By Marion Filler and Kevin Coughlin
A potential expansion of Morristown Medical Center, town-wide development, and traffic dominated Monday’s online forum for Fourth Ward council candidates Chris Russo and Bruce Meringolo.
Meringolo, a former GOP mayor of Long Hill, accused Morristown’s Democrat-controlled government of a “really shameful” lack of transparency in its preliminary talks with the hospital, and said it was time for a change.
“For far too long, there’s been this status quo with the government here. It needs to be shaken up a little bit,” said Meringolo, 58, who moved to the Lidgerwood neighborhood from Long Hill early in the pandemic. If elected, he would be the council’s lone Republican.
Russo, a 44-year-old Democrat who defeated Council President Sandi Mayer in the June primary with door-to-door campaigning, pledged to continue that outreach via newsletters, phone and email, if elected on Nov. 7.
“I’ll always be accessible, and I will always be transparent with everyone. If you call me and I miss your call, I’ll call you back that day, you have my word,” Russo said.
As for the hospital, he said, “the public will always be made aware of what’s happening and nothing, I promise you, will ever be done outside the purview of the public.”
For 40 minutes the candidates fielded queries submitted by the public, in a YouTube livestream moderated by Marlene Sincaglia for the League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area.
The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. Morristown Alumnae Chapter and the Morris NewsBee forum co-sponsored the forum, watched live by 410 viewers and available for replay.
A second forum, focusing on the three-way race for two Morristown seats on the Morris School District board, was canceled when incumbents Meredith Davidson and Elisabeth Wall bowed out, citing health reasons. Arielle Shack is the challenger.
The recently redrawn Fourth Ward stretches from Burnham Park in the west, through a slice of the downtown including South Street bars and the Historic District, to Foote’s Pond in the east. Parsons Village and Convent Mews, neighborhoods bordering the hospital, also are in the ward.
THE EXPANSION
Monday’s forum largely centered on Atlantic Health’s intention to expand Morristown Medical Center.
“You can see from the questions that it’s on everyone minds,” the moderator said.
As first reported on Morristown Green, the mayor and select council members met with Atlantic officials over the summer and heard them float ideas about a blanket approval for an 11-story hospital tower, a six-story parking deck, a hotel and other new buildings along Madison Avenue. Atlantic Health says it intends to submit plans early next year.
Mayer and Council Vice President Nathan Umbriac live near the hospital and say the town attorney advised them to recuse themselves, to avoid any appearance of a conflict.
“To exclude council representatives who are actively engaged in those communities is disappointing,” Meringolo said.
Both candidates acknowledged Morristown Medical Center as an important part of the community, but said they oppose blanket zoning approvals. Such a move might not survive a legal challenge by residents, Meringolo said.
“Spot zoning is illegal in New Jersey, and something like that sounds an awful lot like spot zoning,” he said. The term refers to zone changes tailored to one applicant.
An 11-story tower “seems way too tall for that area,” Meringolo added.
Russo said he wasn’t sure if such a height would be appropriate on the hospital campus, which is zoned for five stories.
“I really have to see these plans,” he said. Echoing Mayor Tim Dougherty from last week’s council meeting, Russo said no zoning decisions will be made without public input.
TRAFFIC
Most people in Morristown agree on one thing: Traffic is getting worse. Residents wanted to know what can be done about speeding, disregard for pedestrians, and aggressive driving.
Russo thought more police enforcement, with tickets and maximum fines, would help, particularly around the Green.
He views this as a regional problem, observing that Morristown is a cut-through for out-of-town commuters bound for Route 287. He suggested working with the state Department of Transportation to adjust traffic signals and patterns, and doing a town-wide traffic study.
Residents might be hard-pressed to name any tangible improvements from a $400,000 traffic study authorized by the council in 2016.
Contending the much-ballyhooed roundabout near the new M Station office park actually has hindered access to Morris Street, Meringolo deadpanned: “I’d like to see that traffic study.”
Meringolo proposed traffic-calming measures such as narrowing lanes and installing flashing lights to illuminate crosswalks, a measure he said has proven effective near the Gillette School in Long Hill.
A thorough traffic study will be needed before any expansion of the hospital, he said.
DEVELOPMENT
Mixed-used development is good, if done the right way, in the right places, the candidates seemed to concur.
Behind-the-scenes efforts are ongoing to fill the former Century 21 department store and other long-vacant storefronts along North Park Place, said Russo, an alternate member of the planning board.
“The last thing anybody wants to see is nothing,” Russo said.
One resident proposed converting the Century 21 space to a retirement home or assisted living facility.
Meringolo wasn’t sure about that. But he expressed hopes for more retail- and commercial establishments to offset the “massive apartment buildings going up.” A diverse mix should serve the young and old, he said.
“If you look at development, it’s got to be a little of everything. It’s got to be like ragu, it’s got to all be in there,” Meringolo said.
Along those lines, he sided with First Ward residents lobbying for a park in a former lumberyard, and with skateboarders seeking their own park. He likes Coal Avenue in the Second Ward for that.
Russo endorsed PILOTs as a tool for smart growth. Short for “Payments In Lieu of Taxes,” PILOTs are controversial tax breaks. They enable development of difficult properties by cutting out school taxes.
“Some of these PILOT programs, they’re fantastic,” Russo said.
“They’re coming in, they’re generating revenue for the town, plus, a lot of it had been built on dilapidated and contaminated areas that weren’t really earning any revenue previously. And they’ve been bringing people into the town. It’s good for small business. I think there’s a balance there. Development is a good thing in the right areas of Morristown,” he said.
PUBLIC HOUSING, AND LEAF BLOWERS
The Morristown Housing Authority (MHA) also came up. As Morristown Green first reported, the authority’s former chairwoman is accused of stealing from a spinoff corporation that she helped create.
Asked if he would strive to appoint MHA commissioners to dismantle the spinoff, Meringolo said yes.
“There is no reason to have a separate entity like that,” said the candidate, who serves as finance chairman of the Morris County Housing Authority.
Russo said he would have to research the MHA situation. “I have heard mixed things,” he said.
Neither candidate took a firm stand on next month’s referendum to restrict noisy gas-powered leaf blowers to the autumn leaf season.
Voters should decide this one, Russo said. There is no grass near his 40 Park condo so he seldom hears blowers, he said.
Meringolo said all his major yard equipment is electric, and he thinks electric leaf blowers will supplant gas models as batteries improve.
“I don’t think you have to force the issue,” he said, noting that Montclair is being sued for banning gas-powered blowers. “That’s a good one to watch.”
Morristown is a gem that gets brighter each year. As a former resident and long term friend of Morristown I would like to comment that I believe that Mayor Dougherty and various council members are working hard to support the growth and development in a responsible and creative manner. The citizens are positively engaged as events like the highly successful annual Morristown Book Festival demonstrate. I look forward to seeing various streets in town become traffic free someday (soon) as well a new major museum in the old Bambergers/Century 21 space. The arts are a proven economic accelerator which brighten communities everywhere as they improve quality of life and provide limitless enrichment and educational opportunities.
Ed – seems to me people vote more and more with their wallets nowadays rather than the tremendous effort in keeping up with and sifting through all the politicians’ rhetoric. People are generally happy with the development of Morristown into a little city and have since been moving here in droves.
The only contested race in this Morristown election. I guess voters and residents are not very engaged these days. Come 2024 it will be business as usual .
Maybe Morristown is headed for a “business manager” form of operation? In 2023, at least 25 towns in New Jersey have it. With that form of government ,voters elect a mayor ,and a town council but a manager is hired by the elected officials to run the day to day operations. Elections will be less important ,and the public’s voices and concerns will be further reduced. I hope not. Seems like it’s headed that way. So many people just do not seem to care. That is never a good thing.