By Susan C. Moeller / Senior Reporter

LYNDHURST (Nov. 12, 2009) — The areas to be considered for blight and potential redevelopment in Lyndhurst may be different than the township’s original resolution indicated.

The resolution, unanimously approved by the board of commissioners Oct. 13, contained an error, Mayor Richard DiLascio said in a phone interview after The Leader published the list of properties named in the resolution, including a row of houses on Lake Avenue.

The redevelopment resolution authorized Benecke Economics, a Moonachie-based planning and redevelopment firm, and the Lyndhurst Planning Board, to study several areas of the township and determine if they are “under-utilized” or “deteriorated” enough to be declared areas in need of redevelopment.

That’s where the confusion began.

“The resolution cited the wrong block number,” DiLascio said.

The document listed five lots in “Block 3” on the Lyndhurst tax map, explained clerk Helen Polito. But, the resolution should have read “Block 12.”

Benecke Economics sent the resolution to the town, Polito added.

Even if “Block 3” should have read “Block 12,” the resolution still includes two buildings that appear to be residences and a host of businesses on Ridge Road.

Regardless of the content of the resolution, the board of commissioners is only considering public property for redevelopment, DiLascio emphasized. “There’s no eminent domain,” he added.

If any property is required for the project, the owners “will have to sell it voluntarily,” he concluded.

For his part, Robert Benecke is standing by the document. “I’m sure there wasn’t” a mistake, he said when asked about the block numbers. “I’m sure it was intended to be all inclusive so nothing was missed.”

With a broad list of properties to consider, the planning board could then exempt some of the lots, Benecke added.

Benecke agrees with DiLascio that the redevelopment area, dubbed Project Tomorrow, will exclude residences. “There are not going to be any residential properties,” Benecke said.

The board of commissioners was expected to amend its resolution Tuesday, Nov. 10, DiLascio said. Then, the planning board will consider the commissioner’s resolution at a special meeting Wednesday, Nov. 11.