SOMERS POINT — City Council met in executive session March 28, when solicitor Thomas Smith updated the governing body on litigation involving a proposed billboard at Somers Point Diner and a street vacation for the adjacent Passport Inn.
Also on the agenda was a redevelopment agreement with AVIA NJ for the Sonesta ES Suites property.
The first lawsuit involves Garden State Outdoor, which filed a complaint against the Zoning Board for denying an application to erect a 45-foot-tall billboard between Somers Point Diner and Diorio’s Circle Cafe near the four-way intersection of MacArthur Boulevard, Shore Road, Route 52 and Somers Point-Mays Landing Road.
Garden State Outdoor LLC accuses the Zoning Board of wrongly denying a use variance and other relief sought to allow the digital billboard
The suit states Garden State has a lease to erect the billboard at 8 MacArthur Blvd., site of the diner owned by the Exadaktilos family.
Smith said oral arguments have been made and the sides exchanged briefs and now are awaiting a ruling.
Garden State applied to the Zoning Board on Oct. 25, 2022. The application requested a use variance, height variance and bulk variance relief.
The complaint also alleges the city has an “unconstitutional ban” on billboards, stating the city cannot limit content. The suit states the billboard would be for all forms of content and not solely commercial and that Somers Point’s zoning ordinance limits advertising to the business or use on the property. It claims content-based discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.
Somers Point argues that a secondary business on the property is barred by municipal ordinance and that the city’s sign ordinance is not content-based discrimination because it is narrowly tailored so as not to be so.
In addition, the city argues digital billboards of the size requested are “an intrusive invasion upon the landscape” as well as its “promotion of a desirable visual environment and retention of the character of the community.”
Passport Inn
At the same time, Bob Gandhi, owner of the Passport Inn, is trying to sell the motel he has owned since 1993 but cannot get clear title to the property because the boundaries have been unclear since the state Route 52 bridge replacement project completed in 2013.
The property in dispute is paved and used as parking for the diner, 11 spots facing Circle Liquor. Part of the problem is it is not clear whether the city, state or one of the private parties owns the property in question.
Smith said Gandhi wants to compel the city to give him a right of access to the property.
Sonesta ES Suites
City Council took the first step in a plan to convert the Sonesta ES Suites, a 120-room extended-stay hotel, into 120 long-term rental apartments with an affordable component.
Council agreed May 25 to a memorandum of understanding with AVIA NJ Mays Landing LLC, the Delaware-based owner of the property.
The agreement designates AVIA as interim conditional redeveloper of the property, located at 900 Somers Point-Mays Landing Road.
According to a resolution approving the agreement, representatives of AVIA made a presentation April 25, 2022, during a meeting with the COAH/redevelopment subcommittee concerning the proposed project and sought to start the process of negotiating with the city the terms and conditions of a redevelopment plan and a redevelopment agreement.
In 2014, City Council deemed the entire city in need of rehabilitation, giving the city the opportunity to provide tax exemptions, abatements or both to encourage redevelopment in areas threatened with economic and social decline.
A redevelopment agreement allows the city to work with builders, property owners and developers to find the best use for real estate in a way that is mutually beneficial. It allows the city to have input into what will be developed and provides the developer an opportunity to seek tax incentives.
Smith said the process is moving along.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff