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Latest News March 18, 2007
Keyport Neighbors
 
Re: 3/19/07 Special Harbor Commission Meeting on Waterfront Park Plans
 
The Borough has posted the following Public Notification regarding waterfront-planning activities: "The Harbor Commission of the Borough of Keyport has called a Special Meeting for Monday, March 19, 2007 at 7:00PM in the Conference Room, Municipal Complex, 70 West Front Street, Keyport, NJ, for the purpose of discussing the project area behind the bulkhead and any other business which may come before the Commission."
 
Re: Report on 3/6/07 Special Joint KBC - Harbor Commission Meeting  
 
The Keyport Borough Council (KBC) held a special joint meeting with the Keyport Harbor Commission (KHC) on 3/6/07 for the purpose of reviewing the status of the New Jersey Bulkhead/Promenade and Pier Replacement Project and preliminary planning options for a possible new Waterfront Park behind the downtown. The Borough Administrator reported the following:
  • By Memorial Day the contractor expects to have the fishing pier rebuilt, and the west end of the bulkhead and the promenade done up to the vicinity of the Captain John dock. This will allow public access to the west end of the waterfront and fishing pier during the summer.
  • The east end of the bulkhead would then be closed starting Memorial Day. By Labor Day the contractor expects to reach the boat ramp area with the new bulkhead and promenade.
  • The Beach Park bulkhead  (Option A) has been designed and drawings are available for review. 
  • The Fireman's Park bulkhead has missing slats and some remedial action will need to be taken.
 
Following the administrator's report, the members of the Keyport Harbor Commission stressed the need for the following in the area behind the bulkhead:
  • Roadway restoration near the bulkhead and significant parking facilities to support access for fishing boat and charter boat patrons, for provisioning of the boats docked on the waterfront, and for easy senior citizen access  to the fishing pier.
  • Significant additional trailer-parking for boaters using the boat ramp.
 
The Borough Administrator  committed to supply the KHC drawings of the waterfront that they could use to define a site plan for the area behind the bulkhead. This KHC work on a site plan concept will be done at a Special KHC meeting on 3/19/07, see above announcement.
 

Re: Canceled 3/15/07 Planning Board Meeting
 
The 3/15/07 meeting of the Keyport Unified Planning Board (KUPB) was canceled because of deficiencies in the Raritan View Partners notification. These deficiencies prevented the KUPB from accepting jurisdiction for their application. The Raritan View Partner's will have to re-notice all neighbors within 200 feet.
 
Re: Manchester LLC Maple Place -  Redevelopment Planning
 
At the 3/6/07 KBC meeting a letter dated 3/6/07 from the attorney for Manchester LLC regarding redevelopment planning was referred to the Rehabilitation-Redevelopment Committee. The following was stated in this letter:
  • Since 7/6/05 the property owners have been requesting rezoning for their site. They dropped their initiatives to request use-variance approvals for their plans from the KUPB based on advice from Borough officials.
  • Based on the above advice from Borough officials and the Keyport Rehabilitation designation, the owners are requesting a meeting with the Mayor and Redevelopment Council to present a plan for development. "It is requested that the appropriate meeting be arranged expeditiously so all parties are able to come to an agreement on the type of development that is appropriate for the property."
  • For the Rehabilitation-Redevelopment support work on this site by the Borough professionals, the property owner proposes to establish an escrow account for any costs that the borough incurs in this process.
 
A version of the  property owners plans for this site were championed by Mayor Bergen at the 1/16/07 KBC  as an example of positive redevelopment  for this site. The conceptual plans from Manchester , LLC, exhibited during this meeting, promoted a high-density multifamily condo project containing multiple flats with what appeared to be underground parking facilities. The great majority of  residents (adjacent to the old factory and who spoke at the meeting) did not embrace this plan. Further , many questions and challenges focused on how could this developer-generated plan be rolled out at a meeting promoting Rehabilitation as a resident-driven planning process .  Additional questions focused on how are residents going to be involved. So the key question remains will the redevelopment plan be developer-driven or resident-driven ?
 
All comments and corrections are appreciated.

 

Regards
Michael Lane