Council rejects approval of Oak Tree Road grant
Mayor to seek exception from state to avoid losing grant money
BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer

The Edison Township Council narrowly rejected the approval of a $50,000 state Smart Growth grant on May 9 to study future parking and pedestrian planning along Oak Tree Road.

The rejection of the resolution, by a 4-3 vote, prohibits the township from further pursuing the grant, which, according to Township Administrator Anthony Cancro, began as an executive decision made by Mayor Jun Choi in order to comply with the grant's May 1 deadline.

However, Choi said that he would be seeking an exception in this case from the Corzine administration in order to keep the grant process moving forward, calling the council's actions "obstructionist."

"We're going to continue to obtain this grant," the mayor said, "but it's outrageous that the council would turn down free money to help revitalize an important section of our community."

The grant would have provided up to $50,000 to conduct a study of Oak Tree Road's future parking and pedestrian concerns and allow for strategic planning for the possible creation of a mini-master plan for the greatly changing area.

Councilwoman Antonia Ricigliano led the charge against the grant, stating that the need for parking and pedestrian studies in other parts of the township greatly trumps the need on Oak Tree Road and that the mayor should have contacted members of the council before applying for a grant that she deemed wasteful spending.

She said that even though the money was coming from the state, it was still taxpayer money and had the administration asked the council for input, Oak Tree Road would not have been the road chosen.

The council knew that rejecting the resolution would keep the township from receiving any of the DCA money, as Councilman Anthony Massaro stated. He said that Oak Tree Road was still a poor choice for this money.

"I can think of several areas that would come up before Oak Tree Road," Massaro said, "despite the fact that also needs assistance."

However, Massaro voted for the resolution because he said he did not want to pass up state money.

Massaro and Ricigliano offered Amboy Avenue, in the Clara Barton section of town, and the area surrounding the Edison Train Station as better sites for this grant.

Council member Joan Kapitan, who voted against the resolution, said that this was not a necessity.

"I really don't believe that this is a necessity, Oak Tree Road, so won't be voting for it," Kapitan said.

Council President Charles Tomaro and Councilman Robert Diehl were both in support of the grant.

"If we can get some state money to address planning, which is the number-one problem in this town because it has created all the other problems we have, like traffic and overdevelopment," Diehl said, "I'm for that."

While Tomaro, like many others on the council, did not think that Oak Tree Road was the best subject for the grant, he said that state money has always been hard to come by and will only be more difficult in the future.

"Anytime you get money from the state, you should take it," Tomaro said.

Tomaro said that in the future, he hopes the township would set better priorities for this type of situation.

The grant process was a victim of timing, because the administration had a very small window of opportunity to file for the grant.

Cancro, speaking on behalf of the administration at the May 9 council meeting, said that the mayor was not made aware of the available grant until an April 25 meeting with the Department of Community Affairs and representatives from Hartz Mountain, the developers of the former Ford Motor Co. site.

At that meeting, explained Cancro, discussion turned to the grant and the administration scrambled to have the request in by the May 1 deadline.

The law requires the council to give its approval of the grant, even retroactively, and failure to do so voids the grant request.

The failure of the grant does not preclude the township from applying for the same grant in different areas during the next grant cycle, Cancro said.