Find your polling site for the May 12, 2026 municipal election.
Lynn Ogbourne, who lives on Ridge Street, said she never considered running for political office until a developer began construction on an eight-story apartment building near her home in Orange. The project has thrown her quiet, residential neighborhood into disarray, she said.
“When they put that building up, it left my family feeling like, ‘What can we do next?” said Ogbourne, who is running for the North Ward seat that Councilwoman Tency Eason has held for 24 years.
The last five years have seen a dizzying pace for real estate approvals and Ogbourne’s candidacy in the May 12 is a product of the frustration over development and how it has affected residents.
Among the developments that were approved in the last few years is a six-story building at the former Tremont Avenue School, four six-story buildings where Libretti’s restaurant stands today, and a 173-unit building on Berwyn Street. At the abandoned grounds of the Orange Memorial Hospital, 1,000 new apartments were approved there. Hundreds of other apartments have been built or are nearing completion.
One thing that worries Ogbourne in particular is that in order to make room for these new rental buildings, one-family homes are being demolished. In the case of the project in Morrow Street in the Valley, 10 homes were demolished to make way for the apartment buildings that are now under construction. A single-family home at 27 Ridge Road, near Ogbourne’s home, was demolished just to build an entryway into the parking lot of a new building 475 Main Street.
“It drowns out the opportunity for other people to become homeowners and leaves everyone to become renters,” said Ogbourne, who said she wants to pass legislation that promotes more homeownership. “We know that homeownership leads to generational wealth.”
New developments have created a headache for residents who find street parking more scarce than ever and for homeowners who see property taxes rise while 30-year tax abatements are being dished out to developers. There is also a growing concern about how an influx of hundreds of new residents could impact the local school system, which has already become a concern for overcrowding.
“Parking is a real issue,” Ogbourne told Essex Review. “I’m knocking on doors and that’s what I’m hearing.”
At a forum held last week at the Orange HUUB, other City Council candidates echoed her concern. James Ward, who is vying once more for Councilwoman Jamie Summers-Johnson’s South Ward seat, attributed rising property taxes and rampant development to the city’s overreliance on tax abatements.
The city government claims that the last 24 PILOT programs have generated about $4.6 million. However, Ward believes those figures mask the real issue — what could the municipal government earn if developers were paying the full amount?
“That sounds like a lot but it isn’t because we’re not feeling it at all,” he said. “We’re missing a whole $7 million because of these PILOT programs and that’s why it’s become so unaffordable in this town.”
Antoinett Hall, who is running for the East Ward seat against Councilman Kerry Coley, believes that, in the cases where tax abatements are offered, city officials should ask more in exchange.
“What are you giving us back for our residents?” Hall said. “Don’t just come here and ask for abatements and all these things. Give us something back.”
