Jan. 27, 2016: The borough is in trouble. (Bear with me).

Residents and business owners at Borough Hall Tuesday night shouted out a litany of problems they believe the borough’s downtown district is facing, including empty store fronts, parking woes, lack of maintenance and cleanliness, redundant selection of businesses and high rents for merchants.

They gathered to hear a possible solution to these problems.

That solution, proposed by a group of volunteers Tuesday, is to form a non-profit downtown management organization.

The downtown organization would be called Metuchen Downtown Alliance and would be led by an executive director and a board of directors.

The volunteer stakeholder group estimated the organization would require an annual budget of $275,000. The bulk of the money would be for salary and administrative costs. It would also be used for capital improvements, plantings, marketing, recruitment and retention of businesses.

The main functions of the organization seem to be around marketing and selling the business district, helping to attract in new businesses, keeping the district clean and even directing capital improvements. The organization would work alongside the Chamber of Commerce. It would not have powers of condemnation nor could it change zoning.

Before we get into the particulars, this is important: nothing, as of now, is set in stone. The proposal would need to be approved by borough council and would be subject to a public hearing. The group plans to make a presentation before Borough Council in March.

So this is a proposal now, though one with high level support in the borough, including from Councilwoman Allison Inserro, who helped lead the discussion Tuesday. New Mayor Pete Cammarano was present at the beginning of the meeting though he didn’t make any comments.

“If we do nothing, we’ll be in the same place 10 years from now that we are today, and complaining,” Inserro said.

The downtown management organization would be funded through municipal contributions from the sale of the Pearl Street lot and a funding vehicle called a business improvement district (BID). A BID is a pre-defined area within which property owners pay an annual fee on real estate. Other funding sources could include grants, fundraisers and sponsorships.

Residents would not be responsible for funding, said Jan Margolis, a member of the volunteer stakeholder group. Inserro stressed taxes would not be raised as part of this plan.

“If you’re thinking the council is going to pass a tax increase on your home values to cover this, that is not the case. And, in fact, residents usually see in these types of towns … their home values rise as the business sector improves,” Inserro said.

The $275,000 annual budget would be funded, starting in the summer of 2016, with $150,000 from proceeds of the sale of the Pearl Street lot, according to the presentation. Future municipal contributions would come from Parking Authority proceeds, according to Eric Berger, a member of the volunteer stakeholders group and a landlord in the borough.

The goal would be to flip the funding burden from the municipality to the BID over several years, Berger said. The plan is by 2020 the borough would pay $75,000 and the BID would raise $200,000, he said. Annual fees on real estate in the BID would hit 5 percent by 2020, starting at around 3.2 percent in 2017.

For example, property in the district with a $5,000 tax payment in 2017 would pay an additional $160 as part of the BID fee, according to materials provided at the meeting.

The proposed BID would include properties fronting Main Street from Durham to Amboy avenues; from the train tracks to properties fronting Middlesex Avenue; the Sportsplex; the Whole Foods development; the Woodmont redevelopment; and the Forum Theater. The BID can be adjusted to fit the needs of the community, according to Berger.

One resident asked if there were alternative uses of the proceeds of the sale of the Pearl Street lot. He said he wanted to see more transparency around the money and how it will be used.

“This proposal might be more credible if we have a bit more transparency about the money involved,” the resident said.

This process started in 2014 when Metuchen joined the Main Street New Jersey program, which is part of the National Main Street Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, according to a fact sheet from the volunteer group. Municipalities who join the Main Street program must commit to hiring a full-time downtown manager who focuses on revitalization, according to the fact sheet.

Eds – Sorry so long! Visit the Metuchen Downtown Alliance website for more information.

Jan. 22, 2016: Borough officials will meet soon with state officials to kick off the first phase of a project to install blinking crosswalks at five borough intersections.

Blinking crosswalks are set to be installed at the intersections of Main Street and High Street, Main Street and Brunswick Avenue, Central Avenue and Liberty Street, Grove Avenue and Christol Street and Grove Avenue and Mason Drive.

Update: A blinking crosswalk also will be installed at Route 27 and Oak Avenue, borough administrator Jennifer Maier said Monday.

Borough officials will meet with representatives of the state Department of Transportation on Feb. 4 to discuss the first steps of the project, including engineering drawings and bid specs, Maier said.

The borough will work with engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff on the engineering work. The state DOT is paying for the engineering portion of the project, Maier said.

Metuchen will be responsible for about $25,000 for the blinking crosswalk at the intersection of Grove Avenue and Mason Drive, Maier said. That intersection was not included in the original grant request. Overall, the borough received a $192,000 grant in 2014 for the work through the New Jersey Safe Routes to School program.

More recently, the state DOT created a fund to help municipalities pay for the engineering portion of the work, Maier said. This helped the borough move the project forward.

It’s not clear when the project will be completed. Maier said she will know more about timing after the Feb. 4 meeting with DOT officials.

Metuchen police confirmed no one was attacked at the train station over the weekend, contradicting a social media post that circulated on borough-related sites.

“We have fielded hundreds of calls about the post,” said Metuchen Sgt. Arthur Flaherty. “It is absolutely not true.”

According to the post, which appears to have been deleted, a man named Daniel Bonet was beaten and robbed by three people in masks.

No further info was available. We’ll keep you updated if we learn anything new.

Dec. 29, 2015: The Metuchen Police Department is asking residents to make sure their vehicles are locked.

Police are investigating at least 22 car burglaries that occurred over a two-week period, Sgt. Arthur Flaherty said Dec. 24. Also, two vehicles were stolen in the borough and recovered in Newark, Flaherty said.

There is no distinct pattern to the break-ins — they have occurred all over the borough and don’t involved particular types of vehicles, he said.

“The MO is to find unlocked cars,” Flaherty said.

The borough put out an emergency communication to residents earlier in December asking to make sure to lock vehicles.

Dec. 23, 2015: Former Metuchen Councilman Rick Dyas believes safety on Grove Avenue goes far beyond simply lowering the speed limit to 25 mph.

Dyas spoke at the Borough Council meeting Monday earning the unique designation of being the lone voice of dissent in a movement with strong public support to lower the speed limit along all of Grove Avenue.

“I don’t believe changing the speed limit is going to change anything,” Dyas said. “You’ll make it unsafe if you slow traffic down in a thing that has a norm of 35 mph.”

Dyas has lived on Grove for almost 25 years and said he hasn’t noticed a speeding problem. The big problems, he said, involve large trucks using the road and emergency vehicles speeding to the emergency room at JFK Medical Center.

Alas, Dyas’ lone voice in the wilderness was not heeded, and Council authorized lowering the speed limit along the 1.05 miles of Grove Avenue that runs through Metuchen to 25 mph.

However, certain points Dyas raised at the meeting were acknowledged by council members as important steps in making Grove Avenue safe for pedestrians.

“The ordinance to lower the speed to 25 mph is really a piece of a solution … there are more than just issues of speed on Grove Avenue and we will explore those and investigate them and if appropriate, take action,” said Council President Ronald Grayzel.

Change will be hard for people, said Councilwoman Allison Inserro, acknowledging Dyas’ anecdote about driving at 25 mph on Grove recently and getting tailgated by angry drivers. Resident Angela Sielski told a similar story about collecting tailgaters while driving 25 mph.

“We’ve already made clear to our police chief and his department that pedestrian safety is our number one concern, so I would expect them to have increased eyes and enforcement on Grove Avenue while this change is taking place,” Inserro said.

Lowering the speed limit on Grove Avenue, which runs through the borough from Woodbridge Avenue to around Mason Drive and the border of Edison, has become a big issue in town, garnering support from volunteers groups and concerned residents.

Supporters came out in force to a meeting at Metuchen High School in October to hear from police, the high school principal and an engineer on why the speed limit should be lowered.

Grove Avenue has the “feel” of a 35 mph road but gets heavy use from bikers and pedestrians, including high school students walking to and from school and student athletes like cross-country runners.

In October, the borough applied for a $300,000 state Department of Transportation grant to add a roughly 8-foot-wide bike lane along the section of Grove Avenue that runs through the borough.

One of the great features of Metuchen is its hidden treasures — surprises hidden down shady roads or tucked behind old buildings.

One of those places is Dismal Swamp, an entrance to which sits in a cul-de-sac at the back end of an industrial section at the edge of town.

Another hidden gem is Woodwild Park, set amid a residential neighborhood and accessed through what looks like some sort of official service road.

The Woodwild Park Association recently launched a fundraising campaign targeting $65,000 for preservation. The funds would be used for three purposes: $45,000 to restore the horse watering trough at the intersection of Oak and Middlesex avenues that dates to 1900; $12,500 for masonry work to stabilize the stone pillars that form the entrance to the park off of Middlesex Avenue; and $7,500 for woodland maintenance and storm clean-up.

The horse trough, the bulk of the project, is rusting away. It was repaired for around $8,000 in the 1980s, but needs a full restoration, according to the association. The trough was actually a water fountain at first and is the only one of three that were in the borough, the association said.

Jacquie Zuvich, president of Woodwild Park Association Board of Trustees, drove me back there recently to show off this hidden treasure. A narrow road actually winds through this wooded area, behind houses and out to Middlesex Avenue. Access to Woodwild comes in from Middlesex, barely marked by the two crumbling pillars, or off of East Chestnut Lane via what might as well be someone’s driveway.

A hilly area in the park is a popular spot for sledding in the winter, Zuvich said. I haven’t tried it out yet, but if it actually gets cold and snows this winter, that may be first on the list.

For more information, check out http://www.woodwildpark.org.

Photo courtesy of Woodwild Park Association

Most of us will be sent off from our careers for which we spend so much of our lives’ energy with a shabby little get together in the cafeteria. Perhaps there will be cake. Maybe they’ll present some sort of commemorative clock.

And that’s ok. It’s life. But for a handful of us, including outgoing Mayor Thomas Vahalla, the end of our careers will bring something special.

Vahalla was sent off into retirement at the borough council meeting Monday in the way only a unique, tight-knit community like Metuchen can do it. The borough’s various leaders – the chiefs of the police and fire departments, the high school principal, the head of the parking authority, a former borough council president — each got time to thank Vahalla for the impact he had on the community over a 22 year career in public office.

Council itself bid him farewell with a resolution honoring his service, including the past eight years leading Metuchen as mayor. State and county officials showed up to say goodbye.

Even a contingent of former borough council members, well into their Golden Years, came early and stayed late to see the burly, bearded mayor off.

“You have a great legacy and that legacy is going to be your downtown and what’s going on in Metuchen,” said Middlesex County Freeholder Charles Tomaro. Acknowledging the political will it took to make downtown redevelopment a reality, Tomaro said not everyone agreed with the downtown vision.

Thomas Vahalla speaks at the Eastern Region Communication and Technology conference in 2009

“In the future it’s really going to be one heck of a downtown and you should be very proud,” Tomaro said.

Vahalla served as mayor since 2007, presiding over an era of big changes in the borough. He served on borough council starting in 1993, including five years as Borough Council president. He also worked as a teacher at Metuchen High School for 41 years, where he also coached girls’ softball and golf.

His accomplishments as a political leader in Metuchen included helping push through the rezoning of the Pearl Street lot and completing the first phase of the Whole Foods development. He was instrumental in the redevelopment of Charles Field, said Councilwoman Dorothy Rasmussen, who read a council resolution honoring the mayor.

Under his leadership, the zoning code and the trash pick-up cycle were simplified. Two bridges were replaced and one was resurfaced and the morale of the police department was improved, she said.

“You have enriched us greatly,” the borough’s resolution read.

One speaker on Monday, Fire Chief Robert Donnan, recalled his experience with Vahalla while a student at the high school. Donnan presented Vahalla with a white “chief’s” helmet.

“Tom cared,” said Metuchen High School Principal Bruce Peragallo, evoking Vahalla’s time as an educator. “He cared about students in his class, whether they were his better students or whether they were students that were struggling.

“He also cared about his athletes, that skilled athlete that had potential to be all-state or all-county … and he cared about that last kid sitting on the bench,” he said.

Vahalla did not run for re-election this year. He’ll be replaced by Democrat Pete Cammarano.

Meanwhile, Vahalla, who teared up during the meeting, was fairly mellow at its conclusion, greeting residents, some of whom were strangers. He said he’s not sure yet what he will do with his free time but could stay in politics in some way. His most immediate job was to head to the Pennsylvania mountains and close up his cabin for the winter.

During the meeting he read a quote he has tried to live by: “do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, as long as ever you can.”

Photo courtesy of the Eastern Region Communication and Technology Conference.

Dec. 1, 2015: It’s not clear where residents in a proposed 22-unit apartment building on Center Street will park, but there are options.

The Metuchen Zoning Board approved the plan for the four-story, 22-unit building at 22 Center Street at its meeting in November on several conditions, according to borough zoning officer Chris Cosenza.

The biggest condition was a payment in lieu of parking, which would be used to potentially create additional parking if necessary, Cosenza said Tuesday. Funds also would be used to upgrade existing parking, pedestrian connections and sidewalks.

Parking has been a concern with this project submitted by Pearl Street Associates LLC and has created a stir on borough-focused social media outlets.

The Metuchen Parking Authority committed to providing monthly parking for the residents in Authority parking lots, Cosenza said.

“While no guarantee was provided that residents would be given reserved spaces in certain locations, it was noted that there are various Authority parking facilities nearby, including by the A&P, as well as the New Street lot and the parking deck that is under construction,” Cosenza said.

The four-story building will include eight one-bedroom apartments and 14 two-bedroom units, according to a description of the project from the borough. The building will be located near the intersection of Middlesex Avenue and Center Street, but behind an existing vacant lot that fronts Middlesex Avenue, Cosenza said.

“The proposed building will not be located in such a manner where it will front directly upon Middlesex Avenue,” he said.

The project still has a way to go before construction actually begins. Pearl Street needs various approvals including from Middlesex County Planning Board, Freehold Soil Conservation District and commitments from utility companies to provide service, Cosenza said.

Pearl Street also will have to comply with affordable housing obligation and work with council and the mayor on a developer’s agreement.

“This process typically takes at least a couple months but is heavily dependent upon how aggressive the applicant is to have their design professionals revise the plans, file the necessary paperwork and coordinate with … outside agencies,” Cosenza said. “At this point, I am not aware as to when the project will be completed.”

Photo courtesy of bengt-re