State, city, nonprofit working on process for Somers Mansion acquisition
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
SOMERS POINT — The amount of red tape a nonprofit group has to deal with to take over operations at Somers Mansion likely would stretch across Great Egg Harbor Bay — the view from the home of the city founder.
But it appears as if things are moving in a positive direction.
Representatives of the city and Patriots for the Somers Mansion met with state historic preservation officials recently to discuss the group’s proposal to take over stewardship of the oldest home in Atlantic County and most visible symbol of its past.
With a land transfer expected to take a couple of years and the group champing at the bit to move forward with its plans, the city leasing the property from the state appears to be the best way for the Patriots to continue efforts to preserve the 1720s home.
City solicitor Tom Smith reported to City Council on March 25 that he learned that the presentation by the Patriots to the city March 11 “turned out to be premature.”
The group presented a plan for the city to purchase the property from the state and transfer ownership to the nonprofit group, which would rehabilitate, renovate and operate the site. The Patriots also have plans for redesigning the annex, which is not historic, to create classroom and meetings space with an ADA-compliant public bathroom.
Smith said he learned there are multiple reasons why the land transfer is not feasible at this time but that a lease is possible.
Group Vice Chairman Greg Sykora, who took part in the meeting, said it was determined that a three-part process would be the best way of completing the transfer of stewardship and eventual ownership.
Sykora said all parties agree on the way forward.
“These three phases of what we are going into is and has been agreed to by the state and the city as this is the direction that they’re going to go into,” Sykora said. “Before we had a vision and that’s all we had. Now we have a roadmap to get to the end goal.”
City Council President Janice Johnston said council is completely on board with the plan but wants to ensure the city does not become financially liable for the property’s upkeep.
“It’s just going to take time and we really have to see if it’s a good thing for us to do,” Johnston said. “Hopefully we would have more control over it.”
She said research into the proposal has just begun to find out “what we can do and what makes sense to do.”
The first step is to establish the group as an Officially Recognized Friend of the Organization, something Sykora characterized as a simple process since all of the paperwork has been completed.
“It’s very easy for us to resurrect that,” he said.
The second phase would be the city signing a lease agreement and subleasing the property to the group.
While awaiting a lease agreement between the state and city in the fall, the group will be able to continue holding fundraising events at the property and conducting repairs with the state’s permission.
“The ORFO will give the Patriots the ability to use the property this year and have events there,” Sykora said. “We don’t want to miss the season this year and lose our momentum. While that’s happening, they’re working on the lease and while that’s happening, they are working on the transfer.”
Smith said acquiring a long-term lease is not an option, noting the property could be leased to the city or the group but only for 20 years. That’s why the third step, the land transfer from the state to the city and then to the group, would ultimately be necessary.
Smith said the group could continue what it has been doing as far as making repairs and holding events with the state’s permission. He said one thing that’s not clear is what type of activities can be held on the site, questioning whether a wedding would be permitted and whether alcohol would be prohibited.
Sykora said Smith has a lot of questions pertaining to the lease but those issues would be dealt with in the summer as they work out the agreement.
“He was talking about the alcohol, for example. None of the events we were talking about would include alcohol, including a wedding. There’s no alcohol at a wedding — the wedding reception has alcohol but not the wedding,” Sykora said.
As far as events for the spring and summer go, Sykora said as an ORFO, the group would submit a list of the events to the state for approval.
“It’s going to take longer to get to the end goal, but in the meantime people who are experiencing the mansion really aren’t going to know the difference. They’ll be able to go to events and there still will be things happening and we’ll still be doing renovations and still doing all of those things until October, when there will be a lease with the city and the city will lease it back to us,” Sykora said.
He said part of the ORFO application process required a five-year plan “and they love it and they want that to happen.”
“The meeting that we had with the state of New Jersey had all of the decision-makers and they all agreed that doing these three steps was the best way to do it so that the property doesn’t become derelict,” Sykora said. “They don’t want it to become derelict either. It was their idea to do it in three phases so this way the property is getting the attention that it deserves all through the process.”