Last night’s meeting – It’s getting dumber and dumber. The concrete piano for Pyano Plaza is coming from overseas. What, they couldn’t get a concrete piece of junk from anywhere in this hemisphere?
—————————————————————————–
More talk of the geese. I say, just hire a vet to perform vasectomies on the male geese (or any goose, self- identifying as a male goose). But now, there seems to be some sort of conspiracy involved – stay tuned.
—————————————————————————-
The skate park boondoggle continues unabated. (Deleted by Editor.)
I’m curious what happened to the $50-$60,000. We need more info on that! The money could have been used for FD.
What else is being hidden / covered up?
Anyone else know about the ordinance to eliminate gas powered landscape equipment? I believe Doherty is writing that one last I heard. Can someone please look into it?
Mr. Mayor. Why is Brandl restaurant permitted to use our plaza for his extended table service?
Does he pay the town any rent?
I prefer it goes away so there is more seating for the concerts being held in the plaza.
Please respond
Asking for a friend. During the prior administration, Covid allowed for outside dining, I understand that. Covid allowances are over now. Brandle should comply and remove their tables from the public plaza. This has nothing to do with prior administration, just an elderly resident asking for our plaza back so more can enjoy summer concerts. Simple question, not political like you try to make it.
Its the same as hiring family and friends into Boro positions. Just keep it quiet nobody will find out. Wink wink.
Ole concert goer- Covid restrictions ended in March or 2022 in NJ. That means all of last summer, during the prior administration, Brandl was encroaching into the plaza for no good reason. So the question to you, was this a concern during the prior administration, is a legitimate question. It would seem that for you, it is political. Because you unconsciously hold one political party to a different standard than the other. Fear not, you are not alone. It is a condition that affects millions of Americans. They are willing to forgive transgressions committed by their guy, yet want to lock up people on the other side for doing the same thing or less. In this case, even though the Walsifer admin allowed this expansion into the plaza, this admin is being accused of ****** ***** ** ***** it. Can’t make it up.
Goose meet gander. I’m sorry, I was ill last summer and was unable to attend any concerts. If I was able to attend and I saw Brandles tables out there I would have inquired then. Your smirky responses indicate to me a sense of immaturity. Everything is not political, at least for me. It seems like our country is falling apart and all anyone can do is blame and point fingers at the other guy. Just give us our plaza back.
Yeah this Admin rides the tiki boat and (deleted by Editor.) when not pursuing personal political agendas.
Hey goosey. What does it matter if it was allowed last year or not? It IS a legitimate question because it’s being allowed now
Hey local- it 100% is a legitimate question. The actual issue is if the legitimate questions are only asked during certain administrations. Ole concert goer is right about one thing, partisan politics is bad for the country. I don’t want Brandl occupying the plaza any more than anyone else. My issue is with people who hold this admin to a different standard to the last admin. AND vice versa. It’s like the windmill whale nonsense. No one gave two #*%! about the whales when oil exploration was opened up along the eastern sea board (same sounding technology) or when they’re buying pallets of single use plastic water bottles at Cosco or spraying chemicals all over their lawns. It’s hypocrisy. Worse, political hypocrisy.
So yes, ask away why Brandl gets to spread out into the plaza, but don’t pretend it hasn’t been there for three years.
When are they going to start answering emails or calling residents back ?
You realize you don’t have to watch them, right? You are under no obligation. I get that some folks just love to complain, but my recommendation, if videos embarrass you, is to stop watching them.
Who pays for making tik tok videos? I’m no IT expert but I’m pretty sure they’re free to make. If it’s money you’re worried about, I would pay more attention to the fact that you’re being ripped off every day at the state and federal level by BOTH political parties. But if it’s easier to be mad at social media videos, have at it.
Pianos and mermaids and geese, oh my! But why is no one talking about the fact that the new first aid/FD building at 12th and Main may no longer be a new first aid/FD building? “It could be used for what its original purpose was, but then again it might not be,” are the exact words. So what did we pay $1.2 million and draw up plans for? That property was supposed to be cleaned up by the seller, a certain someone’s something-in-law-or-other, before the contract was even signed. It was understood that the boro could walk away if that wasn’t completed to satisfaction. Is that still the case or not?
(Documents state that $300,000 of the sale price of the property is being held for the clean-up of the 12th and Main property, Editor.)
The simple answer is because the Prior Admin started the project. The main goal of this Current Admin is to wipe out what the Prior Admin did by rewriting all ordinances and abandoning any projects. You think we would put ego’s aside for the town, ha!
Current Admin- that is a bold claim. Can you please list all the Walsifer admin ordinances, projects, deals, or contracts that this admin is ‘wiping out’? I am curious. I’ll wait.
Anonymous- Yes, a lot else please. Your ‘list’ isn’t a list at all.
You said that this new admin ‘abandons projects’ – you didn’t list one project abandoned. Please list them. And not just hearsay, actual abandoned projects started by the last admin.
You said they are ‘rewriting all the ordinances’., your words. Your ‘list’ contains a vague reference to something the mayor said. I would appreciate an actual list of what ordinances have been rewritten. You don’t have to name them all, just name three. If they’re doing them ‘all’, that should be easy enough. For extra credit, you can explain why the re-written ordinance is worse. You know, once you’ve listed them.
I’m happy you go to meetings. So do I. But I didn’t ask you that.
I asked you to back up your claims and you didn’t even come close to doing that. I assume when making such a bold partisan claim, you have the evidence to back it up.
I’ll continue to wait.
The fire house, obviously lol. Then let’s talk about sign ordinances. Oh the clock and mermaid need to go.
Don’t forget to make sure your ornamental grass meets the town regs. Is that to prevent the geese from pooping? Mayor b suggests we leave the grass tall. If they don’t like you they will dispatch enforcers while they turn a blind eye to others. Good thing we got swindled on a concrete piano. The largest bid of $1 for a prime location. Family & Friends getting paid positions. You can’t make this up! Good thing we have TapInto Belmar to cover all this for Mayor B. That’s sarcasm.
Moving the seafood festival back was an issue I remember. Somehow we lost money doing that. Must be inflation.
Why are they against the Skate Park?
So if it isn’t being cleaned as it was supposed to have been, perhaps the current boro council is using their right to pull out?
According to comments made in a Feb. 2022 council meeting, after questioning by Mr. McEvoy as to who would be on the hook for remediation, it was stated by the mayor that the seller would be responsible for the cleanup before a contract is signed, and if cleaning the site isn’t possible we could walk away. If a contract has indeed been signed as you’re stating, then it looks like we may have been swindled by our elected officials once again.
My issue is not with who pays for remediation. My issue is that the boro bought a questionable property for $1.2 million, that may or may not be able to be remediated, for a first aid building that may or may not now be a first aid building. When we were told by the previous mayor, after being questioned by Mr. McEvoy in a documented council meeting, we would be able to walk away. I will quote again, “All the costs are to the seller and if there comes a point in time that we don’t think that it can be environmentally cleaned, we walk away and they have to owe us whatever money that goes out.” Mr. McEvoy then asked, “That’s previous to when the deal goes down?” Mayor W. then said, “That’s all previous to before it goes down. We’re fully aware of that.”
BUT according to Mr. Creamer, the deal DID go down, which means there’s no walking away. So no matter what, we’re stuck with a property that may or may not be complete garbage. If you watch Tuesday’s council meeting again, Mayor B didn’t seem to confident about it’s final form. I think something’s wrong with the property, and everyone’s keeping a tight lip as to why or how it will be fixed.
We need a third party to explain what’s going on. The council cannot be trusted. Can we get the nice fireman to come back and talk?
Brandl, is no different from any other outside sidewalk table foodery. Anyone can sit on chairs, grounds of or on public property.
Ok Ms. Dean. I’m a veteran. I’m going to pull my hot dog cart up to Pyanoe plaza and put 10 picnic tables up there for my customers to sit and eat. Thank you for the information.
I’m sorry Mrs Dean but that is incorrect. The Brandl restaurant, like any restaurant, needs a permit to even offer outside seating. And even then, it must comply with certain rules. I would imagine that encroaching into public space would violate those rules.
Here is the February 15, 2022 council meeting with that question and answer about remediation.
Start listening at 29-1/2 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQvrV16SADw
In Belmar now, a buildable lot anywhere is 500 thousand or more. The idea of the 12th Ave EMS station is a smart one in my opinion. We the people own it now. The negotiated price has money set aside for remediation. There is a company waiting and ready to go. As Mr Creamer says the fact that a contaminated sight will be gone from Belmar is a good thing. The plan under Walsifer, to sell the 11th Ave firehouse, returning that property to the tax roles and helping improve that residential area. The architectural drawings are there for 12th. That property would be a state of the art perfect place to house fire trucks, water rescue and first aid vehicles with a area for training well.
Let’s stop arguing and get moving.
Again to quote Mayor B, “It could be used for what its original purpose was, but then again it might not be,” are the exact words. I’m not arguing remediation. But if it’s not going to be first aid (“original purpose”), then what else will it be (“it might not be”), and does that mean we may need to find another property if 12th and Main will not be first aid. I guess we just wait and see.
It’s true that we should get moving on remediation. I think the issue was, is, and will be two fold. The fact that this happened in the first place-we could’ve saved the old BFA with a fraction of the cost involved w this project. And the fact that the property was owned by a relative of the previous admin. We overpaid for it. If left on the market, the market would have done its thing and the property would’ve been purchased for significantly less money. The government swooped in and paid too much without proper due diligence. It really flies in the face of traditional conservative ideals.
Those are the two issues that are bothering most. Including me. And I like Mr Walsifer. If the Doherty admin did this exact same thing (and it’s right up his alley), well, there would be a wave of anger much greater than what we’ve seen.
Which part is untrue? The 12th and Main property was purchased by the last admin. We def paid too much. The property belonged to a relative of the former BA. And the old BFA could’ve been saved for around 800k, which is a fraction of the cost of the property not to mention the cost to renovate into a workable FA building.
Does any of THAT sound familiar? Would you like to refute any of those facts? I’m happy to debate with you about it. Get back to me on what you think is inaccurate.
The old BFA could not be saved because of the mindset of the owners and their ****** ***************.
Surprise, they moved to Florida I heard.
(Asterisks are mine, Editor.)
It could have been saved. The animosity was on both sides. It would just require the mayor (at the time) to be the bigger man. That didn’t happen.
By the way, you ‘refuted’ only one point and you really didn’t refute it. You expressed your personal opinion. If you want to debate, facts come in handy. But hey, I get it. It’s easier to just bitch and moan than do any, you know, research.
Every project HAS stalled under this administration and we are even short two bathrooms on the boardwalk. I got to tell you, when I voted to stop overdevelopment I didn’t realize I was also voting to stop all progress. Three separate firehouses in this town is absurd. Move out with a state of the art fire/ems facility if you care about those fire/ems workers that spoke last council meeting. We can do better than those existing antiquated facilities they have now.
Gene is correct(again), we need to clean that site up asap. Good for Belmar and our environment.
How nice (and add incredible value to your home) to have a beautiful emergency service building on our Main St. Something that looks and has the feel of good ole hometown Americana. Brick building w blue stone details, as if Norman Rockwell painted it. One that our volunteers (yes the men and women that do this for free) can be proud of. A building that has the garage doors open as you drive down Main St. and you just look over, wave and reflect on how darn lucky we are to live in this town. So let’s get together and do this! And Mayor (if you read this blog) if you don’t want this then include it in the seaport redevelopment zone, sell it and it will be easily double what the previous administration paid for it. Belmar deserves an answer though.
Selling the property would be a tangled mess. It’s a remediation site. Would we be on the hook as the seller? Would any buyer have to wait for the remediation to be completed by the previous seller? Would any buyer touch it with a ten foot pole? I don’t know. If completed, it would look better than what is there for sure. But it was foolish to purchase in the first place. The cost to the taxpayers will be astronomically high. Maybe we should look at the stats on emergency services times over the last 18 months without a BFA building. Has there been a significant increase in response times? If not, maybe Mr Merkler is right, sell the property and hope we recoup the money spent.
You’ve tested the ground? No one is saying don’t do it. We just don’t want to PAY for it. Who knows how long crap was leaking into the ground. You certainly don’t. I don’t think there’s a person here who doesn’t think it should get done. I just wish we didn’t buy a contaminated parcel with tax dollars, from a relative of the former BA. It’s smells really really bad. Plus it got the last administration remediated.
No, I didn’t. Environmental engineers did. You know, experts. The soil in and around the site is contaminated genius. That means it needs to be remediated. The extent of the contamination is not yet known because they have to begin removal of the soil to make that determination. While I am impressed with your ability to make that determination from your armchair, I’m gonna go ahead and rely on the people that do this for a living. Your crystal ball says ‘it’s not that difficult’, I’m a little less sanguine.
No one is saying it’s ‘radio active’, but it is contaminated with chemicals. Chemicals that have been leaching into the ground for, possibly, decades.
Why don’t you ask someone who had their real estate transaction destroyed by the remediation project cause by a single leaky heating oil tank if it’s not difficult.
Bill I totally concur with your commentary!
Fire Department has l historical logs and pictures of the horrendous bars and hotel fires. In addition the fire bug who destroyed so much in Belmar beyond their targets.
Please, please tent the WHITE HOUSE and tear it down! The spread from a fire there would hit three blocks. If it’s a borough stall, tells us all! How can the neighbors get insurance?
the scope of environmental clean-up @ 12th & Main is small … small enough that NJDEP allows a Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) to manage the project.
EPA or NJDEP still directly manage large remediation projects with different pollutants … like Dempsey Park
There were gas stations on every other corner on Main Street in Belmar back when and much to our chagrin Ocean Avenue had gas stations galore… up and down the Jersey shore. THE Standard ruled NJ back then. Oh and employed many of your relatives too.
Um, what? When was ‘back when?’ I’ve been in town for more than a half a century and I’ve enjoyed going through the Belmar history books. When was there a gas station on every other corner? And when were there gas stations ‘galore’ on Ocean Ave? We’ve all seen the many many old photos of the glorious Victorians up and down the beach from the early 20th century to the more modern pavilions of the 50s and 60s. I don’t recall any gas stations. Are you thinking of a different town perhaps?
They should probably vacuum the floor once in a while there were about 8 chewed off finger nails on the floor in our row last night.
Well it certainly isn’t from any court sessions since everything is via zoom!
Last night’s meeting – It’s getting dumber and dumber. The concrete piano for Pyano Plaza is coming from overseas. What, they couldn’t get a concrete piece of junk from anywhere in this hemisphere?
—————————————————————————–
More talk of the geese. I say, just hire a vet to perform vasectomies on the male geese (or any goose, self- identifying as a male goose). But now, there seems to be some sort of conspiracy involved – stay tuned.
—————————————————————————-
The skate park boondoggle continues unabated. (Deleted by Editor.)
(Deleted by Editor.)
I’m curious what happened to the $50-$60,000. We need more info on that! The money could have been used for FD.
What else is being hidden / covered up?
Anyone else know about the ordinance to eliminate gas powered landscape equipment? I believe Doherty is writing that one last I heard. Can someone please look into it?
Here is the Cadenza Piano website.
https://www.cadenza-piano.com/
Mr. Mayor. Why is Brandl restaurant permitted to use our plaza for his extended table service?
Does he pay the town any rent?
I prefer it goes away so there is more seating for the concerts being held in the plaza.
Please respond
Was this a concern of yours with prior administrations?
Asking for a friend. During the prior administration, Covid allowed for outside dining, I understand that. Covid allowances are over now. Brandle should comply and remove their tables from the public plaza. This has nothing to do with prior administration, just an elderly resident asking for our plaza back so more can enjoy summer concerts. Simple question, not political like you try to make it.
Who covers the insurance for that seating area?
You do. The property belongs to Belmar.
Was Chris Brandle a political contributor to Jerry’s campaign? If so, there’s the answer to your question.
Its the same as hiring family and friends into Boro positions. Just keep it quiet nobody will find out. Wink wink.
Ole concert goer- Covid restrictions ended in March or 2022 in NJ. That means all of last summer, during the prior administration, Brandl was encroaching into the plaza for no good reason. So the question to you, was this a concern during the prior administration, is a legitimate question. It would seem that for you, it is political. Because you unconsciously hold one political party to a different standard than the other. Fear not, you are not alone. It is a condition that affects millions of Americans. They are willing to forgive transgressions committed by their guy, yet want to lock up people on the other side for doing the same thing or less. In this case, even though the Walsifer admin allowed this expansion into the plaza, this admin is being accused of ****** ***** ** ***** it. Can’t make it up.
(Asterisks are mine, Editor.)
Goose meet gander. I’m sorry, I was ill last summer and was unable to attend any concerts. If I was able to attend and I saw Brandles tables out there I would have inquired then. Your smirky responses indicate to me a sense of immaturity. Everything is not political, at least for me. It seems like our country is falling apart and all anyone can do is blame and point fingers at the other guy. Just give us our plaza back.
Yeah this Admin rides the tiki boat and (deleted by Editor.) when not pursuing personal political agendas.
Hey goosey. What does it matter if it was allowed last year or not? It IS a legitimate question because it’s being allowed now
Hey local- it 100% is a legitimate question. The actual issue is if the legitimate questions are only asked during certain administrations. Ole concert goer is right about one thing, partisan politics is bad for the country. I don’t want Brandl occupying the plaza any more than anyone else. My issue is with people who hold this admin to a different standard to the last admin. AND vice versa. It’s like the windmill whale nonsense. No one gave two #*%! about the whales when oil exploration was opened up along the eastern sea board (same sounding technology) or when they’re buying pallets of single use plastic water bottles at Cosco or spraying chemicals all over their lawns. It’s hypocrisy. Worse, political hypocrisy.
So yes, ask away why Brandl gets to spread out into the plaza, but don’t pretend it hasn’t been there for three years.
When are they going to start answering emails or calling residents back ?
Do they answer the employees ?
No
They do not answer the employees either.
I would recommend you file an OPRA.
No they don’t.
You’d have better luck using tik tok to contact the administration.
Come to the meetings. You will just get a “I don’t know, we will get back to you”. Nobody gets back.
They probably only pay attention to the ridiculous tik tok videos their “tourism/assistant to mayor” posts. It just embarassing at this point
You realize you don’t have to watch them, right? You are under no obligation. I get that some folks just love to complain, but my recommendation, if videos embarrass you, is to stop watching them.
Watching or not, who pays for it?
Who pays for making tik tok videos? I’m no IT expert but I’m pretty sure they’re free to make. If it’s money you’re worried about, I would pay more attention to the fact that you’re being ripped off every day at the state and federal level by BOTH political parties. But if it’s easier to be mad at social media videos, have at it.
Pianos and mermaids and geese, oh my! But why is no one talking about the fact that the new first aid/FD building at 12th and Main may no longer be a new first aid/FD building? “It could be used for what its original purpose was, but then again it might not be,” are the exact words. So what did we pay $1.2 million and draw up plans for? That property was supposed to be cleaned up by the seller, a certain someone’s something-in-law-or-other, before the contract was even signed. It was understood that the boro could walk away if that wasn’t completed to satisfaction. Is that still the case or not?
(Documents state that $300,000 of the sale price of the property is being held for the clean-up of the 12th and Main property, Editor.)
The simple answer is because the Prior Admin started the project. The main goal of this Current Admin is to wipe out what the Prior Admin did by rewriting all ordinances and abandoning any projects. You think we would put ego’s aside for the town, ha!
Current Admin- that is a bold claim. Can you please list all the Walsifer admin ordinances, projects, deals, or contracts that this admin is ‘wiping out’? I am curious. I’ll wait.
Do you attend the meetings? I do.
Mr Jerry B consistently says “That ordinance was poorly written. We will re write it”.
And then Mr. Creamer consistently points out how bad the new ordinances are.
Anything else?
Anonymous- Yes, a lot else please. Your ‘list’ isn’t a list at all.
You said that this new admin ‘abandons projects’ – you didn’t list one project abandoned. Please list them. And not just hearsay, actual abandoned projects started by the last admin.
You said they are ‘rewriting all the ordinances’., your words. Your ‘list’ contains a vague reference to something the mayor said. I would appreciate an actual list of what ordinances have been rewritten. You don’t have to name them all, just name three. If they’re doing them ‘all’, that should be easy enough. For extra credit, you can explain why the re-written ordinance is worse. You know, once you’ve listed them.
I’m happy you go to meetings. So do I. But I didn’t ask you that.
I asked you to back up your claims and you didn’t even come close to doing that. I assume when making such a bold partisan claim, you have the evidence to back it up.
I’ll continue to wait.
The fire house, obviously lol. Then let’s talk about sign ordinances. Oh the clock and mermaid need to go.
Don’t forget to make sure your ornamental grass meets the town regs. Is that to prevent the geese from pooping? Mayor b suggests we leave the grass tall. If they don’t like you they will dispatch enforcers while they turn a blind eye to others. Good thing we got swindled on a concrete piano. The largest bid of $1 for a prime location. Family & Friends getting paid positions. You can’t make this up! Good thing we have TapInto Belmar to cover all this for Mayor B. That’s sarcasm.
Moving the seafood festival back was an issue I remember. Somehow we lost money doing that. Must be inflation.
Why are they against the Skate Park?
So if it isn’t being cleaned as it was supposed to have been, perhaps the current boro council is using their right to pull out?
Belmar owns 12th & Main according to MC filed deed – June 2022 … done deal … there is no ‘right to pull out’.
According to comments made in a Feb. 2022 council meeting, after questioning by Mr. McEvoy as to who would be on the hook for remediation, it was stated by the mayor that the seller would be responsible for the cleanup before a contract is signed, and if cleaning the site isn’t possible we could walk away. If a contract has indeed been signed as you’re stating, then it looks like we may have been swindled by our elected officials once again.
(Please see these two posts about who pays for remediation,
https://www.thebelmarblog.com/?p=5458
https://www.thebelmarblog.com/?p=4830
Editor)
My issue is not with who pays for remediation. My issue is that the boro bought a questionable property for $1.2 million, that may or may not be able to be remediated, for a first aid building that may or may not now be a first aid building. When we were told by the previous mayor, after being questioned by Mr. McEvoy in a documented council meeting, we would be able to walk away. I will quote again, “All the costs are to the seller and if there comes a point in time that we don’t think that it can be environmentally cleaned, we walk away and they have to owe us whatever money that goes out.” Mr. McEvoy then asked, “That’s previous to when the deal goes down?” Mayor W. then said, “That’s all previous to before it goes down. We’re fully aware of that.”
BUT according to Mr. Creamer, the deal DID go down, which means there’s no walking away. So no matter what, we’re stuck with a property that may or may not be complete garbage. If you watch Tuesday’s council meeting again, Mayor B didn’t seem to confident about it’s final form. I think something’s wrong with the property, and everyone’s keeping a tight lip as to why or how it will be fixed.
We need a third party to explain what’s going on. The council cannot be trusted. Can we get the nice fireman to come back and talk?
Brandl, is no different from any other outside sidewalk table foodery. Anyone can sit on chairs, grounds of or on public property.
Ok Ms. Dean. I’m a veteran. I’m going to pull my hot dog cart up to Pyanoe plaza and put 10 picnic tables up there for my customers to sit and eat. Thank you for the information.
It would be nice if we could sit at the lake and not get covered in goose feces.
Maybe Brandl can setup a few tables at the lake and then maybe we can get some attention there.
I’m sorry Mrs Dean but that is incorrect. The Brandl restaurant, like any restaurant, needs a permit to even offer outside seating. And even then, it must comply with certain rules. I would imagine that encroaching into public space would violate those rules.
Here is the February 15, 2022 council meeting with that question and answer about remediation.
Start listening at 29-1/2 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQvrV16SADw
can’t wait to see contaminated soil loaded on trucks and taken away from Belmar
Not if Mr Mayor tries to pull out. The lot will sit for years as an eyesore.
In Belmar now, a buildable lot anywhere is 500 thousand or more. The idea of the 12th Ave EMS station is a smart one in my opinion. We the people own it now. The negotiated price has money set aside for remediation. There is a company waiting and ready to go. As Mr Creamer says the fact that a contaminated sight will be gone from Belmar is a good thing. The plan under Walsifer, to sell the 11th Ave firehouse, returning that property to the tax roles and helping improve that residential area. The architectural drawings are there for 12th. That property would be a state of the art perfect place to house fire trucks, water rescue and first aid vehicles with a area for training well.
Let’s stop arguing and get moving.
Environmental clean-up of the property @ 12th & Main is the responsible thing to do … ASAP
Again to quote Mayor B, “It could be used for what its original purpose was, but then again it might not be,” are the exact words. I’m not arguing remediation. But if it’s not going to be first aid (“original purpose”), then what else will it be (“it might not be”), and does that mean we may need to find another property if 12th and Main will not be first aid. I guess we just wait and see.
It’s true that we should get moving on remediation. I think the issue was, is, and will be two fold. The fact that this happened in the first place-we could’ve saved the old BFA with a fraction of the cost involved w this project. And the fact that the property was owned by a relative of the previous admin. We overpaid for it. If left on the market, the market would have done its thing and the property would’ve been purchased for significantly less money. The government swooped in and paid too much without proper due diligence. It really flies in the face of traditional conservative ideals.
Those are the two issues that are bothering most. Including me. And I like Mr Walsifer. If the Doherty admin did this exact same thing (and it’s right up his alley), well, there would be a wave of anger much greater than what we’ve seen.
More of that prior admin talk. Sounds familiar.
Which part is untrue? The 12th and Main property was purchased by the last admin. We def paid too much. The property belonged to a relative of the former BA. And the old BFA could’ve been saved for around 800k, which is a fraction of the cost of the property not to mention the cost to renovate into a workable FA building.
Does any of THAT sound familiar? Would you like to refute any of those facts? I’m happy to debate with you about it. Get back to me on what you think is inaccurate.
The old BFA could not be saved because of the mindset of the owners and their ****** ***************.
Surprise, they moved to Florida I heard.
(Asterisks are mine, Editor.)
It could have been saved. The animosity was on both sides. It would just require the mayor (at the time) to be the bigger man. That didn’t happen.
By the way, you ‘refuted’ only one point and you really didn’t refute it. You expressed your personal opinion. If you want to debate, facts come in handy. But hey, I get it. It’s easier to just bitch and moan than do any, you know, research.
Every project HAS stalled under this administration and we are even short two bathrooms on the boardwalk. I got to tell you, when I voted to stop overdevelopment I didn’t realize I was also voting to stop all progress. Three separate firehouses in this town is absurd. Move out with a state of the art fire/ems facility if you care about those fire/ems workers that spoke last council meeting. We can do better than those existing antiquated facilities they have now.
Gene is correct(again), we need to clean that site up asap. Good for Belmar and our environment.
How nice (and add incredible value to your home) to have a beautiful emergency service building on our Main St. Something that looks and has the feel of good ole hometown Americana. Brick building w blue stone details, as if Norman Rockwell painted it. One that our volunteers (yes the men and women that do this for free) can be proud of. A building that has the garage doors open as you drive down Main St. and you just look over, wave and reflect on how darn lucky we are to live in this town. So let’s get together and do this! And Mayor (if you read this blog) if you don’t want this then include it in the seaport redevelopment zone, sell it and it will be easily double what the previous administration paid for it. Belmar deserves an answer though.
Mayor B’s decision has been made. Procrastinate
Selling the property would be a tangled mess. It’s a remediation site. Would we be on the hook as the seller? Would any buyer have to wait for the remediation to be completed by the previous seller? Would any buyer touch it with a ten foot pole? I don’t know. If completed, it would look better than what is there for sure. But it was foolish to purchase in the first place. The cost to the taxpayers will be astronomically high. Maybe we should look at the stats on emergency services times over the last 18 months without a BFA building. Has there been a significant increase in response times? If not, maybe Mr Merkler is right, sell the property and hope we recoup the money spent.
Stop acting like it’s a Radioactive site like Camp Evans was.
The soil gets removed & cleaned. New fill soil replaces it. It’s not difficult.
You’ve tested the ground? No one is saying don’t do it. We just don’t want to PAY for it. Who knows how long crap was leaking into the ground. You certainly don’t. I don’t think there’s a person here who doesn’t think it should get done. I just wish we didn’t buy a contaminated parcel with tax dollars, from a relative of the former BA. It’s smells really really bad. Plus it got the last administration remediated.
Have you tested it?
No, I didn’t. Environmental engineers did. You know, experts. The soil in and around the site is contaminated genius. That means it needs to be remediated. The extent of the contamination is not yet known because they have to begin removal of the soil to make that determination. While I am impressed with your ability to make that determination from your armchair, I’m gonna go ahead and rely on the people that do this for a living. Your crystal ball says ‘it’s not that difficult’, I’m a little less sanguine.
No one is saying it’s ‘radio active’, but it is contaminated with chemicals. Chemicals that have been leaching into the ground for, possibly, decades.
Why don’t you ask someone who had their real estate transaction destroyed by the remediation project cause by a single leaky heating oil tank if it’s not difficult.
Bill I totally concur with your commentary!
Fire Department has l historical logs and pictures of the horrendous bars and hotel fires. In addition the fire bug who destroyed so much in Belmar beyond their targets.
Please, please tent the WHITE HOUSE and tear it down! The spread from a fire there would hit three blocks. If it’s a borough stall, tells us all! How can the neighbors get insurance?
the scope of environmental clean-up @ 12th & Main is small … small enough that NJDEP allows a Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) to manage the project.
EPA or NJDEP still directly manage large remediation projects with different pollutants … like Dempsey Park
Are the dissolved first aid squads’ financials public or have they been released?
The website hasn’t been updated since they released a profit loss statement. The lot was sold for a good amount of money.
There were gas stations on every other corner on Main Street in Belmar back when and much to our chagrin Ocean Avenue had gas stations galore… up and down the Jersey shore. THE Standard ruled NJ back then. Oh and employed many of your relatives too.
Um, what? When was ‘back when?’ I’ve been in town for more than a half a century and I’ve enjoyed going through the Belmar history books. When was there a gas station on every other corner? And when were there gas stations ‘galore’ on Ocean Ave? We’ve all seen the many many old photos of the glorious Victorians up and down the beach from the early 20th century to the more modern pavilions of the 50s and 60s. I don’t recall any gas stations. Are you thinking of a different town perhaps?