Pennington Council members will vote on designating the Blackwell properties as an area in need of redevelopment.
The Borough Council’s next meeting is Aug. 5 at 7 p.m.
“Creating an area in need of redevelopment could facilitate [a] potential sale but it [also] positions the borough to work with a new property owner for the cleanup and redevelopment of the property,” Mayor Jim Davy said.
The Pennington Planning Board had recommended the five adjacent properties known as the Blackwell properties as an area in need of redevelopment before referring it back to the council for the governing body to take action.
The properties and study area are bounded by Green Street, the southside of Brookside Avenue, and North Main Street.
Borough Planner Jim Kyle of Kyle McManus Associates, which conducted the preliminary investigation of the Blackwell properties in the proposed Brookside Redevelopment Area, said the redevelopment plan would be a public process that involves people around the properties and the people who own the properties.
“The five properties stretch from Green Street to the west all fronting with the exception of Lot 6 on Brookside Avenue,” Kyle said. “Lots 5 and 6 have frontage on North Main Street as well and Lot 2 has frontage on both Brookside and Green Street.
“Lot 2 has a total of four main structures and then one accessory structure that is the attached garage. Lot 5 is where the Auto Repair use is still (Pennington Furnace).”
The five properties include 79 Green Street, 20 Brookside Avenue, 6 Brookside Avenue, N. Main (Pennington Furnace) and 74 North Main. The study area accounts for four acres and is in the MU-2 Mixed Use Zone.
The permitted primary uses in the Mixed Use Zone includes attached dwelling units and one-family dwelling unit, professional offices and business offices, retail business and personal service establishments and municipal parks, playgrounds, and buildings and/or structures.
Existing structures in the property area include a two-story single-family home; a two-story and a half wood framed garage; a one-story masonry and wood frame garage; a two-story single-family home and detached one-story garage; and a single-story shed and garage, one-story single-family home, two story frame barn and garage, a one-story masonry garage, and a one-story frame garage, according to the preliminary investigation documents.
Kyle shared that the two single family homes are occupied, and the study area is a non-condemnation redevelopment area meaning that the borough will not use eminent domain to acquire the properties.
“The interesting thing is the Lewis Brook runs right along Lot 2,” Kyle said. “The Lewis Brook runs on the Pennington School property and turns and comes northeast into the back of Lot 6 then goes under the building on Lot 5. So, there is a pipe that starts and daylights on the other side of North Main Street and the Lewis Brook continues off towards the Stony Brook.”
As Phase 1 is being completed, there are no known reported contaminated areas on the study area site, Kyle said.
“Phase 1 is when an environmental scientist will go out and inspect the property, look at historical information, and past uses of the property,” he said.
“My understanding … is that the scientists did identify some areas [of concern], but it primarily related to things you would see on the surface of the property – a barrel here, a pile of dirt there.”
Phase 2 is where physical testing takes place – sampling what is in barrel, what is in the soil or material located on site. Kyle said Phase 2 will move forward with some testing.
He shared that the historical use of the property was not the concern. They just want to make sure there is no issue with the surface conditions.
The property owner pays for Phase 1 and Phase 2.
Five properties known as the Blackwell properties is study area for area in need of redevelopment.
