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Lyndhurst, Trump agree on fields
(by Michael Lamendola - February 20, 2008)
Officials from Lyndhurst met with Donald Trump and his staff today at the Trump Organization's Manhattan offices for an hour to discuss the fate of the town's unfinished recreation fields and other unfulfilled negotiations left on the bargaining table with EnCap when the landfill developer ceased operations in the Meadowlands.
By the end of the meeting, Mayor Richard DiLascio said Trump had agreed to finish the recreation fields with synthetic FieldTurf no later than May 1 and also, the two parties had reached an informal understanding for Trump to address other recreation needs as well.
Also, the school district's infrastructure has been placed back on the agenda with continued planning for new public educational facilities if any housing takes place in the Meadowlands. At the time when the state declared EnCap, former project manager of the meadows development, in default of its redevelopment plan the township had been negotiating a new middle school at Matera Field in exchange for 250 additional luxury condos allowed in the development. Lyndhurst voided its deal with EnCap in December, citing a breach of contract for not finishing the contractually agreed upon recreation fields.
"Promises were made by EnCap’s past managers and were not kept. The governing body stance has been that we would not discuss Mr. Trump’s vision to fix the EnCap debacle in the future until EnCap’s commitments to Lyndhurst in the past are honored. As representatives of Lyndhurst we have to put Lyndhurst’s interests first," said DiLascio. "Mr. Trump and his staff understood that fact today. We found them highly supportive of the needs of the people of Lyndhurst. Mr. Trump now thoroughly understands the needs of the Township of Lyndhurst and is committed to making sure that past promises are kept in a timely manner."
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