Thursday, February 15, 2007

By GIOVANNA FABIANO
STAFF WRITER
NORTH JERSEY NEWS

FAIR LAWN - Borough officials are holding off on a vote that would pave the way for a high-density town house development on the polluted site of a former chemical factory along the Passaic River.

The council, which introduced an ordinance to rezone the 13-acre Clariant Corp. complex last month from industrial to multi-family residential, has postponed voting on the issue until March 6.

The ordinance was passed on first reading Jan. 23, but it drew ire from Republican council members Edward Trawinski and Jeanne Baratta, who criticized the council for accommodating the developer on key issues, including environmental remediation. The three Democrats on the council voted in favor of the ordinance.

Environmental concerns have long been raised about the former Clariant factory, which churned out dyes and chemicals for nearly 50 years before it closed in 1992. The site is among thousands identified by the state as contaminated, and remains in the midst of a lengthy cleanup.

The ordinance fails to require the developer to wait until remediation is complete to begin work on the site, leaving the environmental cleanup solely in the hands of the Department of Environmental Protection. Also, the majority of the housing is not age-restricted as the council originally discussed, Trawinski said.

As it stands, the project calls for a 48-unit gated building of senior housing for ages 55 and over and 130 two-bedroom units of traditional town houses.

Trawinski, who voted against the ordinance, has gone so far as to publicly accuse Democrats on the council of waving the project through because of ties to the developer, Robert McNerney of Glen Rock-based Shellmarc LLC.

McNerney, a former borough appraiser, contributed more than $5,000 to the Bergen County Democratic Committee, former Councilman Owen McCarthy and former Mayor David Ganz between 2003 and 2005, according to the state's Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Fair Lawn passed an ordinance in 2006 banning contracts with political donors.

Councilman Marty Etler said Trawinski's claims are unfounded.

"We have absolutely no ties to Shellmarc and I don't even know this guy McNerney," Etler said.
He added that Planning Board Chairman Barry Winston, who has a cousin who works at Shellmarc, consistently recuses himself from any Clariant-related issues.

McNerney, who stepped down as borough appraiser in January 2006, did not return calls for comment. His attorney, Colin Quinn, said Trawinski's claims were "political in nature and pejorative."

"This application for a zone change has worked its way through the system for several years. This applicant has gone through each and every step the mayor and council have asked for, provided every document, and addressed each and every inquiry. ... That's why we are at the stage we are at right now," he said.

As for the environmental remediation, Etler is not concerned.

"They can't even come close to building on that site until they get a signoff from the DEP," he said.