Roselle borough hall is shown in this file photo. A plan floated by the borough council would sell the building to a restaurant developer as the cash-strapped borough seeks alternative ways to raise money.ROSELLE — You can't fight city hall, the old saw goes.
But in Roselle, maybe you can buy it. And get a tuna salad to boot.
Searching for new sources of revenue in the cash-strapped community of 21,000, council members voted Wednesday to explore the sale of borough hall to a pair of developers who would demolish the 34-year-old building and put a restaurant in its place.
One early stumbling block: Roselle’s government, including its police department and municipal court, has nowhere else to go, at least for the moment.
The 5-1 vote allows the borough to spend $7,500 for an outside attorney to review the plan, championed by Councilman-at-large Jamel Holley, a candidate for mayor in the Union County town.
"Every municipality is strapped right now," Holley said. "When you are strapped, you become innovative and find creative ways to create some funding sources."
A borough attorney declined to say how much the developers have offered, but he said the amount topped $1 million.
While Holley stressed the proposal was, for now, just an idea worth exploring, it drew outrage and outright confusion from residents in attendance.
"I’ve seen some nonsense come out of these meetings, but this takes the cake," said Maria Hegener, who has lived in Roselle for 19 years. "It’s like someone woke up from a nightmare after having bad food at a restaurant and said, ‘Let’s put a restaurant at borough hall.’ "
Hegener said she was most worried about her taxes, telling council members the relocation of government offices and employees would cost "millions you don’t have."
"Think about what you’re doing," she said. "In the history of the United States, has anyone sold the borough hall? And replaced it with a restaurant?"
The lone dissenting council member, Sylvia Turnage, called it "ludicrous" to spend taxpayer money before thinking the plan through.
"It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to do an analysis to see if we’ll be in the plus or the minus here," Turnage said. "Why can’t we sit down as a governing body to discuss this preliminarily before we start spending money?"
The idea to sell the Chestnut Street property came about after the developers, local real estate agent Steve Weiner and restaurant owner Bruno D’Uva, toured the downtown area earlier this year.
Weiner and D’Uva, who owns a Tiffany’s restaurant franchise in Toms River, submitted a request for redevelopment to the council Tuesday.
According to their preliminary proposal, the pair would buy the 1.2-acre plot, demolish borough hall and replace it with a 5,000-square-foot casual-dining restaurant licensed to sell liquor. They estimate the restaurant would create 50 to 75 jobs and bring in 2,000 to 3,000 patrons each week.
Attached to the proposal were seven pages of menus and photos showing another restaurant’s interior.
A more detailed proposal with schematics and design plans is forthcoming, said Keith Barrack, an attorney with Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Fader, the development firm hired for the project. Barrack said his office will wait for that proposal before any serious conversations begin.
"This is a developer coming in and saying, ‘I’m interested in discussing the possibility of this product.’ This is not a formal evaluation," Barrack said. "Nothing is binding."
Council President Christine Dansereau made a similar point in defending the vote.
"This is an opportunity for discussion. Nobody is just putting a ‘for sale’ sign on borough hall," Dansereau said. "But look at this building. We’re just doing our homework."
There’s little debate borough hall is in need of an update. Yellowing plastic blinds hang over the windows in the three-story council chamber, which doubles as the municipal courtroom.
Heating and cooling the space, along with piecemeal upgrades to wiring and infrastructure, costs the town tens of thousands of dollars a month, Holley said.
The councilman said the building’s downtown location makes it a "prime piece of real estate" that could, through a lease or sale, provide the borough with enough money to move its offices to better quarters.
Resident Sharonda Johnson agreed the building could use a renovation, but she said the public needs to weigh in before any sale goes through.
"They don’t own borough hall," Johnson said. "We — the taxpayers — own borough hall. And I just don’t get where they think they’re gonna put it."
Staff writer Mark Mueller contributed to this report.