Sayreville leaders defend using municipal preservation trust fund for old firehouse; residents push to buy 40 acres

Sayreville — At a September 2025 Mayor and Borough Council meeting, the mayor said the borough will use the Municipal Open Space Recreation Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund to restore the old firehouse and relocate construction and code‑enforcement staff out of temporary trailers.

The mayor told the council that the trust fund — created under NJSA 40:12‑15.7 and established in ordinance No. 671‑00 — can be funded by an additional annual tax levy of up to 2 cents per $100 of assessed value and that restoring the firehouse is a permissible use of those dollars. “The building will not be torn down. It will be restored and put to use as new office space for the men and women who handle construction and code enforcement for the borough,” the mayor said.

Why it matters: The trust fund’s legal name and enabling statute were cited at the meeting, and residents said the borough should prioritize land acquisitions and traditional historic‑preservation projects rather than converting the old firehouse into office space. The public comment period included sustained criticism that the town’s open‑space inventory and prior promises should guide spending decisions.

At the meeting, resident Jim Robinson pressed council members over the borough’s open‑space priorities, urging purchase of 40 acres adjacent to Kennedy Park that he and others have long identified as a preservation priority. Robinson said the environmental resource inventory funding request on the agenda — a $15,000 study he described as duplicative of a 2016 inventory — did not explicitly commit to buying open space. “I just wish you felt that way before you got so close to the election,” Robinson said during public comment.

Council members and staff provided background: the mayor said many available historic‑preservation grants are restricted to five New Jersey cities (Camden, Atlantic City, Trenton, Paterson and Newark) and so Sayreville historically has not been eligible for those grants. He also said a grant writer had reviewed potential funding and concluded that grant funding was unlikely to cover the full restoration costs. The mayor noted that borough construction staff have worked from temporary trailers for nearly 20 years and that restoring the brick building would return them to permanent office space.

What the council did: The mayor explained the funding source on the record but the transcript does not show a separate roll‑call vote or ordinance adopting a specific contract or expenditure for the firehouse restoration during this meeting. Council members did move and vote to receive and file a supplemental debt statement submitted by CFO Danielle Mayerana (motion made and approved on roll call), and several bond ordinances and capital appropriations were introduced for public hearing on Oct. 14, 2025.

Concerns recorded: Public commenters and at least one resident who identified himself as a long‑term planning‑board member said that repurposing the building as construction‑department offices is not equivalent to historic preservation, which they said should retain a property’s historical, cultural and architectural integrity. Commenters also urged the council to pursue acquisition of the Crossman Sand Company parcels near Kennedy Park and questioned why the borough did not purchase that land decades ago.

Next steps: The council scheduled public hearings and introductions for several ordinances on Oct. 14, 2025 (bond and capital ordinances were introduced at this meeting). The transcript does not record a final appropriation or contract award specifically authorizing the firehouse restoration at this session; any formal transfer of trust‑fund dollars or contract award would need to appear in future minutes or resolutions.

Ending: Residents who addressed the council asked for clearer outreach and earlier notice of proposals tied to open‑space or historic‑preservation funds. Council members said staff would continue to pursue funding options and that the environmental resource inventory would provide updated data for future decisions.