By Ron Leir
HARRISON –
Plans for the development of affordable senior housing in this town are being revived with help from a new nonprofit agency.
Mayor Ray McDonough said that the Domus Corp., the corporate arm of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, has agreed to take up the challenge.
The town had previously designated another nonprofit group, New Town Community Development Corp., to lead the effort to build a 15-unit residence to accommodate low-income elderly at 774 Harrison Ave.
But, after securing close to $500,000 from the Hudson County Economic Development Corp. to help tear down a building on the site and hire professional staff to draft plans, New Town stalled when its volunteer director, Michael Rodgers, was fired from his paid job as Harrison Housing Authority executive director.
Rodgers kept on with New Town, but when the nonprofit board asked for – but failed to get – a letter of endorsement from the town in its pursuit of state development funding, New Town folded its corporate tent and deeded title to the Harrison Ave. property to the town.
On Sept. 6, the Harrison Town Council passed a resolution conveying that title to the Domus Corp. of Newark, “which has a proven record of success in the affordable housing field,” the resolution stated.
It didn’t take long for the Domus to get things rolling.
Philip Frese, president of the nonprofit, said that Domus “hand-delivered” last week an application for $3.8 million in tax credits to the New Jersey Housing Mortgage Finance Agency, along with a required “letter of support” from the town.
If the application is approved, Frese said that Domus would sell the tax credits to investors as a means to raise funds for construction of the proposed senior housing.
Frese said that Domus would be “responsible for all expenses and operational work” associated with the project and would designate Marzulli Management Co. of Bloomfield, to run the facility.
Frese said he expects to hear back from NJHMFA by January 2012 on the disposition of the application.
Asked why the nonprofit opted for the Harrison job, Frese said that Domus “has been doing affordable housing projects in Hudson, Bergen, Essex and Union counties and this one seemed just a natural fit.”
Frese said “the mayor approached us” about the venture.
If the project gets funded, Frese said that plans call for all one-bedroom apartments, each about 600 square feet. He declined to project what the monthly rentals would be.
Domus built a 50-unit senior affordable housing project on Schuyler Ave. in Kearny in 2004-2005.
Its most recent achievement was the St. Mary’s project, a $10.4 million, 50-unit senior affordable residence in Dumont that was financed by federal Section 202 funding through the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.
In other business, the Town Council voted to trim the Table of Organization (TO) for the Fire Department by eliminating the rank of deputy chief, limiting the number of fire captains to four, adding the title of fire lieutenant, limiting the number of lieutenants to four at a maximum yearly salary of $95,834 and creating the title of fire director at a maximum yearly salary of $50,000.
With the changes to the TO, Fire Capts. Joseph Lang and Ronald Greenemeier have been demoted to lieutenant since they have the least seniority in the higher rank and their base pay has been reduced by $108,137 to $95,834, according to Town Attorney Paul Zarbetski.
At the same time, the town has appointed Firefighters Joseph Cavanagh and William Faulkner as provisional lieutenants. Zarbetski said that Cavanagh and Faulkner placed highest on the most recent state Civil Service test for fire captain and that, unless Civil Service rules that a new test for lieutenant is required, the town believes it can make lieutenant appointments from the captain’s list.
The Town Council also voted to negotiate a contract to purchase two “smart cars” to be used by the town’s parking enforcement officers. The town previously advertised for bids for those vehicles but got no takers.
McDonough said the vehicles would replace the scooters now driven by the two civilians who monitor curbside parking meters.
The scooters are about 15 years old, frequently need fixing and the parts are very expensive, according to Police Chief Derek Kearns. “We have one or two that are on their last legs,” he said. “The ‘smart’ cars are much more fuel efficient.”
Recently, the town raised the meter rates, from a quarter for an hour to a quarter for a half-hour, and a maximum of two hours now costs $1 instead of 50 cents.
McDonough said the state Department of Community Affairs recommended the increase as a way of beefing up the town’s finances. Harrison is projecting it will collect an additional $60,000 in parking revenues for this year as a result.
