LONG BRANCH — Business owners and public officials met last week to discuss the state of business in the city.
The Greater Long Branch Area Business meeting, held at the Brookdale Learning Center, featured a bevy of topics, including Broadway redevelopment, Pier Village and the Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ).
One of the main topics was lower Broadway, which many residents have repeatedly asked the city to develop during recent council meetings.
“Something has to be done this year about that,” said Robert Napoli, who is president of Security World. “I see it every day and I see what goes on.”
However, Long Branch Business Administrator Howard Woolley Jr. said a solution can’t happen as quickly as some would like.
“There are some business issues, there are legal issues,” he said. “If you just look at the foreclosure debacle across the country, these issues are time consuming.
“We are concerned about it in the city but it is something that cannot be solved quickly and it has to be solved properly,” he added. “There are a lot of legal constraints on this thing.”
Development in the area has stalled in recent years, and Woolley and developer Todd Katz confirmed this fall that plans for the zone would need to be revised.
Three property owners in the Broadway Arts Center redevelopment zone sued the city, challenging the taking of their properties through eminent domain. In April, the Appellate division of state Superior Court ruled that the redevelopment ordinances in the Broadway Arts district are invalid.
A three-judge panel released an unpublished opinion April 16, stating that the city’s 1996 designation for the BAC zone does not meet the heightened standards put forth in the 2007 decision Gallenthin v. Paulsboro.
The three properties are: Rainbow Liquors, owned by Kavita and Gopal Panday; The Lighthouse Institute for Evangelism, owned by the Rev. Kevin Brown; and a property owned by Dr. Carlos Rivera.
Over the summer, locals painted over many of the abandoned buildings in the lower Broadway area, something Woolley said has gotten mixed reviews.
“The Urban Canvas was something that we thought of as a Band-Aid and might work,” he said. “There is one thing about modern art that I know, is that not everyone likes it.”
Another complaint during the meeting came from business owner Bernard Gorcey, who criticized the city for not advertising the meeting well enough.
Long Branch UEZ Director Jacob Jones defended the way the meetings are advertised.
“We send out notices by email, by the paper, we even sometimes put it on cable television,” he said. “This is not a meeting for city officials, it is a meeting for businesses.
“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink,” he added. “All we could do is ask.”
Councilwoman Mary Jane Celli also criticized Gorcey’s comments.
“I take exception to what Mr. Gorcey said,” she said. “I don’t know what more he wants us to do.
“We have done everything we can in the city.”
Another criticism voiced at the meeting came from Napoli, who said the meeting involved too many public officials and too few business owners.
“We do not get a lot of businessmen here to these meetings,” he said. “It is topheavy with a lot of public officials, which may be intimidating to some.”
Also at the meeting was Oceanport residentArt Castellano, who is the director of the New Jersey Marathon.
Castellano said that the marathon is going to be expanded to include seven municipalities, including Long Branch, Monmouth Beach, Oceanport, Deal, Allenhurst, Asbury Park and Bradley Beach.
“It will truly become a Jersey Shore event,” Castellano said.
Also presented at the meeting were reports from the UEZ, Upper Broadway, Pier Village, Long Branch Library and a video on the history of Long Branch.
Brookdale Learning Center Executive Director Ed Johnson was presented with an award for his service hosting the quarterly meetings.
The next meeting is scheduled for March 16.
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