Keyport Neighbors


Re: Brownfield Development Area Meeting 6/18/07

There will be a meeting of the Brownfield Development Area (BDA) Steering Committee at Borough Hall at 6:30 PM today 6/18/07. The steering committee will be establishing it meeting schedule, reviewing the list of potentially contaminated sites, and working on a notification to property owners on the site list. Ian Curtis, the NJDEP case manager, will be participating in this meeting. As this is a BDA steering committee meeting, public participation by non-steering committee members will be limited to that permitted by the BDA chairperson, Lynne Kosobucki.

Re: 6/19 Borough Council Meetings


Items of note on the agenda for this Tuesday's Keyport Borough Council (KBC) meeting starting at 8:00 PM are:


Public Hearing on Ordinance 14-07 Amending Liquor License Fees. The KBC proposes to raise the fee for a liquor license renewal by 20%. .
Public Hearing on Ordinance 15-07 Business Improvement District (BID). The KBC proposes to change the Revenue Ordinances of the Borough of Keyport as follows: "a special (BID) assessment shall be collected by the Borough .., and that all or a portion shall be transferred to the District Management Corporation (BID) ..."" Mayor and Council may then make expenditures not defined in the BID budget using funds from the special BID assessment.
My recall of some history on this BID funds management follows: 1,) Approximately two years ago a group of Keyport business owners expressed dissatisfaction to the KBC that ~ $90K of the BID budget was being spent on consultants to manage events and the BID. The KBC told these owners that the path for change was through election to the BID Board. 2.) Last year the group advocating a change won all contested seats and control of the BID Board, eliminated the consultants, and reduced the BID budget by ~ $90K. However, the KBC did not reduce the special tax levee on all Keyport businesses and apartment complexes containing more than 6 units. The KBC explanation was that the new BID Board had not demonstrated that it could operate with a lower level of funds. 3.)This year the BID Board again submitted a budget well under the funds generated by the 2006 special tax levee on Keyport businesses. Now the KBC appears to be changing the rules (control the BID budget by controlling the BID Board) to enable the KBC to spend funds from the BID special tax levee without BID Board concurrence.

Re: 6/21 Planning Board Meeting - Hovnanian

The Keyport Unified Planning Board (KUPB) hearing on the new Hovnanian site plan application for the townhouses on First Street at Broad Street will be continued at a KUPB meeting this Thursday 6/21/07 starting at 7:00PM at Borough Hall. At this hearings and three previous hearings, the Board is addressing the impact/side-effects of unapproved changes made in the project buildings and site plans since the original plans were approved by the KUPB in 2003-2004.

At the 6/6/07 KUPB special meeting the KUPB voted 9-0 that the applicant needs a bulk-variance for a 4-story building and then voted 9-0 that the applicant needs a bulk variance for exceeding the maximum allowed building height of 35 feet. The Hovnanian representatives then asked the Board to grant these bulk-variances. Discussions then followed among Board members regarding what is being built and what condition should be attached to the bulk-variances. In response to questions from the KUPB attorney, Hovnanian representatives committed to raise the road and sidewalk on First Street 2 feet 4inches, to improve the Beach Park streetscape, and to remove the gully between Building #3 and the Firehouse. The meeting ended without closure on the definition of the full set of conditions/changes to be implemented by Hovnanian.

The need for due-diligence in understanding the final site plans (not yet available from Hovnanian) and documenting the conditions/changed has been clearly demonstrated by the shortcomings in the 2003-2004 KUPB hearings and documentation. My perception of items that still to be dealt with at these 6/21 KUPB meetings are:

defining changes to the covenant to be attached to each townhouse deed regarding future maintenance and alteration of the buildings, enforcement of deed conditions, etc.,
how to deal with an out-of-date illustrations which still don't reflect what is being built (evaluate the existing "voids", front step retaining walls, steep grading between steps and buildings, final front elevations, etc. by reviewing in detail the 4/11/07 site plans and the actual construction drawings).
identifying when final site plan drawings will be available and how the drawings will be reviewed by the KUPB (revised drawings are needed for the elevated roadway and regrading of the front of the buildings).
defining the full list of conditions/changes to the final site plan required for KUPB approval,
how to manage conditions/changes requiring Monmouth County Planning Board approvals (bonding of future roadway reconstruction, park streetscape improvements, etc.),
voting on the bulk-variances and site plans with the fully documented set of conditions.
Regards

Michael Lane

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