Asbury residents deserve answers on height of C-8 structure
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/21/05
The Press has managed once again to gloss over the serious issues at
stake in the redevelopment of Asbury Park's waterfront. ("Councilman
seeks prosecutor's help," Dec. 10.) Councilman Jim Keady should be
encouraged in his quest for transparent government and answers to
serious issues raised, a task he alone on the City Council has taken
up.
The story fails to inform the readers that the city disavowed a
version of its redevelopment plan only after it was determined that
no part of the C-8 structure could be reused in the new Esperanza
building and would have to be destroyed. It was pointed out to the
city that the plan only permitted the developer to finish the
project and that, if demolished, the site could not be rebuilt to
its prior height.
Citizens suggested to the city that the plan would require an
amendment to permit rebuilding and that the city should receive
something of value for amending the plan since there would be a
substantial difference in the value to the developer if the site
couldn't be rebuilt to a higher height.
The plan that was disavowed was on the city's Web site for a couple
of years, sold to the public out of the city clerk's office, and
considered to be the official plan by not only the public, in
general, but the city clerk and the city's redevelopment director. I
would suspect that even the elected officials considered it to be
the official plan, but they are silent when faced with this question.
This plan was also submitted to the state Department of
Environmental Protection for the city's Coastal Area Facility Review
Act permit and to the Office of Smart Growth for its "urban center"
designation.
Concerned citizens have been unable to receive reasonable answers
from the city on this issue. These questions are being asked since
no one in the city was under the impression that the C-8 site could
be rebuilt to its prior height if demolished. The Planning Board
recommended on April 26, 2002, that the structure be demolished and
the developer not be allowed to finish the project.
This contradicts remarks made at a recent City Council meeting by
Councilman John Loffredo, who served on the Planning Board at that
time. There is also an audiotape of Loffredo giving an interview
after the board released its recommendations in 2002 in which he
states that C-8 would be demolished were it in his power. He also
states that it would be foolhardy, both from an economic and
aesthetic standpoint, to restore the structure.
The planner, John Clarke, in his recent appearance at a City Council
meeting, took the blame for "changing" the plan and submitting the
wrong one to the DEP. But he couldn't remember why he added the
language that C-8 could not be rebuilt to its prior height if
demolished. There is also an audiotape of an interview with Clarke
in April 2002 in which he indicates that he could find no support
for 14- and 16 stories and clearly stated that the C-8 would exceed
eight stories (the maximum height under the plan) only if it were
restored. These tapes are available on www.asburyradio.com.
It is in the face of these circumstances, and the continual
stonewalling by the city and its redevelopment attorney, James
Aaron, that Keady is forced to seek outside help. We could use more
politicians like him.
Daniel F. Sciannameo
PRESIDENT
ALBERT VALUATION GROUP NEW YORK INC.
NEW YORK
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