VENTNOR APPROVES ORDINANCE TO BAN EMINENT DOMAIN-NJ
Greg Browne ( gbrowne@nbc40.net ) - 7/17/08 10:57 pm
VENTNOR— Ventnors new mayor and commissioners passed an ordinance on Thursday evening, that will ban future eminent domain for private development.
The ordinance is the end result of a controversial redevelopment plan, hatched seven years ago, that would have allowed a developer to demolish around 130 homes and businesses, to make room for a high-rise condominium, and high-end retail stores.
Creating an additional firestorm of controversy was the area of Ventnor targeted for the redevelopment — an eight acre section of a neighborhood in the north west part of the city, that contains approximately a third of the Latino population of Ventnor. Some opponents to the plan even called it ‘economic ethnic cleansing’.
“…You three, as far as I’m concerned, are passing one of the most important ordinances that I’ve ever heard,” said one Ventnor resident, addressing newly elected Mayor, Theresa Kelly, and Commissioners, Steve Weintrob & John Piatt.