Video from Morristown’s Speedwell redevelopment hearing

residents at redev meeting
Residents examine architectural renderings of Speedwell Avenue at Morristown redevelopment hearing. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
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The March 31 unveiling of the revised Speedwell Avenue redevelopment plan drew a big crowd to Morristown town hall, and generated some lively discussion.

Much of the evening was spent talking about affordable housing, and why the revised plans only call for 5 percent of 268 apartments in the project’s first phase to be classified as affordable, instead of 20 percent as agreed to previously.

residents at redev meeting
Residents examine architectural renderings of Speedwell Avenue at Morristown redevelopment hearing. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

If you could not attend, we have some video highlights.

There are four clips. Here is where you can find them all. We also will post them individually, with brief synopses.

It had been our intention to stream the entire meeting live, with a complete replay later. Technical issues at town hall prevented this.

Also, we had limited choices for camera placement, and the only one that granted a view of the slide show presentation was under a noisy heating duct. So the audio does not meet our usual standard.

The presentation by Jonathan Rose Companies, the town planners, can be downloaded here. They emphasized efforts to design a pedestrian-friendly project that reflects the town’ architectural character.

These are the video clips, chosen to give a flavor of the discussion and convey multiple viewpoints:

THE MAYOR AT SPEEDWELL HEARING. Length: 20 minutes. That is the clip posted above; a more complete synopsis will follow below. The video includes Mayor Tim Dougherty and Planning Board Attorney John Inglesino explaining why the affordable housing numbers have changed. The Mayor also discusses his desire to work more closely with nonprofit social service agencies to achieve affordable housing goals. Council members James Smith and Raline Smith-Reid, who were aligned with the prior administration that negotiated the initial agreement, express displeasure with aspects of the revision. Councilwoman Rebecca Feldman, the lone Independent on the council, voices guarded optimism about relocating the town public works department to make way for the redevelopment.

RICHARD MURPHY AT SPEEDWELL HEARING. Length: 3:20. Richard represents Morristown Development LLC, an offshoot of Trammell Crow, the project redeveloper. He asserts that this project cannot get funded if the builders are held to the 20 percent affordable housing requirement.

RESIDENTS AT SPEEDWELL HEARING. Length: 13:12.  A cross-section of opinions, including: Helen Arnold, a former employee from the prior administration, who contended Morristown has a “moral obligation” to provide affordable housing; Carolle Huber, a resident and co-founder of Grow It Green Morristown, who said the Speedwell neighborhood needs help now; Marty Epstein, owner of Marty’s Reliable Cycle, who praised the Mayor and Jonathan Rose Companies while urging the town to use money from the redevelopment project to spruce up Speedwell Avenue beyond the project site; John Codd, a resident who raised questions about the sequence of the project buildout; and Keisha Smith-Johnson of the Shear Bliss hair salon, who requested stricter enforcement of zoning ordinances to tidy up the Speedwell business district.

ED RAMIREZ AT SPEEDWELL HEARING. Length: 4:28. The council majority, past and present is Democratic. Ed is former chairman of the town Republican committee. He questioned why the plans have been changed, and said the town has concentrated affordable housing in the Second Ward, amounting to “de facto segregation.”  (Mayor Dougherty challenges that interpretation in “The Mayor at Speedwell Hearing” clip.


GUIDE TO THE MAYOR AT SPEEDWELL HEARING:

0:50 Planning Board Attorney John Inglesino: The existing plan “wasn’t workable.”

1:16 Revised plan “actually works, is good for the town.”

2:00 Economic realities required (affordable housing) “to be revisited” so project could be built “and be viable.”

2:20: Jonathan Rose Companies did a thorough job of grasping both sides–the town’s and the redeveloper’s.

3:30 Mayor Tim Dougherty: Town is not taking any homes; homeowners opted to sell during prior administration.

4:00 Mayor describes his desire to partner with nonprofit social service agencies to create affordable housing; cites recent project on Harrison Street in the Third Ward.

8:28 Mayor says nonprofit approach “brings back neighborhoods.”

9:09 Councilwoman Raline Smith-Reid says affordable housing has been “compromised somewhat.”

12:08: Mayor: “This the best they (developer) said they can do.”

12:30: Raline cites figures from other developments… “I’m just really trying to understand what is really going on.” (13:45)

14:06: Raline says low-income housing refers to people making $30,000 to $92,000 a year.

14:25: Raline cites concerns about how town will replace DPW garage that would be replaced with housing.

15:57: Town Administrator Michael Rogers says “we will have a plan” for DPW.

17:00: Councilwoman Rebecca Feldman says she is encouraged by the administration’s recent move to privatize trash collection, which means garbage trucks won’t need to be parked on the site anymore.

17:49: Councilman James Smith: “Affordable housing isn’t low-income housing…it’s for firemen, for ourpolicemen, our town workers, plumbers, teachers…”

18:23: James adds: “I’m really disappointed with 5 percent. Really disappointed.”

19:07: James questions why the realignment of Speedwell and Early streets has been scrapped.

19:43: Mayor points out that the state Department of Transportation did not favor the realignment.

READ MORE ABOUT SPEEDWELL AVENUE

rendering of speedwell redevelopment
Architect Dean Marchetto's rendering of a proposed park in the Speedwell Avenue redevelopment project.

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