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Ice Palace Purchase Sparks Party-Line Debate
By Catherine Galioto
Amid a vote to spend $5.4 million from the capital budget to buy the Ocean Ice Palace, debate heated up along party lines.
Democratic Mayor Dan Kelly hopes the township will create a referendum allowing residents to vote on whether they want the 13- acre property, including the rink, to become the township's first community center.
The GOP-led township council was voting to add $5.45 million to the capital budget, to buy the Chambers Bridge Road property with the hopes of turning it into a community center to house recreation, senior services and meeting space.
Kathy Russell, the lone Democrat councilmember, commented on the resolution, reading a statement by the mayor disapproving of the plan without a public vote.
Kelly did not attend the township council meeting, instead presiding at the National Night Out Against Crime.
According to the mayor's statement, "The council tonight has the power, and I believe the obligation, to place the sports complex acquisition, as well as the community center, on the ballot in November."
He called the budget amendment premature, saying the facility was a "structure with a checkered past and an uncertain future."
Some residents also complained that the $5.4 million price - already up from $5.25 million announced at an earlier press conference - was not a complete picture of how much it would cost to renovate existing structures, not to mention adding new facilities to the site. Instead, the $5.4 million is a fraction of the cost, paying only for the purchase of the land.
But other residents have argued in favor of the purchase, saying the facility will benefit the community.
Officials added that the purchase price will be offset by revenue from the sale of the Civic Plaza and the old Foodtown site.
Republicans on the council reaffirmed their support of the project, with Council Vice President Ruthanne Scaturro adding that bringing a community center to the site would create a span that has the library, schools, municipal building, post office, recreation and senior services all within walking distance.
However, Russell said she wondered whether the deal was a good one, looking at it from a business point of view, and reiterated a desire to have the purchase placed on the November ballot.
"This is easily a 50-year-old building, requiring major, major renovation to it," Russell said. "I haven't seen any feasibility study for the site."
Republican council members asked why Democrats were insisting on a referendum, when the Democratic council on which Russel sat was happy to buy the Foodtown site for $6 million without a referendum several years prior.
Councilman Michael Thulen said at least the township was buying a property that was currently being used daily. He compared that to the purchase of Foodtown, which was bought, shuttered and likely requires demolition.
Township Attorney Jean Cipriani said that the deadline to have the question put on the November ballot would be August 24, but in her opinion a referendum would have been more feasible if raised as an option during the closed sessions in January and May that discussed the purchase.
Scaturro said the township's business and finance committee would handle the request for a referendum, to which Russell replied it would die there, left on the backburner.
Other council members argued a referendum was not needed. Thulen said the mayoral election was a referendum in itself: residents could vote for the candidate whose vision they want for the township, Kelly or Republican candidate Stephen Acropolis, the council president.
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