Officials mull purchase of tract to block Stop & Shop

Bipartisan effort to stop retail center project

BY CHRISTINEVARNO
Staff Writer

Officials mull purchase of tract to block Stop & Shop

Bipartisan effort to stop retail center project

BY CHRISTINEVARNO

Staff Writer

OCEAN TOWNSHIP — Residents have spoken out against the proposed shopping center at the corner of Route 35 and Deal Road. Now they have at least one council member on their side.

Councilman Christopher Siciliano said he has not supported the development of the center, known as the Ocean Gate Commons retail center, and is in the process of doing something about it. He said he wants to see the property remain undeveloped.

Sen. Joseph A. Palaia and Assemblyman Sean T. Kean, both R-Monmouth, have sided with Democrat Siciliano on this issue. They held a meeting on July 8 to explore other possible options for the parcel of land.

"This is for the good of the public," Siciliano said. "We are going to put our partisanship aside and work together on this."

Siciliano said the ultimate goal is for the township to purchase the property from the developer Cerruzzi Holdings LLC, which owns the land. The developer is proposing to construct a 189,326-square-foot center, anchored by a Stop & Shop, on roughly 30 acres of property.

"The developers want to develop the property and are possibly not looking to sell it," Siciliano said, but added that he is going to push for the town to purchase this property, which may end up in an ownership battle in court.

The land was purchased for just over $7 million by Cerruzzi Holdings just over three years ago, according to Kean, who said he will know how much the land is worth after an appraisal is conducted.

"The best way to fund [the purchase of the land] is to have a municipal and state partnership," Kean said. "We are looking at different ideas."

One option being explored is for the town to take out a low-interest bond through the state to purchase the property. Payments would then be made over the course of 10 to 15 years to pay it off.

"We are trying to find the funding without burdening the taxpayers too much," Siciliano said.

He said he is looking into applying for a Green Acres grant that would cover up to 50 percent of the cost of the bond with the other half of expenses coming from the taxpayers of the community.

The council is in the process of putting together a resolution to adopt an open space tax that is planned to be proposed at an upcoming council meeting, according to Siciliano. He said it will increase taxes up to 6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Homeowners living in a home assessed at $200,000 would be paying $120 more a year in taxes if the open space tax is approved in the Nov. 2 election, Siciliano said.

"We are still working on bringing that [the tax increase] down by half," Siciliano said. "We probably will only need 2 to 3 cents, tops."

The town would then have "an automatic service of money," if voters approved it, according to Kean, who said at that point he would hope that the town would prioritize the site at Route 35 and Deal Road.

Kean said another possibility to prevent construction at that location is for the town to change the zoning of the property, although he said that is unlikely to happen.

"I want the property to merge into Joe Palaia Park [located on the corner of Deal and Whalepond Roads]," Kean said. "The park is about 240 acres; this [property on Route 35 and Deal Road] is another 30 acres. It would be a substantial piece to this property."

He said the town is already battling a traffic situation, and adding a shopping center to the mix would only make the situation worse.

"The people have spoken," Kean said. "They have sent me hundreds of letter with an overwhelming public support to not see the project go through."

A Planning Board meeting to hear the application for the shopping center is scheduled for September. Kean said other meetings with Siciliano and Palaia, a former mayor of the township, will be held over the course of the next several weeks so more information on an alternate plan can be provided prior to the Planning Board meeting.