EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — The township Planning Board on Monday approved for the third time this year the designation of the former Back Bay BBQ site on Longport Boulevard as an area in need of redevelopment.
The site has been closed since last year. A developer wants to build a marina at the location, township officials have said.
The Planning Board previously voted on the issue in March and July. The March vote had the wrong address, and the July vote was taken without the collection of any evidence, said Mayor Laura Pfrommer, who also sits on the Planning Board.
The redevelopment determination now returns to the Township Committee. The earliest the committee can vote on the recommendation is Oct. 1, Pfrommer said.
The resolution passed 5-1 on Monday. Pfrommer, Manny Aponte, Victoria Schiffler, Charles Eykyn and Bobby Gupta voted for the resolution, and James Galvin voted against it. Members Paul Hodson, Carl Peterson and Riaz Rajput were not present for the vote, Pfrommer said.
Kristopher J. Facenda, who was acting as the attorney for the Planning Board on Monday, advised the board to meet again Sept. 29 to memorialize the language of the resolution it will be sending to the Township Committee, Pfrommer said.
The public can attend the Sept. 29 Planning Board meeting, and there will be a public comment period, Pfrommer said.
The area is certainly in need of redevelopment, said developer Sean Scarborough, owner of Scarborough Properties, a commercial and residential development company based in Marmora.
The Egg Harbor Township Planning Board tackles for the third time on Sept. 15 whether the former Back Bay BBQ site on Longport Boulevard designation as an area in need of redevelopment.
Scarborough said the state’s redevelopment statute has allowed for many positive projects to launch since the early 1990s. If the Township Committee takes up the issue Oct. 1, Scarborough said he would have a legal representative at the meeting.
Right now, Scarborough’s company is before the state with an application to build a marina and restaurant on the site, he said.
“It usually takes a year to get through the process. We’re halfway down that process right now,” Scarborough said Friday.
The former Back Bay BBQ site is in a nice location, but it is run down and dilapidated, he said, adding he wants to make a significant improvement and rebuild what was once there.
The number of people interested in keeping the site from being designated an area in need of redevelopment is growing, said Jennifer Bull-Czarnecki, a resident of the nearby Anchorage Poynte neighborhood.
During Monday’s meeting, the objectors submitted additional evidence to the Planning Board, including pictures that show the area is not blighted and does not need to be designated an area in need of redevelopment, said Bull-Czarnecki, the coastland wetlands issues coordinator for the South Jersey group of the Sierra Club.
The Sierra Club of New Jersey passed a resolution opposing the destruction of protected wetlands that would be caused by redevelopment. This resolution was also entered into evidence, Bull-Czarnecki said.
The resolution states that proposed development conflicts with a standing 2008 final judgment by Superior Court Judge Nelson Johnson.
The Egg Harbor Township Planning Board voted unanimously Monday to recommend to the Township Committee that the site of a former barbecue restaurant be designated an area in need of redevelopment.
“No party may construct, maintain, or authorize docks or other structures in the lagoon opposite O’Byrne Drive without the express consent of those riparian owners whose rights would be affected,” the resolution states.
Riparian rights are legal rights associated with land adjacent to a water source such as a stream, river or lake.
These wetlands are under imminent threat from a proposed redevelopment and marina expansion exceeding 200 acres, which would destroy sensitive marshland, displace wildlife, increase water pollution and exacerbate flooding in surrounding residential areas, the resolution states.
“The Chapter urges the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the Egg Harbor Township Council, and the Atlantic County Board of Commissioners to reject any applications or plans that threaten these wetlands and instead move toward their permanent conservation,” the resolution states.
Contact Vincent Jackson:
609-272-7202
vjackson@pressofac.com
X @ACPressJackson
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Vincent Jackson
Staff Writer
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