Long Branch parcels to be sold to redeveloper BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer LONG BRANCH - The City Council was expected to take action Tuesday on the sale of city-owned properties to the developers of the Oceanfront-Broadway Redevelopment zone. At the Jan. 23 municipal meeting, the council was expected to vote on resolution 10-07, to authorize the conveyance of seven city-owned parcels of land to redeveloper Broadway Arts Center (BAC) LLC. The resolution lists seven parcels of land, six of which Long Branch Tax Assessor William Fitzpatrick confirmed Monday are owned by the city. According to the resolution, the seventh parcel, block 311, lot 11 at 126 Union Ave., "became a property owned by the city and is now to be included in the list of city-owned properties to be redeveloped." "We have not received the deed transfer to the city for the Union Avenue property," Fitzpatrick said. "It did not show up as being city-owned in my system." Fitzpatrick said that all seven parcels of land in the resolution are listed on the city's tax map as either a parking area or vacant land. "The resolution is just transferring the city-owned lots to the developer," Fitzpatrick explained Monday. "The city has not acquired any of this land through eminent domain," Fitzpatrick said," adding, "The city has owned these properties for several years." According to the resolution, the city approved the Oceanfront-Broadway Redevelopment plan in May 1996. The redevelopment plan includes the redevelopment of the two-block zone that extends from Second to Memorial avenues and from Union Avenue to the north and Belmont Avenue to the south. BAC plans to raze the properties in the 9-acre zone and develop an estimated $180 million project, which will be anchored by two performing arts theaters. In June 2005, the city designated BAC as the redeveloper of the zone and approved a redevelopment agreement between the city and BAC, according to the resolution. Principals in BAC are the Katz, Siperstein and Pereira families. The redevelopment agreement provides that BAC is required to purchase certain properties owned by the city at fair market value, according to the resolution. The city is selling 147 and 131 Belmont Ave. and 126 and 148 Broadway to BAC, all four of which are parking areas, according to Fitzpatrick. "Parking areas are identified as paved lots," Fitzpatrick said, adding that just because it is labeled as a parking area does not mean that it is currently being issued as a parking lot. The remaining two addresses, 16 Second Ave. and 148 Union Ave., are vacant land that is being sold to the redeveloper, Fitzpatrick said. Block 311, lot 1, located at 126 Union Ave., is also listed as vacant land, Fitzpatrick added. "The city has determined that it is in the best interest of the city to modify the terms of the redevelopment agreement to provide for the conveyance of the above-listed city-owned parcels to [BAC] as soon as the fair market value of the properties have been determined," according to the resolution.