BFS asks to be freed from blight zone

LONG BRANCH — The City Council has finalized an agreement to terminate a redevelopment agreement for the Beachfront South area, but residents of the area want the city to take one more step.

On behalf of some 11 Beachfront South residents, Michelle Bobrow, of Ocean Boulevard, appeared before council Oct. 28 seeking that the redevelopment designation be lifted from her neighborhood and the entire Beachfront South redevelopment zone.

"We have been in limbo for the past 12 years," Bobrow said. "We wish to make capital improvements on our property, but we are not able to do so due to the redevelopment designation.

"The city has caused blight by not allowing work to be done on our building because of the redevelopment designation," she said, adding, "Now that the designated developer is removed, the city is only setting the clock back and can continue to talk with developers about taking our homes."

Mayor Adam Schneider has assured residents that eminent domain has been taken off the table for the Beachfront South area, but said that the redevelopment status will not be rescinded at this time.

"Dropping the property from the redevelopment designation would not be in the best interest of the city, including the property owners," Schneider said. "I have agreed to meet with property owners and to come up with a zoning plan without any eminent domain and to come up with a zoning plan that will work.

"Some things need to be discussed, rather than be decided now," he said, adding that zoning plans for the Beachfront South zone could be worked out by as early as the end of the year.

Bobrow's husband, Harold, said that homeowners and renters in Beachfront South will be sitting at the table with city officials at a date in the near future to brainstorm about ideas for the neighborhood that will be a "win-win-win" situation.

H

e also suggested that the city go

through a similar process with another group of residents who live in the Beachfront North, Phase II redevelopment zone, known as the MTOTSA neighborhood. A group of MTOTSA homeowners are currently involved in a legal challenge with the city and are seeking to have the state Supreme Court review their case to uphold an Appellate Division decision that ruled in favor of the homeowners.

"I would hope that the people of MTOTSA and the city can do the exact same process and move forward," Bobrow said. "Sit down with the people of MTOTSA and come up with a win-win settlement.

"Maybe you should leave the lawyers at home and try to get some sort of a solution," he said.

MTOTSA resident Lori Ann Vendetti said that the city can discuss reaching a settlement all they want, but there will never be a win-win situation for her and her three-street neighborhood.

"We have boarded up homes," Vendetti said. "We have lost six senior citizens. Our neighborhood has been destroyed by this City Council.

"A settlement is not needed," she said, "We need the city to say that enough is enough. No one is ever going to win in this."

Our neighborhood has been destroyed. We just want to stay," she added.

At the council meeting, Michelle Bobrow read a prepared statement signed by her and her husband, as well as another nine Beachfront South residents, that echoed a similar story to the one Vendetti told.

"Being held under the yoke of eminent domain for the past 12 years has irreparably harmed us," Bobrow read. "We have been punished long enough.

"It is time to remove the designation and allow Long Branch homeowners the right to enjoy their homes without the threat of removal," she said, adding, "It is time to free us."

Bobrow, who resides at the Ocean Villa Townhouse Condos in Beachfront South, went on to say that the Gallenthin decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that a municipality has the obligation to prove blight.

"Ocean Villa Townhouse Condos does not and never has fit that definition," Bobrow said. "The Harrison appellate decision affirmed property owners' right to notice.

"The MTOTSA appellate decision placed the burden on the city to defend its designation," she said. "New Jersey court decisions are moving to uphold the rights of home and business owners.

"We have obligations, but no rights," she said, adding, "We must pay taxes, take care of our properties and keep them up to code, but we have no right to improve our property, or realistically to sell."

Council unanimously voted 5-0 at the meeting to approve a resolution calling for the termination of an agreement with developers K. Hovnanian to redevelop the Beachfront South redevelopment zone.

City Attorney James Aaron explained that the adoption of the resolution was the first step in a three-step process.

The second step will be to rescind the ordinance that permits the city to use eminent domain in Beachfront South, and the third step will be to change the plan that gave the authority to the city to use eminent domain in Beachfront South, according to Aaron.