Planning Board Gives OK for West Side Lot Redevelopment

NORTH WILDWOOD — The city’s planning board voted 4-2 July 11 to recommend that block 291, the site between 22nd and 23rd avenues, be considered an area of redevelopment.
The vote was just another step, albeit an important one, clarified Board Solicitor Dean Marcolongo, in the process of determining whether the block on the west side of the boardwalk qualified as an area in need of redevelopment.
The recommendation will now go before city council.
WB Resorts Development LLC, the conditional redeveloper of adjacent Seaport Pier, has plans for the dilapidated structure which include an indoor waterpark. On the next-door west side lot, the developer has hopes to build a 16-story high-rise hotel.
Similar to the pier, in order to qualify for redevelopment status, the block had to meet one of eight criteria set by the state.
If the beachfront lot qualifies under the criteria, the city can work with a professional planner to interview potential developers and negotiate an agreement for the future of the site.
Without the designation, the actions of the developer are guided by the city’s land use laws.
With its battered roof and wall and water damaged empty retail shops, Seaport Pier in December 2005 easily met seven of the eight state criteria needed for redevelopment authorization.
However, the designation did not seem so clear cut for the beachfront site, which includes Sorrento’s Pizza VI, Ed’s Funcade, an unfinished condominium complex and the King’s Inn Motel.
City Planner Stuart Wiser’s presentation on the state’s set criteria to the board states that while the motel is typical of seasonal accommodations once prevalent in the Wildwoods, it now meets redevelopment criteria because it is “substandard, unsafe, unsanitary, dilapidated or obsolescent.”
Board member Edward Einhaus, who voted against the redevelopment designation, said the criteria set by the state “is so broad that it pretty much puts any property in that category.”
“Under this criteria, my house, which is 97 years old, could be considered as an area in need of redevelopment,” he said.
Einhaus noted that while the board is only supposed to look at the case of this one particu-lar block, it was “impossible not to think of the big picture.”
“But we are planners, we are supposed to look at the big picture,” he added.
John Klug, another planning board member, seconded his concern over “the big picture” and said that he didn’t want the city to “end up like Wildwood that tore down thriving businesses.”
Robert Beckelman, the city’s redevelopment attorney who was granted a chance to speak before the board voted, argued the block did meet the criteria for redevelopment.
“The property, as it sits, will continue to deteriorate,” Beckelman said.
Resident Paul DiFillippo, who along with other residents had been waiting for an opportunity to comment before the board voted, sat with his hand raised, waiting for a board member to notice.
When he was told the board wouldn’t be taking comment, DiFillippo asked board members why the city’s attorney was able to speak.
“I object to that,” he said.
Chairman Charles Brackett, who also voted down the designation, agreed with DiFillippo’s objection to the solicitor being allowed to speak.
The chance for public comment was during the June 27 meeting, Brackett noted.
“If I had known,” he said, directing his comment to Beckelman, “you wouldn’t have been given the chance to speak now.”
Mayor Bill Henfey, who also sits on the board, agreed with the redevelopment criteria.
“The city has an opportunity to make sure that what is proposed, is what is built,” Henfey said.
Brackett questioned how the boardwalk block — WB Developers have agreements of sale for every lot on that property — could be deemed an area of redevelopment.
“They obviously have plans for the area,” he said.
Brackett also voiced his concern that “this thing is obviously tied to Seaport Pier.”
He questioned if the west-side lot would go through the same channels of bid proposals as the pier did.
“I don’t see how we would do that if we join the two lots,” he added.
WB Resorts Development was formed in 2006 in Delaware by Andrew Weiner, managing partner of Splash Zone Waterpark and partner of Gateway 26; Brian Baratz, founding partner in the accounting firm Baratz & Associates; and Baratz’s son Daniel, director of operations and marketing at Splash Zone.