County expected to buy township land for $2M Extended care center to be built on Crossroads tract BY JESSICA SMITH Staff Writer Old Bridge is moving closer to bringing the first element of development to the Crossroads property at the town's southern border. After holding an executive session to discuss the price, the Township Council voted Nov. 19 to sell a 14.8- acre parcel of the tract to Middlesex County for $2,010,750. The county Board of Chosen Freeholders plans to construct a 180-bed extended-care facility at the site. "I think the facility is needed, because we're all getting older, and at one point in our lives, we're going to need this type of facility to take care of us," Councilman Bob Volkert said. Both the county and the Old Bridge Redevelopment Agency conducted appraisals of the parcel. The county offered the township $1.9 million for the land, but township officials asked for the higher figure in order to find a middle ground between the two appraisals. "We had [township officials] review the other two appraisals to make sure they were reasonable, and they were," said Township Business Administrator Mike Jacobs. Mayor Jim Phillips said he has recused himself from proceedings dealing with the nursing facility because of his job as Middlesex County treasurer. Located on the 500-acre Crossroads redevelopment tract, the site is between Marlboro and Greystone roads and close to Routes 9 and 18. The property was chosen over another possible option in Old Bridge because of its larger expanse. Middlesex County Freeholder Director David B. Crabiel said the other possible site, owned by Raritan Bay Medical Center, contained wetlands. The new facility will allow for the remaining 180 patients at the old Roosevelt Hospital in Edison to be moved from the aging structure. Constructed during the Depression era as a tuberculosis hospital and considered a historic building, the facility is not sufficient to meet the needs of its current population, Crabiel said. Once the building is empty, it will be converted to senior housing, he said. The new care center will be modeled after the Edison facility, according to Crabiel. Phillips and Crabiel said an outstanding feature of the facility will be that individuals will receive the same level of care, regardless of their financial status. The same cannot be said of some private care facilities. The ordinance will see its public hearing and vote at a December council meeting, but with most of the council in favor of the project, it is likely to be approved. Councilwoman Lucille Panos and Councilman Richard Greene, currently the only two Republicans on the otherwise Democratic governing body, cast the only two dissenting votes. Greene had several concerns about the facility being built. He said the township is in a tax crisis situation, and should therefore seek out ratables that would provide ongoing revenue for tax relief. He also cited the $2 million sale amount being included in the mayor's budget in order to make revenues and expenditures match. Though the land sale helped in this fiscal year's budget, he said, if costs are the same or higher next year, the town will have a difficult time making up for the amount. Also, the township will likely enter into a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement with the county, which would not help to provide tax relief, Greene said. "It's still something that is going to benefit the residents of Old Bridge and the other people of Middlesex County," Volkert said. "That property was originally purchased [by Old Bridge] to benefit the residents." While Greene said he can see the value of such a facility, he asserted that residents need property tax relief. "If, in fact, we can be presented with a plan that provides the public with some sort of economic development, I will look at it on a case-by-case basis," Greene said. "I don't have a problem with a nursing home necessarily, but I don't think it fits in that area." According to Greene, there are better locations for the facility throughout the county. He refuted Phillips' past statements about the site being adjacent to the Raritan Bay Medical Center's Old Bridge division and other senior and care facilities. "It's a facility that's going to be built in a remote area," Greene said. County officials are hoping to break ground by spring 2008 and complete the project sometime in 2009, Crabiel said.