According to an excellent article by Eric Keifer in The Patch, "This is the worst attempt at spin I've seen in 35 years in journalism and PR," a West Orange councilman, Krakoviak said of the mayor's announcement. On Wednesday, August 29 the mayor issued a press release that falsely claimed: “Redevelopment Worked,” and the owner of the Essex Green shopping center at the same time, was filing an application with the Township Zoning Board for expansion of the shopping center because they have moved ahead without making agreements with the town on redevelopment, without public input and without any particular innovation. It’s just another day.
Essex Green Wants No Part of the Redevelopment Process
By applying to the Zoning Board, the owners of Essex Green have shown that it wants no part of the redevelopment process thereby demonstrating that the Township’s designating Essex Green as an area in need of redevelopment was both spurious and unnecessary.
Notably, however, the Executive Drive Offices are not part of this Zoning Board application.
Despite the Township’s previous claims that “retail was dead”, the Essex Green application to the Zoning Board calls for “expansion and renovation of the existing shopping mall,” including three additions to the 330,000 square feet of shopping mall totaling approximately 45,000 square feet of new space. The owner is proposing to redesign the main entrance from Prospect Avenue. The owner is seeking multiple variances and waivers of existing zoning.
The largest of the three buildings is a 29,500-square-foot structure proposed for the western parking lot that primarily serves the AMC Theater.
Are Drive-Throughs going to make Essex Green a Better Mall?
The changes include two drive-through spaces. One of them is proposed for the northeast side of the property as part of a free-standing 2,000-square-foot building. Another drive-through is part of a proposed 15,000-square-foot building on the southern portion of the property that appears to propose a relocated Panera Bread in the existing Sears parking lot.
The drive-throughs are not permitted under the site’s existing zoning and are part of the owner’s requests to the Zoning Board. Construction would take place in phases. The application calls for cutting down 147 trees, but somehow not increasing the impervious portion of the site.
Where is the Retail Innovation?
While its good news that Essex Green won’t seek tax abatements, for now, there doesn’t seem to be an innovative plan either. What happened to the walking trails, sidewalks and bicycle paths touted by the administration? Drive-throughs just encourage more driving.
Wasted Taxpayer Dollars
There was a significant amount of money wasted on the town planner fees specifically known as the Grygiel report as well as architect’s plans for moving the Department of Public Works to the site. The Redevelopment scheme appears to badly thought out and poorly managed.
This doesn’t preclude the Essex Green Shopping Center from participating in redevelopment for other parts of its property in the future. The mayor has talked about providing tax abatements on the property if there is going to be a public use associated with the property, such as a new Department of Public Works.
The Lawsuit Has Not Been Decided Yet
Importantly, the lawsuit against the Township for illegally declaring Essex Green and Executive Drive “An area in need of redevelopment” showed the mall's owners that taxpayers didn’t want to foot the bill for this project.
Taking property tax abatements off the table for the Essex Green Shopping Center is great news for taxpayers. The town will collect all the revenue from the added millions of dollars of market value that these improvements produce, instead of forfeiting millions of dollars of revenue through a 30-year redevelopment tax abatement.
Executive Drive Owners Still Seeking Tax Breaks.
Keep in mind, though that the Executive Drive offices are still seeking to use the redevelopment process which could include tax abatements and redevelopment area bonds.