Op-Ed: What Should We Do with the Old Municipal Building Site?

By Ed Trzaska | Posted August 15, 2024

The old town hall and police headquarters on the northbound side of Route 206, just before Belle Mead-Griggstown Road, consists of three distinct sections: The land where the shuttered building currently sits; The public works land where the salt dome is located; And, the preserved open space, which includes the dog park and playground.

THE OLD MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP municipal building on Route 206 in Belle Mead. It was built in the 1960s.

Before we discuss future ideas, we need to understand the restrictions on the 31-acre site.

The northern portion is 18.32 acres, and contains a public works salt silo and dog park.

The southern portion, where the old town hall sits, is 13 acres. A large portion of this is preserved via the state’s Green Acres program. This land cannot be built on, except for recreational purposes. In addition, due to modern stream corridor protections along the Cruser Brook, much of the southern land is restricted.

The existing building and parking lot, which date back to the 1960s, could not have been built in its same location today. As for the public works land on the northern portion of the property, there are no formal restrictions. However, moving the salt dome would be cost prohibitive (at least $1 million). We also don’t have an alternative location in town for it.

Altogether, more than half of the site has limitations on future use.

Now on to the ideas!

The first idea is to remove and preserve. Tear down the old building, remove all parking lots, restore the Cruser Brook stream corridor, and add this land to our open space portfolio. As our population grows, creating additional parkland benefits everyone. The existing public works land would remain, but not expanded. No surprise, this is my favorite option.

The next idea was first discussed during my time in office – move all of public works to this location and close down the Harlingen Road facility. Public works is critical for keeping Montgomery safe and functioning properly. The Harlingen site is old, inadequate, and full of dilapidated trailers. It’s also too small and forces us to rent storage space for equipment. Moving to the former municipal site would allow them to upgrade and centralize all operations. This would be expensive and require moving the refueling station, which could be environmentally challenging.

Another idea has been in The Montgomery News recently – sell or donate the unrestricted land to a third party such as the Greater Somerset County YMCA. Having a YMCA facility in Montgomery would be amazing. We looked into this in 2019 and cost was the big issue. Even if we donated the land to the YMCA, building and running a branch would require a massive amount of community fundraising (perhaps $5-10 million). I’m not sure if this is still the case.

Advertisement

The final idea isn’t exciting, but would definitely benefit our town. Set aside the unrestricted land for future low-income housing. The next round of the state’s COAH housing mandate is coming soon. As I mentioned in a past column, the big issue with the mandate is that NJ allows developers to build four market rate units for each low-income unit. However, if the land is owned by the township, we can serve as the “developer” and only build the low-income units. No market rate multiplier. This would prevent hundreds of units from being built and further stressing our schools and roads.

I’m sure there are many other ideas for the land, so please join the conversation and send in a letter to the editor with your thoughts to editor@themontynews.com. It’s time for the community to provide feedback!

Ed Trzaska

Ed Trzaska served on the Montgomery Township Committee as a Republican for nine years, including six years as mayor and deputy mayor. He championed local issues such as open space preservation, parks, public safety, and thoughtful land use. Ed and his family have been Montgomery residents for more than 20 years. To ask Ed a local question, please contact him at: insidemonty@outlook.com.