City will take 15 additional properties

BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

The Long Branch City Council adopted an ordinance last week extending eminent domain to additional properties in the second phase of the Pier Village redevelopment zone.

Eminent domain will be applied to nine of the 15 properties in the designated area at the request of the homeowners, City Attorney James Aaron said at the July 12 council meeting.

“Six properties are under contract with the developer, seven properties are under a contract that requires eminent domain to complete filing,” Aaron said.

“The owners of two properties have not yet agreed to a purchase at this point in time, which does not mean that they won’t.”

According to the ordinance adopted, “The majority of the property owners and the developer have agreed that eminent domain proceedings are necessary to set fair market value for the remaining properties.”

The second phase of the Pier Village development was to consist of 100 units, but with the extension, that number will more than double, Mayor Adam Schneider said.

The 230 units of the second phase, along with the 12,500 square feet of retail space, will be constructed on Ocean Boulevard to the west of the first phase of Pier Village.

Schneider said several details of the project were withheld from the ordinance because “the agreement has several contingencies as it exists as far as design.”

At the council meeting, many residents pleaded with the council to stop going forward with eminent domain proceedings in the city.

“I do not see how eminent domain can benefit any homeowner,” Kevin Brown, Broadway, said at the meeting. “Please do not use eminent domain anymore. Stop it!”

Brown owns a building, which he occupies, in the lower Broadway redevelopment zone.

Another resident whose home is threatened by eminent domain in another of the six redevelopment zones in the city agreed with Brown.

“How can you five [council members] say it is OK to take properties for private developers when the majority of America disagrees?” Lori Ann Vendetti, who lives on Ocean Terrace in the Beachfront North, phase II redevelopment zone, asked at the meeting.

“I am up here for Pier Village, not even my own home. You have to stop somewhere.”

Although the council unanimously voted for the ordinance, council President John Zambrano said, “I agree with some statements, but I feel we need to move forward with this [project].”

The 15 properties in Pier Village, phase II, located on Franklin and Melrose terraces and Second Avenue, were only recently added to the Pier Village redevelopment zone.

The council adopted a resolution at the June 14 council meeting, extending the zone to include the additional properties for the construction of an additional 130 residential units and approximately 12,500 gross square feet of additional retail space.

Applied Development Co., Hoboken, entered into a developer’s agreement with the city in February 2000 for the development of 420 residential units and approximately 104,000 gross square feet of retail space on a 10-acre tract on the waterfront, extending from Laird Street to Melrose Terrace.

Approximately 40 properties in the three-block neighborhood were taken by the city for the project.

“Most of the properties were settled voluntarily” without executing eminent domain, City Business Administrator Howard H. Woolley said.

In October 2003, the agreement was amended to permit the developer to construct the project in two phases; the first phase to be referred to as Pier Village I and Pier Village II, and the second phase to be known as Pier Village West.

The first phase was to originally consist of 320 units and 104,000 square feet of retail space, which was increased to 111,000 square feet as permitted by the city and the Planning Board, according to the ordinance.

Tenants began occupying the units in the first phase in February, which include: studio apartments starting at $1,150 that range in size from 600-700 square feet; one-bedroom units that start at $1,300 and range from 700-900 square feet; two-bedroom units starting at $1,700 and ranging from 1,000-1,500 square feet; and three-bedroom units starting at $3,600 and ranging from 1,700-1,950 square feet.

Council chambers were crowded with residents July 12, many of the opinion that the city is abusing its power of eminent domain.

“I am a victim of eminent domain,” Bruce MacCloud said.

MacCloud owned a home on Cooper Avenue that was taken through eminent domain for the Beachfront North, phase I redevelopment project.

“Your use of eminent domain is an abuse to the residents of this city.

“When are you going to stop? Have some mercy on these people and change your minds.”

Another resident, Bill Nordahl, who lives in the Beachfront North, phase II redevelopment zone, asked the council to vote against the ordinance.

“People do not want to be at risk to have their homes taken,” he said.