The Morris Broad Crossroads have been designed to create a coherent, "Summit-sized" neighborhood that acts as a gateway to our town.  The Crossroads are a valuable and irreplaceable taxpayer-owned asset, that when sold for development, will produce immediate and ongoing financial and community benefits.

  • Community benefits include: Multifamily housing including affordable housing approved by the Courts for Summit’s Round 4 obligation

  • Large green space along Broad Street, providing a place to meet and pedestrian connection to St Teresa Memorial Hall, Vito Gallo, the Library, the YMCA and the Village Green

  • Keeping the convenient and much-used public parking (i.e. the Chestnut Ave Lot), and locating it more centrally within the zone

  • Financial benefits include: ~$5.4 million sales proceeds to pay off City debt

  • ~ $700K annually in new tax retables for the City, earned in perpetuity to keep our taxes low

  • ~$300K annually in parking fees, paid in perpetuity to City Parking Agency for public parking spaces, to keep our taxes low

The Financial Reality

  • $16.1 million = cost to build the new firehouse

  • $1.55 million = purchase of the 7 Cedar Street building (Lot 4 in MBC Zone)

  • $175,000 = purchase of Finger Lot (Lot 2 in MBC Zone) + land “donation” by Taxpayers of ~2,500 square feet of Lot 2 to Seller of Finger Lot

  • $2 million = 5 years and counting of lost parking revenue @ $400k per year (due to placement of new firehouse)

  • $1.8 million = 3 years and counting in lost estimated property tax revenue on the MBC Zone that a taxable development could have generated ($600k year average estimate)

  • $300k = legal costs for Broad Street West: $100k settlement to Toll Brothers + $200k legal defense fees

  • May 2026 = Loss of $5.45 million Sale Proceeds when bid for MBC Zone by Garden Homes/K&K withdrawn

PLUS

  • May 2026 and counting while Council Majority dithers putting the MB Crossroads back up for sale = ongoing City attorney fees, City planner fees, engineering fees, appraisal fees, City affordable housing attorney fees, so-called “non-profit housing development expert” fees, so-called “affordable housing finance expert” fees, K&K lawsuit legal defense fees, consulting fees

PLUS

  • May 2026 and counting while Council Majority dithers = ongoing carrying costs for City-owned property, including maintenance, insurance and administration

  • Summit’s Round 4 affordable housing obligations have been approved by the Court, including the units embedded in the Morris Broad Crossroads Zone

  • It is NOT Council’s role to enter the development business

  • It is NOT Council’s role to negotiate rezoning behind closed doors, and UNDO —at taxpayer expense— what the Court-approved plan already provides

  • It is also NOT Council’s role to hire —at taxpayer expense— a so-called “affordable housing finance expert” to needlessly revisit something that is already done

To understand the history of the Morris Broad Crossroads and its predecessor, Broad Street West, read Annette Ricciardi’s excellent piece.

READ WHAT OTHER RESIDENTS ARE SAYING:

TAPinto OP-ED, September 14th, 2026