WILDWOOD CREST – The Planning Board unanimously endorsed a plan for the redevelopment of New Jersey Avenue between Heather Road and Columbine Avenue, including the area occupied by the Wildwood Linen Supply Company, Sept. 7.
The redevelopment plan, which is now in the hands of the Board of Commissioners, is being considered in conjunction with a road reconstruction project by Cape May County, slated to begin in 2024 or 2025. Wildwood Crest will install new water and sewer lines prior to the county repaving the road, but also hired consultants for the design of a new look and the creation of a downtown destination spot.
At the Sept. 7 Planning Board meeting, Michelle Taylor of Taylor Design presented an overview of the redesign of New Jersey Avenue, telling the planning board the plan calls for some redevelopment and some rehabilitation. Specific focus was directed toward the current Wildwood Linen Supply Company, which operates between Cardinal and Sweetbriar roads.
“The business has outgrown (the building’s) footprint,” Taylor said, adding that trucks are regularly loaded and unloaded on the side streets.
Taylor described the Wildwood Linen property, saying, “It’s a very uninviting, uninhabitable area.”
“Generally speaking, it doesn’t fit on the lot. My concern is it can be a nuisance,” she said.
“They don’t have enough space to do what they have to do,” Mayor Dan Cabrera said when reached by telephone after the meeting.
Cabrera said the current operator of Wildwood Linen, Churchill Linen Services, leases the business from the previous operator. He said the borough is considering some incentives for Wildwood Linen to move. Cabrera said the borough would try to locate resources–including the help of grant writers–to allow the business to relocate somewhere, such as Middle Township or Lower Township. He said the county might also be able to help in the matter.
Ken DeDominici, owner of Churchill Linen said he has been offered no incentive to move.
“Wildwood Crest is always trying to get rid of us,” DeDominici said. “The town says I agreed to move – it’s never been true.”
DeDominici said moving his business would be very expensive and not fiscally responsible unless the business received a lot of help – offers of which have not been forthcoming.
“There is no grant money. All they can help with are low-interest loans. I don’t need another loan,” he said. “It’s not feasible to buy a property and spend $5 million on a building to get no return. And we have to get it all back in four months.”
He said Covid was hard on businesses like his, and it’s already difficult to do business in the Wildwoods, where it’s very busy in the summer and almost nothing in the winter. He did say the distance from hotels and motels on the island makes its current location more attractive, and it is also easier for his employees to get to work. He said his workforce goes from about 125 down to 50 in the winter, and at least have of them don’t have cars.
DeDominici said he has worked to make the business less intrusive in the neighborhood, moving some of the operations to Green Creek, and feels he has a good relationship with the neighbors. He said the borough should not attempt to ruin his business “just because people want us to move.”
But Cabrera said the town’s plan arose thanks to the county’s plans to reconstruct New Jersey from Cresse Avenue to Rambler Road. He said there has always been an interest expressed by the previous and current administrations to create a small downtown area in the identified location.
“That area needs some attention,” Cabrera said.
The planning board agreed and actually extended the design area another block to include Columbine Avenue.
Liquor License
What is included in the plan, but was not discussed at the Sept. 7 Planning Board meeting, is the suggestion that the borough allow a liquor license to be established in a new restaurant within the redevelopment zone. Such a move would only happen if voters approved the sale of alcohol in the historically dry borough.
“We brought in Roger Brooks, a nationally recognized planner who specializes in revitalizing downtown areas,” Cabrera said. “He said a restaurant is the best anchor business for a downtown.”
Along with the concept of a restaurant was the suggestion that the borough establish a Class C, or consumption, liquor license. The borough has addressed the matter on its website with a frequently-asked-questions page. Wildwood Crest had a liquor license in 1940, but in 1947, the state passed legislation limiting the number of liquor licenses based on population. The Crest’s license was eliminated. The planners today have suggested a liquor license would help not only the proposed restaurant but also other area businesses.
“We are sending so much business outside the (borough’s) boundary lines, and there is nothing wrong with that, but how about Wildwood Crest?” Cabrera said.
A liquor license would not be established without a public vote on the issue. The vote requires that a petition for the referendum to permit a license to sell liquor by the glass be initiated by a committee of five members of the public.
Per Borough Administrator Connie Mahon, no one from the public has come forward with a petition for a referendum on the alcohol matter.
Cabrera said the Board of Commissioners would like to see the redevelopment zone created, but as far as the liquor license, he said, “If it happens, it happens; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
“The Crest will be successful with or without it,” he said.
Cabrera said he imagines an area such as in Avalon, where one license extends to the Princeton, Circle Tavern and Sea Grill.
With these goals in mind, the borough is working hard to relocate Wildwood Linen out of that zone.
The borough’s legal counsel on the project, attorney Jim Maley Jr., described the redevelopment zone as a tool used by governing bodies to help businesses and property owners get things done.
Some of the properties in the proposed zone need redevelopment or rehabilitation, Maley said. The governing bodies can negotiate payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) with businesses or use eminent domain.
Taylor said residences would only be permitted above businesses in the 5.5-acre redevelopment area.
Thoughts? Would you like to see a liquor license at a restaurant in the Crest? Email csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600 ext. 128.
