By JOHN A. GAVIN and WILLIAM LAMB

STAFF WRITERS, THE RECORD 

LYNDHURST -- The Township Council voted unanimously to terminate its agreement with the developers of the EnCap housing and golf project Tuesday night, saying the developers didn't made good on a promise to build playing fields and a new recreation center.

The 5-0 vote cast further doubt on a controversial proposal that has been plagued by delays and cost overruns. Donald Trump, who paid $5 million last month to put his name on the project, will have to renegotiate the deal with Lyndhurst if the EnCap plan is to be salvaged, township officials said.

"All agreements are off," Lyndhurst Mayor Richard DiLascio said Tuesday night. "There is just no deal."

A spokesman for Trump could not be reached Tuesday night. Representatives of the developer, EnCap Golf Holdings, a division of North Carolina-based Cherokee Investment Partners, also could not be reached.

EnCap is the name given to a plan to convert several Meadowlands landfills into golf courses and a 2,580-unit residential development straddling Lyndhurst, Rutherford and North Arlington. The plans call for 1,780 units to be built in Lyndhurst and 800 in Rutherford, though Trump said he is considering some modifications.

DiLascio unseated Mayor James Guida in 2005, accusing Guida and his administration of being "driven by developers."

DiLascio negotiated a new deal with EnCap this year that included a promise from the developers to build a recreation center and playing fields. EnCap's failure to deliver on that promise had rendered the agreement "null and void," DiLascio said.

"Before Donald Trump comes to Lyndhurst with his pencil and begins redesigning the EnCap project, he must take out his pen and sign a check to finish the Lyndhurst recreation facility and fields as agreed to by EnCap," DiLascio said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. "I believe the failure to perform under current terms makes the entire original agreement null and void. As far as Lyndhurst is concerned, we will no longer be bound."

Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge, who has been a vocal supporter of the EnCap project, said Tuesday that he supports DiLascio.

"It's time for us to, one, work together to make sure that the landfills are properly and safely capped and, two, it's time to makes sure that the will of the people in each individual community ... is fulfilled," Sarlo said.