‘It doesn’t make sense to assume something ahead of time,’ councilwoman says
SOMERS POINT — Councilwoman Morgan Slaughter questioned the process of amending the redevelopment plan for 90 Broadway, saying it assumes approval of an issue not yet discussed.
City Council introduced an ordinance Feb. 26 that would allow a developer building luxury waterfront townhomes to construct a group home for developmentally disabled adults on the other side of the city to satisfy affordable housing requirements.
Council had adopted a resolution Feb. 12 referring the amended 90 Broadway Redevelopment Plan to the Planning Board for review, but the item was not on the board agenda Feb. 18.
A special meeting of the Planning Board has been scheduled for March 10, ahead of the next City Council meeting March 12.
If the Planning Board approves of the amendment — which sets the location of the affordable housing at 104 Cleveland Ave., a property owned by Planning Board Chairman Paul Striefsky — Council would vote on whether to approve of the change following the second reading.
“This ordinance states that it was to be reviewed by them, but it wasn’t, and then also in this ordinance it says that they submitted recommendations to City Council and determined that it was in the best interest of the city to adopt the amended 90 Broadway Redevelopment Plan, but it wasn’t. I’m just curious as to why we’re even doing a first reading on this ordinance if it hasn’t even been discussed with the Planning Board yet,” she said.
Solicitor Tom Smith said it is a common practice, noting that the ordinance would be back before City Council following the board’s meeting and if the recommendation were against it, there would not be a second reading.
“What’s the rush to do a first reading assuming that the Planning Board is going to send us in a certain direction if it hasn’t even been discussed yet?” Slaughter asked. “Why not wait until the Planning Board does provide a recommendation and then we develop the ordinance?”
Smith said the city has done so in the past on other matters.
In fact, it’s a common practice to introduce an ordinance, send it to the Planning Board, and then have a second reading following its recommendation.
“We had a redevelopment agreement and now we’re amending it and this has been going on since August of 2024,” Smith said.
The solicitor added that if the developer of the proposed group home on Cleveland Avenue does not get financing, the required housing would have to be built at 90 Broadway.
“It still doesn’t make sense to me to assume something ahead of time that the Planning Board hasn’t even been able to discuss amongst themselves and then the public be able to come to the Planning Board and speak on their behalf,” Slaughter said.
Smith said the first reading is simply a notice to the public that the issues will be brought up again, when a public hearing is held. He said they could have waited but time is of the essence regarding financing for both projects.
City Councilwoman Janice Johnson, filling in for Council President Kirk Geretey, who recused himself because of a conflict, said the redevelopment agreement had been approved and that this was just an amendment.
“We’re still using verbiage in the ordinance that hasn’t happened yet,” Slaughter said. “It literally says in here that ‘the Planning Board’s report and recommendations to the City Council concurs with its findings,’ but it hasn’t even happened yet.”
During public comment, city resident Maureen Helbig thanked Slaughter for saying “just because it’s what we always used to do or what we’ve done in the past, doesn’t make it correct or ethical.”
Levi Fox, a resident of 90 Broadway who will be displaced by the housing project, also thanked Slaughter for questioning the process.
“It’s very much appreciated by the audience having a council person who asks questions to unveil some of what is being discussed,” Fox said. “It seems all too often to many people that what goes on in council is under sort of the cover of some kind of shroud.”
Fox went on to discuss the plan to put affordable housing on Cleveland Avenue instead of a 90 Broadway.
“The idea behind affordable housing is for families to have an opportunity to live within a community, and while I certainly do not in any way want to disparage any ways in which it may legally be possible to satisfy affordable housing requirements through projects that do not involve several homes available to low- and middle-income families, I do think that it’s worth considering the spirit, especially when the mayor in his first address at the beginning of the year highlighted the affordable housing component of 90 Broadway as one of the aspects of the other affordable housing projects that were going on,” Fox said.
“I would encourage members of council who are open-minded to the real concerns of the community — I know there are some of you up there — to consider whether projects are actually providing the thing that they’re supposed to do.”
Striefsky told the Sentinel that he would recuse himself and that Vice Chairman Brian Cotton would oversee the meeting March 10.
City Council voted July 10, 2025, to adopt the 90 Broadway Redevelopment Plan, designating the property an area in need of rehabilitation.
It is adjacent to John F. Kennedy Memorial Park and includes three two-unit bayfront homes and an apartment building.
Development plans call for their demolition and the construction of 24 townhouses on the property fronting Great Egg Harbor Bay, requiring an affordable housing element that is planned off-site.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
