May 28, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Franklin Lakes McCoy Road property designated for redevelopment by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Borough Council has introduced an ordinance designating the 14.4-acre property at the intersection of McCoy and Colonial roads as an area in need of redevelopment. The borough’s planning board previously passed a resolu- tion approving that designation. Elizabeth McManus, the borough’s pro- fessional planner, recently made presenta- tions to the council and the planning board providing the essence of a report she sub- mitted to the council in February. In those presentations, McManus explained that state law requires the property to be desig- nated as an area in need of redevelopment in order for the developer of the special needs housing planned for the site to obtain the funding needed for that development. The borough purchased the property from Temple Emanuel of North Jersey in August 2013 using affordable housing trust fund money, which requires the borough Community cautioned about child luring incident The superintendent of the Franklin Lakes School District has cautioned all parents and guardians of children in the community to caution their children about common predatory child luring dangers. Frank Romano III, the K-8 superin- tendent of schools, issued a notice to the community in which he described a recent child-luring incident in Ramsey in which two teenage females were crossing the main street in that town when a male in a pickup truck addressed them. Romano said the male told the girls to get in the bed of his pickup truck and when they continued walking, the male made a motion with his hand as if to slit their throats and stated, “You’re dead,” while pointing to the back of his pickup truck. The children fled to a nearby bystander, Romano stated, and the suspect then pulled his pickup truck to the side of the road and (continued on page 21) to use those funds for the construction of affordable housing. Plans for the site call for the construction of housing for people with special needs. Franklin Lakes Borough Attorney Wil- liam Smith explained that the state statute is intended for a situation where a town is taking privately owned property that has gone fallow, but that is not the case with this property. He said the municipality owns the property, but the statute requires it to be designated as an area for redevelopment in order to qualify for financing. McManus described the various criteria that must be met for a property to be des- ignated for redevelopment, including one that states that the property creates a haz- ardous condition for the community. She said the borough only needs to meet one of those criteria, and the one most applicable is the one which requires that the property be owned by the borough. She described the condition of the build- ings currently on the wooded site, which include a single family house that is sub- standard, unsafe, and unsanitary; a second pump house building that has been heavily vandalized and is dilapidated; a small stor- age shed that is overrun by weeds and is (continued on page 21)