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Council introduces multiple lease ordinances for borough properties; 212 Raritan shelter proposal draws accessibility warning
Summary
The council introduced several ordinances to lease borough-owned properties to local nonprofits and scheduled public hearings for April 15, 2025. A caller warned that using second-floor space as an emergency shelter may raise federal accessibility issues.
The Highland Park Borough Council on April 1 introduced a package of ordinances authorizing short-term leases of borough-owned buildings to community organizations and scheduled public hearings for April 15, 2025.
Ordinances introduced for first reading included: 25-2106, to lease 20-40 River Road to Raisis Cultural Center; 25-2107, to lease 101 Raritan Avenue to the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership; 25-2108, to lease the first floor of 212 Raritan Avenue to Main Street Highland Park for office space; 25-2109, to lease the second floor of 212 Raritan Avenue to the Reformed Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corporation to maintain an emergency shelter; and 25-2110, to lease 127-133 Barrington Avenue to the Reformed Church Affordable Housing Corporation for storage/repair space and an affordable housing unit.
Each ordinance was introduced by the clerk and approved for publication and scheduling of the April 15 public hearing. The council also introduced other finance-related ordinances on first reading, including capital ordinance 25-2111 for street improvements (Northlake Avenue and Wilker Street) and salary ordinance 25-2112 to establish positions and compensation; both were scheduled for public hearing on April 15.
During the meeting’s first public comment period a caller identified as Lois raised a legal concern about ordinance 25-2109, the proposed second-floor shelter at 212 Raritan Avenue. The speaker said she had consulted with accessibility officials and the Department of Justice and warned that “a shelter has to be excluded from an upstairs apartment” and that using an upstairs unit for a shelter could violate federal accessibility standards. She offered to provide more information to the borough.
The ordinance package followed a separate adoption earlier in the meeting of ordinance 25-2105 (amendments to contracting/pay-to-play and redevelopment provisions), which received final reading and was adopted by roll call vote.
Clerk records and the introductions reserve the full public hearing and any possible council action on these items for April 15, 2025.
