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The Record, Tuesday, September 26, 2000

Seniors speak out against Heights plan
By Ashanti M. Albvarez, Staff Writer


Hasbrouck Heights -- If the town proceeds with plans to build a municipal complex on Boulevard, Carolyn Claussen will have to find another place to live.

Her landlord has agreed to sell the property at 320 Boulevard.  As a renter, Claussen, 52, has no say in the matter.

"Any one of these plans does take away my home.  You may have a willing seller, but you have seven  unwilling tenants," said Claussen, a Hasbrouck Heights resident for more than 30 years.

About 400 senior citizens and other residents attended a public forum Monday night to speak out against the proposal to reconstruct Borough Hall, which was destroyed in a December fire.

The project would further stall construction of a planned senior citizens center and library complex slated for construction a year ago.

Borough Administrator Michael Kronyak and Mayor William G. Torre presented two plans Monday night for a new municipal building, replacing the one on Hamilton Avenue that was all but destroyed by fire Dec. 10.

The first proposal -- Plan A -- calls for a large municipal complex on a site previously designated for only a library and senior citizens center on Boulevard between Madison and Central Avenues.

The second, Plan B, would house the Police Department and Municipal Court at the old Borough Hall site on Hamilton.

In Plan A, the complex would include the senior center, a new library, a borough administration building, the Police Department and the Municipal Court.

Architect Anthony Iovino said that to build a Borough Hall that meets construction codes, the building would have to be about 40 percent larger.  The former Borough Hall was more than 70 years old.

The total cost of Plan A is $9.7 million.  With the project offset by $4.5 million in insurance proceeds and Community Development grants, taxpayers would have to pay about $5.2 million.

As initially proposed in 1998, the senior center was to be part of a library/senior citizens complex on Boulevard.  The Borough two years ago bought land in that commercially zoned district for $500,000.

About $2 million was allotted for construction of the senior center.   The complex was scheduled to start construction in the spring of 1999.  It was delayed for several months.  Then the fire, which officials say was due to faulty wiring, made a new municipal complex a top priority.

"It's kind of like someone planning to build a garage," Kronyak said, explaining why the senior center and library plan needed to be revised.   "If there's a fire, it's like building a garage without a house."

Since the fire, government business and public safety operations have been scattered around town.  Meetings are held at the Masonic Lodge on Division Avenue.

The plan for a large municipal complex was met with criticism from seniors who do not want to wait for their recreation center, from Boulevard residents who fear increased traffic and decreased property values, and from residents whose properties face condemnation.

In response, the council, with help from architects and engineers, came up with Plan B -- a scaled-back proposal that would split the town's services among buildings at two sites and would end up costing taxpayers a half-million dollars more.

But some residents and seniors say neither plan works for them.

"The people don't want either plan," Said Sonya Buckman, a resident who lives near the proposed site on Boulevard.  "Most of the people agree with the seniors -- put in the original proposal and find another place for those municipal offices."

Plan B, borough officials say, would cost just over $10 million.

The council will present the same proposals tonight at 7:30 in the VFW Hall at 513 Veterans Place.

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