Borough Council nixes property sales, citing parking preservation needs

The Sussex Borough Council on September 20 turned down three ordinances that were proposed to sell various properties owned by the borough.

The council declined to authorized the sale of 23, 27-29, 37 and 39 Mill Street, which Mayor Edward Meyer said was for several parking lots. The council also declined to sell 17 Walling Avenue, and 20 Walling Avenue, which is the parking lot in front of the creamery.

All three ordinances were voted down by identical 4-0 votes. Council President Robert Holowach and Councilman Nick Holowach were absent.

“After doing some research after the last meeting and looking at the redevelopment plan, and talking about revitalizing Main Street, I’m against selling any of it on Mill Street at this point because we need the parking,” Councilman Jake Little said. “If we’re going to move forward with this in the future, we’re going to need the spots for parking, and it’s the closest that we have toward Main Street and our commercial block that we’re trying to build up.”

Meyer said every town that has been revitalized has parking. Not having parking would also cause a problem because the borough has required every apartment rented to have two parking spots available.

“I think it’s integral for us to continue to have parking,” he said. “A lot of the properties that are in the core business area, are tax assessed based on income. If you don’t have parking, it’s very likely their tax assessments could go down.”

Councilman Frank Dykstra said selling parking lots or land that could be future parking lots would be a “death sentence” for the borough’s growth.