Avalon Bay PILOT Program Vote Postponed

The Bloomingdale Council meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday night has been canceled because of a lack of quorum.

Instead, a special meeting will be held Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. at Bloomingdale Borough Hall.

According to the agenda for Tuesday's meeting, the council would have held a public hearing and planned to vote on the proposed Avalon Bay Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program. The PILOT program would give the developer of a luxury apartment complex on Union Avenue the ability to make payments to the borough in lieu of paying taxes for 30 years, thereby having the money split between the municipality and county as opposed to the majority going to the school district.

The PILOT program ordinance was expected to be voted on during a special meeting on Sept. 6, but three council members were absent from the meeting. Mayor Jonathan Dunleavy has said the money gained from the PILOT program would be used to pay down the borough's nearly $12 million debt.

Also on the agenda for Tuesday was a public hearing on an ordinance that would amend the borough code relating to solar panels and a status update of a playground being moved to the Walter T. Bergen School.

The council was expected to discuss restoring the "Nightmare on Bailey Avenue" event. Cancelation of the Halloween-themed town event, route: {:controller=>"articles", :action=>"show", :id=>"letter-to-the-editor-representing-bloomingdales-youth-on-importance-of-town-events"} --> was a controversial topic last year and