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The Helme tobacco plant has been vacant since the mill operation shut down in 1993. |
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Helme Tobacco Company Inside the Buildings
NJ-Helme Tobacoo Company Outside the Buildings
Helme Tobacco History
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Developers can submit proposals later this month on redeveloping the snuff mill area.
The Helmetta Borough Council voted unanimously at its Sept. 24 meeting to adopt a redevelopment plan for the former Helme Tobacco Co. property. The plan was drafted by a hired engineering firm and was recommended by the borough Planning Board earlier this summer.
According to the engineering firm, Remington, Vernick and Vena of Toms River, a Request for Qualifications and Proposals, or RFQ&P, will be sent out to "invite the development community to submit qualifications packages and project concepts to transform the 31-acre abandoned mill property into a thriving mixed-use residential/ commercial center."
Once developers submit their proposals, officials said, the council will have the authority to select a developer and a plan, regardless of the fact that the property is privately owned by a Bridgewater development firm. The proposals must be in by Nov. 14.
Many residents, who otherwise said they support redevelopment of the site, expressed objections to any redevelopment plan or zoning change that would allow housing that is not age-restricted. Such residents said they fear an increase in public school students, which would ultimately increase property taxes.
Planner Stuart Wiser addressed the issue during a June presentation of the redevelopment plan. Wiser said that it is best for the plan to remain flexible so that more developers would be interested and the borough can receive more options for redeveloping the mill area. He also said that the borough can negotiate with a developer to make sure that any added costs associated with more children would be covered.
"It would be part of the negotiations with the hopeful developer," Wiser said. "We can say that the developer can pay ‘x’ (amount of money) per student. There are any number of creative ways to get there."
"It’s been zoned (age-restricted and light industrial) for 10 years, and you know how much interest we’ve had? Zero," Mayor Frank Hague said at last week’s meeting.
The redevelopment plan divides the property into five separately zoned parcels that encourage a mixed-use plan, Wiser said.
Parcel One, which is a 3-acre tract north of John Street and located close to Jamesburg County Park, should be preserved as open space, according to the plan adopted last week. A 1-acre area dubbed Parcel Two, near Brookside Place, should be designated for commercial use only.
Parcels Three and Four, the locations of the two main high-rise factory buildings on the north side of Main Street — comprising 2.4 and 5.5 acres, respectively — would be zoned to allow both commercial and residential uses. Developers are strongly encouraged to renovate rather than demolish the main brick structures.
Parcel Five, which spans about 4 acres and is located across Main Street from the other four properties, would be designated for "a mix of general retail and commercial office space," according to Wiser.
Resident Tom Nugent contended that the property owner, Pizzo & Pizzo of Bridgewater, has a business association with Matrix Development Corp., Cranbury, which in 2002 proposed a controversial plan for 294 luxury apartments. He was one of several residents who suggested that the council intends to allow Matrix to build there.
Council President Andrew Tancredi assured the community that this was not true.
"That’s not going in there. Nobody wants that," he said.
Hague said it would be "premature" to be concerned over the types of proposals that will be made, and which developers will make them, since the RFQ&Ps have not yet been released.
"Premature around here is too late," Nugent said.
Nugent, as well as others at the meeting, said the council needs to do a better job of keeping residents informed.
Mayoral candidate Nancy Martin sent a flier to residents questioning the decision that a redevelopment advisory committee be made up mostly of Helmetta officials.
"Why is (the mayor) hand-picking the committee? Why can’t the advisory committee consist of all residents?" the flier says. "What is really going on?"
Hague, who sits on the committee along with Tancredi, said the following borough officials are also members: Business Administrator Bill Schmeling, Planner Stuart Wiser, Attorney Gary Schwartz and Auditor Gary Stankewitz.
Other members include Chris Volk, who is both the Planning Board co-chairman and president of the homeowners association for Heather Glenn, and Ron Wilson, the former Republican mayor and former Helme Tobacco Co. mill plant manager.
Hague said the advisory committee’s function is to determine the qualifications of prospective developers by "making sure they have a background and the financial ability to complete the project."
"There are hundreds of pages on the application. We need professionals to read through them" on behalf of the borough, he said.
Hague called the flier "another way to attack me and my family. It’s easy to come in and criticize, but we’ve accomplished a lot in this town. It blows my mind. She doesn’t have the facts.
"There are a certain number of people that are going to be against it no matter what. They are going to scare the developers away," he added.
The mayor and council will ultimately select a developer and a project, Hague said, but members of the public are encouraged to come to council meetings to voice their opinions.
"The developers (once narrowed down) will come forward and make presentations at the regular meetings. We are elected by the residents to make certain decisions. Their interest is being looked out for," Hague said.
"Helmetta is getting a second chance with this project," he said.
Councilman Edward Romano agreed that the council is very motivated to choose the best plan for the borough.
"I don’t want people stoning me when I walk around town because they don’t like it," he said.
The above info is from webpage: http://ebs.gmnews.com/News/2003/1002/Front_Page/002.html
History:
The name Helmetta is from Etta Helme, daughter of snuff factory owner.
The first "industrial park" in North Brunswick appeared as early as 1750 as water power from the Lawrence Brook was harnessed to provide energy for the operation of a variety of mills along its banks. Most notable among these was the Parsons Snuff Mill, forerunner of the George W. Helme Company's General Cigar and Tobacco Company, which continued the manufacture of tobacco products in Helmetta until a few years ago.
Helmetta, once a factory town, the tiny borough is best known for its namesake, the Helme Tobacco Company. The town was left without a landmark when operations at the snuff plant closed in 1993.
In 1880, George W. Helme, a Major General in the Confederate Army, built the snuff mill, and eight years later led a secession from East Brunswick. He named the small borough for his daughter, Etta.
The above info is from webpage: http://nynjctbotany.org/njiptofc/helmetta.html
Helmetta
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Helmetta may be one of the smallest municipalities in the state, but it is full of history. The home of borough founder George W. Helme and 116 other buildings in Helmetta were placed on the state and federal Registers of Historic Places in 1980. The buildings became known as the George W. Helme Snuff Mill District.
Helme founded the borough in the late 19th century. The borough's name is derived from the family surname "Helme" and Helme's eldest daughter, Antoinette, who was nicknamed "Etta."
Helme had three children during his marriage to Margaret Appleby of Spotswood. The Appleby family operated the Helme Snuff Mill, formerly known as the Railroad Mills Snuff Mill, in Helmetta. The tobacco manufacturing plant closed down in 1993.
Helme became sole owner of the manufacturing plant in the 1870s and built homes for many of the mill workers, as well as his own home, which became known as the Helme-Appleby house.
While many of the historic homes built by Helme remain standing, the Helme-Appleby home was demolished in 2002.
Population: 1,825
Area: 1.1 square miles
Municipal Building: 60 Main St., 521-4946
Mayor: Frank Hague (D) 656-0600
Borough Council:
Andrew Tancredi (D), president
Nicole Perdoni-Byrne (D)
Cay Dufau (D)
Ed Romano (R)
Lou Adornati (R)
Borough Meetings: Second and fourth Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
Borough Clerk: Sandra Bohinski, 521-4946
Business Administrator: James Pickering, 521-4946
2002 Tax Rate: $6.37 per $100 at 50.73% ratio
Emergencies: 911
First aid: 251-4100
Fire: 251-4100
Police: 251-4100
Post Office: 08828, 68 Main St., 521-0326
Helmetta Board of Education office: 521-0482
SCHOOLS
(Children attend Spotswood schools)
Grades K-5
Schoenly School 723-2220
Appleby School 723-2213
Grades 6-8
Memorial School 723-2227
Grades 9-12
Spotswood High School 723-2204
Recycling: aluminum, newspapers, twice a month
The above info is from webpage: http://mid.guide.gmnews.com/news/2003/0730/Towns/022.html
When he was a boy visiting his grandmother's house in Helmetta, Andrew Tancredi recalls, the snuff mill across the street made the whole town smell sweet. "The flavor going into the tobacco," he said, "was always in the air." . .
By 1925, the Helme Snuff Mill in Helmetta claimed to be the world's largest producer of snuff — powdered tobacco that was snorted or applied to the gums — and snuff-related products, like chewing tobacco. By 1934, the mill employed 400 people, most of them residents of Helmetta.
Swisher International, a large tobacco company based in West Virginia, later took over the plant and ran it successfully until 1993. Then Swisher moved all its operations south and shut down the old factory in Helmetta, vacating 16 brick and frame buildings on 31 acres — smack at the middle of Main Street. Left behind, too, were 1,200 residents, virtually all of whom had had connections with the mill.
The above info is from webpage: http://www.tobacco.org/news/132078.html
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