The public comment portion of the meeting resumed with questions from many residents around the development area before the Council recessed into private session to discuss its decision. When the Council returned to public session, it was almost 11:30. The Council heard from Robert Benecke, an independent adviser on PILOT programs. He asserted that the PILOT held greater benefits to the town and to the developer, and would relieve Verona of the need to defend against tax appeals. He said that, because of the benefits to the developer, there would not be any “back-door games”.
Then the Council finally began its vote on the resolution, with Ryan giving each member a chance to make a statement on their vote. Councilman Giblin, “Over the last 12 months we have looked at many ways of solving this dilemma and none of them are very great,” he said. “Our options are very limited.” But Giblin said he would vote in favor because the risks to the town “are much greater if we don’t settle this matter.” Councilman McEvoy said that the possibility of going to 300 units on the property “is not good”. “It’s thrown back at us that we agreed to that in a prior vote. But when we agreed to that, we agreed to 20% affordable. For some reason, that doesn’t work now.”
Councilman Roman said that, in the many months it has spent on this matter, the Council had been looking for “minimum negative impact on the town”. While conceding that the deal was not perfect, Roman said the Council is doing the best it can for residents to preserve their quality of living. “This is the best of several not great options,” he added. Nochimson reiterated that the A plan seems the better of the two option, but that the B option had to be part of the resolution.
“I sort of came in here tonight very agitated and as you might have gathered I still am,” Ryan said. But he said that after listening to the presentations by the town manager and special master, he has to take into consideration the “dire effects” that losing immunity would have on Verona. He said that if Verona settles with two of its three intervenors (it has already settled with Poekel), “that will go a long way in convincing Judge Gardner that we are sincere in our commitment to affordable housing.” The vote to approve Resolution D-1 was 4-1 with McEvoy the lone No vote.
On Monday, May 20, there will be a status meeting with Judge Gardner and Cavallo is expected to report to the Council, in closed session, about what happened. If the judge did not revoke Verona’s immunity from a builder’s remedy lawsuit, the likely next step will be for a Planning Board hearing on whether Spectrum360 qualifies as an area in need of redevelopment so that the Council can approve a PILOT agreement on the property. The Planning Board voted against such a designation on January 31. But Cavallo indicated that Verona has hired a new planner who will present evidence that he believes will show that the designation is warranted. If the Planning Board again votes No, the Council could override that decision and approve a PILOT designation. First Ridge Alliance is likely to seek ways to block the development, though its spokesperson declined to react to the resolution vote or speak to next steps.
The May 20 Council agenda also includes a resolution to permit the town to open negotiations with the Verona Board of Education to give the BOE some revenue from PILOT payments to cover the cost of educating students who live in PILOT buildings. The BOE has indicated that it will be looking for a specific payment per student, akin to the tuition that out-of-district students pay.
