SOMERS POINT — On July 9, City Council postponed the vote on a measure that would allow businesses to use space in city lots to fulfill parking requirements until the meeting July 23.
City Council President Kirk Gerety said the Planning Board had not had an opportunity to review the ordinance and make recommendations. The Planning Board is set to meet at 7 p.m. July 15 at City Hall.
Ordinance 17-2026, which was introduced June 25 in a 4-3 vote, states that commercial development, particularly along Bay Avenue and between Bay Avenue and Shore Road, is constrained due to the size of the lots.
It notes that there are several city-owned parking lots along Bay Avenue where a limited number of spaces could be provided to new businesses that otherwise may not be able to satisfy the minimum number required.
The ordinance states that would benefit the city by promoting efficient use of available parking spaces, assisting traffic circulation and access, and open the door to new enterprises.
The measure would allow City Council to grant a deed of easement to the owner of a new commercial business situated within 100 yards of a city-owned parking lot, giving the owner exclusive use of certain spaces for a fee. All such easements granted may not exceed 20 percent of the lot combined.
The ordinance further states that the Planning Board or Zoning Board must approve any easement, which may be made a condition application approval.
In addition, City Council may enter into an agreement in which the owner, customers, employees and patrons of a new commercial establishment in the area have non-exclusive use of parking spaces within a specific municipal parking lot, and the city would have the non-exclusive right to use parking spaces in the owner’s lot for overflow parking when needed.
On June 25, Councilwoman Janice Johnston argued that the ordinance “defeats the purpose of having a municipal parking lot, because you’re allowing someone to build something bigger than what’s allowed and use the city parking.”
Councilman Sean McGuigan, who had advocated for the ordinance, said the proposal goes hand in hand with a past measure that reduced the parking requirements for restaurants from one spot for every three seats to one for every five.
“That was done in the name of economic development to make our restaurants or our community more competitive in attracting new restaurants and making it easier for our restaurants to operate,” he said, noting nothing was done to benefit retail businesses. “This is in the same vein as that.”
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
