Sparks Fly at First Xanadu Public Hearing

By way of reference, a partnership of Mills Corp. and Mack-Cali Realty won the competition, last year, to redevelop a 106-acre portion of the state-owned Meadowlands Sports Complex. The winning proposal calls for a massive $1.3 billion, 4.8 million-sf mix of retail, office space, a hotel, and a variety of entertainment and recreational venues, including an indoor ski resort and a minor league baseball stadium.

Hartz Mountain Industries, which took legal action last year after its own similarly-sized proposal for the site was passed over, set the tone for yesterday's public hearing by earlier firing off a three-page letter to New Jersey DOT commissioner Jack Lettiere, calling traffic studies "insufficient" and planned improvements "inadequate." Hartz officials repeated their concerns at the hearing.

"Anything short of a full and complete study is inappropriate for a development of this magnitude," wrote Hartz vice president Allen Magrini, who added, "the local road system, which is often overburdened today, can only fail." Hartz is challenging everything from the methodology for analyzing the project's impact, to who's paying for what in terms of improvements, to who has control over the region going forward.

"The broad powers granted Mills in the developer's agreement effectively cede future governance of the Meadowlands Sports Complex to Mills," Magrini charged. "This is unprecedented for a private developer, and if the DOT and local officials don't do something now to safeguard the public from negative impacts, they may never have another chance.

"Effectively, Mills will control not only the entire Sports Complex site, but every transportation resource in the region will be encumbered by its development with no requirement that Mills mitigate any negative impact," Magrini added.

Environmentalists similarly weighed in. Over and above direct impact, Susan Kraham of the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic questioned whether there could even be sufficient input from the public, given the fact that an environmental impact statement is due to be delivered by the end of this month. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates the Sports Complex has put the whole thing on a fast track, with a second hearing slated for the end of April and a final report due by the end of June.

And at least one union leader spoke in favor of the project as currently proposed. Joseph Tyrrell of Local 592 of the Laborers International Union said, flatly, "we need the jobs."