Berlin Borough redevelopment becoming physical in 2019
After approximately two years of resolutions and paperwork, Mayor Bilella says Berlin Borough is starting to be revitalized and there’s plenty to be excited about for the New Year
As the New Year begins, Berlin Borough Mayor James Bilella highlighted a few items he looks forward to working on to improve the area for residents.
For starters, Bilella said his biggest goal remains to continue improving borough businesses, something he’s worked on since first being elected in 2016.
“It’s been a big focus of mine that when I ran for mayor that I pushed for, that we need to be business friendly, number one, and be proactive in encouraging business to come to town in order to redevelop our commercial properties,” Bilella said.
Bilella said he sees other towns often trying to create a “main street, hometown feel,” something that can be a large project if that town doesn’t have such a feel to it; it’s something unique to have or cultivate.
“What I like to tell people is that we actually have that, we’re a real town with real history,” Bilella said. “The town’s been around for around 300 years, so we have that uniqueness that people are looking for and we need to utilize that history and capitalize on it.”
Having already been able to change some ordinances and work through the beginning steps in making physical change possible, Bilella said the borough’s master plan was altered approximately two years ago to prepare for significant change for the downtown area.
The changes were made to encourage unique businesses and forms of entertainment to the area, as seen as by the openings of Bunnycakes and Mr. E’s Game World near the end of last year.
Bilella said the Downtown Berlin Revitalization Corp., started by borough business owners and community members, began to lay the groundwork to help revitalize the downtown area and council was quick to chip in with assistance.
“If the borough government isn’t willing to invest in the borough, then who is?” Bilella said. “We have to lead the effort and be the first ones to invest in our community, so we’ve been doing that.”
Bilella said council is continuing to look for additional resources and other ways to assist business owners as well as attract more businesses.
As for other businesses, Royal Farms is continuing to grow its presence in South Jersey and will break ground across from the Marie Fleche Memorial Library. Bilella said he expects doors to be open in the fall. The process took a long time to complete due to the site’s complex makeup, including two environmental contamination warnings due to an old gas station.
“The approvals that they had to get were mind-boggling. Every time I turned around they had another approval they needed,” Bilella said. “It’s a very complex site but we’re fortunate, the property was considered valuable because it’s a prime corner.”
Also, Bilella stated council is continuing to look at how to utilize the Simone Farm that was acquired approximately a year ago, a property the borough split with the Berlin Farmers Market. The farmers market took 10 acres for commercial, and the borough obtained the remaining 14 acres.
Overall, Bilella says he feels the borough is on a positive path as opposed to previous years in terms of redevelopment and revitalization and is looking forward to more progress over the next year.
“Unfortunately, for 20-plus years, the town kind of stagnated, and it takes time to turn the ship around,” Bilella said. “It takes a lot of people, a lot of effort. We’re fortunate we have those people making those efforts, and we have the town leading by example. We’re starting to see things turn around now.”
