Click on the image to the right to view the pdf for the Michael Perrucci/Peron Corporation written ordinance that was first presented September 6, 2022:

This ordinance is an ordinance that was written by Peron Corporation and presented by Councilman Randy Piazza Jr. as a proxy for Peron Corporation. 

In short, we are against this ordinance because we believe the Delaware River is the most important asset the Town of Phillipsburg has.  We are strongly against zoning the 35 acres along the Delaware River riverfront to industrial and we are strongly against a warehouse on the 35 acres of property at the Peron Howard Street property along the Delaware River waterfront.

As of today's date, October 7, 2022, this ordinance has been introduced a total of at least four times by Councilmen Randy Piazza Jr. and Peter Marino.  The ordinance has not been officially posted on the town website, and I had to rely on someone sending me screenshots of the ordinance.  Randy Piazza Jr. posted pictures in a private Facebook group, and another resident provided the images to me so I could provide a more accessible method for residents to read the ordinance.

Some othe basic information regarding this ordinance is as follows:

• This ordinance would take precedence over Ordinance 2021-14, and passage of this ordinance would do an end run around the lawsuit against Ordinance 2021-14.  Ordinance 2021-14 is an ordinance that makes 32 acres of land owned by Peron Corporation industrial.  Ordinance 2021-14 is being challenged in court due to what we believe are alleged conflicts of interest.
• Myself and many of the town's residents are against making the 35 acres of the Delaware River waterfront industrial.  It was zoned as residential prior to the May 2021 passage of Ordinance 2021-14.
• There are claims that this ordinance will guarantee that rail will be built or completed.  These claims are not true. If you check item 6, on page two, you will read the text "If any part of the Ordinance shall be deemed invalid, such parts shall be severed and the invalidity thereby shall not affect tje remaining parts of th ordinance."  This is essentially an escape clause put into the ordinance.
• There are no guarantees of a rail interconnection being built at the warehouse that will be built at the Peron Howard Street propery.  There are several hurdles that have to be accomplished for this interconnection to be a reality.  There have been no agreements that have been discussed, made know to the public, nor signed, regarding the construction of the rail connection on the Howard Street Property.  So far there has only been pipe dream discussion as to what might be possible.  If at any point the rail is not going to be built because either the tenant or one of the hurldles that need to be crossed can't be completed, the escape clause mentioned in the paragraph above will allow that stipulation to be ignored and the rest of the ordinance to remain in place.  In other words, a warehouse will exist and there will be no reduction in truck traffic due to the usage of trains to carry goods.
• Some Councilmen (Randy Piazza Jr, Pete Marino) have stated that because the text "The Project shall include a commercial rail interconnection with the adjacent Belvider & Delaware River Railway" appears in the Peron ordinance, that does not mean the rail connection has to happen.  Again, talk is cheap, but making the rail happen is a heavy lift.
• As a case in point, Michael Perrucci had plans in 2006 for rail to be put into his project related to the Peron Howard Street property.  To quote the newspaper article which references Michael Perrucci's plans - "The transit village will feature a college affiliate and potential commuter rail-access, and is expected to be a strong pull for the residential development."  .  This newspaper article references the exact property where he now wants to build a warehuse.  On a sidenote, he went from building beautiful homes in 2006 to enhance downtown Phillipsburg to building a warehouse which would diminish downtown Phillipsburg.  Quite the transition.  However, more to the point, Michael Perrucci was promising rail 16 years ago, and it still has not materilized.  After putting our trust in him back then, as pointed out by David DeGerolamo in the newspaper article, why should anything be different now?