GoogleMaps/Ventnor City is seeking a buyer for a vacant lot located at 4803 Ventnor Ave.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
VENTNOR The Board of Commissioners Sept. 23 passed a resolution accepting a $100,000 bikeway grant and agreed to sell an infill lot on Ventnor Avenue near the Atlantic City border.
According to City Clerk Lisa Hand, a date has yet to be set for the sale of Block 87, Lot 2, which is located at 4803 Ventnor Ave. The 35.9- by 95-foot lot is located just off Jackson Avenue between two residential apartment buildings. The minimum bid amount is $218,000. The lot is currently zoned for mixed used commercial or single family residential; however, a successful bidder could petition the Planning Board for a change in use variance to allow multifamily units.
There was an oil tank located on the property which has been cleaned up and the city is ready to sell it, Commissioner Landgraf said at the commission meeting.
The clerk will be required to advertise the sale twice, during two consecutive weeks no later than seven days before the auction. The sale will be awarded to the highest responsible bidder, who will be required to post a 10% deposit along with the bid and complete the purchase within 45 days.
The city also accepted a $100,000 grant from the 2021 Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Bikeway Program to establish a bicycle lane on Ventnor Avenue between Dorset and Jackson avenues, which is wider than other sections of the roadway. That portion of Ventnor Avenue is a municipal roadway.
According to Landgraf, Atlantic County government is considering establishing a bicycle lane on its portion of the roadway, from Dorset Avenue to the Margate border at Fredricksburg Avenue.
Landgraf said the restriping project would provide 12-foot vehicle travel lanes, with a 5-foot bicycle lane and 2-foot buffer next to the parking lane. Having the buffer area would help prevent dooring crashes when motorists open their car doors from the parking lane.
Landgraf said the city conducted a traffic study on Atlantic Avenue this past summer that investigated replacing traffic signals and establishing a road diet similar to what Margate did on Atlantic Avenue.
There are a lot of positives on both sides to do it or not do it, he said. Certainly, pedestrian safety is in favor of doing it, along with bicycle safety.
The configuration would deviate somewhat from Margate's road diet in that Ventnor's bicycle lane would be slightly narrower, allowing for the dooring safety zone.
I want to do it better than they did in Margate, he said.
Landgraf said the same pot of federal funding that provided funds for the bicycle racks.
Landgraf also said the city is working with engineering students at Atlantic County Institute of Technology to come up with a design for a pocket park on Ventnor Avenue. The city purchased the lot, which is located in a commercial zone, two years ago after a building located there burned in a fire and was razed.
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