Move would pave the way for luxury Paddle Club at Pleasant Avenue
SOMERS POINT — City Council voted Oct. 28 to move forward with a redevelopment plan with the Somers Point Paddle Club.
In June, local developer Sean Scarborough of Scarborough Properties presented his plan to build a private swim club with a bar and grille on the former site of Bubba Mac’s Shack at 520 Bay Ave.
The city approved a memorandum of understanding with Scarborough and on Oct. 14 directed the Planning Board to review the redevelopment plan.
Introduced Thursday, Ordinance 13-2021 adopts the redevelopment plan regarding the 6.2-acre property at the corner of Pleasant Avenue. The Planning Board is set to review the plan Wednesday, Nov. 10, and if it approves City Council would hold a second reading and public hearing on the ordinance Thursday, Nov. 18.
Scarborough said the redevelopment plan lays the groundwork to present the project as a concept to the Planning Board.
“The ordinance was written with the design we presented to council in mind,” he said.
In addition to the development of the swim club, zoning requires the property include affordable housing.
Scarborough said the company is willing to build three affordable units that it would own and operate, noting there would be no business connection between the entities. The housing units would be built on “a separate lot being carved out of this property to comply with a previous zoning requirement,” he said.
Scarborough said the redevelopment plan provides an opportunity for an applicant and a municipality to negotiate a PILOT.
“If we’re successful in creating the redevelopment plan, we’ll have that opportunity to pursue a PILOT on the paddle club portion and the affordable housing separately,” he said. “One could have one and one could not have one.”
Somers Point Paddle Club
Scarborough opened his first paddle club at Cape May Marina.
“It’s been very successful; we sold out all that we made available in terms of private membership the first year,” Scarborough said, characterizing it as like a high-end hotel.
He said most members are from the neighborhood and a significant portion are boaters.
“It’s a luxury pool club by the water’s edge that’s private but not exclusive to marina patrons,” he said.
Scarborough, whose family has developed multiple properties in the city including Harbour Cove Marina and Shore Medical Center, said the Paddle Club would be private, offering memberships primarily to boat slip owners and residents of Harbour Cove Condominiums, but also to neighborhood residents and others.
Scarborough said he would open membership to boat slip owners and city residents before the general public.
“We want to make it available to people in neighborhood first,” he said.
The Somers Point location would have two swimming pools, a spa, hundreds of chaise lounges and a bar and grille.
Scarborough said many people bike or walk to the club in Cape May, which if replicated in Somers Point would add to the foot traffic on Bay Avenue. He said as a corporate citizen of the city for the better part of 35 years, he is interested in seeing the economy prosper, adding the project would add a destination to a less-trafficked part of the avenue.
The Cape May Paddle Club is open 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily during the season, from shortly before Memorial Day to shortly after Labor Day. Scarborough said the opening and closing dates would be similar in Somers Point.
Scarborough said Somers Point is a “hugely important market to us,” noting the governing body and redevelopment committee have been encouraging and responsive.
“We could work in a lot of different places but you put your capital and efforts in places where it’s a positive experience, not where it’s a war,” he said.
Scarborough said he hopes to have site plan approval in the early part of 2022, then break ground in July or August after completing the rest of the permitting process.
“My hope is that we’re in the ground this summer,” Scarborough said. “Then we can have a big ground-breaking party with everyone around in the summertime and get excited about it.”
He said they would then build through the winter and “be ready to go in May 2023.”
Demolitions would allow more parking, add housing units
In other business, City Council adopted Resolution 187-2021, referring the redevelopment draft plan for Block 1214 lots 9 10, 11, 12 and 16 to the Planning Board for review Nov. 10.
The project would involve the demolition of five homes to make way for additional parking for Bayview Court Apartments and 12 new housing units in six buildings.
Jack Leonard, owner of the Bayview Court Urban Renewal Entity, has proposed a 73-space parking lot on Shore Road and six fee-simple duplexes off Pleasant and Sunset avenues.
During a presentation of the proposal to City Council, Leonard said the rehabilitation of the apartment complex, formerly known as The Gates and for much longer as Atlantis Apartments, has driven the need for more parking there. He proposes demolishing five homes currently boarded up on trash-strewn properties at 528, 532, 538 and 542 Shore Road, as well as 536 Sunset Ave. behind the others.
The lot would be landscaped and have ample lighting and safety measures, including a fence that would force those who park in the lot to walk to the corner before crossing the street.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff