Hightstown future via horrendous mistake

Four members of the Hightstown Borough Council have decided to rent office trailers for temporary housing of Borough employees behind the Ely house as a first step in rebuilding Borough Hall on its present site. This is being done over the objections of Larry Quattrone, Council president, Mayor Steve Kirson, the Borough Planning Board, the local business people and their organizations, as well as most of the citizens of Hightstown with any foresight.

Even though such an expense, supposedly covered by insurance, would make the redevelopment of the Mill property impossible to do and fails to foresee a future merger of the Borough and the Township. The price of the Mill property is under a million dollars and has already become attractive to two developers who want to put housing and commercial facilities on the site. They need the visibility and access of the site where Borough Hall now stands for the project to be viable.

The insurance company will rebuild Borough Hall up to code at their expense or settle with us for an amount over $3 million which we can use to demolish the present structure and seek other space for municipal operations. This would leave the Mill property with visibility and access from North Main Street for a viable redevelopment of the entire site. The resulting ratable would be over $12 million dollars generating $400 million in property taxes a year.

But this myopic, imbecile, intellectually challenged group of Borough Council members appear to have more interest in ignoring the future and appeasing their paranoia instead of making an intelligent decision as to the future of Hightstown. Their leader, JP Gibbons, wants some action taken on the redevelopment of the Mill property yet promotes rebuilding Borough Hall on its present site thereby defeating the redevelopment.

The Lucas site on Mercer Street presently houses our police department and can be purchased for under $2 million dollars. It is a seven acre site that can give access to the Hightstown High School from Mercer Street as well as house both police and municipal employees as well as a council meeting room. Please help in deterring the present path of Borough Council of a horrendous mistake. For the future of Hightstown.

Carpe diem,

Eugene E Sarafin