Full Notification

Mayor Bill Ziegler’s Leonia Status Report, April 2, 2025
 
Redevelopment on Fort Lee Road below Grand Avenue:
 
Since Redevelopment is our #1 priority, I am putting this right up top.  Our next Town Hall meeting will be about Redevelopment/Revitalization with a focus on Fort Lee Road below Grand Avenue.  There will also be a brief update on Affordable Housing.  Please mark your calendars now for Thursday, April 24th at 7:30 pm in the Courtroom of the Leonia Municipal Center (adjacent to the library on Fort Lee Road) on the second floor. 
 
If we as a community get redevelopment wrong and don’t increase our ratables base, living in Leonia will continue to become increasingly unaffordable.  That’s why it is our #1 priority. 
 
We need your input as we move forward.   That’s what these Town Halls are all about, gathering input as a community and weighing what is said by our friends and neighbors into the approaches we are crafting to address our redevelopment challenges the best way possible.   What you can expect at this particular Town Hall is more of a deep dive into the vision for how the area below Grand on Fort Lee Road will potentially look.   Your input, as always, is appreciated. 
 
If you can’t make it in person, you can attend virtually (we will post a link on the borough website).  The recording of the Town Hall will also be made available within 24 hours.
 
Budget Update:
 
We will introduce our 2025 municipal budget on Monday, April 7th.  While we managed the costs we can control to track at or below inflation, the headwinds we faced with from dramatically increased costs for pensions, benefits, insurance, debt service and garbage/sewage disposal fees means an approximate 7.4% tax rise this year for municipal services.  While we brought this down from an original 12.5% increase, I don’t think any of us feel particularly happy about this outcome–myself included. 
 
For details on the budget, you can watch the Town Hall recording where we did a deep dive into the subject.  LINK TO TOWN HALL DISCUSSION.  Since the Town Hall, and after weighing what many of your friends and neighbors had to offer into our consideration process, we’ve taken a number of additional proactive steps to ensure we are getting the best value for our municipal tax dollar, including: 
 
The governing body has implemented a temporary hiring freeze across all municipal departments.  Instead of laying people off, we will manage ideal employment numbers through natural attrition with the exception of maintaining our police department at the minimum of 20 officers (which is where we are now).  
 
We have stepped up our aggressive pursuit of shared service opportunities with other towns including the possibility of Bogota renting our Municipal Court, and Leonia using various equipment from Englewood and Teaneck.  We saved $600,000 from the Capital budget when Teaneck agreed to share their Sewer Jet-Vac truck with Leonia.
 
We scratched an $80,000 planned payment for a hydrological study on Wood Terrace and, instead, found a way to obtain the same study results through NJIT at no cost.  We will continue to proactively identify and use any creative ways of decreasing our costs whenever practical.  In this particular case, NJIT is not only going to do the study for free, they are identifying other opportunities to do free work for the town. 
 
Hydrological studies are really important because they are a necessary part of any grant applications we make to the county, state or federal government to help us mitigate our flood issues.  We simply can’t afford the costs associated with the long term solutions necessary to help us solve the flooding problem.  But it is our responsibility to put together the most compelling argument we can to receive available grant money.  
 
One Town, Many Stories:
 
You may have noticed a few lawn signs like this HERE sprinkled throughout town.  These signs are part of a campaign initiated by the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Racial Equity to showcase another reason why Leonia is special–our diversity.
 
As Leonians, it is important we continue to celebrate our diversity and remind ourselves of its significance.  It is also key we never take this part of Leonia’s character for granted.  I believe there should be no complacency in the face of prejudice or discrimination and if situations aren’t properly addressed we risk eroding our moral character.
 
I mention this because earlier this month, there was a disturbing antisemitic bias incident in Leonia involving three minors.  Because minors are involved, I am not at liberty to discuss much about the incident other than to say there is an ongoing criminal investigation.   The schools are also involved because of related bullying that has also allegedly occurred.  While bias incidents are always disturbing, we need to take advantage of the opportunity they present, in this case,  to foster a dialogue between the minors and their victims to facilitate better understanding and empathy.  
 
Rest assured, Leonia will remain vigilant in protecting our fundamental values, and I encourage all residents to report any and all bias incidents immediately to the Leonia Police Department.  In my mind, this is one of the very best ways to help us reinforce our zero tolerance stance on hate.
 
For one, I am incredibly grateful to have grown up in this diverse community.  It has made me a stronger, more well rounded and successful person for which I am grateful.
 
Traffic and a recent meeting with Port Authority of NY/NJ:
 
Leonia has enjoyed some enviably light traffic recently.  This is due to the time of year and may have something to do with the introduction of congestion pricing.  However, we should prepare ourselves for the likely prospect we will see increasing traffic turning from I-95 onto Fort Lee Road again soon with the advent of warmer weather. 
 
As you know, I’ve worked to strengthen Leonia’s relationship with County officials, including County Executive Jim Tedesco, who has demonstrated he is a good friend of Leonia and an effective advocate of our interests.  He has already, along with Sheriff Anthony Cureton, deployed county sheriff’s officers to Leonia when we’ve asked for help managing our traffic nightmare.  
 
Bearing in mind we still need to do everything we possibly can to properly manage the higher Spring and Summer traffic volumes,  I asked Jim Tedesco if he would be willing to leverage his good relationship with the Chairman of the Port Authority of NY/NJ (not an easy guy to get ahold of) to discuss the traffic concerns in Leonia.   Without hesitation, the County Executive agreed to do just that. 
 
My ask was simply whether the Port Authority would be willing to assist us given their substantial funding and financial resources.  I am looking for financial assistance from the Port Authority–to help us compensate for the financial burden associated with increased Leonia police presence (we don’t pay the County for their help) to manage our high traffic volumes, keep key Fort Lee Road intersections free of gridlock and enable the unimpeded transit of emergency vehicles through these areas.
 
County Executive Tedesco held this meeting with the Port Authority Chair.  Afterwards, he brought Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, myself and our respective Chiefs of Police together  to review the outcome.  Bottom line: the Port Authority is going to consider our request.  Frankly,  I was pleasantly surprised because I thought there was a better than even chance it would be dismissed outright.   What the Port Authority has asked for from both Leonia is some data which  Police Chief Tamagny is now gathering concerning overtime hours and traffic volumes. 
 
My hope is the Port Authority will set up some kind of escrow account we can draw upon to cover extra police coverage costs associated with George Washington Bridge traffic delays. 
I will keep you advised and a big thank you to Jim Tedesco for helping Leonia.
 
Round 4 Affordable Housing obligations:
 
Leonia is committed to fulfilling all of our affordable housing obligations.  It is the right thing to do and it is required by law. 
 
Over the past year, we have worked diligently to proactively prepare and intelligently provide NJ authorities with a comprehensive analysis of what we can reasonably accomplish in Leonia.  The State of NJ has approved Leonia’s revised affordable housing obligation at 97 (down from 104 units). 
 
As you will hear me explain in the attached clip from our last Mayor and Council meeting, the law under which we operate is skewed in favor of developers. HERE. 
 
While the State of NJ has approved our numbers, the NJ Developer’s Association has filed a class action lawsuit against any and all communities that decreased their numbers (over 100 NJ municipalities).  This broad brush, one size fits all class action lawsuit is further testimony of builders' focus on profit and their view of affordable housing as a means to a more profitable end. 
 
Our numbers in Leonia were reduced only because we conducted a comprehensive vacant land analysis and pointed out that the land on which it was proposed we build affordable housing was, in fact, undevelopable.  For example, the plot sat on a creek or was in the middle of a floodplain.  Developers don’t seem to care too much about those impediments compared to profits.   They seem quite willing to erect a structure in the middle of a flood plain or on top of a creek just to make a few bucks while the new owner/occupant is burdened with problems.
 
In Leonia, we will continue to work towards fulfilling responsible affordable housing in our town consistent with the numbers approved by the State.  I do not personally believe this developer’s class action suit against more than 150 municipalities, all of whom have very different stories, will hold weight with the Courts.  I will keep you advised.
 
Fire Update:
 
I am pleased to report that Leonia’s Community Chest has raised approximately $45,000 to assist our friends and neighbors who were displaced in the February 14th fire.  This $45,000 is on top of the food, clothing, shoes and thousands of dollars in gift cards that were previously donated through the Borough’s earlier efforts.  Many hundreds of Leonia households stepped forward to contribute.
 
Just this past Sunday, in recognition of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, the Community Chest received from our Muslim neighbors a check for $4,000 which was collected in the spirit of charitable giving associated with Ramadan.   My thanks to Leonians Jafar and Lubna Ismail for collecting these Ramadan related funds and a big thank you also to our Leonia Community Chest for spearheading an overall very successful fund drive. 
 
I am incredibly proud of our town and the way we came together to support each other during this difficult time.  The emotional trauma is still fresh and the journey to recovery for the displaced families will be long but I have no doubt Leonians stepped up to do what they could to assist and this makes a big difference by itself. 
 
Within 24 hours of the tragedy, the borough had to demolish what was left of the two buildings because their structural instability posed an imminent safety risk and we cordoned off the site with protective fencing.  The site of the fire is now completely controlled by the insurance companies and the owners of the buildings.  It is up to these same insurance companies and owners to complete any investigations and my understanding is they will be clearing the lots shortly. 
 
Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Infrastructure:
 
The governing body is giving increasing consideration to the best way(s) to move forward with EV charging infrastructure in town.  I drafted the attached position paper for the Facilities Committee’s consideration and to spur further thought/discussion. EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE POSITION PAPER.   EV sales coupled with the opportunity to attract more people to our commercial area are important factors in how we want to formulate our best approach for Leonia.  You can most likely expect to see more EV chargers being installed over the next year or two beginning with the Beechwood parking lot and the Elm Street parking lot. 
 
Shared Services Discussions:
 
On Friday, March 21st, Marisa Mesropian our Borough Administrator and I met with the Teaneck Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Business Administrator.   In light of budgetary challenges, we can no longer afford to continue to do business as usual.  One of the ways we can save a few bucks and not compromise any services or our quality of life is to figure out how we can share equipment and resources with other surrounding municipalities. 
 
We have now begun discussions with Teaneck to potentially allow them to use some of our land near the DPW to store their own equipment.  In exchange, we will be able to use some of their equipment for our own needs by our own DPW.  (Thus saving on the cost of this equipment for ourselves).   This has already paid dividends because it removed $600,000 from our capital budget costs through the use of Teaneck’s Jet-Vac truck.  Our own truck is on its last legs and, instead of replacing it, we have the permission from Teaneck to use their truck.  They extended this generous offer to us as a gesture of goodwill as we continue the discussion about using some of the land adjacent to our DPW.
 
While we are looking to share selective equipment, this is NOT a discussion about merging Teaneck with Leonia’s DPW. I am proud of our  DPW personnel whose commitment and service to Leonia is incredible.   Our Leonia DPW will continue to operate as its own department even if Teaneck houses some/all of their equipment in Leonia. 
 
We are now also speaking with Bogota about the possibility of their using our Municipal Courtroom for their own needs and paying us a rental fee for the facility.  I will keep you advised as these discussions progress.  Every single dollar we can get by renting our Courtroom to another community is one less dollar we have to raise in taxes to provide our municipal services.
 
All of these opportunities (and others) will be explored to ease the budgetary burden we all feel and keep Leonia as affordable as possible.
 
Fort Lee Road repaving:
 
Fort Lee Road above Broad Avenue heading into Fort Lee is in bad shape.  In fairness to the County who owns Fort Lee Road, we requested they hold off on doing the repaving last year because our own work on curbing needed to be done first.  It made no sense to do the road and then tear up the curbs (and part of the road) immediately after. 
 
Now we’ve got all the stars aligned to proceed in an efficient way, including how we sought and received various grants for the bulk of the curb work to minimize Leonia’s costs.
 
Beginning in May, the Borough will replace curbs, guardrails and place stones for more efficient drainage in selected areas to help with stormwater flows and further prevent flooding.  In the summer the County will repave and restripe Fort Lee Road from Broad Avenue running to Fort Lee.  The County will also help us re-stripe portions of Fort Lee Road below Broad Avenue. 
 
Thankfully, almost all of the work is covered by either the County or through grants.  While this project helps with safety and flood control, it also contributes to the Borough’s overall beautification efforts. 
 
Bus Accident on Grand Avenue:
 
As Mayor, I can tell you that every single day brings an unexpected development or two.  It reminds me of the line from the movie Forrest Gump when Sally Field tells Tom Hanks that, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.”  Running a municipality sometimes feels like that – it is incredibly rewarding and, at the same time, presents a diversity of challenges and surprises.  
 
When I woke up on March 12th, I certainly didn’t expect to see THIS.
 
A student bus driver heading up Fort Lee Road made a right onto Grand Avenue and just kept going… off the road, over the sidewalk, hitting the building at the corner and going down the adjacent embankment into the woods.
 
Most importantly, no one was hurt–not in the building which was damaged or on the sidewalk or on the NJ Transit bus which only had an instructor and the trainee at the wheel.  Kudos to our Leonia Volunteer Fire Department and our Police Department who further ensured everyone’s safety and effectively managed the scene. 
 
But I think it is safe to say the trainee did not pass their road test.
 
Volunteers of all ages:
 
HERE is a photo of a young Leonian named Victoria.   She reminds us here of the joys of volunteering.  Victoria’s parents kindly agreed to let me use her photo because it was a simple way to show the pride you can feel by contributing to your community’s well being.  Here Victoria is admiring her good work.  She was part of the volunteer team which planted bulbs in the area across from PNC Bank and now she sees what is blooming as a result of her efforts. 
 
Thank you to all of our magnificent volunteers from the governing body on down to our youngest volunteers like Victoria who work to make our community the special place it is to live. 
 
If you haven’t already checked out what you can do as a volunteer to help Leonia, please look HERE and fill out the form to express your interest. 
 
 
Kind regards,
 
Bill Ziegler
Mayor, Borough of Leonia