EAST NEWARK –
In the wake of a fire that wrecked a two-story duplex on Grant Ave. next to the municipal garage, the borough is weighing whether to buy the property to offer expanded off-street overnight parking for residents.
A July 28 three-alarm fire whose cause is under investigation by the state fire marshal gutted much of the building at 246 Grant Ave. and it’s still unclear whether the owner, Robert Kasyan, intends to rebuild.
Meanwhile, on Aug. 12, the East Newark Borough Council voted to introduce an ordinance that, if adopted, would allow the borough to acquire the land to develop as a “public parking lot.”
The ordinance “authorizes studies … to be commenced in order to evaluate the advisability of exercising the power of eminent domain and ultimately to exercise such power, if deemed advisable ….”
The purchase price, the ordinance proposes, would be “determined by way of appraisal and ultimately by voluntary agreement or determination made pursuant to the Eminent Domain Act.”
But the ordinance stops short of mandating seizure of the property. It states that it would only “allow but not require” the use of eminent domain.
Elaborating later, Mayor Joseph Smith told The Observer, “We’re not going to stop the owner if he wants to rebuild.”
It’s just that if the borough could get the land, “it would be ideal for us,” the mayor said, “because the lot is adjacent to our [municipal] parking lot on John St. so we would like to be able to expand the lot to offer additional permit parking to residents and use part of the space to park town vehicles also, if possible.”
As part of the studies referenced in the ordinance, Smith said, “We want to get our engineer involved because there are state requirements for public parking.”
If the borough can manage to get the property, it would investigate the possibility of creating angle parking to fit the maximum number of spaces, Smith said.
And traffic flow would likely be controlled to provide ingress via Grant and egress onto John, he added. “We’d probably move the existing driveway on John more to the center.”
Smith said the borough has, to date, created about 160 off-street resident permit parking spaces – each reserved for $45 per month – at lots on John St., Central Ave. and Third St., Searing Ave. and under Rt. 280 to try and meet a demand for spaces that the mayor termed “unbelievable.”
There are “at least 10 to 15” residents on a waiting list for the parking permits, according to Smith.
In other business conducted Aug. 12, the Borough Council accepted the resignation of Police Officer Kenneth M. Sheehan Jr., son of former Police Chief Ken Sheehan. Borough officials said that Sheehan Jr., who was hired by East Newark in July 2013, had an opportunity to join the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Executive Assistant Prosecutor Gene Rubino confirmed that Sheehan Jr. was hired Aug. 10 as a detective in the prosecutor’s office at a starting annual salary of $43,839.
Sheehan Jr. is the second former borough cop to join the HCPO. He follows his former colleague, Officer Anthony Espaiolat, who left the borough Police Department last year.
Borough Police Chief Anthony Monteiro said that two new cops – Dan Hidrovo and Yuri Defretas – were hired by East Newark last month and are currently undergoing police academy training. “They should be graduating the first week of December and we’ll get them for duty then,” Monteiro said.
Hidrovo, a Harrison High School graduate who lives in East Newark, previously worked as the manager of a private special-needs school. His brother, Christopher, works for the borough DPW.
DeFretas, who lives in Kearny, is a Kearny High School alum and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. He previously worked in bridge construction.
