To paraphrase: 'If you tell a lie long enough, people will begin to beleive it.'
That Duany was the primary source of creating our Redevelopment Plan is still
being cited
as a good reason to accept it without question. A good tactic from a public
relations view,
but far from the truth.
One needs to look at the factual history of the evolution of the current Plan
to determine
what hapened. First the biggest lie needs to dispelled. The lie that the Plan
was held up in
bankruptcy court as a asset of Carabetta and subject to the powers of the Court.
It was the Redevloper Agreement between the City and Carabetta that was held as
an asset
in the bankruptcy. That agreement was the contract that obligated
implimentation of the
adopted land use and zoning in place at the time.
A Redevopment Plan is the publicly adopted set of criteria that sets forth land
uses such as
residentail, commercial, entertainment, etc. The Plan is "owned" by the public
and can not
and was not held as an asset of Carabetta's.
Redeveloper Agreement = Contract to perform = Held in Bankruptcy
Redevelopment Plan = Land use and Zoning = The Local Law
Whoever became the developer was obligated to build out what the law specified.
So what happened? The City settled the litigation with Carabetta and agreed to
transfer his
rights (the contract) to Asbury Partners. That contract obligated them to
impliment the
existing Plan because that is what was adopted and had the force of law at that
time.
Instead the City entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which was
treated as
a contract modification to settle the litigation. The MOU set forth development
criteria and
land uses that were in violation of the existing adopted, legal land uses. The
MOU was,
from that point on, treated as the "New Plan" upon which all subsequent Plans
were built.
This is where the major error was made. A City can not devise redevelopment
plans by
contract, it violates the public process established by the Municipal Land Use
Law.
Changing land use and zoning to satisfy a prearranged contract is illegal.
That is how Asbury Park went from a mixed use resort, entertainment,
residential Plan
(v1991) that was the Law at the time, to a primarily residential Plan. The
"Real Plan-1991"
was ignored. The MOU (Settlement Agreement) was taken as the "New Plan" and off
everyone went to build a new Asbury Park.
When the New Plan was publicized many residents and stake holders voiced their
concerns
about the "New Asbury Park". Condos are nice but what about the Palace, The
Pony,
Entertainment, Historic Landmarks, Public Lands, the Architecture, etc etc ?
Enter Duany - The City hires Duany to iron out all the details, mediate, and
create design
standards. His quote diring the public presentation - '"this is planning by
contract"' --
OUCH !!!
In the end, land uses did not change, they still reflect the MOU, Condos
everywhere. We
got narrower streets, smaller sidewalks, lost the Palace, lost the entire
public oceanfront,
better architecture at least....
I attribute most of the mis-steps to a City Council unwilling to take input
from
knowledgaable people who had the Public's interests in mind. Also, there was no
City
Planner on staff throughout this entire period.
Werner
PS - for a typical developer Condos are an easy to build cash cow (in a good
market). Real
Redevelpment - Community based, Heritage based, Economics based - takes a much
higher skill level and commitment that in the end would be better for the City.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>From Tommy:
As to why the plan has 3000 condos, he is jumping to conclusions
that just the developer wanted that. From Sea Bright to Long Branch
to Belmar, all of Monmouth County's previous tourist towns went to
year-round residential rather than seasonal tourism, because
Monmouth County has changed
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