City approves eminent domain ban in BFS

City approves eminent domain ban in BFS
Ordinance sets zoning for future development
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
The Long Branch City Council agreed not to use eminent domain in the Beachfront South (BFS) redevelopment zone Jan. 26, approving a resolution that bans condemnation of properties and adopting an ordinance setting zoning restrictions for future development in the zone.

In the wake of protracted legal battles over eminent domain and with redevelopment mired in the economic downturn, the city put aside its power to take private property through eminent domain, at least in the BFS zone.

“All property owners wish to be free to implement their respective plans without the threat of eminent domain,” the adopted resolution reads.

The council’s actions follow months of discussions with the 36 property owners in the oceanfront neighborhood, and were precipitated, in part, by the economic downturn, including a developer that opted out of the redevelopment and a decade-long conflict with property owners in the Beachfront North redevelopment zone,

The Beachfront South zone extends from Bath to Morris avenues, between Ocean Boulevard and Ocean Avenue and is one of the city’s six redevelopment zones. The eminent domain ban was recommended by the Long Branch Planning Board, which unanimously recommended that the council adopt the ordinance and clarify zoning regulations.

The zoning ordinance passed with a 3-1 vote and the resolution with a 4-0 vote. Councilman Brian Unger voted against the ordinance, and Councilman Anthony Giordano was absent for the vote.

Unger explained the reason for his vote supporting the resolution.

“I’m going to vote in favor because the resolution reads the elimination of eminent domain in Beachfront South,” he said. “I think this has been a sham. We are in an election year and there is election year conversion.”

At the close of the meeting, council PresidentMichael DeStefano alluded to Unger’s own political agenda.

“We are all reminded that the campaign season has begun,” he said.

The resolution, 10-10, stipulates that the city “is committed to coordinating public and private efforts to organize and build cohesive neighborhoods in the context of the revitalization of its historic public oceanfront.”

The zoning ordinance, 25-09, provides that existing structures that do not meet the requirements of the redevelopment plan or design guidelines “may remain in their current configuration as pre-existing, nonconforming structures.”

In addition, additions and alterations to pre-existing, nonconforming structures or new construction must meet the requirements of the city’s building code and provides for no variances. Also, the ordinance says no additional units can be constructed.

Despite the elimination of eminent domain and clarification of the zoning regulations, some Beachfront South residents said they remain concerned about the future of their neighborhood.

Some expressed concerns about the language of the ordinance addressing residential hotel accommodations, which City Attorney James Aaron tried to clarify. Under the ordinance, permitted uses include pre-existing single-family homes, residential hotel accommodations and, a new addition, bed-andbreakfast guesthouses.

BFS resident Diana Multare was concerned that the hotel accommodations were not addressed when the city and BFS residents met.

“I don’t recall any discussion at all of this residential hotel accommodations,” she said. “There is certainly no consensus as far as I know from that particular item.”

“Those are individual rooms that are available to the general public in a hotel,” Aaron said. “They are renting the rooms for a period of time. In theory, you can rent a hotel room for an extended period of time, but it is not to set up a boarding house or something of that nature.”

Mayor Adam Schneider explained hotel accommodations has been in the redevelopment plan for a long time and is not a new item.

“It’s been in there since the beginning of the design guidelines so it is not an addition,” he said. “If there were a strong consensus against it, then we’d have to look at it. We are not adding a new use to the zone.”

Another complaint was that there was no consensus reached between the city and the residents.

“I think it might behoove the City Council to review passing this ordinance without specific signatures to justify this notion of consensus,” Multare said. “We dialogued, but I think you have to rethink the process here.”

Schneider said that tabling the ordinance might have an adverse effect.

“The only thing I would suggest is that if we put it off, we won’t know where it will go,” he said. “If the people think it is a really horrible use, then we can change it after this. We can always come back and meet.”

Aaron said that while there was no written consensus, previous meetings have resulted in an unofficial consensus on what they would like to happen.

“The consensus was given voluntarily and orally at those meetings,” he said. “There is no signed document that says there is an agreement between the property owners and the city.”

BFS residents Michelle and Harold Bobrow welcomed the council actions, saying they are relieved that uncertainty over the future of their home is ended.

“I am very glad to see the resolution here eliminating the use of eminent domain in Beachfront South,” Harold Bobrow said. “It’s been a long time coming.

“There is a lot of sentiment and various emotions that are eight years old,” he said. “We are at the point where we are going to pass this.”

“It’s been a long time coming that you are rescinding the use of eminent domain in Beachfront South, which never should have been posed in the first place,” Michelle Bobrow said. “You’ve destroyed people’s lives, and thank you, for finally making it right.”

In September, after a protracted legal battle, the city reached an agreement with a group of property owners in the Beachfront North redevelopment zone.

All but six property owners in the MTOTSA Alliance (Marine Terrace and Ocean Terrace and Seaview Avenue) reached a settlement in their longstanding battle over the city’s condemnation of their homes to clear the way for redevelopment.

The settlement allowed property owners the right to develop their land and included an agreement that the city would not use eminent domain in that neighborhood. In return, the property owners forfeited their right to sue the city for compensatory damages.

Two members of MTOTSA spoke at the meeting.

“I want to congratulate the Beachfront South people,” Lori Ann Vendetti said. “You guys have fought for that, and I think you still have to watch the ordinance as well. I think it is time to do it in a citywide ordinance.”

Denise Hoagland, who was one of the six property owners who declined to sign the agreement with the city, spoke against the Beachfront South ordinance.

“I’m really unsure what the residents of Beachfront South want,” she said. “I’d be remiss to not mention that this ordinance is not an agreement. If both parties aren’t signing it, then it doesn’t make it a contractual agreement.”

Hoagland also said that very little has changed in her neighborhood since the September agreement with the city.

“Our lives have not changed all that much, and we are still subject to the redevelopment zone,” she said.

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.


Click here to enlarge



No Flash Detected
Please download the latest version by clicking below:

Get

Advertisement for Brock Farms