City goes on record re waterfront redevelopment
Capabianco: All sides met with a goal of restarting the amendment process
In an open letter to the community dated Aug. 10, City Manager Michael Capabianco [at right below] posted a response to comments Brian Cheripka of iStar made during a recent Homeowners Association meeting.
Below is the letter in its entirety:
On Saturday, July 30th, Brian Cheripka of iStar provided the Asbury Park Homeowners Association with an update in regards to waterfront redevelopment. Since that meeting, all the local papers have written about it and the governing body and I have received numerous inquiries in regards to comments that were said during the presentation.
“We want to do things with the plan amendment that makes sense for the community,” he said. “I need the community to know that we are trying to move them forward and we need your help,” Cheripka stated.
On March 21st of this year, Brian was provided a draft copy of the City’s amendments to the waterfront plan. The City and iStar were scheduled to meet on Tuesday, July 26 to discuss the amendments. This meeting was canceled on Monday, the day before, by Brian because he did not like certain language in one item of the plan amendments. I personally spoke to both Brian and his attorney stating that there are more to the amendments than just one item, and that we should, at a minimum, still meet to discuss other issues such as lot by lot development, uses, parking and circulation. But Brian refused to meet until the language was changed. For four months, Brian had the proposed amendment language and it only became an issue immediately before we were scheduled to meet.
To get iStar back to the negotiating table, the City acquiesced and changed the language so a formal negotiation took place. Yesterday on August 9th, I can report, all sides met with a goal of restarting the amendment process of both the Waterfront Plan and the Master Developer’s Agreement.
Brian mentioned during the Homeowner’s Association meeting that local labor cannot meet the insurance requirements to perform construction work. Why not lessen these requirements to provide more opportunities for local labor? I am grateful for the suggestion that the next agreement, which will probably be for 1101 Ocean, possibly could require contractor insurance language that ensures local contractors can act as subs.
Also discussed was that Bradley Cove [at right above] is directly linked to the moving of the sewer treatment plant. But this cannot, and will not, be a decision that is made in a vacuum. The City will continue to work to ensure Bradley Cove is preserved as open space.
Out of everything that was discussed on July 30th, the comments in regards to 1101 Ocean [at right below] were the most troublesome to me. It was stated that the City had received an application package for the project in May. A word was missing in that statement. That word is: completed. The statement could have been, “The City received a completed application package for 1101 Ocean a few weeks ago.” But our financial advisors are still waiting for information; the application has yet to be deemed complete.
What was the second most troublesome statement? Brian discussed that the City had not approved a storage facility. I had no idea what this was concerning as in the last nine months, no one had mentioned it to me. When I inquired to Brian about it, stating the Mayor said the City did approve it, Brian responded that it was actually stuck with the attorneys and the City did indeed approve the facility. This obviously begs the question, “How important is this that for nine months no one mentioned it?” This lack of communication or moving of priority projects ensures that only one thing occurs – unrealistic expectations of the continued and future development of the City.
iStar, as a developer, is in the business to make money. The City governing body members and staff look at the City as a whole. The political silly season is upon us, where individuals and organizations begin to push their singularly focused agendas harder than ever, exactly as Brian’s presentation was meant to push the Waterfront Redevelopment activities. Additionally, we have already seen self-serving Letters to the Editor appear in the local papers. And regretfully more will come.
But there was something that Brian said that is very true and must not be forgotten; that iStar has dropped the tag line “Asbury Park Waterfront” to just “Asbury Park.” Why? Because they realized the City as a whole benefits from redevelopment and not just the waterfront. And the lesson that the City be viewed as a whole must not be forgotten.
Michael Capabianco
City Manager
[This letter represents the opinion of its writer and is not representative of any opinion of the Asbury Park Sun staff. All readers are welcome to submit Letters to the Editor to news@asburyparksun.com for our consideration. For guidelines on letter-writing and submission, click here.]
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