Margate High-Rise Stopped For Now. Residents Demand Greater Transparency.

The proposed plan to create a Margate hotel overlay zone, adjacent to Lucy the Elephant, has been killed for now. Over 250 packed the Margate Commissioners Chamber. Overflow crowds poured onto corner of Washington and Ventnor Ave. Residents mostly angered by the lack of municipal transparency. Poor public notification process.

Still, the Margate Mayor and Commissioners couldn’t understand why residents were so angry. Margate’s elected leadership claim to have offered plenty of opportunities for public input.

Listen:

Legal way to post public notice is newspaper with low readership and circulation. The Press of Atlantic City.

Nobody reads The Press of Atlantic City

Public comment from Susan Rubin: ‘Really no evidence that a (stakeholders) meeting was held. In regards to the masterplan, who wrote it? Are you looking to bring gambling to Margate? You got in bed with a gaming group?’

Authors. Current iteration of Margate Masterplan not yet made public.

• Remington & Vernick
• SOSH Architects
• Spectrum Gaming Group
• Lloyd Levenson Institute for Gaming, Hospitality & Tourism

Spectrum Gaming Group specializes in the economics, regulation and policy of legalized gambling worldwide. They provide research and professional services to public- and private-sector clients.

Margate Master Plan draft was co-written by those connected to Hotel, Gaming & Hospitality industry.

Commissioner Maury Blumberg and John Amodeo say the Margate master plan was developed by a committee of professionals that spent years researching before recommending a hotel overlay zone.

The Margate commission had no choice. They quickly voted to withdraw / table the ordinance. Note: by law, plans for high-rise could come back as a different ordinance. Review and consideration process would need to start from square one.

Margate taxpayers appalled by lack of municipality transparency. Limited / no resident input. Many just heard about the hotel overlay plans, over past few weeks.

Sharon Ianoale, is property manager of the 9600 building, a high-rise with 246 units. Ianoale claims Margate commissioners failed to communicate properly. Commissioners disagree, claiming they always notify the public about stuff like this.

Some residents are threatening to form a PAC. A political action committee committed to voting OUT the 3 commissioners in the Spring of 2019.

Planning Board member and Margate zoning officer Roger McLarnon: admitted that current, amended master plan is NOT on the city website. Only an older draft of the Margate master plan is posted online.

Mayor Becker selects who serves on the Margate Planning Board.

Also discussed briefly during this meeting: COAH – Council on Affordable Housing. Created by the Fair Housing Act of 1985.

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