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Residents urge Roseland council to oppose rumored ICE office; borough says lease, zoning limit detention operations
Summary
Residents used public comment to urge the council to block a rumored ICE office at Becker Farm Road. Borough officials said they had no formal notice, the building owner told them the lease bars detention/processing, and Roseland zoning forbids holding centers; residents were told to raise technical concerns to the planning board.
Jane Quinn, a longtime Roseland resident, told the governing body at its Feb. 24 meeting she and neighbors are "appalled at the possibility of having ICE people in our town," and asked elected officials to "do anything in your power" to oppose a presence she said would bring "havoc" to the community.
"I'm here because I and some of my friends are appalled at the possibility of having ICE people in our town," Quinn said during the meeting's first public-comment period, asking the council to make their opposition known to higher authorities.
Robert Bridal, another resident, urged the council to resist any expansion at 5 Becker Farm Road, saying an ICE presence next to what he called a children's care center would be "unconscionable," and appealed to American civic values and the Statue of Liberty inscription to argue against the agency's local operations.
The borough responded at the meeting that it had not been formally notified of any ICE facility. The presiding official said borough staff contacted the building owner and management company, who explained that the federal government was renting office space for "attorneys, accountants, clerical staff" and that the lease expressly prohibited "ICE operations, detainments, processing, or enforcement" on the premises. The official added that Roseland zoning does not permit holding centers, detention centers, jails or similar facilities in any zone.
"We were never formally informed of any facility, government or ICE otherwise being opened in Roseland," the presiding official said, and pledged the borough would continue to monitor the situation and the lease terms.
Other residents at the meeting reiterated opposition. Steve Saporito noted past local mobilization to block developments and asked the council to watch the site closely; Margo Dockrell said she shares residents' dismay and criticized the agency's behavior. Janet Tremont, speaking during the second public-comment period, said the code official had already flagged site-specific issues — asbestos, rodents and flooding — that would be addressed as part of any formal review.
Council members and staff repeatedly told residents that formal land-use and site-control questions — stormwater management, detention basins and rodent mitigation — are matters for the planning board when the applicant files a site plan application. Residents were urged to attend the planning-board review (announced in the meeting as scheduled for March 9) and to provide written comments to the borough so officials can relay them to reviewers.
The meeting record shows no formal action to prevent leasing of office space; rather, the council described both legal limits (zoning prohibitions on detention centers) and lease representations from the building owner as its current controls. The borough said it has "very little authority" over private rental decisions beyond zoning enforcement and would continue to share information with residents and monitor developments.
