Politics & Government

Ocean City Earmarks $2.7 Million for Affordable Housing

But the city will take its time deciding where to spend the money.

City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Thursday night that protects $2.65 million of city money designated for affordable housing.

City Council members said they did not want to risk losing the money the city has collected in local development fees since 1998. The city faces a July 17 deadline to designate the money or potentially forfeit it to the state. 

The ordinance moves the $2.65 million from a COAH Development Fee Trust Fund to a capital improvement account. The ordinance also specifies that $2.1 million will be authorized for one of two site-specific projects for age-restricted housing for the elderly: 1) a rehabilitation of the Bellevue Hotel at Eighth Street and Ocean Avenue, which is currently up for sale; or 2) a lot on Sixth Street and Haven Avenue. The other $550,000 is designated for a roof replacement at affordable housing at Peck's Beach Village.

Find out what's happening in Ocean Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But members of the city administration were careful to say that Thursday night's decision was only about moving money. They said any decision about specific sites will come after considering bids and consulting with neighbors.

"That discussion will be months in the future," City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson said of City Council's consideration of specific sites. She said the ordinance simply would put the funds "out of the reach of the state."

Find out what's happening in Ocean Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A group of more than 20 neighbors — wearing red shirts with adhesive labels displaying their home streets — attended the meeting to object to the consideration of the site at Sixth Street and Haven Avenue. Their lawyer, Mark Emmer of Egg Harbor City, outlined some of the neighbors' concerns:

  • A concentration of Section 8 and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) housing in the same section of town, instead of a dispersal of affordable housing throughout the town, as is required by law.
  • No guarantee that age restrictions can be maintained over time.
  • Dilution of an established single-family neighborhood.
  • Increased traffic — particularly near the Ocean City Primary School.
  • Drainage — more impervious surface in an area already under water in storms and high tides.

Business Administrator Mike Dattilo said the city has received three bids for work, and each addressed the site at Eighth Street and Ocean Avenue. One of the bids, he said, mentioned the Sixth and Haven site as an alternative in an "off the cuff" reference.

Dattilo said that the administration would work quickly to organize a meeting with neighbors of each site to discuss in more detail the process and the proposals.

Councilman Scott Ping suggested that Second Ward Councilman-elect Antwan McClellan could also schedule a City Council workshop meeting open to the public. McClellan, who takes office on July 1, was in attendance at the meeting and agreed.

"I know the mayor would embrace the idea of meeting with the neighborhood well in advance," McCrosson said.

Dattilo also said that other sites could still be considered and that it's not uncommon for capital or bond ordinances to be amended.

First Ward Councilman-elect Mike DeVlieger offered a simple suggestion to alleviate neighbors' concerns about specific sites: Why not change the wording of the ordinance to add "the possibility of another site."

"Perfectly logical," Dattilo responded — but probably not acceptable to the state, which requires specific sites, he said.

But what exactly the state does require remains a source of confusion.

New Jersey municipalities have tried for more than a decade to keep track of the state's ever-changing affordable housing mandates — while very little affordable housing in the state has actually been built.

The latest legislation was passed under Gov. Jon Corzine's administration in 2008 but never clearly defined. Gov. Chris Christie abolished the state's Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) in June 2011. But courts restored its mandates. And municipal obligations are still largely undefined.


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