Secaucus Mayor Fights Powerful Board Over Meadowlands Master Plan

SECAUCUS, NJ — There were fireworks Thursday morning when Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli faced off against in-town rival Vincent Prieto, the former Assembly Speaker who now chairs the powerful New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority (NJSEA). At issue was the 2020 Meadowlands Master Plan, which the board unanimously passed Thursday — despite Gonnelli's howls of protest.

Both Prieto and Gonnelli are Secaucus residents.

"No mayor has seen this Master Plan," said Gonnelli before the board Thursday. "Not one. You're wrong, Mr. Prieto, you can sit there with a smile on your face, but it's not true."

Gonnelli is the chair of the Meadowlands Mayors' Committee, which is a coalition of all 14 towns in the Meadowlands, including Secaucus, Jersey City, Teterboro, North Arlington, Kearny and North Bergen, and he said he was speaking on all their behalf.

One of the main jobs the NJSEA has is to determine how the Meadowlands will be developed — or in this case, preserved. The Board has the power to approve any and all construction in the Meadowlands, including the controversial North Bergen power plant, and extending NJ Transit and light rail service in the area. They were also instrumental in giving the OK to allow the American Dream mall to be built.

"My main issue is we didn't have enough time to review the plan," Gonnelli said.

Gonnelli said he had no other agenda for his complaints, other than "We were kept out of the loop."

"Two years ago the Meadowlands Commission cared about us, the towns that made this district work," said Gonnelli. "All I am asking for is just a little time for us to look at it. The two things we're concerned about is transportation and flooding."

"First and foremost, we do respect the 14 mayors of each municipality," Prieto told him. "It's been a clear and transparent process. On Aug. 5, it was delivered to each municipality."

Gonnelli said he made changes to the plan since August, and hasn't seen it since. You can read the plan here yourself: https://njmc.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/Hackensack-Meadowlands-District-Master-Plan-Update+2020+(2).pdf

However, Capt. Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper, also spoke on Thursday and he said he supports the plan. Sheehan is a respected advocate for the health of the Hackensack River and the Meadowlands.

"I think it's a good plan," he said. "I had been consulted and worked on this Master Plan with the executive staff since Day 1. My main concern is the wetlands and open water of the Meadowlands, and that's been addressed."

Flooding was addressed, he said, including building overlay zones, setbacks, buffers and conservation easements.

While the Master Plan doesn't make any sweeping or dramatic changes to the Meadowlands, once adopted, it is a final document, said a lawyer for the NJSEA.

"If you lived here in the old days, you know how bad things were," Sheehan testified Thursday. "Well, things have been getting better since the Clean Water Act. The Meadowlands is alive and well; the water quality is improving. These are all things you can thank yourself for and I thank you for," he told the Board.

"We have to be more vigilant than ever before, especially as in Washington we have a leader who is trying to roll back environmental protections we've made," he said.

Several lawyers hired by Tower Development also spoke against the plan Thursday. Tower Development owns a 38-acre site in Secaucus behind the Home Depot, where the Daffy's used to be. They want to turn the site into a warehouse; their complaint about the Master Plan was it does not address traffic.

You can watch Gonnelli's heated exchanged with Prieto below.