SEA ISLE CITY – Sea Isle City City Council met Dec. 22 with news from Mayor Leonard Desiderio that dredging equipment to replenish sand that disappeared during October’s Joaquin nor’easter will return. “I’ve been working with (U.S. Rep. Frank) LoBiondo (R-2nd) and we just received word that we will be getting additional sand in the amount of 300,000 cubic yards which means our beaches will be in great, great, shape for summer of 2016,” said Desiderio.
The meeting room was filled with people who had been rallied through social media and other means to attend. All seats were taken despite what is normally a quiet time on council’s schedule due to the holidays.
The highlighted issue was the on-going discussion to initiate certain zoning provisions to combat what has been termed “monster houses” in advance of the city’s implementation of its master plan.
The master plan will not take effect until sometime at the earliest end of 2016.
Council Chair John Gibson stated on several occasions and most recently at the last council meeting that he saw no reason to enact new F.A.R. (Floor to Area Ratio) designed to curb over-sized construction apart from the scheduled timetable already decided for the approval and kickoff of the new city master plan.
To much applause from the public, Council member John Divney introduced a motion to direct the city solicitor to draft an ordinance that would enact a F.A.R. at the .07 level to rein in the construction of the city’s “monster house” construction.
The motion called for introduction of this ordinance at the Jan. 5 council meeting.
Divney and many Sea Isle City residents have long deplored the growing problems of inadequate parking, congestion, losing the city’s characteristics as a small town resort, environmental issues and lack of appropriate infrastructure that they say are linked to that type of construction.
Council member Frank Edwardi opposed the introduction of the ordinance stating, “I see no urgency in enacting a separate F.A.R. ordinance apart from the master plan. When I reviewed the comments about the master plan I saw only (sic) 300 comments that concerned F.A.R., so that’s about 10 percent of the overall input of about 3,000 comments.”
When his statement elicited boos from the audience, Edwardi continued, “Yes, this issue is important but it’s not urgent, the new construction is not that bad.” That comment garnered laughter from attendees.
Gibson reiterated his oft-shared position, stating that he agreed with Edwardi, “Yes, there has been additional building but it’s still premature to enact any new F.A.R. apart from the master plan.”
Council member Mary Tighe noted “In hindsight when we eliminated F.A.R. in 2010 while we had good reasons related to FEMA requirements we gave up too much. We didn’t anticipate the new type of oversize residential building that we are now seeing throughout Sea Isle City. We have moved up initiation of the city’s master plan by one year to address what we know are issues throughout the island but especially parking.”
Council member William Kehner queried, “Is F.A.R. really the answer to our issues?” He continued, “I support introducing this ordinance but where do we go after that? I’m going to consult with others before this introduction, especially the professionals, to fully make up my mind.”
After further discussion, council decided to heed Divney’s plea “Let’s do something.”
Since members believe parking is a paramount problem council decided to unanimously support Divney’s revised motion to direct the solicitor to draft two ordinances, one to address the parking issue of new construction that frequently contains seven to eight bedrooms and the second ordinance to introduce a new F.A.R., albeit at the higher level of .08 rather than .07 as originally envisioned.
Both ordinances will be considered upon first reading at council’s Jan. 5 meeting.
Other Suggestions
During public comment, there were several thank yous for council’s vote above including one from a representative of the planning board.
During this period, in addition, one resident suggested that council put more financial data on its website for citizen information and to determine what actual budget figures mean in the right context. Another citizen asked that council start conducting at least periodically an evening session since he had to take off from work to support the effort regarding F.A.R. that was taken to this vote.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.
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