The plan has unleashed a barrage of criticism from some residents who may be forced to give up their homes, and from neighbors of the proposed site on Boulevard who say the controversial building is too massive and invasive.

If borough officials choose a scaled-down project, they must give up on the plan for one complex to centralize all local governmental and recreational agencies, such as the municipal court, police station, renovated library and a new senior center.

The 79,416-square-foot, $9.6 million project includes 119 parking spaces between Madison and Central avenues. Initially, officials wanted to create a library-senior center complex at the Boulevard site and bought three parcels two years ago.

Now that they want to centralize facilities, borough officials need to acquire seven additional parcels, but in a town that is nearly all built up with single family homes, vacant land is hard to find.

Borough officials say that some property owners have been willing to sell their land to make room for the civic complex. But at least two homeowners -- a senior citizen and a young couple -- declined Hasbrouck Height’s request.

Mayor William Torre said his administration can condemn the properties, exercising their power of eminent domain, the right of a government to appropriate private property for public use, but no determination has been made about whether it will be necessary. A meeting has been scheduled later this month to discuss the issue.

"I can’t say we’ll stay away from condemnation, but we certainly can’t rule it out," Torre said Thursday.

That’s an unpleasant news to 83-year-old John Gatti, whose house is one of the properties desired by the borough. He refuses to sell his Madison Avenue colonial.

"If we’re displaced, where would we go?" said Gatti, who lives with his 92-year-old brother-in-law and a niece. "If we go to another town, we’d be strangers. ... It’d be extremely hard." Gatti has lived in the same house for four decades.

His neighbor, Andrew Gaffney, 33, also declined to sell the 70-year-old colonial, where he lives with his wife and two daughters and just finished putting in a deck and a family room.

"What bothers me is that my house is included in the project. I have major investments in my house," said Gaffney, who has spent $80,000 for the additions.

Other neighbors, complaining about traffic snarls, say the value of neighborhood homes would drop. Some parents are worried that children using the library would often see suspects in handcuffs if the police station is included in the complex.

Having heard stinging criticisms from downtown neighbors at a recent public meeting, officials promise to address those concerns, including an option to turn Central Avenue into a cul-de-sac to curb traffic.

Architects hired by borough officials are exploring another option to split the complex into two and build a smaller structure on Boulevard. They may put the library, senior center, and offices for public administrators there while placing the court, Police Department, and firehouse at 248 Hamilton Ave., where the original borough hall stood.

Hasbrouck Heights lost borough hall on Christmas, when sparks from aging, faulty wiring touched off a fire that destroyed the 50-year-old building. That automatically halted the senior center-library project, which began two years ago when the council agreed to spend $2.4 million for the recreational complex.

Borough Administrator Michael Kronyak predicts that building two separate municipal structures, will cost at least $300,000 more than the $9.6 million the council budgeted for one complex.

Insurance companies have agreed to pay Hasbrouck Heights $4.57 million for damages, Kronyak said. Federal and state grants add up to another $775,000. The rest must come from tax dollars.

Meanwhile, some residents on Madison Avenue, such as Nancy Morena, said they feel threatened and deceived by the borough government.

"They said they’ll explore other [options] but it’s the same thing," said Morena, 42, whose sanitation business in downtown Jersey City was condemned by the state government three years ago to make way for a hospital.

Although her Hasbrouck Heights property is not in danger of being condemned, she can sympathize with her neighbors’ dilemma.

"There’s nothing worse than being thrown out of your home," she said.