In negotiations with DRBA, county wants local control, mixed-income residential
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — Cape May County is negotiating along parallel tracks with the Delaware River and Bay Authority over the county airport.
Key points on both tracks are getting much more local control of the airport, including the ambitious proposal for several hundred units of mixed-income housing there to create “a city within a city.”
In an interview Friday with the Cape May Star and Wave, Cape May County Board of Commissioners Director Leonard Desiderio, Commissioner Bobby Barr and Administrator Kevin R. Lare spoke about the negotiations with the DRBA and how they want to use a 33-acre parcel at the airport for a housing project that would be affordable for local families.
In June, county officials submitted the required five-year notice to the DRBA, which runs the airport, that it was not planning to renew the contract. The county and DRBA are in negotiations on what Lare calls a two-track approach — one that would lead to a new contract with the DRBA and the other to sever the relationship and have the county take over “sponsorship,” or control, of the airport.
The officials could not set a definitive timeline on the negotiations, which could conceivably last for years. They expect a much faster resolution because the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has oversight of the airport, does not provide funding for projects without seeing long-term control in place. That is why Lare said “it doesn’t behoove” either the county or DRBA to drag things out.
“Although the county has 60 months to make that transition, neither party anticipates it take that long,” Lare said.
Should the one track in the negotiations lead to a decision not to renew a contract with the DRBA, the county could apply to the FAA for its own sponsorship and would hope to get an answer back in 90 to 120 days, they explained.
Desiderio said the county has had a good relationship with the DRBA but the decision on whether to renew will come down to what the commission believes is in the best interest of the taxpayers.
Even if they decide to renew, it would be only with the proviso the county has more control.
“There are things that we want and things we think that would best serve the citizens of Cape May County,” Desiderio said.
“We should have a say as to what goes onto that land, as the taxpayers’ land, and they should have a voice at the table and right now they don’t,” Barr said. “We should have as a bare minimum a voice at that table and right now we don’t. We have some things in mind, some of which we can talk about today and we think would benefit Cape May County as a whole, and we view this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do that.”
Barr said the one thing everyone in the county views as important is housing, that there needs to be affordable, mixed-income housing where working people — such as teachers, firefighters, single moms with two kids — can get started in a county where housing is becoming unaffordable.
“If you’re just getting started and you’re making 40-, 50-, 60- 70-grand a year,” Barr asked, “where are you going to live in Cape May County?”
“We want to try to keep people in Cape May County — we envision this as a community within a community in Lower Township,” Desiderio said. “I think all of Cape May County would like to see something where people can afford to bring up their children in the county.
“You’ve heard it many, many times. ‘I live here but now my kids can’t afford to buy something, they can’t afford to stay here,’” he said.
The proposal would require FAA approval, which they concede is “a heavy lift,” would be to solicit RFPs from developers for a project that could entail some 300 housing units. The developer would build the project and manage it or hire a company to do so.
The county, the officials stress, would not be the landlord. The county would have a long-term contract with the developer, which would likely contribute a payment in lieu of taxes.
“In no way would we be landlords,” Desiderio said, noting people have talked for years about housing that’s affordable and this would be the perfect place for it. He explained the benefits to the developers are that the county owns the land so they would not have that acquisition cost or have to deal with environmental permits.
Lare and Desiderio explained the airport is in the “Cafiero doughnut” — the 1,100 acres of the airport that late state Sen. James Cafiero “carved out” where construction does not require the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act permits for sensitive environmental areas. Obtaining CAFRA permits can be expensive and take a long time, if they are granted. The 33-acre site along the western-most part of the airport also abuts a residential area.
Desiderio said the beauty of the site is that it is perfect for the type of housing proposed because key infrastructure already is at the airport — a fire department, the Lower Township Police Department and emergency medical services. A nearby 14-acre parcel the county owns that is not part of the airport is available for other non-housing developments.
“This is a perfect location and a perfect parcel to do this,” Desiderio said.
“We envision it as a community within a community, in Lower Township, and we envision it as a vibrant, new community where people can work, play and go to school and be happy,” Desiderio said.
“If this goes through and we get to put this out to developers as an RFP (request for proposals), think of how many developers are going to want to line up to do this,” Barr said. “There will be no shortage. They’ll be coming from all over.”
The officials acknowledge the concept would have to meet the approval of the FAA, whether the airport is run by the DRBA or the county.
“It’s an uphill battle and the board knows it,” Lare said. “It’s very dependent on FAA approval and needs the support of the sponsor.” That sponsor now is the DRBA, which is why there is a two-track approach in negotiations. If the county decided to renew the contract, it would need the DRBA on board before going to the FAA.
That is why initial discussions with the DRBA have been to carve out some land, Desiderio said, “but it’s still a long road ahead.” However, he said this is the “ideal place” for mixed-use housing the county desperately needs.
The commission director noted Lare and county attorney Jeffrey R. Lindsay met just days earlier with the DRBA.
“We’ve had a good relationship with the DRBA, and in spite of what some other people may have said, it’s been good, but we feel that this (project) best suits our plan for the citizens and future citizens of Cape May County,” Desiderio said.
Because negotiations are ongoing, the officials assert they are limited in what they are able to legally say about the negotiations and other aspects about the future of the airport.
Barr also acknowledged getting FAA approval on the housing proposal wouldn’t be easy, but noted there is no better time to try.
“If we’re ever gonna do it, right now it might be our time to do it. President Trump is in office and he’s very familiar with Cape May County and what we’re all about. Our congressman has a great relationship with him,” Barr said. “We know some people with the FAA. There’s a local guy who works for the transportation secretary.
“We’re aware it’s a heavy ask; don’t get me wrong. We may not be able to do it, but if we’re ever going to do it, I believe that now it’s perfect.”
Cost-benefit analysis
Although reports have suggested it could cost the county $30 million in payment to reimburse the DRBA for its investments in the airport over the years were the county to take control, county officials said they could not confirm numbers.
“We have forensic auditors or accountants looking at everything that is there because we take spending taxpayers’ money very, very seriously,” Desiderio said. “And if somebody just comes to us and says it’s $32 million, $24 million, $18 million, we don’t just say OK.”
“The number they keep throwing out could possibly be that number, but we’re not saying it is until all of our due diligence is done and we get a great accounting of what it is,” Desiderio said.
The financial considerations include what the county would be gaining by taking control of the airport and its buildings, including ones in different levels of discussion or development such as a multimillion-dollar “athletic bubble” for indoor sporting events a developer is building and a new $7 million hangar the county is planning to bond for (with an expected $2 million grant to offset the cost.)
Desiderio said if the county severs the relationship with the DRBA, it would start getting the rent for the properties at the airport, which Lare put as just shy of $800,000 a year.
“Those buildings that you see there would become part of (the county),” Desiderio said, “so instead of them writing rent checks to the DRBA, the rent checks would come to Cape May County.”
Barr said there are other buildings coming on line that could make that annual rent in excess of $800,000. He said there are other revenue-generating ideas at the airport as well.
If the airport is able to include the housing element, he added, there would be a place where the “adults can work, the kids and families can play,” and “we are going to do other things” there. He said he didn’t know what those would be, but getting that “vibrant community, a city within a city,” would be something tangible that residents of the county would be able to see, touch and feel.
“If we didn’t explore this,” Desiderio said, “we would be selling our taxpayers short by not looking at a project like this for everyone.”
“We’re going to do what’s best for the taxpayers of Cape May County. And that’s going to make our decision — what’s best for the taxpayers,” Desiderio said. “After negotiations, we’ll make that decision.”
Desiderio said he did not want to talk about some of the dissension among some commission members, but said once negotiations are complete with the DRBA, the commission as a whole would make a decision on the airport.
Again, they could not predict how long those negotiations are going to take, but Desiderio pointed out “the clock is ticking.”
“If we exhausted all avenues and we find that we cannot come to some kind of decision with the DRBA, it will be time to move on,” Desiderio said. “It would be time to move forward with what we feel would be a great plan for that area and for Cape May County.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave
