Massa: Our Anti-EnCap stand is vindicated

NORTH ARLINGTON - North Arlington Mayor Peter Massa today said EnCap's decision to back out of a controversial bonding scheme is vindication for the Councilmembers and North Arlington residents who oppose the embattled high-density housing project.

EnCap has insisted for months the current financing as presented was financially viable. They are now forced to go back to the drawing board with a new application that protects homeowners in North Arlington, Lyndhurst and Rutherford from financial risk. This application may not be ready for months.NORTH ARLINGTON - North Arlington Mayor Peter Massa today said EnCap's decision to back out of a controversial bonding scheme is vindication for the Councilmembers and North Arlington residents who oppose the embattled high-density housing project.

EnCap has insisted for months the current financing as presented was financially viable. They are now forced to go back to the drawing board with a new application that protects homeowners in North Arlington, Lyndhurst and Rutherford from financial risk. This application may not be ready for months.

The financing became an issue in late 2006 when Local Finance Board Director Susan Jacobucci raised numerous objections to whole viability of the project's fiscal impact on both Rutherford and Lyndhurst. While local officials in those communities scrambled to assure that the financing was solid, North Arlington refused to participate in those meetings and the financing as submitted has been withdrawn from consideration.

"There was no reason for me to participate in meetings and discussions that were designed to rationalize EnCap's financing. I represent the people of North Arlington. They are my employer. In the end, the financing as submitted was flawed and withdrawn anyway. It speaks to the heart of the very credibility of the application in the first place. At the end of the day, we were right and EnCap continues to be wrong," said Mayor Pete Massa.

"This is just additional proof, another example that those of us here in North Arlington did the right thing by opposing this housing project. This is just further vindication that the agreement in place is seriously flawed and taxpayers must be protected," said Councilman Steve Tanelli, a chief opponent of the project.

"Governor Corzine's intervention on behalf of taxpayers along with Director Susan Jacobucci's concerns stopped this loan scheme from becoming reality. Maybe now we will find out just how many hundreds of millions of dollars EnCap stands to make at the expense of homeowners who were promised golf courses instead of a high-density housing project with 1,625 units on 75 acres that nobody wants and nobody supports," Mayor Massa said.

Massa was elected Mayor last November after defeating pro-EnCap incumbent Russ Pitman in the Democratic Primary and then beating pro-EnCap Republican candidates in the general election. Massa brought with him two runningmates, Al Granell and Sal DiBlasi, both of whom also beat EnCap backed candidates in the primary and again in the general election.

"This whole process has been flawed from day one. This deal was thrust upon us and has morphed into nothing but high-density housing, eminent domain seizure condemnation and the prospect of hundreds of units of Low Income Housing. I challenge anyone to find those facts in any of the EnCap rhetoric as a reason to support this project," observed Councilman Al Granell, an EnCap critic and himself a target of eminent domain seizure.

Many believe the withdrawal of the EnCap financing agreement could play very favorably to the borough's contention the current contract is in fact, void.

"I cannot comment on the specifics of the suit in question. But it is fair to assume that all of our arguments we have made against this project far before this proceeding was filed have turned out to be correct. Our job now is to move forward and solve this problem left behind by those no longer in office," the Mayor noted.

"Can anyone name the last time we read something in the press that was beneficial or positive about this proposal? The questions still remain -- traffic, increased school population, overdevelopment, eminent domain seizure and Low Income Housing remain ignored," said Tanelli.