Aberdeen Unveils Incentive Plan for New Commercial Development Along Route 35

On Jan 13, 2017

Aberdeen Township officials have unveiled incentive plans designed to encourage new commercial development and improvements to existing buildings located along the Route 35 corridor and on nearby roads in the municipality’s Cliffwood and Cliffwood Beach sections.

In afternoon and evening sessions on Jan. 10 with local business owners and other interested parties, Mayor Fred Tagliarini and Tax Assessor Scott Kineavy presented the program involving five-year tax exemptions and phased Pilot Payments (Payment In Lieu of Taxes) for commercial properties in the area. Councilmen Joseph Martucci and Robert Swindle also represented the township at the meetings, which were held at the Cliffwood Beach Community Center.

Under an ordinance adopted by Aberdeen Township Council in accordance with a state statute, the Route 35 corridor was designated as an “area in need of rehabilitation.” By virtue of that designation, commercial property owners expanding or undertaking major renovations of existing buildings will receive a five-year exemption from property taxes for the assessed value of those improvements. “For example,” Kineavy explained, “the owner of a commercial building currently assessed at $2.0 million puts on an addition that adds $300,000 to the property’s assessed value. For the first five years following  completion of the project, the property’s taxes will continue to be based on the original $2.0 million assessment.”

Additionally, property owners constructing new commercial, industrial or multi-dwelling buildings (hotels, apartments) in the designated area will be eligible for phased Pilot Payments. In accordance with the state statute, owners of new buildings will pay no local property taxes in the first year following completion of the project, 20% of the taxes otherwise due in Year 2, 40 percent in Year 3, 60 percent in Year 4, and 80 percent in Year 5. Full taxation commences in Year 6.

Kineavy noted that property owners seeking these incentives must apply to the Tax Assessor, with all applications subject to additional review by the Township Council. Incentives can be denied if the property is not located within the designated geographic area; if property taxes are delinquent; if an improvement project does not conform to the ordinance’s standards (e.g., ordinary painting, repairs or replacement of maintenance items, or repairs from a fire for which insurance payments were received within three years prior to the application for the tax exemption); and if the application is not submitted in timely fashion. Denials can be appealed to the County Tax Board or the State Tax Court.

“With strong traffic counts, easy access to two Garden State Parkway interchanges, and a recently completed State project that raised the roadway in flood prone sections and improved two intersections, Route 35 is now a prime candidate for commercial redevelopment,” said Mayor Tagliarini. “Our Council and professionals believed that this state-sanctioned program would incentivize owners of vacant or under-utilized properties to construct new buildings or expand or renovate existing sites to better tap the potential of Aberdeen’s section of this busy car and truck corridor. And with 500 new units of housing now under construction at The Glassworks site just off the corridor, the timing could not be better for retail, personal services and professional businesses seeking to capitalize on these opportunities.”

Mayor Tagliarini added that the Council will soon unveil a second phase of the Tax Exemption program for homeowners in the Cliffwood and Cliffwood Beach sections.

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