What the Waterfront Redev Arbitrator Decided...

Asbury Park City Council – July 20, 2011


City's Atty Presents Waterfront Arbitrator's findings -


Hostage property owners may get relief...


City Makes Housing Authority Audit Available on Request


The City's Audit Results


James Bruno, Mayor Ed Johnson, Kevin Sanders, Sue Henderson

Deputy Mayor John Loffredo is absent

Redevelopment litigation Atty James Aaron is present

City Atty Fred Raffetto (FR), also of the Aaron firm, present



Add to wk session audit, pos designate john kaplow as official city videographer, consultant for arbitration, there’s one more missed it



Exclusive Vodka reps here – to promote idea of city having its own vodka brand/ suffic enuf interest among consumers, profit center for city/ music history of city, beach presence of city possible themes. Proceeds from sales benefit municipal…no mic - combined promotion expanding pop of the drink and city as destination. A percentage goes to city? Yes, anybody have any questions? [ can’t hear whether said what %] one of ideas is absolute book, flavor, exclusive Asbury pk, something about flavors but he’s not on mic. [During break AR learned Apk theme proposed – or floated – by Exclusive was Asbury Park Salt Water Taffy Vodka. The percentage offered by the company for the use of the City's name is 0.50%, which might come to $6 or $12 on a case. FR said the City would counter with its own % of sales if it goes forward with any vendor.]

FR – licensing name of city for this type of vodka, under public contracts law, you’d hv to put out RFP to see if anyone wants to pitch a better deal to city/ go from there… w/ city’s app’l we can proceed.

Terry Reidy – if someone had a rum or wine wanted to do that wouldn’t compete with this Vodka, I'm just asking is that’s a q?

FR – rather unprecedented for a government entity, except for Brooklyn …certainly think cd go out in a broad sense and see if anyone interested in proposing/

TR – Can't be heard.

JB – that wd be $2 mn a year..[in response to some sidebar talk w/ TR]

[Rep talking now to mayor…can’t be heard, his back is to audience and he’s not on mic]…neutral spirit such as vodka, more cases of vodka being sold across, we hv other products, moscato wine,

KS or SH asks if they have anything nonalcoholic, as of now no, [I think he said] laughter, [inaudible]

Mayor - Next

Don Sammet – city redv dir and planner

Hazardous discharge site, accept $ from grants rec’d, resolutions allow formal acceptance of grants, remedial investigation/ preliminary assessments or intial assessments, atkins av to first ave. third resolution w/ …environtal svcs, grant req contracts to hv done/ fully grant funded no cost to city/

Mayor any q’s

Nope

Curfew ordinance – FR – proposed ord revise existing curfew for minors, copy of ord for Newark, relating to minors not being where s/be during school day/ realized what we had was more detailed and stringent than newark’s. lv in tact with insertion of 2 details from newark’s. thnk that’s route u shoud go, consider introducing tonight in reg session for adoption in aug, before school yr starts.

Mayor – talked aobut rewriting the book mk sure kids stay in schools, wkg w/ supt and school bd, neighbors in ocean and neptune, mirror ordinances/ if not in school w/ parent or guardian, businesses reminder s/not be serving minors during school day monetary fines against parents other violaters.,

Appr’d for introduction

TR – followup on outdoor café fees/

FR – names other communities whose info he consulted compare fees/

Mayor – like to leave be for now

Annual license fee $50 plus $2 /per sf of public space used/ Red Bank is $75 and freehold also/ LB is $50 annual fee/

JB – somebody has 30 table another has 5…

TR – bef 2012 we should revaluate it

Spec event applications – tom Gilmour, commerce dir

Nj friends of Clearwater – one day only Aug 20th, Sat.

Black Box anniversary vigil on 9/11 8 pm to 9 pm fireman’s park

JB – theiry not doing anything there are they garrett? [Giberson, fire dept]

Sierra club coastal cleanup 9/17

Latino festival 9/17 and 18, sunset park – comm. not review it at this time

Wedding app oct 9th, beach

Summer camp for kids – laura bruetti’s – mayor says fully funded it’s for ap kids, multiple dates

Family day at beach, 30th of? / beach surfer fdn’ – surfrider fdn’?

Movie on beach 1989 bat man movies…3rd av beach..

Wedding app 9/24

App lst mtg, salvation army/ music on bdwlk, oopen spc bet 4th and 5th av, brass band, 20 mins of music, expressions of faith and testimony for remaining time/ felt it was more approp under performer’s guidelines/

Items added to wksession

Fire ordinance – garrett giberson and FR/ was based on a toms river ordinance, followinginto tho GG contacted concerned inconsistent w/ fire code, pending ord be tabled until can review fire codes, now feel process is complete/ new ord cleans up certain provisions in prior version, inconsistencies been resolved/ false alarms from dwlellings/ is better product for you.

GG – allows multi fam and other bldgs other than single fam owner occupied, so others can assess penalties for those others…fire code didn’t allow prior. Mst false alarms com’l and multi dwelling units

\first time warning, second not less than 100 up to $5000 / false alarm cd mean not being maintained properly mst people wd then fix it

Jb – we know who they are/

sue H – how many sing fams have fire alarms

GG – a lot// penalties up to $5k – it’s a judgment call [as to how much to fine] depending on severity of brkdwn in alarm sys can be 24 hrs to repair/ lot of discussion…

w/ introduce revised version tonight

John Kaplow - don’t know the procedure

TR – explains, state what offer is

JK – I am not…ap…laughter, in city that has such large professional base, wd be... to its best/ to name jst one person as official videographer, but I’ve been tlkg to city about a public access channel for cable coverage, marvelous mech way to do that/ wd like to explain my bkgrnd and why I’d be apprp to do this/ wd like to see if is a concensus voiced as whether city like to do that/ certainly lot of publ access stations, so not a new activity, can oper to everyone’s benefit/ handled by design upfront, not by objections later to counter functions…

Jb – who wd provide verizon, cable or both?

JK – I hv asked to be app’td to hd a citizens advisory bd and like to tlk to city mgr about franchising fees, Verizon/ cable as well as other options, city’s option to franchise, equipment, channel, spkg to Supt Lowe at Bd of Ed also to faciliatate that/ aware mst of those efforts are to faciliatate dove tail to bld a …model he uses combine munic and bd of ed/ obv more difficult, ltd resources / told cm w/out such appt I’m reluctant to spend time and resources and someone might come in and supercede him and he wd've wasted his time and resources.

Mayor – I’m def in favor of the idea, bdcasting is afld.l.???.that’s my interest / so you’re lkg to be in chg of this?

JK – yes, bd of ed has said we need to know you’re official…

SH – obv costs involved, but like fred to lk into this/ pay them and get access

FR – also off mic, we’d hav to lk into….?

JK – cd do….at no cost to city

Mayor -- lets start this proc w/ the deputy major right away. – DEP mayor not present



Judge __? has issued arbitrator’s opinion …atty jim aaron advises city of the decision

JA – arb who wz assigned by judge Lawson to arb disput brought bef Lawson, if apartners …arb did find faults on behalf of developers and he arrived at list of defaults same as we argued bef judge, failure to dev properties apartners bought in terms of blks/ why did we go thru exercise?

From our perspective in dlg w/ apartners send of frustration over full yr/ arb didn’t giv u a home run but bal equities on both side in much btr pos before arb bd than in 2010/ say for sev’l reasons:

When read dec of judge politane – action to compel apartners to being project townhouse proj blk 146 kingsley and Asbury / timeframes def for design, perm construction and sale, under judge order dev sought and given right to dev blk/lot 132, which is old charms bldg blk, corner Monroe and cookman, dev same lines of dev. Procedure starts when 50% sale of first project/ from there dev to dev 130, 130A and 144, may require plan amendments based on what city wnts dev there and what partners wnt dev there, in this dec judge says if can’t get together on plan amendments in 6 mos you come back bef me and I’ll decide/

Other benefits #1 last yr apartners saying didn’t want to perform infrastructure obligations, arb didn’t obviate the obligations, but asked city to find funds to help offset some of cost for developers/

Third – uncertainty as to what dev d /w hostages, mostly or fully acquired properties, arb said you’ve got a yr to tell us what u want, so y hv finally a timeframe/ Lots 193, 206, 219, all north of conv hall, bordering on kingsley and ocean

Was it costly and time consuming – ans objectively and subjectively yes

Now can hv dialogue w/ property owners either devlopers has to take the prop or face never being able to tk them/ \

Now mst Deal w/ amendments to plan, can’t bld 20 story bdlgs anymore anyway - can’t get financing

Did we get everything? did we get to 2nd and 3rd, I’d say lot of wk, City is ready w/ waterfront advisory comm., tech rev comm. w/ now be involved.

Mayor – hostages one yr from now w be freed one way or another. Argument that nobody’s dev in this economny doesn’t hold water, redev com wkg together to mk a 2001 plan into 2011 and 2020 plan/ certain things worth fighting for, delay tactics w/ not be tolerated/ vision for 2020, yes it’s a happy day, I like homruns but also like..inaudible.

TR- City independt audit rec’d from dave Kaplan/ certify that you’ve freviewed at least the comments of the auditor, tha’t purpose of that resolution/

JB – can we get recommendations broken down first? Doesn’t go into detail on what generated recommendations/

TR - 4 some had to do w/ ? controls? Better controls

JB – nothing serious

TR – no – next step meet w/ council/ action plan for few recommedations in there/ let me know if more detail re’td

FR – one add’l matter to be presented, no action w/ be taken on exec session

But njsa – housing authority investigation/ members were re’td by couneil to be here to night to discuss charges hld…under exec agenda/ as city atty sent letr to hg auth atty on jun 13th, also city mgr letr to incdivid members of auth. Atty for auth since members hv’t accepted audit therfor none wd attend tonight/ hsg auth not mkg audit report pub until accepted by them, antic by mond eveing next wk / city has auth to remove members of auth/ that report w/ be made avail to pub if city rec’ves req under FOIA. [that’s a 10/4]

SH – iStar’s presentation and mmarquette’s presentation, considering corrisfors on cookman av/ comm. realizes too many mtgs on southside, not gone north of CH, thenw/ move on to all the way to end of bdwlk in north and w/ invite public in, erd or 4th wk of august, w/ let joe know so he can mk it official

Jb – Asbury tower and ? you guys are wkg on that?

TR – also wkg on services to residents of tower and…

JB – qus to TR inaudible

TR – exactly

\JB – more of same/ inaud.

Mayor – thank everyone made lst Saturday possible/ AP Field day, espec Aleisha who is not here today/ make one halthy chg in life, exercise or diet, mental phys, nutrition/ cpl hundred people in bech activites, volley ball, massage etc on bdwk.

Pkg unfinished on bangs, owner in default, bank owns

Mayor at min can they cln up

TR – just foreclosed on by bank so …

Mayor – atm machine?

TR – missed ans.

Mayor – as part of emrg preparedness plan, can we hv PA sys runs length of beach / for event then thought, how wd we clr the area/ communi /in case of god forbid disaster/

JB – no offense, I’ve been saying this for how long and people lk at me like nuts/ used to be one or two bk in day/

Mayor – we’ve been awfully lucky when I saw what happened in places like japan, terrible loss of life but not as bad as cd’ve been becz prepared.

TR – nods

TR’s report – q’s re crushing mat’l on springwood av/ go thru ea succinct way. Issue raised as to whether crushing mat’l was illegal operation was there a fine by dep?

ANS – purpose was to grind it and reuse it, rather than hv it shipped out and pay to tk away then buy material to bring in/ also a longer oper, 6 – 9 mos longer to do job/ mor dangerous/ more noise

Trks transporting mat’l w/in city…95% of mat’l crushed was from and for AP/ envi co was onbd to eval safety of mat’l bef reused/ bef proj started at preconstruction mtgDOT guidelines/ What is req’d procedure for trkg? Dumping fees for trks… was this illegal dumping? No howver when city asked lucas to bring add’l concrete to mix there wa add’l permit req’d which wasn’t. DEP violation. He reads def of illegal dumping – not applicable here. Decibel rating not able to get ans on that. Did springwd av start w/out the permit, yes. DEP said don’t know longterm effects of exposure to the mat’l. Officer Rein wrote tickets, no one called pol to hv summonses dismissed/ some supporting documentation available …12 loads of mat’l brought to springwood av, from sea bright Holmdel and Neptune / it was concrete, lucas says didn’t get violation yet/

Adjourn – resume 7:45



Public Portion –

Recognition of the police explorers – 14 – 17 no criminal record, at least C avg in school/ shelter from negative influences…crowd control, traffic posts, survelliance of motor vehicles. In conjunction with the police dpt. 2 reps of eagle scouts, present charter to post 187 and Patrol officer Jessie Dovila, who was once member of 187 before becoming policewoman/ 13th law enforcement post in mon cty/ share/w/ other posts, grow in experience w/ others/ good luckin your exploring adventure/

Mayor hoping both news orgs onight w/ have large photo of the explorers.

Public Comment – 3 mins one time around

Steve Wider 602 5th av

Saw you mr mayor on bdwlk if you’d blt affordable units in city but u said no rm to bld, but second blk from ocean for wkfrc cd/ but u say only rich people can live on oceanfront/ u said landlords s/ fix their bldgs, one is here so u can discuss w/ him right now/ but that’s not same as rent control w/ we still need/ trouble w/ loud neighbor not getting action from policie dept/ ended up in hosp from sleep deprivation

Bring the soldiers home peace bill/ if mayors and ogvernors sign on maybe fed’l gov w/ act on it sooner/

Ria Marano-

That little speech he gave was that $250k worth? I’d expect a home run for that not 2nd or 3rd base/ was that on bill resolution tonith?

TR – yes/ beach revenue and pkg about $60k/wk

RM – was $4k motor for car was that your carTR – I don’t know

RM -Arb on

TR – entire waterfront and pkg lots are included in arb awards

Joyce Grant – come to my atten again, poorer residents are waiting to go on beach after lifegds are gone, terribly dangerous/ socio economic demographics for ap, African American 62.1% Hispanic pop grew by 72% since…, higher prop of one parent hsholds, per cap income half of cty or state/ 1/5th of pop is under 10 yrs of age/ in light of this, it wd appr mny families in ap , inspit of under 12 being free and seniors discounted, cannot pay for bch in this area/ hope this would be

Mayor – it is being addressed, as u know under 12 fee on bch/ mayor’s ball and out of my own pocket $200 be/z wnt beach supervision, so give the adults money to be there

Bill Sprattly – called city for ambulance, told no private ambulance svc here/ few wks ago got a bill/ what’s the big deal them sending me a bill?

TR – one of issue we faced to bal budget as residents if u can submit it to insuarance otherwise we don’t go after it/ if liv in city we can mk that distinction between residents and nonresidents/

George Kary – when mr aaron talking – who’s the captive? Am I is Adriatic everyone in redev zone

TR people who own own prop liv under redev plan/ so Adriatic is a good ex. Other prop / master dev has right under existing agreement/ that’s def of hostage/

GK – so if I don’t hear from them in a year I’m off the hook?

TR – anyone on watfront perop hasn’t been taken is under threat of em domain unless a partners said not going to take I wd define as hostage/

GK – if they send me a letter and I say no thanks, we’re right back where we started/

TR – apartners – there was no deadline bef/ jst out there waiting and waiting/ yr started yesterday wh this arb / but juge also put deadline on it/

GK – that’s what I mean doesn’t that get them off the hook?

TR – I’ll follow up w/ you

GK – sounds like a foul ball to me

Frank – event stop the violende at 2nd Baptist on Atkins Av, wnt find solutions…west side citizens united, other orgs, Asbury and Neptune together / 6 pm

Northside of springwd av lights out bet borden and springwd av/ like to hank for p9lice presence on bikes today.

Myra Campbell – dep defines illegal dumping manmade mat’ls contret brik and asphalt/ day after last council mtg was violation served on lucas / don’t let Katrina happen on west side due to pop over there/ q re flooding don’t know if it’s intensity of rain or sreets not bein repaired on west side/ not plsed w/ answers/ see that press gets answers and lks into them instead of jus printing them/ I don’t hv health or dental but som of u hav option of two polans/

Mayor – no Katrina response in this city, we will reach out to every citizen…I had same q about flooding coming from LB flooding everywhere, system water being ejected out of system/ so intensity of rain/ more coming this way I understand/ health benefits were answered and w/ repat, when I started I took it because had none elswewhere/ I wk at brookdale college it’s a cty based tax too I put in 40 hrs a wek and money out of pocket, go to league of municipalities to lrn about health initiatives I pay my own way/ time w/ dpw in 13 cities throughout nj/ city does cover me and my partner for health insur, I think compensation well deserved/ as we begin to budget I may hv to choose a different plan/ we wk very hrd for this city/ not like dan fr tricity he laughed about it, I know u wk harder than that/

SHenderson – I don’t take it

RMarano – But you take the money

Mayor – gaveling I tell u same thing every week / you’re not going to shout out

TR – blacktopping completion is sept – so w/ be finished w/in that timeframe/ flooding – all of this infrastructure is bein done under new DEP guidelines, valuts water runs thru, solids drop out to prevent them from floating in lakes/ but w/ intensity of rain laely that chamber can back up/ so lkg at way to redesign mkg larger/ on eis at end of avenue a/ need another catch basin down there/ more rain, more water down there/

Denise Richards –

Need to know also, what w/ happen between curb and sidewalk, ar they coming bk w/ topsoil?

TR – I met w/ them yesterday on that new sched coming out next wek w/ address to end of project

Gerry scarano – thnks for brining up mary johnson’s passing – she was a good activist

Affordable hsg important puts more hsg stk in to use/ lst wek news tlkg aobut extroadinary aid/ concerned about debt service I think $2.2mn a year in debt service/ do you hav any plans to cut the debt service are u lkg at rat3ables/

Mayor – lkg at everything

GS – thank u a slap in face when employees and officials take the insurance…

Angelino – AP

Illegal cab companies come into town solicit and drive ar’d can’t do anything

TR – we had brf conversation about this last wek, we spk w/ police / think certain companies not licensed in AP/ unless licensed can’t cruise ar’d, pol have been alerted about and legitmate complaint if you’re licensed by city u hv right…if any ideas how to assist pol in catching these guys, thnk it’s going to tk that kind of cooperation.

End of public portion

Council business – minutes approved

Payroll resolution

Quality claims – one case $1, 340,000. 27 cases...

Extension of Rafferty’s liquor license into new restaurant BACA/

Appts – holding off on finance officer

Resolution cash drawer of $250 for tax collector

Scott air packs, Greenville nj

Extend 3rd qtr tax liens –

All yes for above

Hazardous discharge/ $10K+

Hrg on false alarms Sept 7th

Aug 3rd hrg on curfew for minors

All yes all above

Leasing capital eq’t carried to aug 3rd

Contractors for Bids rca project Monroe – yes

Ridge av - yes

Adjourned