MARGATE – A resident wants the city to break a long-term parking lot lease that provides off-street parking for a local business operating near Washington and Ventnor avenues.
Margate resident Dennis Gorniowski thinks it’s “ridiculous” that the city leases off-street parking spaces to a private business owner while residents are left to fend for themselves in finding a place to park during the busy summer months.
At the last Board of Commissioners meeting, Gorniowski said the 50-year lease should be abolished and the parking spaces made public.
Mayor Michael Collins said he agreed that issuing a 50-year lease was too long and that the current administration would never approve a lease that long. However, it’s a legal contract that must be honored.
Two parking lots on Washington Avenue near Ventnor Avenue - the one on the left is public, while the one on the right is for the exclusive use of a real estate office.The lease, which was approved by former Mayor Vaughan Reale’s administration on Aug. 5, 2005, took effect on Jan. 1, 2006, and provided 19 parking spaces on half of the city-owned lot on Washington Avenue near Ventnor Avenue. The lease was awarded to Stephen Marchel, LLC until Dec. 31, 2056, with an optional 25-year extension at a fee of $5,000 per year with a cost of living increase applied every three years based on the Consumer Price Index.
The second half of the lot, which also contains 19 parking spaces, is open to the public. When the city approved parking fees through ParkMobile on Amherst Avenue three years ago, it also approved parking fees for the public portion of the parking lot on Washington Avenue. The fees are collected during the summer months with no fees charged the rest of the year.
Public portion of the city-owned parking lot on Washington Avenue.The lease requires the tenant to maintain the property in good condition with proper lighting and landscaping, erect no advertising signage, and maintain liability insurance of not less than $1 million.
The lease could be assigned with the consent of the city, and possession would revert to the city within five days if the tenant defaulted on the terms of the lease.
On Jan. 21, 2021, under the administration of former Mayor Michael Becker, the city approved assignment of the lease to Berkshire Margate, LLC, which operates a real estate office on Ventnor Avenue.
According to Chief Financial Officer Lisa McLaughlin, the lease currently generates $5,534.66 per year paid on a monthly basis and payments are current.
“Why would someone give a 50 year lease on a property when they knew in 2005 there was a problem with parking?” Gorniowski asked. “It doesn’t make any sense. This needs to be looked into.”
The parking lot on Washington Avenue closes at midnight to prevent people from parking there overnight.Gorniowski said no one would give a 50-year lease unless there is something “underhanded” going on.
Collins agreed the length of the lease, and that of the lease for the NJ Transit lot on Ventnor Avenue, was a “mistake.”
“To me those are outrageous and should be a shorter term,” Collins said. “Predicting in 2006 where we would be in 2056, I think was a mistake by the city at that time, but we are bound by that agreement.”
There is no exit clause in the lease, Collins said.
Gorniowski said the city should have its attorney break the lease.
“There must be something in the lease where we can back out,” Gorniowski said.
Solicitor John Scott Abbott said the lease is a valid contract that has been in effect for 20 years and that none of the current administration was involved at the time the lease was signed.
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