FLEMINGTON — The Borough Council has voted unanimously to seek a company to redevelop the former Global Agway site.
The vote Monday night called for circulating a Request for Proposals to build on the 5.6-acre site at the gateway to the borough’s downtown area, said Council President Marc Hain.
The planning board reviewed the site and said it could be “good for residential housing, or good for retail,” Hain said.
The council expected to post the RFP shortly at the borough’s website and is looking for a response within two weeks, he said.
Abandoned buildings at the site include a onetime Agway store and a feed warehouse.
Flemington to unveil plans for Agway site
The primary portion of the property is 3.3 acres divided between two lots that face Main Street, Walter E. Foran Boulevard and Hopewell Avenue. Four dilapidated buildings have been vacant since 2009.
The remaining 2.2 acres include a 16,400-square-foot warehouse and the late 19th century, 2,300-square-foot train depot. These buildings have been unoccupied for about 20 years.
“It’s been awhile since it’s been used,” Hain said. “We need to get it back on the tax rolls.”
A retention basin “limits what can done” in one corner of the property, because it is considered wetlands, Hain said.
Giving the project some urgency is the fact that there has been “loitering” on the back part of the property and “a whole lot of liquor bottles have been found there,” Hain said.
A draft proposal for a mixed-use development, circulated in December by a committee appointed by Mayor Phil Greiner, said “predominately residential” areas would bring more residents within walking and biking distance of the borough’s shops.
Townhomes and multi-family units would be permitted and a minimum of 15 percent of the new housing would be reserved for “affordable” housing under the plan by the committee that was headed by Elizabeth McManus of Trenton-based Clark Caton Hintz.
That draft proposal said the buildings should “relate in scale and design” to Flemington’s historic district, and its facades would be primarily red brick.
However, there is no requirement that the new proposal follow those guidelines.
Ben Horowitz may be reached at bhorowitz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @HorowitzBen. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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