Letter To The Editor: North Bergen’s Misconduct 2001 to Now

North Bergen’s Misconduct 2001 to Now

In 2000 when Nick Sacco was simultaneously State Senator, North Bergen Mayor and Assistant Superintendent of Schools, he tried to build a new high school in Hudson County’s Braddock Park. After acknowledging that significant public sentiment opposed the plan and finding out that the NJ Department of Environmental Protection/”DEP” would require North Bergen to create 5X as much new park replacement land elsewhere for the land it intended to divert in Braddock Park from recreational to school use, North Bergen withdrew its plan. Braddock Park is protected by DEP and limited to recreational/open space use.

One year later, North Bergen illegally diverted about 2 acres of Braddock Park when it moved its 17-trailer preschool into the park without DEP’s approval and without first conducting traffic and other safety studies.

“We looked around at a number of locations,” said Mayor and Assistant Superintendent of Schools Nicholas Sacco. “The final location was Bruins Stadium, which made the most amount of sense. The trailers will not interfere with the playing field and will be situated along the far side of the open field. A lot of people don’t understand that these are state-certified classrooms and not trailers. The state would not certify the classrooms if they didn’t have the necessary standards, like electricity, heat and toilet facilities…The high school plan would have been permanent. This is very temporary. It’s not going to take anything away from the park and it’s not going to interfere with any activities in the park…Everyone understands that it is temporary…It’s a nice, safe location and will make the most amount of sense. There’s sufficient parking and a playground nearby. It really makes for the best temporary location.

– 08-03-01 Hudson Reporter

Wrong – the trailers are trailers and they illegally removed a North Bergen HS girl’s practice softball field, something which Nick Sacco refutes to this day. An aerial photograph and official North Bergen documents prove he is wrong. Further, no documents exist which show that the NJ Department of Education/”DOE” gave North Bergen approval to move its preschool into the park. Even further, NJ DOE was remiss in conducting required annual inspections of the trailers. No documents exist prior to 2019 which show that NJ DOE conducted the required inspections. The DOE was supposed to ensure that the trailers had emergency exits as part of its inspections – they didn’t have emergency exits until 2018, after I complained, which was also after two trailers burned down during a fire.

Incredibly, NJ regulations do not allow trailers to be used as classrooms for more than 5 years but NJ DOE allowed North Bergen to “get away” with using the same trailers for 24 years.

NJ DEP also failed to conduct required timely compliance inspections and when it did inspect, DEP failed to issue violations for the illegal diversion until 10 years after-the-fact, in 2011.
In its 2011 violation notice, DEP directed North Bergen to either remove the preschool from Braddock Park or to apply to DEP for a permanent diversion to keep its preschool in the park, which would require that North Bergen replace the land it intended to divert with 5:1 new park replacement land elsewhere. Removing the preschool from the park would require less: 3:1 replacement land elsewhere.

Several times North Bergen officials agreed to remove the preschool from the park and each time, North Bergen reneged and then changed its mind, saying it wanted instead to build a permanent preschool in the park.

Since 2001 Hudson County taxpayers have lost the use of part of the County’s park, while North Bergen continued to lease unsafe classroom trailers in an unsafe location. Since 2011, North Bergen still hasn’t completed its DEP diversion application because it stalled, provided incomplete, misleading and false information to DEP, while DEP failed to enforce regulations. Some examples:

1- North Bergen lied when it offered NJ DEP already existing park replacement land, claiming it was vacant and unimproved. Other proposed replacement lands are small scraps of land which have no current nor future proposed use, including one site which is 50% closed to the public because of its landslide potential.

2- North Bergen claimed there wasn’t a site anywhere in the Township besides Braddock Park for its preschool, even though residents suggested multiple viable sites that North Bergen rejected for improper and false reasons.

3- North Bergen undertook major commercial and residential redevelopment projects without considering using any of these many acres to build a preschool.

4- North Bergen’s diversion application falsely states the amount of land it illegally diverted, thereby improperly reducing the amount of new park replacement land it must provide.
NJ DEP has yet to rectify this situation.
a) North Bergen falsely claimed the preschool’s playground was open to the public even though it was fenced, locked and had a no trespassing sign.

b) North Bergen did not claim that it illegally diverted the preschool parking lot even though the 2011 DEP violation notice stated it did, and years of locking the parking lot after school hours and on non-school days, as well as posted restrictive parking signs prove it was diverted.

5- North Bergen touted the safety of the preschool location even though the Hudson County Sheriff ordered the woods adjacent to the preschool bulldozed because of inherent dangers (crime and people camping in the woods).
The road the preschool used did not meet State safety regulations because it is not wide enough for the 2 lanes of traffic it was used for and because pedestrians walked on this narrow road due to the road’s lack of sidewalks.

The preschool also used a 2nd parking lot which doesn’t have a stop sign or a traffic light at its entrance/exit onto busy JF Kennedy Boulevard. A pedestrian in the crosswalk just feet away from this entrance/exit was run over and killed by a vehicle and the Sheriff’s report noted the “high amount of vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the area due to the pre-school located in the area.” North Bergen hasn’t admitted diverting this parking lot either and DEP has been silent about it.

6- NJ DEP requested District school enrollment numbers from North Bergen. The township didn’t just provide exaggerated enrollment predictions, it also provided actual enrollment numbers which were not consistent with the numbers North Bergen provided to NJ DOE.

7- North Bergen’s architect provided NJ DEP with architectural renderings for a planned permanent preschool in Braddock Park which did not meet NJ DOE safety regulations. North Bergen evaded NJ DEP’s questions about these shortcomings and again, DEP was silent.

Recently, North Bergen realized it hasn’t a way to move forward with its improper plan to build a permanent preschool in Braddock Park, so it announced its intention to withdraw its plan.
In September, 2025, North Bergen placed all its preschoolers in existing educational facilities, something it previously claimed was possible, then for 5 years, until now, it claimed was not. Yet the preschool trailers remain in the park, to the tune of costing taxpayers approximately $300,000/year to lease, while the area remains unrestored, a continuing violation of environmental regulations. The people at NJ DEP charged with rectifying this situation are not doing their jobs – these are the same people who facilitated North Bergen’s non- compliance for the past 24 years. They should be replaced.

Recently, Democratic North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco and at least 2 Township Commissioners decided to support the Republican candidate for governor, Jack Ciatarrelli, perhaps because they believed that he, if elected, would allow North Bergen’s misconduct to continue. They made the wrong bet. It should not be forgotten that while he was a State Senator, Nick Sacco was the author of a legislative bill that if passed, would have lowered the penalties for official misconduct.

Hopefully Governor-elect Sherrill will investigate North Bergen’s conduct, as well as that of the involved officials at NJ DEP and NJ DOE.

Robert Walden (Spokesperson for the Save Braddock Park-Safe Schools Committee)

North Bergen