Source: The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)
Lyndhurst, N.J. - Officials have struck a tentative deal with EnCap Golf that would guarantee the township $2 million upfront and at least 30 years of revenue from development of its abandoned trash properties.
"It's a great deal for the town and also for EnCap," said Mayor James M. Guida. "Our future was always in the Meadowlands. I'm not worried about development, because all we had is garbage."
Most of the planned $1.1 billion golf community will be in Lyndhurst, with some portions in Rutherford. EnCap has already begun walling off and cleaning up landfills, and plans to develop two golf courses, shops, offices, and up to 2,000 housing units - more than half for active seniors.
"The agreement is an affirmation of the environmental and economic benefits of this brownfields-to-greenfields redevelopment for the Lyndhurst community, Meadowlands District and state of New Jersey," Richard Ochab, an EnCap Golf spokesman, said in a statement.
During the five-year cleanup phase, EnCap would pay Lyndhurst $200,000 annually plus land taxes.
When building begins - probably in 2010 - the township would calculate an annual "payment in lieu of taxes" based on the appraised value of the new properties. Lyndhurst would take 55.5 percent of that payment and EnCap, or a successor developer, would get 39.5 percent. Bergen County would get 5 percent.
EnCap plans to pay for the cleanup partially by issuing bonds through a government agency. The bonds would be paid off by the developer's 39.5 percent portion of the annual payment. Eventually, Lyndhurst could be dealing with a new group of developers, as EnCap sells off its interests in the land to homebuilders, golf course operators and other developers.
The financial agreement awaits final adoption by the commissioners. A public hearing is scheduled for Dec. 14.
Rutherford officials are negotiating payments for their town with EnCap but have not finalized a deal, said borough administrator Timothy Stafford.
In a separate agreement, EnCap has agreed to give Lyndhurst $525,000 for road repairs needed because of increased truck traffic. EnCap also has pledged to replace the town ball fields, improve the intersection of Polito and Valley Brook avenues, and renovate and donate an old bus depot as a recreation house.
If real estate trends continue, the proposed riverside golf courses, shops and condos could have an assessed value equal to the rest of the town, said township attorney James J. Guida. "In the future, the new ratables will help stabilize taxes for everyone throughout the entire community," said Guida, who is the mayor's son.
Even if development falls through, Lyndhurst still gets the initial $2 million payment and tax revenue from the cleaned-up land, now owned by EnCap. The attorney said many previous owners of the contaminated plots had gone bankrupt or stopped paying taxes. "Right now we're getting zero down there," Guida said.
