New Jersey
Transportation Heritage Center

By now you are probably aware of the plans being presented to the Town of Phillipsburg that would develop the Transportation Heritage Center site as high and medium density residential housing. Politically connected developer, Mike Perrucci, under the guise of bringing tax rateables to Phillipsburg claims that the Heritage Center is impossible because funds are lacking. It appears that he has used his political influence to stall the Heritage Center in Trenton. Unfortunately, Phillipsburg officials seem to be buying his program. Mr. Perrucci is only talking about the positive aspects and potential tax revenue of his proposal - not about the cost to the community. Look around New Jersey and you will see many towns that have fallen for this kind of developer optimism and now regret it.

The truth is that residential housing ultimately costs the town more money than the revenue that new housing brings in, especially when school children are part of the mix. The typical school district spends about $10,000 per student per year. Residential development of this magnitude has the potential to add a thousand or more new students to the school district. Since the total property tax bill of the typical home owner is less than half the cost of educating one student, your tax rate will go up. If Perrucci tries to sell you on age restricted housing, you could wind up with a town full of senior citizens voting no on your school budget and demanding tax breaks on their homes because they have no school age children. What about the impacts on and added costs of public works? Fire protection? Police coverage? Emergency medical services? Traffic congestion? If the target market for these houses are affluent commuters, then chain stores will want to move in and they will outbid the locals for the available commercial real estate ultimately driving the small businesses out of town and replacing them with Starbucks.

In the end the developers, who don?t live in your town will walk away with millions of dollars and the residents will be stuck with higher property taxes. The things that make Phillipsburg unique will disappear and your neighborhood businesses will be gone; replaced with national chain retailers.

If you believe that the Transportation Heritage Center would be a better neighbor than thousands of new housing units, you need to tell your local officials how you feel. If they don?t feel the heat, the Heritage Center will certainly be a casualty of New Jersey?s suburban sprawl. Write them letters. Go to planning and zoning board meetings as well as Council meetings. Speak out. Organize your neighbors.

How can you join the New Jersey Transportation Heritage Center? Click here