"Grabbing the bull by its horns," the mayor recently asked all business owners to form the first Cresskill Chamber of Commerce.
Mayor Benedict Romeo said that the chamber, in addition to the new commercial development projects, would revitalize downtown business.
"It’s about time we help the store owners," said Romeo, touting five new project plans at the Jan. 23 Forward Planning Committee meeting.
"And these projects will certainly help to make it more friendly for people to come into Cresskill and to spend money in the town."
The mayor’s favorable forecast includes projects marked to relieve downtown traffic, expand affordable housing and "clean up a long blighted area" along Allen Street.
"These plans have been percolating for the past few years," he added.
Daibes Enterprises of Edgewater pegged April for the start of construction on Cresskill Plaza, which consists of two commercial buildings totaling 13,000 square feet in retail space. Six of the 28 second-story apartments reserved for moderate- to low-income housing would satisfy the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing requirements until 2016, according to Romeo.
"It’s going to clean up the Mooseheads [Tavern] and all that area over there and that won’t cost us anything," he told the crowd.
A traffic study is currently underway for the intersection of Madison Avenue and Piermont Road, continued Romeo, to be widened as the result of a $900,000 county grant. He assured that the right-turn-only lane, added to eastbound Madison Avenue, would not change the current traffic pattern.
So that there is "no loss to businesses owners," said Romeo, the construction order calls for building the plaza first, tearing down the Mooseheads Tavern, dry cleaners and dog grooming shop and then widening the road.
At the old Joe Direse & Sons property at 18 Piermont Road, monitoring wells are already in place as site remediation work nears completion, the mayor said.
The mayor predicted that the Brownsfield site would then contribute 10,000 square feet for stores and offices to the town. The former solid waste contracting company became an environmental hazardous waste site after oil spilled from its underground storage tanks.
Developers at the former Bev-Bel property at 39 Union St. and the North Jersey Community Bank at 1 Union Ave. indicated their willingness to conform to guidelines set forth by the Allen Street improvement plan, continued the mayor.
"By graciously keeping it open 10 to 12 feet," said Romeo, the borough is able to construct pedestrian walkways linking storefronts on Union Street and parking on Allen Street. The Allen Street project aims to increase parking by 88 spots.
Moreover, a signature building constructed at Piermont Avenue and Union Street would help spruce up the town where Bondy’s Tavern currently stands, said Romeo.
Several storeowners wondered whether the influx of new businesses and traffic from construction would hurt their businesses.
"Is there any way we can better the odds that the right businesses come into town?" asked Rev. David Bocock of the Cresskill Congregational Church, after hearing the mayor’s presentation.
"I can’t tell a fourth pizzeria to not come into town," replied Romeo. "The best way to respond to all this is to have a Chamber of Commerce."
Mike Hamlett, owner of Image Ink Associates at 34 Pierce Ave., volunteered to organize Cresskill’s first Chamber of Commerce. He started a Chamber of Commerce in Tenafly.
The Borough Council in turn expressed its desire to help storeowners by permitting the Chamber of Commerce use of Borough Hall facilities and advertising in the quarterly town newsletter.
After a quick show of hands, the storeowners set the next Chamber of Commerce meeting for Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. at Borough Hall, 67 Union Ave.
