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A Millburn Story · 2021–2026

A crisis averted.

Prior Township Committees went full-steam ahead on an ill-conceived plan to build homes on the town dump. Residents fought back — by electing Frank Saccomandi and Ben Stoller — and Millburn won.

The DPW yard
2021

Millburn's single-party-controlled Township Committee committed to a 75-unit, 100% income-segregated housing project — on this land.

And they authorized it without letting a single resident comment first.
The blank check 2021 settlement agreement excerpt

The deal bound taxpayers to bond for "the total cost necessary to complete the project" — an open-ended obligation on the town's own public-works yard.

2021 Settlement Agreement (ESX-L-002778-18), ¶(o)
The site Areas of Concern Areas of Concern Areas of Concern Areas of Concern Areas of Concern Areas of Concern Areas of Concern Contaminated soil What's in the ground
VHB Area of Concern map — 9 Main Street site

Every dot is an Area of Concern the town's own studies flagged.

AOC-6 · Household waste was collected and dumped here.

AOC-15 — a former rail spur.

AOC-1 — a former field of fuel-oil tanks.

AOC-11 — buried fill material of unknown origin.

AOC-6 — more buried household waste.

AOC-13 — a vehicle storage and staging area.

AOC-12 — the on-site storm sewer system.

AOC-3 — underground gasoline and diesel tanks.

6,000-gal unleaded · 4,000-gal diesel · 2,000-gal leaded gasoline.

And a documented history of more than 3,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils

from underground leaking fuel storage tanks buried underneath the soil.

A former coal yard. Arsenic. Mercury. Benzo(a)pyrene.

Fifteen separate areas of environmental concern — beneath homes they wanted to build.
Aerial: rail, substation, single access
Boxed in

Pinned between railroad tracks, a power substation, and Main Street — one way in and out.

And building it means excavating contaminated earth right beside the middle school — putting children in harm's way.
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The part no one mentioned

Put families on contaminated land, and the risk doesn't end at move-in — it becomes generations of legal liability.

Any resident who later got sick could sue — and because the town sponsored the project and gave the land, the town would be first in line to pay. An open-ended toxic-tort risk, on your tax bill, for generations.

December 2021 December 2021 Preliminary Assessment Report

The town's own environmental consultant had already documented the contamination — in a December 2021 assessment. The risks were on the record.

DPW Preliminary Assessment Report · VHB · December 14, 2021
June 2022 June 2022 housing plan calling constraints minimal

Months later, the housing plan incorrectly called the site's constraints "minimal."

Planning Board Chair Beth Zall rubber-stamped it anyway.

Zall is now running for Township Committee.

How can we trust that judgment as a fiduciary for our town?
Third Round Housing Element · Draft June 2, 2022
Frank Saccomandi and Ben Stoller
2023

Residents demanded change. Frank Saccomandi and Ben Stoller changed parties to run — and voters gave them the chance to deliver.

July 2026 · The breakthrough New downtown building plan

After years of impasse, Frank and Ben personally negotiated the deal to move the homes off the dump and onto clean land.

"Most thought it would be impossible — even the attorneys." Frank and Ben got it done.
One of the few documented cases in New Jersey where Fair Share allowed a site to be moved · New building at Essex, Spring & Millburn Avenue
Millburn diversity sculpture downtown
Affordable housing, done right

Importantly, the homes are no longer 100% income-segregated.

Mixed-income and mixed-use is best practice — welcoming families into the heart of our community, not an isolated block on a dump.
Snow plow clearing a road in a blizzard
Not just money

The public-works yard stays where it belongs — the salt, the fuel, and the plows that helped us dig out of a historic blizzard.

No gamble with emergency response. No family raised on a poisoned lot. No generations of lawsuits.
The taxpayer win
$11 million saved

By keeping the DPW where it is — avoiding a relocation that would have come straight out of your property taxes.

And no anticipated property-tax increase for the housing itself: the town's share is paid from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund — developer fees, not the property-tax levy — while the new homes and shops generate revenue the old project never would.
A problem no one thought could be solved

A key promise delivered.

No town dump. No $11M DPW move. No unending toxic-tort liability for future generations.

Thanks to your support, Millburn emerged victorious.

Leadership that's working — for Millburn.
Re-elect Frank Saccomandi and Ben Stoller — VoteForMillburn.com