City Council will vote Thursday on a measure that would allow the city to take control of abandoned properties that become a nuisance to the community in Ocean City.
Citing two New Jersey statutes, the Abandoned Properties Rehabilitation Act and the New Jersey Urban Development Corporation Act, Mayor Jay Gillian’s administration proposes adding a new “Abandoned Properties” section to its own Administrative Code.
City Council will consider the first reading of the proposed ordinance at 7 p.m. April 23 at a public meeting at City Hall.
Gillian announced the idea in his weekly update on Friday, and he suggested the first targets would be three vacant gas stations that greet visitors coming across the Ninth Street Bridge into town.
The proposed ordinance would authorize the mayor to assign an officer to create an abandoned properties list based on a variety of criteria (see full documentation in PDF below). Owners would have the opportunity to challenge being put on the list.
The city would then have the right to take control of properties, borrow money to rehabilitate them, then recover costs through liens on sale of properties.
The proposed ordinance would potentially be relevant to the abandoned Palermo’s Family Market property on the 400 block of Asbury Avenue — though a prospective developer already has said he would assume costs for demolition and remediation.
