##VIDEO ID:MONlx5QKFYY## all right we're going to call to order of the city council meeting of Thursday October 24th 2024 please stand for a pledge of allegiance and a prayer I pledge of the United States of America to the stand Nation indivisible liy and Justice please bow your head for a moment of silence of Prayer amen Mr Barnes Mr Crowley here Mr harzel here Mr L Mr Pini Mr Winslow here Mr Madden here adequate notice of this meeting has been given pursuant to Public Law 1975 chapter 231 we move into reports from the mayor and the administration good morning Council have quick updates um excuse me we received many ideas for the public space at 16 Street and we're encouraging everybody to visit our home page at ocnj.us um we also ask everybody to be aware of the proposed D rules that could impact every homeowner in town would require homes in many circumstances to be elevated even higher than the houses that have already gone up there are one there are 1,000 more 1,000 more pages of new regulations the County's put together a great package of information including links to the comment and to email the governor the links to the county page are on our city website at ocnj.us deadline for public comment is November 3rd today's agenda includes a resolution where a contract for construction of our new police substation if it passes the contractor is ready to have a pre-construction meeting within the next few days we're looking forward to seeing the building take shape quickly the agenda also includes a resolution to buy equipment for Fitness stations in the area adjacent to the Civic Center and carer Stadium a lot of people use the track and The Bard for their workouts so this will be a great fit Police Department is participating in a drug takeback day on Saturday the residents can drop off unneeded medications from 10 to2 on Saturday at the library or at the police station this event is Gears towards preventing addiction tonight is our Halloween parade at 7:15 goes down Asbury Avenue from 6:00 to 11:00 Saturday and Sunday are our dog days on the boardwalk it's only been a few years but this event is already a favorite for a lot of people the Halloween Halloween jeez the Halloween Pet Parade was reading that right is at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday uh registration before the event is at the Civic Center so it's a great fundraiser for oce City that's all I have Pete thank you we're going to open up the citizen comment do the number of number of people signed up there's going to be three minutes for the comment we're going to start with that odonnell thank you uh we had a good discussion Saturday at the mayor's uh town hall on the evils of of cigarette smoking today is alcohol alcohol plagued the Caesars and was one of the main causes of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire and Alexander the Great conquered the world but he died of a drunken stuper at the age of 33 and alcohol is responsible at the center of many crimes domestic violence car accidents health problems and the police uh know that so we need to work much harder against uh alcohol and the churches are not speaking out against it and the Catholic church and Episcopal Church have an almost 100% tolerance for alcohol and cigarettes which is not good they need to speak out more against that and then uh you media is running a very nice event November 9th called man up South Jersey it's a Christian Conference beautiful event it's in haddenfield at Pope John Paul I think thei high school and I told USTA who's very generous person he's helped my charity a lot if he does go with the hotel we need to have one whether whirl pole sauna bath steambath pool and massage like the sporting club in Philadelphia and us to said he'd been to the sporting club in Philadelphia and then um I I want to ask you to ask uh Social Services with help for this I have a leg wound in the uh left leg and I I did get a lot of good swimming in June and got healed there but uh I've asked Social Services I haven't connected with them yet to see if they can get me cuz the do doctors won't let me in the ocean cuz they're afraid there's bacteria in the ocean and it'll go in the leg wound it could go to the Bone there could be amputation so I want to ask Social Services if they can get somebody to bring me a couple large buckets of cold salt water which I can put in the bathtub the left leg obviously can't go in the bathtub with a cold salt water but the right leg face the arms because without suntan oil sun and cold salt water water I look and feel 107 years old so I I'll give my contact info to Nicole so see if you can help me with that thank you thank you thank you Bob really cut me to a quick with only 3 minutes I'll have to uh revise this quick my name is Bob helier most of you know me 34 West 10 Street I'm here in reference to the commercial Marina that is proposed in in our smallest Lagoon in Ocean City Glen co uh you know that the D did approve this and I gave you some information my wife's just going to hand out some just for review of that just to here I'll take them all take them all there uh that was approved back last year and immediately they started a demo of the property in the bulkhead even though the permit said that no construction could begin with which I highlighted until all local approvals and then it was on October 19th of last year that the zoning department sent a letter that's the second piece of paper in there from our zoning department that said that they could not operate a commercial Marina until they get a proper use variance that being said what they didn't include is the part of D DP Provisions that say no demolition or construction could begin until all local approvals so the bulkhead went in Army Core of Engineers was next that uh that happened we had a 30-day uh period for comments people from all over the island not our Lagoon other lagoons independent people send in comments because the use was not appropriate for a residential Lagoon in the end of all that just just for a comment they said that uh they responded that the project was not contrary to the general public interest and therefore they approved the project we received that letter all of us on October 15th the next week just last week on Tuesday barges came in Dem rest of the demo started the docks started to go in and people got very concerned now it's become a major a major issue and people were wondering if the landside had already been done kind of behind the scenes in the town we were straightly approv uh told that there were no permits for the variant or anything to be done yet and no one has applied from that uh property so we were also informed that all of the docks that are there were already constructed last year and that even last year some boaters put down deposits on slips for the following year which would have been this year so what we're worried about we don't understand how the machine works so people are trying to figure this out this is a well-run city and we believe that part of this development process is broken hey Bob that three minut is up thank you very much thank you you want to take your sign yeah don't forget your sign thank you Pat good morning Pat agnolini I am the um one of the owners of the Ocean City Water Park um I'm here today with my business partner Todd Chamberlin and our Council um Jack plaer from officer alch uh we're here to ask you that you postpone own your vote awarding the police station contract I apologize I'm going to read because I know I'm on the clock so it makes it a little easier um we believe that what we have proposed is a better alternative for the city and for the police station make no mistake The Proposal benefits us as well but we have prepared The Proposal in a way that also benefits the city in 2022 we proposed a land swap which would have increased the city's parking lot size by 20% just under 20% at that time um that was rejected uh by the city at that time the only benefits to the city were the additional parking and access that the swap provideed just to give you an idea we're in blue you're in green what we had proposed and what we're proposing now is that you would get what's in green we would get what's in blue [Music] in late August we found out about the police station uh through the cafer notice process we engaged again in discussions around a land swap but this time the city the advantage to the city we believe was much greater the swap still results in a 20% increase in land volume for the city but now with the police station it also gave the police a three Street access to the new station we've been told this proposal again was fully vetted and rejected and we understand that but but we felt it prudent to come to you this morning to ask you to hold up the vote on the contracts to give us a chance to to come to a workshop and discuss the options that this proposal will allow for the city obviously again it's good for us but we also think it's good for the city and for you also delaying this process um I don't believe you have your cafer permits yet so you can't start construction so just delaying the award of the contracts to give us a chance to show this to you we think is a is a prudent use of your time um this is a better site for the police station because it allows the police better Ingress and agress in general but also in the event of an emergency in town we've all seen the beach ends clogged uh during the summer with delivery Chucks and imagine an emergency where the police cannot get out for this public safety reason alone you should at least consider consider this um this also promotes the hospitality uses which is supportive of the master plan and zoning ordinances we are in the process of getting a traffic study I don't know that one has been done about the Ingress egress issue but as soon as we get that we're happy to share that um we think that any delay that this would cause would be that three minutes is up I'm sorry thank you I said your three minutes is up oh it's counting off yeah oh it's okay thank you thank you I'm happy to answer any questions if anyone has thank you [Music] Todd thank you ke um as many of you probably give name and address for the record oh sure Todd chamberlain2 Waterway Road um I'm also one of the owners of the water park property the as my partner Pat mentioned I proposed this land swap uh several years ago to the city and have continued to to have this conversation I'm not here today in that representation I'm here as a private citizen who has had to call 911 twice to have police arrive at my home for life safety issues pertaining to my children um if you open up that window and you look out the door or look out the window there at the police station you'll see that there are currently four means of eress for the cars that are parked outside the police station and we keep talking about this property as a substation and one day it will be a substation but as soon as this is built it is is going to become the police station and so I've seen situations in Ocean City where it's all hands on deck and the police cars are racing down the street lights and sirens and those cars could potentially get stuck at 8th Street and it's not going to take much Pepsi truck an Uber Eats delivery guy and all of a sudden a street is jammed up and while I know this project is far along and I know we' like to get it completed the delay that I'm concerned about is not a delay in construction the delay is just J 4th weekend when there is a light and Sirens police event and the police can't get out of a street and so if there's been a traffic study completed that city has and says you know what Todd we fully vetted this and you're wrong it's fine at 8th Street where it is and there's no difference then so be it but I'm encouraging you to pause and consider the Alternatives and see if that's a better location for what is going to become our main police station for several years while the current building is rebuilt thanks for your time thank you thank you [Music] Jack uh good morning I'll be very brief uh I think my client said it off we would respectfully ask for a pause uh to consider a pause for a few weeks um it doesn't have to be a win-lose situation I think it' be a win-win situation because not only would we be uh coming up with a better location for the police station with better Ingress and egress but also it would help uh you know a water park golf course and other commercial development continue to thrive which we think is important in the boardwalk Zone thank you thank you yep Dave David Breeden 114 Victoria Lane Marian Park good morning uh resolution number 14 on the agenda which is the payment of claims commonly known as the bill list there are three items on that list for approval this morning morning three items pertain seem to pertain to recent appraisals of property that the city did two of them are to man Henry manini and Associates for 12,000 and 16,000 respectfully the third one is to Banbridge for 7500 um prior to council approving these bills these three bills which they should I would like to ask the administration what three properties were appraised and based on my experience all appraisals involving the city run through the city solicitor's office so hopefully she will be able to answer that straightforward and simple question this morning thank you thank you thank you [Music] Nelson Nelson the tri V I live on Central Avenue I thank Mr warell for expressing his emotion that the veterans who keep us free uh were Dishonored in his mind because I refused to stand at the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America the reason I was never standing is I've learned that the gold Fringe flag that we see all over America is the flag flag of the United States where is the United States located in the district of columia where is the United States located in the district of Colombia what's the difference between the United States and the United States of America it took me uh having to suffer loss of Liberty life and property to learn some of these keys I'm sharing them in order to make us a constitutional government the reason I stood today is because there's a new flag to my left I believe it might have a different color ego I I'll have to check but the flag is different that is the flag of the United States of America that is the flag that your oath is to through the Constitution of the United States I have in my hand a book called The Complete Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers this is the Federalist this is the Anti-Federalists Anti-Federalists they had a lot of good reasons for not wanting to join make up a union uh the Confederacy was the Union and they said no we don't want a federal government we'll stick to the states in Anti-Federalist number one I had Anti-Federalist number one I had rather be a free citizen of the small Republic of Massachusetts than an oppressed subject of the Great American Empire that gold Fringe flag has made most of us not me anymore I used to be a subject of of the Great American Empire I don't want to be a subject I'm not a voter if I sign up to vote I've made myself a subject six seconds I understand I carry my passport because we're in Maritime under the gold Fringe CL thank you we're going to move into reports from city council Dave reports no report Jody uh report that uh I'll be having my third W meeting on um November 25th on a Monday night right here at City Hall in council chambers it'll be from 6:00 until not past 8:00 p.m. and um and as the mayor mentioned ideas up on the website for 16th Street uh are available to be submitted which we're looking forward to seeing and that's my two reports great thank U Mr President can I um Mrs mcross S a question two about the governor's um upcoming things that he wants to do cuz there's a lot of confusion um I know it's a little out of order but I I just think it's it's something if I'm having questions I think other people do um and I don't want to Hash the whole thing but I want to make a couple points so this is am I correct in saying this was an executive order and did not go through the assembly and did not go through the set that's correct okay so and so his terms up 2026 I guess my question is and that's it's not a political question I guess in a weird way it is in that that executive order could be resented by the next person that comes in correct correct okay so um in a nutshell and maybe two sentences here's who I'm a little confused um do all properties so I don't know we have 19,000 units here in town but all properties have to be raised in a certain time limit cuz I think that's what's scaring people everybody should be scared of this by the way I'm not saying that but there's just one or two items that you know like in my case with my my building I don't even know how I'd lift it so I'm just I'm just couple things just as bad as this is and it is but to take some of the initial fears away um for folks that you know that may not be able to come to the thing in the yach club and I don't want to go on forever obviously but just a couple high points would would really help in in my mind CU this is very confusing yeah and and there are certain things that will trigger the requirement to raise a bill and as now there are certain things that trigger raising the building in compliance with the current which is plus three for residential um I don't know that every there's a deadline on every single building to be raised within a certain time there's no work done on a building over a certain threshold that building will not be Department to be raised I I didn't understand what you just said I apologize currently if you do work on a building that's a substantial Improvement triggers a requirement to come into compliance with a myriad of regulations including BF okay BF plus grade um that will remain in place if you do work to a specific threshold you'll be required to bring in into compliance with the new height requirements if you never touched your building I don't believe it will require you to to raise your property but we're still all learning about these regulations and I haven't read all 1,000 Pages that's fine um that that answer alone helped the other thing is in some of these are just people are saying this stuff so I want to get one other one out of the way can you sell your building and not do any of the regulations in other words if I decide to sell my my my stores am I able to sell them or do they have to be brought up to the regulations cuz the these are the two main things that people are are saying and you know that creates a lot of fear um you know so youd answer that it'd be greatly appreciated honestly I don't know okay I'm not sure but I I'll be happy to take a look at it and get back to you on there okay I'm sorry to interrupt like that Mr President but I mean just a couple things since just people are just really going bonkers on this so but I I encourage everybody to research this because it's definitely not a good thing but I'm trying to take away the some of the worst things that are being said about it Sean reports thanks Keith for asking those questions um the only I want to say out loud is I want to congratulate the cancer support community of New Jersey for their event on Monday it was very successful great to see Community come out and support a great cause which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month especially I want to reach congratulate the McKenzie hee family and Jane kuster um for their support in that in that cause thanks sorry nothing to report I have nothing to report on as well going to approval of minutes can I have a motion to adopt the regular city council meeting minutes of Thursday October 10th 2024 second Mr Crowley yes oh I'm sorry Mr Barnes yes Mr Harel yes Mr lch yes Mr Winslow yes Mr Madden yes the consent agenda all resolutions listed on the consent agenda are considered to be routine and nature and will be enacted by one motion if the mayor or any council person wishes a particular resolution to be considered separately it will be removed from the consent agenda anything to be removed no no oh sorry I have a motion to approve the consent agenda moved second Mr Barnes yes Mr Crowley yes Mr harzel yes Mr lch yes Mr Winslow yes Mr Madden yes Terry pending business nothing pending Sean nothing pending Keith um yeah I had a couple of um questions about the 10th Street marinas CU I'm very confused about it is there is there a process where the Land part has to go through any kind of variance in other words I understand that they could build in the um in the water okay but I mean marinas will need water electricity access parking and that's a residential home so does that take is that going to need need a D1 variance to do that in my opinion yes it's a it's an rl1 125 Zone which is a residential Lagoon front Zone where the lots are primarily 25 ft wide and and a commercial marine is not a permitted use okay so it was the application was for a commercial Marina in my opinion that will require site plan and a use variance and a mertile license okay and and just off the top of your head you may not know this cuz there's a lot to this and if anybody knows you would um is there a parking requirement for Marina that you know of in this Zone You' have to look at whether there'd be a parking requirement for a marina in this Zone because the parking requirement in the Marine Village harbor zone where the Marine Village Harbor is a permitted use might be different from a parking requirement in a residential Zone okay so they will need a parking variance in the zone board will determine what is sufficient parking so just so the S people understand it it's going to need a use variance and a parking variance correct I guess yeah at the very least anything else site plan approval site pan approval yeah um I I guess my question is is and you may not know this but um you know because there's being work done there I'm just wondering if the owner knows that that's that's doing it because it kind of doesn't make sense to me that all this work could be done but there's not approvals yeah and that's his choice or her choice whoever it is the the packet that Bob handed out while he was making his comments has a copy of the October 19th 2023 letter that the Administration has sent to the property owner letting them know you know you may get approval to build it you can't operate it until you come to the city for approvals okay yeah I just have the glaze of that but I just wanted to kind of just tie that up a little bit um I I really appreciate that um uh thank you very much Jody pending business nothing pending Dave no Dave new business no Jody uh for new business I didn't want to pull the resolution number three but um I I I would like to have a little bit of a discussion or just some simple questions answered um I I was um I Was Made known of this yesterday from um from the gentleman that's one of the partners of the amusement park there the Border Park and uh just at surface level uh it seems like a really really interesting idea and uh and and I understand some some of the things that were said at length yesterday uh as I listened um what what I don't understand uh is and again I don't want to pull the resolution I think we're doing the right thing here we've been on this for a long time I certainly don't want to hold up the project because uh of of of a last minute plea uh to somebody who knew nothing about this for months but I guess that's the question is speaking with other council members up here this this seems to be a logical thing this seems to be something that is impactful to a large neighborhood to a large area to a lot of visitors to the town I I just don't understand why this wouldn't have been a point of discussion when this apparently started two years ago to any anybody on this board I I I'm I don't I I just don't know what to say other than why was it never discussed with us it's not horrible idea I know there's a million things come over your desk and you can't have a conversation with all of us about everything but this seems to be something that I just can't understand why it wouldn't have been a at least a discussion one phone call to every council member just see how they felt about it that's all yeah there was a meeting about a year ago um where this two years ago year ago where this meeting where this concept was p um and the swap the administration determined that the swap of property closer to the boardwalk for property farther away from the boardwalk was not something that was in the taxpayer's interest and the conversation didn't go further than that well who determined that I I I wasn't aware the administration okay which has the authority to negotiate things like this okay I mean just simply looking at it sure it maybe maybe on some levels depending on how you're looking looking at it could be an uneven swap but in other ways that maybe weren't considered because it an Ask seven other people that are part of elected officials also there's other things to consider that perhaps could have been I mean one thing that comes to mind for me is is is the easy way to get in and out of the police station there uh yeah it's not as accessible to the boardwalk but I never got a chance to even speak with our Police Department to see if that even matters you know we don't know there the I just think there were a lot of options here that were missing uh we we all had good success coming to the plan we're at so I'm proud of what we're doing I just wish that we would have had some of this information discussed with us in in some conversation at least well I can tell you that there's there's a lot of things going on this the um substation didn't come until later after the fact we were talking about this police cars are usually out on the road so police cars are not racing down the street and all that kind of stuff so there's a lot of things that go into this so no we we're going to have the we going to have the substation at the End of the Street and you know Police Operations is not just coming out of the department yeah the operations are going to be at the crown Bank building so I mean there's multiple things but at the end of the day before we were looking at this it just you know it wasn't apples for apples kind of thing so I mean you know again it's I hear what you guys are saying but I mean it just when we looked at it it didn't make sense so I mean you know we we talk about the the station now you want to closer to the boardwalk you put it to the end now you're you know you're that much farther down it fits perfect right there there it works for our Public Safety which we looked in many things so I mean this was not just something we said ah we don't like it I mean it was something we looked at so you know again you can say blame me whatever you want but again what's happening down there right now with what the public safety you need for the boardwalk and again the police officers are going to use that for operations but most of them are usually out on Street patrolling and then you have police and you have fire department that goes for you know the medical emergency so it wasn't this was not taken lightly we didn't just say the hell with we don't like it there was a lot of things that went into it so sure and and and and I'm sure there were I all I'm asking my whole point is just better communication with us not Mr love Chuck speak please I'm I just ask for better thank I just ask for better communication to us I just I wish this would have been at least discussed a little bit with us and probably you know more than likely most of us would have agreed it it's just communication that's all got it thank you Keith new business uh I I so the thumbnail just so I understand it because I wasn't here when all this happened the thumbnail is on it he wanted to be closer to the boardwalk correct and it wasn't an even swap is that the two things that I I can recall we did a parking analysis at that time and with all factors that were known at that time it didn't seem to be in the best interest of the taxpayers which was the administration's only concern okay Sean new business nothing no Terry no I have no new business we want to back up the citizen comment on issues that you already haven't spoken about um anybody in this side of the room for citizen comment Nelson okay thank you on Nelson tribe of Asher Central Avenue 27 I was having issues with my St Peter's United Methodist Church clergy which is the executive branch we the people are the members we have a Judicial Council for the whole world it's called the Jud uh it's our Supreme Court so we have the three branches of government I do not believe in violence I believe the uh founding fathers gave us a way to settle matters civy instead of with AK-47s or 15s whichever AR-15s I'm not a gun enthusiast so 2017 came along after 2013 I had been uh arrested and taken out of a Bible study for simply peacefully resisting because we were being given a ballot to vote for people to help run our church without seeing the ballot ahead of time that would be like going into the booth down here here and voting for president not knowing who's on the ballot till you get there and have 10 minutes to decide so I sat in a meeting refused to leave and because of that a false police Report was generated I was banned and I was put into a trial situation figuring that the uh alasco down in uh Kate May County Wildwood Crest for the municipal division had to find my okay and go back to church when the time came for the end of the trial uh the the uh Brian Roberts the Pastor said oh no I think I'll let him go back to church uh let him go back that's because he got a an appointment to a higher position later in 2017 when that man Brian Roberts was in charge of our district district 60 churches he was put over with a very large pay salary in Incas we had a 2017 church directory so our brothers and sisters can contact each other I went in and had my picture taken like [Music] this after that that set them off and they decided to plot with the former Chief of Police two chief of the police to uh violate my rights including jail including Anora am I bitter absolutely not because the current police chief would not be the police chief had I not done that I woke up I'm not asking the holy spirit for information a lot of times he wakes me up he says he is your brethren and because of the vision I had you know I knew it was Mr William Campbell he's my brethren there's no religious test for serving in any of your positions none and that's fine but we as the people have to decide are Satanist running our city council I'm not suggesting that but I can tell you that the way I was treated there was a certain amount of darkness in the city Administration and there was a certain amount of inability for this Council to act like you were locked up you can't move wait for the city solicitor to decide no five out of seven of you run this show you could stop that substation tomorrow five out of seven of them first night is coming up it's a wonderful program I have been Samar which unfortunately this Chief did potentially approve a federal crime committed against me when I refused to give my fingerprints when there was no reason I couldn't go to my church they took me to County Jail the woman said why is he here it's trespassing this is County Jail this is me saying it treason felony breach of the peace what did I do I refuse to accept the fascism of the Methodist leadership so if I buy a button they better let me go to St Peters even though there's a fraudulent uh uh uh uh court order not letting me go to my home church right now anyone else inside of the room for public comment you don't forget your camera anybody this side of the room don't forget you can't talk on the same top twice not thank you I'll finish up the topic Betty heler 34 West 10th Street here in Ocean City all right so we're going to continue on uh when there is a non-conforming waterfront use it should be rever it shouldn't be reverse approvals an ordinance stating that if a waterfront development project is non-conforming to the current zoning the applicant should be required to get all local approvals first this reverse approval process and the money now spent puts a lot of pressure now on our local officials our local authorities to approve this project why would the applicant take such a great risk to spend a lot of money before knowing that this land portion wouldn't be approved just a thought here if any of you had lived on lives on or lived on this Lagoon you purchased the property knowing it was residential it's a small Lagoon it's a family place would any of you allow this project to go through knowing that your kids and grandkids could be out there just enjoying the natural environment uh I just remember when Bob and I purchased the property and before we purchased the land we had to go before the planning board to make sure that the home that we were placing on that little piece of lot was conforming to the area we had to be sure that it fit into that environment just can't see how a marina with public parking with a very small street with a very quiet street can now afford to have how many carts coming down it 6:00 a.m. in the morning 9 p.m. at night no we had to have approval not quite sure what happened what slipped through the cracks thank you thank you thank you anybody else inside of the room for public comment seeing none I motion to ad motion Mo second