Feedback sought on PNC bank buy

[Guest]

Anyone in the Library Committee owns a business on Main St.?

[Bob Dreyling]

Below is a letter submitted to the township committee expressing my views on the possible purchase of the PNC property.

Cranbury Township Committee
Cranbury, NJ


As a past member of the Cranbury Planning Board and a concerned citizen I would lkie to make some observations regarding the possible purchase of the PNC property and the effect that would have on the business district. The planning board has struggled for years with the proplems faced by the businesses in the business district. Our business district is small and to take another property out of use as commercial property would be detrimental to all the businesses in this district as well as the community as a whole. Over the years we have lost several businesses because they could not compete with the big box super stores that now dominate our state and country. The pharmacy was forced to close as well as the Cranbury Hardware Store for various reasons including the lack of traffic conming into the business district.

Our community alone is not large enough and never will be able to support the businesses in our small town without prople from outside Cranbury coming here to shop and dine. The only way to attract more people from outside the community is to have a viable business district meaning that there should be as broad a mix of businesses as possible, such as banks, retail shops, art galleries, restaurants, professional offices, etc.

Yes, parking is and has been an issue but if the town, business owners and school are willing to work together there are solutions to the shortage of parking including the possibility of reaching a new arrangement with any new owner of the PNC property.

If Cranbury should purchase this property for whatever use they may deem necessary, it will be taking a "key" property out of use as commercial property in the very area that the township should be doing everything possible to attract more businesses. Converting it into a public library, community center or some other municipal use will NOT attract people from outside the community and this will only add to the decline in the viability of the business district. If the township committee should decide this is the direction they wish to go they must be prepared to accept responsibility for whatever adverse affect it may have on the downtown business area.

None of the above speaks to the economic impact this may have on the community which is certainly more than the loss of tax revenue. There are just too many unknowns; i.e., cost of any renovation that may be required, operating cost such as heating, lighting and personnel, cost of any debt required to purchase the property, etc.


Bob Dreyling
32 Old Canbury Rd.[/list][/url]

[Kirstie Venanzi]

This in response to Win Cody's model for calculating an estimate re.
PNC renovation and possible site for a library.

Thank you, Win, for taking the time to try and put this into concrete terms. I think we all appreciate this. My concern is that there were
several misconceptions.

We already pay a NJ State mandated tax support for our library. The town budget would not have to support added expense for maintaining the library.

The Public Library already owns computer terminals that are strictly public library terminals with no filtering.

The Public Library has its own collections in the library. For the k-8 collection, they are co-mingled with the school collection. For the Public Library, they number about 25,000.

The Public Library already has its own staff; the School Library staff is separate. The Public Library would not need to hire additional staff.

Just curious, where you got the Heat/Air/Utilities from?

Taking these into consideration, could you run a new model?
Thank you.

[cranbury liberal]

I think the burden on those in support of the PNC site purchase or a new library is not to pick apart Win's model but to proactively provide a comprehensive acqusition, development and operational budget that can be publicly scrutinized prior to any vote and prior to the final opportunity for public comment before a vote.

Anything less is irresponsible.

[Cranbury Conservative]

I would like to point of the items below which are found in the 2007 recreation plan.

To summarize Cranbury already has plans in place for the library and options for parking as stated in the plan. How can we now suddenly be pursuing the PNC purchase with out a similar plan?

Page 28 of the report:

“In hindsight, the provision of a dedicated youth and/or senior recreation center for a Township with as small a population base as Cranbury—both at present and as anticipated at full build-out—appears to be unrealistic and economically infeasible. However, the long-term plans for Village Green includes the possibility of the library vacating its present space within the Cranbury school and building a standalone library across the parking lot just to the west of the tennis courts (see Chapter IV, Section B). Such plans may include the provision of a room for indoor recreation for seniors. The plans for moving the library to a standalone building is, however, not projected to occur in the foreseeable”

Page 39 of the report:

“The charrette was concluded with a broad consensus among stakeholders and residents that the Wright South parcel should be used for the following purposes:
• a regulation baseball field;
• land designated for a library/community center;
• an open town green; and
• land designated for additional vehicular access and parking.18”


Page 40 of the report:

“Finally, the Wright South property is particularly suited to its proposed use as a regulation baseball field because it is cleared, relatively level, and also because it is proximate to other school playing fields and the school/municipal parking lot. Finally, there is sufficient space on Wright South not only to develop the baseball field, but possibly provide for additional Township recreational facilities and
even possibly other municipal facilities, such as a standalone library.”



Page 115 of the report:

“b. Dedicated indoor recreation space (Intermediate to Long-Term)
To the extent that the Township vacates the space in the Cranbury School now used as the Township’s library and relocates it in a “standalone” facility across the parking lot on the Village Green property, the Subcommittee would support evaluating the needs for senior recreation at that time so as to
address the unmet needs by adding space for recreational purposes.”


Page 153 of the report:

Ms. Stave asked the Township Committee’s consideration to continue with the Babe Ruth SubCommittee, to be called now the Wright South Planning SubCommittee and indicating over time the composition of that SubCommittee may change as they begin to discuss the needs and planning for a free-standing library and community center. The Township Committee unanimously
approved Ms. Stave’s request.

[Kirstie Venanzi]

[Cranbury Conservative]

This is from another thread and is related...

http://cranbury.info/viewtopic.php?p=4615#4615

[wcody]

Kirstie, thanks for your review and response on the financial model I had put together regarding the potential of acquiring the PNC building and using it as a free standing library.

I redid the model with some of the assumptions that stated.

I broke the expenses into two categories:

- Building Expenses - expenses that the township will bear to acquire, renovate, insure and maintain the physical building (including loss of ratable)

- Library Operating Expenses - incremental expenses, beyond the physical building, of a stand-alone library as compared a combined library

Using the previous estimate, the building estimate expenses would be $357,000 annually which would have a $103 tax impact on the average household each year. This would also increase our debt for the acquisition and renovation costs.

My previous estimate on some of the library expenses may have been too high. If there is no increase in services by either the public or school library because of the new building, it could be done with no increase in salary. The public library staff would move to the new library and the school staff would stay at the school. This would mean the library would still be closed on Sundays and only open 4 hours on Saturday between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Also, the school library would close when school is over and if children wanted to be in library after school, they would go to the new library. If because of the new library, an expansion of service/hours would be desired in either library, there would be more expense incurred. I now understand the libraries have separate book inventories and the public library would not need to increase the book budget. More space would mean they would not need to cull the stacks as frequently. There would still be an increase in expense for computer networks, phones and utilities. My estimate for those expenses is $45,000 annually. This may be not be a direct impact to taxpayers since there may be enough funding already in the state mandated library funding from the town. This is only my estimate and I would hope that we see a fully validated financial plan prior to proceeding with any purchase.

It is important to note and understand options we as the township have for both the PNC building and library. If we enter into any type of purchase agreement for the PNC building, we need to have an agreement on what it is to be used for and what are the expenses as well as taxpayer impact. If we feel there are some needs for the library, there are other options besides the PNC building that need to be considered. We could make improvements to the existing library facility. This would be far less expensive than the PNC building. This could give us time for us to build a new library/community center on the land designated for the new Village Green as stated in last years master plan (the Wright Property near the tennis courts and new Babe Ruth field) or look into another building on Main St when the time is right. The PNC building is not a once in a lifetime opportunity. Unfortunately, Main St. is not as commercially viable as we all would like and other buildings will likely become available in the future.

I encourage everyone to attend on May 19 to voice their opinions on this vital matter for the town. The comments on this blog are great, but it is also important to attribute these for the township committee. If you cannot attend, please share your opinions via email to the township committee.

Win Cody