Will Sayreville vote to keep the 1909 City Hall/Fire Station?

SAYREVILLE — Voters in the borough will have their say in November on the future of Sayreville’s 1909 city hall/fire station.

The City Council voted 4-2 to place a non-binding referendum on the November election ballot asking whether the city “should attempt to preserve the 1909 City Hall/Fire Station at 165 Main Street and incur the costs necessary to correct structural deficiencies and mitigate environmental problems, at an estimated cost of $3 million?”

Councillors Daniel Balka and Christian Onuoha voted against putting the referendum on the ballot.

During their March 11 meeting, several city council members expressed concerns about the potential costs of preserving the building.

During the same meeting, the city council voted 4-2 against designating the building as a historic municipal monument.

At the request of the City Council, the city engineer calculated that it would cost at least $3 million to correct the building’s structural deficiencies and mitigate environmental problems.

“You’ve done something bad here,” Frank Terzino, president of the Sayreville Historical Society, told the Borough Council earlier this month about the referendum. “It’s not what we asked for. We don’t want money. We need a designation and that’s all we asked for and you’ve turned this into an adversarial issue and I don’t like that. It’s just wrong.”

Terzino also expressed his disappointment that he had not been consulted about the referendum.

“I didn’t see the reports,” he said. “There was no consultation. There were no updates. I wasn’t kept informed.”

He asked for a change in the wording of the referendum.

“You said we would work together, communicate, and we got nothing,” he said. “You set us up for failure. That’s not how you treat people.”

Terzino said the building could be used for multiple purposes, such as a television station or community center.

More: Voters in Sayreville can decide the fate of one of New Jersey’s most endangered historic sites

“We must always look at how we can work together with you in unity to provide the best service to our residents,” Onuoha said.

Councilman Stanley Synarski, who voted in favor of putting the referendum on the agenda, said he believed the Council “handled the business in a timely manner.”

“We’re on the cusp of getting this on the ballot for the vote,” he said, adding that the cost estimate had recently been received. The estimate was needed so the city could apply for grants.

“Somebody show me that these subsidies are not being matched 50%, 100% by the city,” he said. “I can’t imagine the city is going to fund this building at this point. That’s why we’re putting it on the ballot.”

The Sayreville Historical Society has been working for nearly six years to save the building next to the current town hall on Main Street.

The Old Firehouse was included in the Top 10 Most Endangered Places by Preservation New Jersey in 2023.

According to Art Rittenhouse, a board member of the historical society, society members never saw the report, were not involved in drafting the referendum, and never saw how the $3 million figure was calculated.

“When this council refused to declare it a local historic site, we couldn’t even do the preliminary work to apply for grants,” he said. “There are a lot of grants out there.”

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Susan Loyer writes about Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. For unlimited access to her work, subscribe or activate your digital account today.

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Will Sayreville vote to keep the 1909 City Hall/Fire Station?

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