by Julie Fink, Gazette Staff Writer

HAMMONTON—While the town of Hammonton is seeking for downtown property owners to accept its offer to improve land necessary to create parking lots in known trouble spots, some property owners are leery and guarded about what has been presented.
During the last two years, mayor and town council have been working on partnering with downtown property owners in a proposed parking lot project that would add both long-term and short-term parking spaces.
According to Mayor John DiDonato, the town is asking for easement rights to their property to provide a paved public parking area.
“We are asking them to provide the land and we would provide all of the improvements including the curbing, paving, lighting and landscaping,” DiDonato said.
Michael Lawrow, owner of Colonial Electric on Egg Harbor Road, who also owns a property on 12th Street, feels the town officials are asking property owners to give up a large part of their private parking area for public parking, without any compensation.
“Parking for downtown might be important, but not so important as to take the rights away from property owners as there are other solutions on hand. The town should not be asking for something in exchange for nothing,” he said.
“I think it is an extremely fair offer and would make for a good joint effort, especially if you look at the big picture,” DiDonato said.
“The carrot they are holding in front of us is that they will maintain it and take care of it. It sounds real nice, and they will probably do it for the first five or six years, but what kind of conditions will it be in after that?” Lawrow said.
According to Elsa Hernandez of Elsa’s Hair Studio II, 21 12th Street, the offer proposed for the town to pay for the cost of renovations but then turn it back over to her to insure it and pay taxes on it.
“Yes, they would fix it up, but then I am responsible to pay taxes on it and get insurance,” she said.
Hernandez’s concern over the increased liability is one reason why she is opposed to the project.
According to DiDonato, the town would work with indemnity and take on the responsibility of insuring the lot.
“I believe this is a win-win situation for the property owners,” DiDonato said.
Additionally, Hernandez felt she would be forfeiting any privacy that her tenants living above her shop currently enjoy.
“They will have no backyard. If my tenant wants to put up a small pool or sit out in the sun, put a swing up for their children they will have no backyard to do it in,” she continued.
Lawrow expressed concern over the loss of security for his residential tenants.
Some property owners agree with the town’s assessment of the importance of more parking downtown; others think it is not needed.
“I think it is critical. It opens the door for so many more things. Once you get the parking, as a property owner, you can attract an array of commercial tenants, and ultimately the property values will increase,” downtown property owner Michael Ricca said.
Ricca owns various properties downtown, as does his family ,and believes that if the parking project is going to work, it needs to be done as a whole. He would like to see the lot proposed on his property extend from Egg Harbor Road to Second Street.
As it is currently proposed, there would not be accessibility from both ends, he continued.
“I am on board with it, but in my opinion it can’t be done piecemeal,” he said.
Ricca sees an added benefit to the exposure created by the accessibility to the stores from the back entrances the new parking lot would generate.
Hernandez feels that there is no need for more parking downtown.
“I don’t think it is a good idea. I don’t see how it will benefit me. Who is it going to benefit? I don’t think we need that much parking down here because the people are not here. It is just going to increase my liability,” she said.
Hernandez has owned her property on 12th Street for 16 years.
“If the town wants more parking for this area, maybe they should consider buying DeMarco’s plaza. This would give them all the parking they could use,” Lawrow said.
The town could proceed with a desirable parking project only having one property owner to negotiate with, he continued.
“They could buy his property and turn it into a parking lot and leave everyone else alone,” Lawrow said.
Other suggestions from property owners include changing the time limit for parking from two to four hours on both sides of Bellevue Avenue and 12th Street, and addressing the condition of the back alley streets which property owners said were in need of repair. Ricca suggested a meeting to be set up with the town officials and the property owners to identify the concerns.
“A meeting should be set up with the property owners to at least identify what some of the stumbling blocks are so we can try and get this thing done. If we can attract people to the downtown there are many places it could go,” he said.
Mayor DiDonato was not opposed to another meeting.
Lawrow said he was not opposed to a meeting, but said he did not see a swift resolution to the matter.