Pair with open land, love Bloomfield, but a deal's a
deal
03/04/01
BY JEFFERY C. MAYS
STAR-LEDGER STAFF
Pat Copeck and her sister, Mary Jane Ruvo, own one of the last
undeveloped pieces of land in Bloomfield -- 5.7 acres -- and they plan to
sell it.
They lease one acre to a landscaping business. The rest is a wetland
covered by trees and a tributary to the Third River.
Copeck and Ruvo are under contract to sell the Lion Gate Drive
property, which has been in their family since 1952, to developers who
want to build 50 townhouses. The townhouses would be adjacent to land on
which another developer wants to build 130 townhouses.
Environmentalists oppose both projects, saying the land should stay
undeveloped and eventually form part of a greenway connecting all the
town's natural and historic elements.
"It's really one of the most pristine pieces of land in
Bloomfield," said Lois Ross, an environmental activist. "We've
actually seen owls there."
But for Copeck and Ruvo, the land is their opportunity to secure their
family's financial future, something they say their father was probably
thinking when he purchased it in 1952 for $18,000.
"Our father was savvy enough to understand that this land would be
a part of his legacy," Ruvo said.
The sisters agreed in September to sell the land to a developer for
approximately $1.5 million once all the planning board approvals go
through. They declined to name the developer.
They say they understand the calls to preserve open space and the
concerns about increased flooding, but they argue that both worries are
groundless.
The battle over open space is not taking place just in the rural
stretches of the state. In urban Bloomfield, 95 percent of the land is
developed. Activists are holding out hope that this tract can remain part
of the other 5 percent.
But there are two sides to every battle.
"The contract we have is not going against any town ordinance or
codes," Ruvo said. "Everything is in compliance with what the
town designated that property to be used for."
The sisters say Bloomfield already is virtually jam-packed with open
space -- Watsessing Park, Brookdale Park and Clark's Pond, to name a few
sites. Add the golf courses and other green areas, and 15 percent of
Bloomfield's approximately 5.4 square miles is open space, Copeck argued.
"I'm counting open space that people can use to enjoy,"
Copeck said. "If Bloomfield didn't have all this space, we'd say
let's preserve it."
As for flooding, Ruvo said that, as a designated flood zone, the land
is going to flood from time to time, as it did after Hurricane Floyd.
Development can't make the problem any worse than it was when most of
the 21 acres at Lion Gate Drive was occupied by buildings, before the
company Scientific Glass was torn down, they said. "This is not all
virgin land," Ruvo said.
Both sisters talked about feeling connected to the town where their
family settled at the turn of the century.
Their father, Frank Petriella, was fired from his job as an estimator
for a contractor during the Great Depression, and he told his wife:
"I'm never going to be fired from another job again."
With the $125 he had in the bank, Petriella began a tile installation
business from one room in their Bloomfield home, then expanded it to the
basement.
A decision to keep doing tile work, instead of defense-related
business, during World War II gave him an edge in the following years and
allowed Petriella to take his business out of the basement.
In 1952 he acquired the 5.7 acres off Broad Street from the owner of
the Scientific Glass property.
The day Petriella's Tile opened there in 1953, the family had a big
party.
Both Ruvo and Copeck remember working at the family business during
summer vacations, an experience that prepared them to take over the
business.
Petriella died in 1973. His widow took over the business until 1982.
Then the two sisters ran it until they decided to close in 1994.
Since then, Ruvo and Copeck have leased the one developed acre. A
landscaping company occupies it now.
But Ruvo and Copeck no longer want the responsibility of managing the
land. "It has served its purpose in our lives," Copeck said.
They want to sell and get fair market value and, frankly, a developer is
probably the only entity that can afford what they are asking, they said.
Ross, leader of a group hoping to preserve Clark's Lake, said she
doesn't expect Copeck and Ruvo to sacrifice their financial futures.
She and other environmentalists believed they could find $1 million in
open-space funds to purchase the land from the sisters. Combined with some
nifty tax tricks for sales for environmental reasons, Copeck and Ruvo
would do well, she said.
Greg Remaud, preservation director for NY/NJ Baykeeper, a
not-for-profit environmental group, said many of the funds used for
preserving open space are rarely utilized in urban areas.
"Essex County and communities like Bloomfield have been written
off by the state's open-space plan, and a disproportionate amount of money
has been directed from urban areas," Remaud said. "Because
Bloomfield is down to 5 percent of undeveloped land, each acre becomes
much more valuable, and it becomes much more important to make sure
property owners get maximum value."
Copeck says she and her sister were willing to look at all offers but
never received one from any environmental group. By the time she spoke to
a representative from the Trust for Public Land, the contract with the
townhouse developer was already in negotiation.
The sisters say they have many reasons to care about Bloomfield's
well-being.
All five of Copeck's children live in town, and she is an active
volunteer there, serving as president of the Bloomfield Oakeside Cultural
Center's board of trustees and as a member of the Bloomfield Education
Foundation, among other roles.
Ruvo lives in North Caldwell but still spends a lot of time in her
former hometown.
"Bloomfield is a very important part of our lives," Ruvo
said.
"It's part of our history as a family," Copeck chimed in.
"We feel connected."
Jeffery C. Mays covers Bloomfield, Belleville and Nutley. He can be
reached at jmays@starledger.com or (973) 392-4149.
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