SCC
revokes purchase offers to hundreds of
homeowners
School-rebuilding agency's record
of waste continues
Wednesday, September 14, 2005 • BY STEVEN CHAMBERS AND
DUNSTAN McNICHOL• Star-Ledger
Staff
The troubled New Jersey Schools
Construction Corp. has sent out hundreds of letters to
property owners whose land it previously intended to buy.
This time the message is simple and jarring: Never
mind.
The 344 "notices of revocation" being
sent to property owners throughout the state are the latest
evidence of how the construction corporation wasted millions
of dollars laying the groundwork for school projects it does
not have the money to complete.
For instance, at two locations in Union
City that received letters last week, the SCC has already
spent $10 million on site work for projects that have now
been abandoned, records show.
The corporation's false starts also have
disrupted the plans of hundreds of homeowners, who have been
under the cloud of condemnation or eviction for
months.
And in Newark, the formal announcement
that the state is backing off its acquisition plans has
touched off a land rush of sorts, with local officials eager
to turn over the abandoned school sites to for-profit
developers.
Newark school officials said that
development could hamper the city's ability to build the
dozens of new schools it envisioned when the state program
was first announced seven years ago.
"It's a major concern," said Raymond
Lindgren, assistant to Newark Superintendent Marion Bolden.
"It's shortsighted, like so much of what they have done" at
the SCC.
The about-face in the land-acquisition
program is the latest black eye for a multibillion-dollar
program that has been mired in controversy for
months.
The corporation was created in 2002 to
oversee an $8.6 billion overhaul of public school buildings
throughout the state. The bulk of that money -- $6 billion
-- was earmarked for the court-ordered renovation or
replacement of hundreds of decrepit school buildings in 31
needy communities.
In April, after an analysis by The
Star-Ledger found that the first six SCC-managed school
projects cost, on average, 45 percent more than comparable
schools built without the SCC's involvement, the state
inspector general concluded the program was fraught with lax
oversight and poor management.
After determining that only $1.4 billion
of its initial $6 billion allocation remained, the
corporation in July shelved 200 projects in various stages
of development. It opted instead to spend its remaining
funds completing 59 projects.
Property acquisition has long been a
thorn in the side of the SCC. Sites chosen by districts have
too often required expensive environmental cleanups or
exorbitant buyouts of property owners.
In Newark and elsewhere, the SCC has
fought an often-unsuccessful race against developers.
Sometimes the state has been forced to pay premium prices
for new houses and tear them down to make way for schools
long on the drawing board.
Newark city officials were already
reaching out to school district officials this week, asking
whether the revocation letters meant the city could pursue
redevelopment projects on the sites, Lindgren
said.
"We pleaded with them not to, that these
sites are absolutely still needed," he said. "The court
ruling is still the court ruling, and we need the schools.
We know we might have to adjust sites, particularly if they
give them away."
In Jersey City, where development
pressures are even greater, officials had similar
concerns.
"We need all of these projects, but we're
trying to remain hopeful," said Sharon Bartley, assistant to
Superintendent Charles Epps. "All these projects are an
integral part of our future plans."
SCC officials are considering buying some
properties outside the 59 still-active projects if the
state's initial interest has caused an owner exceptional
hardship, said SCC spokesman Kevin McElroy said.
"The Land Acquisition Committee is
reviewing an additional list of properties to determine if
there are legal reasons or hardship reasons to purchase
them," he said.
Last month the SCC agreed to buy 60
houses that, in some cases, were in neighborhoods the state
had decimated to make way for school projects now on the
shelf.
After months of reorganization following
critical reviews of its operations, the SCC last month began
issuing new contracts for school construction
work.
The state Economic Development Authority,
the corporation's parent agency, yesterday approved issuing
$750 million in bonds to bankroll the ongoing
program.
Since 2001 the state has borrowed $4.8
billion of the $8.6 billion authorized for the school
building program.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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