(Allison Pries | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
Across the street from Teterboro Borough Hall is Teterboro Airport.
A quarter mile away from borough hall is Teterboro Landing, the town's big shopping center.
The airport is across the street from that, too.
And a mile away from the shopping center is the townhouse development -- where the mayor and more than half of Teterboro's 67 residents live.
Guess what's across the street? Yup, the airport.
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It's no surprise that the 1.1 square mile town in Bergen County is so synonymous with the 827-acre airport.
Teterboro is the oldest operating airport in the New York City metropolitan area. Walter C. Teter acquired the land in 1917 and the first flight there was in 1919.
Also in 1917, current Mayor John P. Watt's grandfather, John Strunck, was sworn in to the council for the newly-formed town of Teterboro.
Strunck grew up on a farm in Moonachie that became part of the airport.
Huyler Street. (Allison Pries | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
Watt, who is 68 years old, grew up on Huyler Street.
There was a cranberry farm at one end and lots of open land where he went bow and arrow hunting, made tree forts, dug holes and made underground forts.
There were no other kids within 7 or 8 years of his age, so his only interaction with other children was at school, he said.
"It had a country feel to it in a way," Watt said. "Now it's very commercial. It's all built up."
Vincent Place
Until 1999 the strip of brick cape cods on Huyler Street was the only residential area in town.
Then the townhomes went up on Vincent Place and Teterboro's population grew from 18 people in 7 households to 67 people in 25 households.
The borough functions through interlocal agreements.
It's students attend Hasbbrouck Heights schools. Moonachie polices it. They use River Vale's tax collector.
Teterboro does have it's own department of public works. It employs three people.
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Despite half of the borough being tax exempt (that's the airport) Teterboro's taxes are really low.
It's routinely the lowest tax rate in Bergen County and is among the lowest in the state. The reason is that what Teterboro lacks in people it makes up for businesses.
Amazon signed a 10-year lease three years ago for a more than 600,000 square feet warehouse.
There are several fragrance companies, Fortune 500 corporations and businesses that support the airport.
(Allison Pries | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
"It's a location driven situation," said Bill Hanson, of NAI James E. Hanson, a commercial real estate firm. Hanson's grandfather built many of the industrial buildings in Teterboro.
The town provides easy access to routes 46, 80, 17, 4, the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike. And Manhattan is just 14 miles away.
The low tax rate and business-friendly attitude of the town also make it appealing, said John Celetano who with his brother, Joseph, own Rudy's Inflight Catering.
They were previously located in Hackensack but had difficultly with parking and complaints from residents over their hours of operation and attempts to expand. So more than 20 years ago, they moved to Teterboro.
In Teterboro, there just aren't many people to complain, he said.
In 2008, during a downturn in the economy, the Celentanos renovated a former dive bar they had bought for its liquor license -- the only one in town at the time -- and turned it into a breakfast, lunch and catering restaurant called Sal's Good Eats so they could keep their employees working and avoid layoffs.
It's the closest thing Teterboro has to a diner or meeting place.
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Teterboro's "town center" was developed just a few years ago when a 55-acre former industrial site -- the home of Bendix Aviation Corp., an aircraft parts factory -- underwent a costly environmental cleanup and a shopping center was built there.
It's anchored by Walmart and Costco and is home to a slew of restaurants, including Chic-fil-A, Texas Roadhouse and Habit Burger.
"If you go there on a Saturday night I don’t think you can find a parking spot," said Nick Saros, Teterboro's city manager.
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Having so few residents makes Teterboro different in that there aren't many folks who have been around for decades or families that have lived there for generations -- except the mayor's family.
The council chambers are named after the mayor's father, Delmar E. Watt. And his son, John B. Watt, is also now serving on the council.
Watt says he probably knows about a quarter of the people in town by name. And with three dozen registered voters, winning a council seat doesn't even require a dozen votes.
"I don’t think there's a great amount of involvement in local elections because there’s really nothing to argue about," Watt said. "All the kids go to good schools, all fire department and police department needs are covered."
"Residents shouldn’t and don’t seem to have any problems."
(Allison Pries | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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