City moves forward on MTOTSA settlement

City moves forward on MTOTSA settlement
Right of way will be vacated
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH — A city-owned right of way in the MTOTSA neighborhood will be divided among three parcels to create larger, buildable lots.

The Long Branch City Council voted 4- 0 on Dec. 8 to introduce an ordinance that would authorize the city to vacate and apportion the right of way among three properties. Councilman Anthony Giordano was absent for the vote.

The proposed ordinance is in keeping with the city's settlement with property owners in the Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace and Seaview Avenue neighborhood reached after years of contention and legal action.

City Attorney James Aaron explained the right of way at the workshop meeting before the council voted.

"On Seaview Avenue the city has a right of way that goes nowhere," he explained. "As part of the settlement agreement, the city agreed to vacate the right of way."

Aaron said the land would be divided among two lots owned by developer MMBeachfront North LLC and one held by a private owner.

He said the right of way would be used to increase the size of the three properties.

This action will create larger lots that will allow bigger homes to be constructed on those properties, he told the workshop meeting.

The settlement between the city and the MTOTSAAlliance was reached in court on Sept. 15.

The agreement, signed by all but six property owners in MTOTSA, required that the property owners waive their right to sue the city for compensatory damages.

In return the city agreed not to use its power of eminent domain to take properties in MTOTSA, which is in the Beachfront North Phase II redevelopment zone.

According to Aaron, vacating and dividing up the right of way will involve no cost to the city.

"All that engineering was done, and the city did not incur any costs for all this surveying and engineering," he said. "It was all paid for by the developer."

He added that notification would take place shortly, allowing the developer to move forward as quickly as possible.

"We will notify all department heads and all properties within 200 feet of the right of way, so this would be handled like any other vacating of a

city street," he said. "It will be handled appropriately and completed in enough time so

that the developers can go in front of the Planning Board with this already done, so they can start seeking site plan approval as early as January."

As part of the 14-point settlement with the MTOTSA property owners, the city also agreed to pay $435,000 in legal fees the alliance accrued and to have the developer demolish several vacant, boarded-up houses in the neighborhood. In addition, the city agreed to pave the roads and fix lighting conditions in the area within two years, and the property owners are eligible for fiveyear tax abatements if they improve their properties.

The City Council will vote on adopting the ordinance, and the public can comment on the measure, at the Dec. 29 meeting.