WILDWOOD CREST – At its July 20 meeting, the Wildwood Crest Board of Commissioners passed a resolution that instructs the borough’s Planning Board to “conduct a preliminary investigation” into the potential designation of an area as a redevelopment zone.
The area under consideration runs along New Jersey Avenue, from Wisteria to Heather roads.
The borough’s special counsel for land use issues is James Maley, who is in a similar role in several other Cape May County municipalities. Maley is also the mayor of Collingswood.
According to Maley, the designation of an area as a redevelopment zone grants the town “greater flexibility than the usual municipal rules.” Maley told the public at the meeting that the use of redevelopment flexibility would not, in this case, include the powers of condemnation.
He added that the borough could use this increased flexibility to aid current business owners or new developers in order to encourage the redevelopment of the area.
The initial actions in a process to designate a redevelopment area would be in the purview of the Planning Board, and, at the appropriate time, a public hearing would be held by that board.
