By MADDY VITALE
Ocean City Councilman Tom Rotondi expressed his concerns about the recent legalization of recreational marijuana at his Second Ward Zoom meeting Saturday.
The Second Ward encompasses the south side of Fourth Street to the north side of 12th Street.
On Monday, Governor Gov. Phil Murphy signed three bills to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older and to decriminalize it for people under 21.
The married father of three and former police officer said he was “extremely frustrated over the law.”
“I think from the city and countywide perspective, the law is bad. Adults will do what they are going to do and the people of New Jersey spoke and it passed,” Rotondi said. “It is here to stay but if kids are caught with marijuana parents should be notified.” A direct rebuke of the bill(A5342) Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law on Monday.
*Bill (A5342) prohibits law enforcement from notifying parents if their minor child is found in possession of or using marijuana and alcohol.
In another topic, Rotondi said he is not in favor of the proposed wind energy farm by the Danish company Orsted that would be built 15 miles off the southern New Jersey coast, including Ocean City.
Like some other City Council members concerned about the project, Rotondi said that the wind farm could negatively affect tourism, small business, taxes and our seniors and families that are on fixed incomes. Specifically, he said, because the towering wind turbines would be visible on the horizon during clear days. The other issue is how it could impact property values.
Orsted's proposed wind farm 15 miles off the New Jersey coast is drawing objections from City Council. (Image courtesy City of Ocean City)
Jim Edwards, a commissioner on the city’s Environmental Commission, asked Rotondi’s views on the issue during the Zoom meeting.
“Environmentally, I am for it,” Edwards said.
However, after hearing Councilman Rotondi explanation on his views on the wind farms, Edwards noted that there is a lot more that needs to be researched on the topic.
“My understanding is this is a state-mandated program,” Edwards said. “Unless we take some legal action, we will have these off the coast anyway.”
Rotondi said the city has $11 billion in ratables and losing any of the ratables because of the wind farm, or causing problems for the fishing industry, would be detrimental to Ocean City.
“There could be a ripple effect,” he pointed out. Rotondi reference property value declining, taxes raising, cost of doing business for our local restaurants and harming people on fix incomes. “I don’t think it is worth it.”
When it comes to green energy, Rotondi said he believes there are better ideas out there to explore.
“I’ll fight it tooth and nail until the end," he said about the wind farm. "They (Orsted / Wind farms) aren’t really offsetting the carbon footprint.”
He also spoke about dredging and how the city is going to examine Ocean City's dredging contracts.
“I took a hard look at drainage and flooding and our capital improvement plan with the CFO (Chief Financial Officer Frank Donato) and as you could tell from public meetings, we gave one particular company a big contract,” he noted.
Rotondi brought forth a resolution to address citizens and other Council member’s concerns around contracting for engineer services and it was passed 5-0. The resolution will create a pool of potential contractors to determine the best suited company for a particular project the city needs to get done.
Everywhere we look, competition brings better pricing,” he said.
He also touched upon the plan for the city's new $35 million public safety building.
“Our police department is antiquated,” Rotondi said. “Ours is probably the worst station I have been in.”
The city will replace the antiquated, 130-year-old public safety building, a former school that serves as the police department’s headquarters and location for the municipal court.
Construction on the new public safety building is expected to begin in the fall of 2021 and would take about 18 months to complete, city officials said. A series of preliminary steps must first be taken, including finalizing the architectural designs and hiring the construction contractor through the public bidding process.
An architectural rendering depicts the front of the proposed public safety building overlooking Asbury Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets. (Courtesy of City of Ocean City)
