Parking Spots and Commercial Reality Prompts Debate

SEA ISLE CITY – Parking spots and a potential increase in commercial property prompted heated discussion at the general council meeting Nov 12.
Councilman John Divney addressed the need to add parking to high intensity commercial areas already designated by current zoning laws. Divney also mentioned that at the planning meeting the idea to prevent commercial properties from residential ones was discussed. This prompted debate from both council members and residents of Sea Isle City.
“Sea Isle City is growing in leaps and bounds,” said Councilman Frank Edwardi Jr. “It is unique what we have.” Edwardi is currently planning to put a hardware store in town, as there is not one within the city limits.
Councilman Jack Gibson, however expressed concern about the amount of commercial property. “Sooner or later we are going to hit a point where the value is going to go down,” Gibson stated. “I do not want us to get so many stores that we see vacancy signs. Maybe we should allow some residential on the ground. It may be radical.”
These bigger buildings that are being produced to increase revenue for the city are also impacting the amount of parking available to the full time residents. “When they build these bigger buildings they take away parking,” said Marianne Snyder, a resident.
Edwardi pointed out that regulations currently in place eliminated spots. There are signs allowing three hour parking in some spots of the city, which cuts back on the availability of parking. “The spots are available, we are just telling people they cannot park there,” Edwardi said.
William Kenner, council member, does not believe that the city has a parking problem. “We have a convenience problem,” he told council and residents.
John Fee, a resident, told council “parking is a definite issue. We need to come up with something.”
Resident Jack Moore also disagreed with council about having a convenience problem. He told city council that he was “very glad to hear that parking is on the top of your mind.”
Moore then went on to raise a few other concerns with council. The city is currently taking down some of the smaller homes to make way for larger structures. Moore questioned the work that was being done to the “inner structure.”
“If you are going to do all of this building you have to work on the inner structure,” he told council. He wanted to know “where all the water was going,” as the current system is not set up to handle buildings of the larger magnitude.
Moore also questioned the spending the city was currently doing. “We spent a lot of money on pleasure,” Moore stated. He was also dissatisfied with the repaving of the roads in Sea Isle. He said, “The repaving is atrocious. They did not bid cheap so why are we getting cheap work.”
Council addressed the few concerns they could and agreed to hold further discussion about the parking situation currently plaguing Sea Isle City.
To contact Ashley Hoff, email ahoff@cmcherald.com.