Developer Mark L. Greco of MLG Realty, LLC addresses the Planning Board, Jan. 11, 2023.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
VENTNOR After a two-hour Planning Board meeting Jan. 11 that outlined changes to a developer's site plan to accommodate residents' concerns, property owners are still not satisfied and continue to protest the city's plan to pave the street behind their homes.
About 25 residents who live within 200 feet of Ventnor Plaza shopping center, which is undergoing revitalization in compliance with a previously approved Redevelopment Plan, attended the informal hearing Wednesday evening. Residents were upset that they were being heard on an informal basis rather than formally, which could require a vote by the board. The board took no formal action during the meeting, but residents will have an opportunity to negotiate with the Board of Commissioners, which approved the redevelopment plan.
The hearing started with developer and local resident Mark L. Greco of MLG Realty, LLC reading off a list of changes he made to a site plan approved Oct. 24, 2022 to accommodate requests from residents. Although Greco addressed all of their concerns about his property, the meeting ended with residents still unhappy about the city's plans to pave Little Rock Avenue, a partially paved city street that has been on the city's official Zoning Maps since the 1930s.
The only item that rose to the top is paving of the city street, which is part of the Redevelopment Zone approved in 2019, and is not a Ventnor Plaza issue, Greco told board members.
At the city's request, Greco agreed to pave the road, which includes a 30-foot cartway, curbs and 10-foot buffer on each side of the cartway at no cost to the city.
We just don't want the street paved, one resident said.
Addressing property owners' stated concerns, the two members of the board who are also city commissioners Lance Landgraf and Tim Kriebel agreed to sit down with Greco, a core group of homeowners, police and the city engineer to hammer out a solution that would satisfy residents.
Greco said he met with property owners in person and through email and telephone calls about their concerns because he wants to be a good neighbor.
What he cannot control is the city's plan to pave the street, which is part of a Redevelopment Plan the city approved before Greco purchased the strip mall.
City officials say paving the road and providing ingress and egress to the mall through the intersection of Little Rock and Wellington avenues, which is controlled by a traffic signal, will increase safety for motorists. But residents said paving the road will create safety issues for their children and grandchildren, who play in their backyards. One resident said a tractor trailer could crash into their backyard fence and land in their yard.
Because Wellington Avenue is a county roadway, the Atlantic County Department of Regional Planning and Development must approve Greco's site plans.
Residents want Greco to either maintain the existing one-way entrance, which is about 100 feet north of Little Rock Avenue, or use No Name road, an unnamed city street on the north side of the property as one of the mall's two main access roads.
Greco said the only way for trucks to access the rear of the mall where deliveries are made is from the south side of the strip mall. The one-way access road along the bay in the rear of the property is very narrow, trucks have to back-in to angled parking spaces, and they must exit on the north side of the mall at No Name road.
Homeowners expressed concerns about drainage and flooding, but Greco's engineer said upgrades to the parking lot and stormwater management system would lessen flooding during rain events. Removing some impervious surface and adding green space and buffers would help with tidal flooding.
Homeowners said they are worried tractor trailers will rumble past their backyards and cause structural damage to their homes.
It's going to be noisy, our houses will vibrate and we will be exposed to diesel fumes, resident Bob Rosenblit said.
Residents expressed suspicion about a failure to properly notify property owners about the Oct. 24 meeting when Greco's plans were approved, and creation of the redevelopment plan more than three years ago.
Only 11 of 33 property owners located within 200 feet of the mall were notified of the Oct. 24 meeting due to a computer error. It is not the first time the mistake was made, board attorney Leo L. Manos said.
The same error was made for a previous business owner at the mall who never followed through with their application, he said.
Landgraf said the city has instructed the Tax Assessor's Office, which provides the developers with a list of property owners within 200 feet of a project, to not only use the computer program, but also formulate the list manually by drawing a 200-foot circle around the proposed development.
Ventnor-Plaza-Redevelopment-Plan-10-25-19
https://www.downbeach.com/2023/01/10/ventnor-plaza-developer-revises-plan-to-accommodate-residents-concerns/
https://www.downbeach.com/2019/10/26/ventnor-plaza-redevelopment-plan-in-the-works/
https://www.downbeach.com/2018/12/14/ventnor-moves-to-create-wellington-avenue-redevelopment-plan/
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