VENTNOR – The Board of Commissioners Aug. 15 agreed to swap all 150 acres of the Ventnor West site for a .03-acre beachfront site the city built on without Green Acres permission in 2005. There will be no transfer of ownership, but the Ventnor West site will be added to the city's Green Acres Recreation and Open Space Inventory.
Mayor Tim Kriebel said, if approved, the diversion would “right a longstanding wrong.”
The diversion of parkland to accommodate an expansion of the Ventnor City community building that houses the Atlantic County Library and the city’s Cultural Arts Center goes back 20 years when the Kriescher administration demolished an ice skating rink to expand the community center.
The expansion, which was built without the approval of the NJ Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres program, removed less than a third of an acre of parkland to accommodate the addition, which now houses the library.
The previous ice skating rink that was built there had been partially funded through the Green Acres program. The city failed to request a diversion of parkland at that time.
Although state regulations prohibit municipalities from obtaining future funding when their regulations are breached, the city was successful in getting a partial diversion in 2018.
Then-Administrator Maria Mento, who is currently Commissioner of Revenue and Finance, was instrumental in getting the DEP to release $1.2 million in grants and low-interest loans the DEP previously awarded to the city to fund the construction of the Pier Shack on the Ventnor Fishing Pier. Green Acres withheld $300,000.
The Ventnor West site, which is located behind the Ventnor Educational Community Complex, is a former city landfill that locals call “glass beach” due to pieces of glass that dot the landscape. The area was once designated for development of a residential waterfront community, but today, most of the land is considered wetlands and therefore, is not buildable.
According to the resolution, if the State House Commission and National Park Service approve it, “the Ventnor Community Center Park Diversion would be resolved, and the city would be in compliance and would have the ability to apply for Green Acres and NPS funds for future projects.”
Commissioner Lance Landgraf called the diversion issue “a monkey on the city’s back” for more than 20 years.
“If we can get this done, this is huge for our city,” Landgraf said.
Kriebel said the diversion agreement, if accepted, would put the city in a better position to get Green Acres funding for future open space projects elsewhere in the city and allows the city “to get a longstanding dispute resolved.”
Copyright Access Network 2025
