New Jersey Commerce & Economic Growth Commission Urban Enterprise Zone Authority
Urban Enterprise Zone Assistance Fund Project Proposal Application
City Center Redevelopment Plan Phase II
The Urban Enterprise Zone Assistance Fund is to be used for the purpose of assisting qualified municipalities in which enterprise zones are designated in undertaking public improvements and in upgrading eligible municipal services in designated enterprise zones.
Project Description
This project requires Zone Assistance Funds in the amount of $766,338 for Professional Services necessary to implement the Pleasantville Urban Enterprise Zone’s Redevelopment Plan for the Expanded City Center Area.
The City of Pleasantville, through its UEZ program, has undertaken the redevelopment and revitalization of the zone’s Central Business District (or, CBD) through the adoption of the Redevelopment Plan for the Expanded City Center Area (or, the Plan). At the heart of the project is a 30-achre section of the downtown district, or City Center Area. Once a prime retail and commercial district in the County of Atlantic, the Pleasantville CBD followed the decline of the Atlantic City market decades ago. Only in the past few years, and primarily through the UEZ program and subsidiary programs, such as the NJ Transit Village designation, has Pleasantville found the potential to reestablish itself as a destination for regional shoppers.
The City and UEZ are at the stage of the process to now implement the Plan. This will require extraordinary professional services to manage the project, review the redevelopment proposals, to designate the redeveloper(s) for the project, to provide legal counseling services, to provide economic analysis of any proposals and to implement the WRAP. Through a formal Request for Qualifications or Proposals, or interlocal government service agreements, the City and UEZ have selected those professionals to accomplish the goals and objectives in implementing the Plan.
The services required to successfully accomplish this project are listed below with a narrative explanation:
Project Management. There has been a demonstrated need to specify a project manager to maintain nearly daily oversight of the implementation of this project and to provide essential services such as review of the RFQ/P submissions; review and recommendation of the redeveloper(s); negotiation of the redevelopment agreement(s); oversight of the other professional services- legal, environmental, planning and relocation assistance; and, other compliance reviews as will be required.
Legal. The UEZ has issued an RFQ/P for redevelopment legal services so that an attorney may be retained for those necessary opinions, representations and legal advice that come up during RFQ review, redeveloper designation, contract negotiations and other related tasks.
Economic Analysis. It is important for the UEZ to know the true economic development potential of any redeveloper’s proposal and to confirm or correct the assumptions a redeveloper may make in its presentation to the City and UEZ. The UEZ has a professional services contract with the Atlantic Cape Community College’s Center for Regional and Business Research and its director Richard Perniciaro, PhD, to provide those analysis services. This is a cost that will not be transferred to the redeveloper.
Planning Services. The City’s contracted planning consultant, Remington, Vernick & Walberg, has been integral in the redevelopment process from the investigation phase, through the designation of the area in need of redevelopment to the writing and adoption of the redevelopment plan. That expertise will be required during this project to insure continuity with the Plan.
Environmental Engineering: The UEZ issued a RFQ/P for an environmental engineer to advise the City and UEZ whenever a Brownfields matter may arise and will require expertise in this area. There will be concerns regarding Underground Storage Tanks (USTs), historical uses that are usually related to contamination such as abandoned freight railroad services and vehicle service stations and other industrial uses.
Relocation Assistance. The heaviest lift in the redevelopment of the City Center Area will be the relocation of businesses and residential tenants. As referenced earlier, the City has submitted a WRAP for state approval. Triad Associates was contracted by the UEZ to prepare the WRAP and recommends the firm implement that plan during the redevelopment project.
The long term measurable indicators of the project’s success will be the level of subsequent private sector investments, the increase in the number of mixed use retail and commercial units, the increase in and improvement of the economic profile of the infill population, better measurable results from image surveys regarding quality of life, accessibility and the resulting change in the tax ratables in the project area.
