MARGATE — The city is looking to finalize an agreement to purchase the former Liberty gas station on Ventnor Avenue and turn it into a public parking lot.
The city offered Bryan D. and Emily C. Taylor, the owners of the former Liberty Gas Service Station, $2.3 million for the property.
The 3,375-square-foot lot in the city’s Central Business District is listed at $3.1 million, according to Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach.
During its regular meeting on June 20 city Solicitor Scott Abbott told Board of Commissioners that the owners’ attorney, Frank Brennan, wants to finalize the deal.
The city hopes to pay for the purchase through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Local Property Acquisition Grant program.
Under the program, the city could receive up to $1 million to buy and make infrastructure improvements at the site, Mayor Michael Collins said.
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“One of the things we’ve been looking at is just general parking throughout town. It’s always an issue no matter what we do,” said Collins.
A requirement of the grant is that the city cannot already own the property, which was why the city sent a letter of intent stating it would buy the property to the owners.
Margate took its first step last week toward buying a former gas station at 7901 Ventnor Ave. and turning it into a municipal parking lot.
“This was an opportunity we thought was too good to pass up. We are looking at all options ... but our plan, our goal, was to have parking in both business districts on both ends of town,” Collins said.
Commissioner Maury Blumberg, however, has favored less costly alternatives, including the idea of regaining use of a parcel across from the gas station at Ventnor and South Franklin avenues. The city gave that lot to NJ Transit more than 25 years ago on a 100-year lease.
Blumberg continued to urge caution at the June 20 meeting.
“Initially, when we, the city, had an opportunity several years ago to buy what is now the Burger Bus, that property was designed with a gazebo, park benches and made a park-like setting,” he said. “This preliminary concept that we have now is just all parking. I think, and I hope, that there will be more discussion if and when we do get and purchase this parcel, and that there’ll be more input from the public, and more discussions related to what they think that piece of property should look like.”
The city did not allocate any funds for the purchase or improvement in this year’s budget.
The former gas station property is part of a fuel contamination remediation effort that the Exxon Corporation is responsible for, according to the city’s letter of intent.
The sellers are obligated to hand over all environmental reports and correspondence pertaining to the contamination and remediation efforts, in addition to existing leases, surveys and elevation certificates for the property, according to the letter.
Abbott said the owners would provide the city with the information needed, and that records of what was done at the site could be viewed on the state Department of Environmental Protection’s website.
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“Exxon Corporation is 100% on the hook to monitor that, and deal with any further calls. So when and if the city goes forward with actually purchasing that ground, as we intend to do, you’d have no responsibility for contamination,” Abbott said.
Resident Sherri Lilienfeld said while she loved the idea of the park and has always been a proponent for green infrastructure, she wasn’t sure whether that concept would solve the city’s parking crisis.
Collins said the former gas station would yield 30 parking spots.
Ed Berger, president of the Margate Business Association, agreed that something needed to be done about parking in the city’s commercial district.
“It’s a foregone conclusion that the business community is in desperate need for additional parking spaces in all three of our business centers — on both ends of town and down on Amherst,” said Berger. “I think this is a step in the right direction, and we certainly hope as a business community that this is the first step in providing some relief to what is a terminal problem right now for businesses from a marketing standpoint.”
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