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Community Corner

One Year Anniversary of Belmar Pavilion Uproar, How Far We Have Come

It was only a short year ago that Belmar residents during an unprecedented Council meeting held on July 3, 2013 saw the new beachfront pavilions.  The plans for the Taylor Pavilion were for a two-story Taj Mahal building with a 4400 sq. ft. catering hall on the second floor, a full two-story back wall of retractable glass, elevators and even a dumbwaiter to the first floor concession area for the “caterer” apparently ready to go.  At 13th Avenue, there were two very large and long two-story buildings connected with a breezeway type structure and on the second floor there was miniature golf in the sky; all in addition to the 10th Avenue safety building.   These extravagant building designs were the result of only (6) six Beach Advisory Meetings held from January through June 2013.  The minutes of those meetings do not document much, only that everything is decided and approved by the Mayor.  There is also the start of appalling engineering and architect fees for the pavilions.  We now know that Belmar committed to pay $1,000,035.00 for engineering and architect fees for the pavilions.  What does that represent? There was tremendous outcry by the public recognizing these large facilities (not pavilions) were not suited for the V-1 (most vulnerable) beachfront area.  The residents spoke loud and clear unfortunately mostly on deaf ears.  The only Councilman hearing the residents was Jim Bean, voting no.  An initiative petition questioning building the two-story Taylor Pavilion was circulated gathering almost 600 signatures and presented to the Mayor to compel a vote for residents to decide.  The Mayor ignoring the petition went ahead passing a $7,500,000.00 Bond to start construction.  The only no vote again was Jim Bean.  A second petition was circulated residents now asking for a vote on the cost of spending $7,500,000.00 to build the pavilions; again the petition was ignored by the Mayor and was not certified by the Municipal Clerk as required by law. 

When the Mayor ignores the residents and the law by which the town is governed, he acts alone and taxpayers have to pay. Residents were forced to file suit to be heard and the Judge immediately ordered the petitions be certified so there could be a vote by the people.  Suddenly the Mayor had an epiphany choosing to discard the 13th Avenue building completely, stating publicly “yeah I guess it was a little over the top” and then decided the two-story Taylor Pavilion should be only one-story, never acknowledging it was the choice of the majority of residents who did not want such an elaborate facility on the beach.  The Mayor subsequently also withdrew the $7,500,000.00 Bond and things were very quiet in Belmar; for a while…. 

This writer sent a letter to the Mayor asking to be included in any future Beach Advisory Meetings on the new design for the Taylor Pavilion and/or any changes to the 10th Avenue building, there was no response.  Residents knew the Taylor Pavilion would now be one-story, but the Mayor knew all along FEMA would never pay for new construction over 15-feet high in the V-1 zone as it is against federal regulations.   The Mayor decided we did not need FEMA and said our Beach Utility Fund will pay for all the construction and it will cost taxpayers nothing.  But, that was against the law too!  When the Mayor ignores the law, the taxpayers pay!  The Judge said no, only an apportionment (or percentage) of the Beach Utility Fund can be used to construct the pavilions and pay for annual costs.  Right now that amount is unknown and will be decided by the Judge.  

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Remember taking money from tourists via a badge sale cannot be used to build a community center for our town, I wish it could but it can’t.  The Mayor should have known that since there was previous litigation in Belmar on this exact issue, using the Beach Utility Fund as a private bankroll for whatever we want in Belmar.  We lost that case by the way. 

Belmar moves on and without explanation, the Taylor Pavilion is redesigned. There is no notice to the public of any Beach Advisory Meetings held for the new design plans.  But there it is; the Taylor Pavilion, newly designed but no details.  There are no interior floor plans, no annual costs to insure such an exposed building on the beach, no usage, no maintenance costs, no square footage.  It is unknown how many staff will be utilized, is staff full time, part time or seasonal. Will there be new employees? Will it be open year round?  It now will have heat and air, did we even consider solar?  Upkeep, repairs, service costs, all unknown.  All the recurring annual costs are unknown.  There is available a 1,083 page construction CD for contract bidders prepared by Maser Engineering, remember that $1,000,035.00 fee but it’s really hard to understand.  All most of us residents want to know is what is inside, where are the floor plans and why isn’t this information readily available. It should be.

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Stepping over the residents again the Mayor just passed a $7,000,000.00 Bond to construct a much smaller one-story Taylor Pavilion (7,600 sq. ft.) and the 10th Avenue safety building. That’s just $500,000 less than it was to construct the Taj Mahal.  The Mayor explained the original $7,500,000.00 Bond was just wrong and underestimated.  So another petition was circulated; residents are fed up.  With the Judge looking over the Mayor’s shoulder, the third petition is appropriately certified according to law!  There will be a SPECIAL ELECTION, AUGUST 19, 2014 so the residents can decide, if they want to spend $7,000,000.00, or VOTE NO and spend $4.1 Million Dollars we have from FEMA and insurance to construct the pavilions.

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