SOUTH RIVER — The Borough Council unanimously voted in favor of a resolution to settle with the owners of a Reid Street building that was knocked down during a windstorm last year.

Borough Administrator Andrew Salerno recommended to the council at its Jan. 26 meeting that it agree to accept $37,000 from the owner via the legal settlement. The borough has sought to recoup costs incurred to clean up the site after the building collapsed, partially onto the street, almost a year ago.

"This property is assessed in the borough at $15,500," Salerno said. "According to the current zoning of the area, the vacant piece of property would only be able to be developed as a single family residence."

In February 2008, the building, located at 6-8 Reid St., collapsed during a windstorm. Salerno said that even though the borough incurred a cost of $75,000 to $80,000 to clean up the fallen building, he believed the settlement was the best option.

"The building fell down on a Friday, into Saturday. … We had to pay premium price to clean up because the county refused," he said. "The borough felt that this was an imminent safety hazard since debris fell into Main Street, which is a major truck route. We had the road up and running by Monday."

Mayor Raymond T. Eppinger said the situation is unfortunate, but it is what it is.

"If we do not settle, we would have spent more on litigation costs," he said. "The property would foreclose and we would be stuck with the property, which by current zoning standards could only be developed into a single-family home due to the amount of parking space on the site."

The building is owned by an entity called 6-8 Reid St., LLC, of Brooklyn, N.Y. It was not known what the owner intends to do with the property in the future.

Borough Attorney Gary Schwartz said the settlement with the owner would clear the liens that the borough has in place on the property.

Salerno said the $37,000 that the town would receive from the settlement would become anticipated revenue during the municipal budget process, which is expected to start in late February or early March.

"This will help fund the unfit building committee," he said.

The committee, called the Public Officer Board, consists of officers in charge of any department or branch of borough government relating to health, fire, building regulations or to other activities concerning buildings in town. The business administrator, chief of police, borough attorney and borough engineer will serve in an advisory capacity to the Public Officer Board.

In August, the council voted in favor of a new ordinance regulating unfit buildings, which had been initiated due to the collapse of the Reid Street building.

The mayor has said there are buildings in the borough that fall into the category of disrepair. The ordinance, he said, will streamline the process of dealing with structures that pose a risk to public safety and give the governing body a way to address them.

The unfit buildings law is designed to generate fees from owners of properties in disrepair, and that money is to be channeled into a demolition fund in case of emergencies. Under the ordinance, the property owner is sent a notice stating what needs to be addressed and for what reason. If nothing is corrected, a notice of violation is sent.