By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City’s government officials will help jump-start the local economy – after the coronavirus restrictions are lifted – by issuing temporary permits that are needed for a handful of takeout food outlets to open in time for the summer tourism season.
The new food businesses are basically in limbo because the city’s planning board will be forced to cancel its April meeting – and possibly more meetings after that – due to the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, the board will be unable to review and approve the pending site plan applications for the food outlets anytime soon.
However, Mayor Leonard Desiderio has come up with a way to streamline the approvals by giving the city’s zoning officer the authority to issue temporary permits. Desiderio has signed an executive order that authorizes the zoning officer to review the planning board applications with the help of the city solicitor and city engineer.
The mayor brought up the idea of issuing temporary permits while searching for ways to help the new food outlets to open in time for summer, City Solicitor Paul Baldini said.
“It’s designed to streamline the businesses to get them open, but also to comply with our ordinances,” Baldini said in an interview Thursday.
The temporary permits are expected to benefit three to five new takeout businesses, according to Baldini. He mentioned at least two new doughnut shops and two new food bowl outlets that are hoping to open.
Without the temporary permits, there is the possibility the food outlets would miss the summer season or may simply decide to move out of Sea Isle altogether and take their jobs with them, Baldini explained.
New businesses and jobs will be crucial for boosting the local economy after the coronavirus outbreak subsides and Sea Isle’s tourism industry shifts into high gear for the peak summer season.
“It was a combination of needing to move the applications forward to get the planning board out from under a rock and to make sure the business community gets the economy moving,” Baldini said.
The temporary permits, though, will have conditions attached to them. One major condition is that the businesses are not seeking any zoning variances in order to open. Any variances could complicate the approval process and might possibly generate community opposition, Baldini said.
Desiderio, in a statement Wednesday announcing his executive order, emphasized that all of the food businesses that are given temporary permits will have to appear later before the planning board for their regular approvals.
“This will apply to applications that do not require variances, and any applicant utilizing this process will be proceeding at their own risk, and ultimately be subject to the requirements imposed by the planning board when the application is heard,” Desiderio said.
It is unclear at this time when the planning board meetings might resume. The April 13 meeting will be canceled and there is a possibility that the May meeting may be canceled, Baldini said.
