into the behind the scenes maneuvering that has taken us to this point. With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in this project, the motive to push through an agreement that we believe is detrimental to the residents and taxpayers of North Arlington is great. I strongly urge you to use the power of your office to subpoena all correspondence, electronic and otherwise between the Borough Attorney, the developer, the developer’s attorney and the mayor.

I also ask that you examine the correspondence between the consultants hired by Cherokee and the developer and the developer’s attorney.

Councilman Tanelli and myself want to protect the people of North Arlington from what we believe is a very bad deal and we are, in desperation, calling upon you to put the resources of your office to work to evaluate the agreement and to determine if any wrongdoing occurred in these behind-the-scenes negotiations among the developer, borough attorney, mayor and others who are determined to finalize approval.

I look forward to your advice, comments and instruction.

Respectfully

Councilman Peter C. Massa
Borough of North Arlington

Cc: Zulima V. Farber
Attorney General
State of New Jersey