By MICHELLE GLADDEN
It appears the landmark Holy Spirit Church on Second Avenue in Asbury Park may be demolished.
In a 3 to 2 vote at the March 12 City Council voted not to send the matter to the Planning Board to determine if redevelopment is needed.
Constructed in 1879, church services were last held there in 2021. Following the closure, plans unveiled by the developer show the mission to transform the Late Gothic Revival architecture into suitable residential housing. Along the way, there was a six-home development denial, which called for razing the church, a lawsuit that granted that right, and then the aforementioned redevelopment plan that could saved the structure.
On March 12, the council voted to prevent an investigative route that Mayor John Moor said would most certainly lead to a fait accompli .
“Everyone is saying if we pass this tonight, it doesn’t mean squat,” Moor said. “That’s BS. If we pass this tonight, it is game over. We talked about this in close exec…It sends a message to the developer, who should get a message either yes or no. It should be kicked down the road, and it is also sending a message to the Planning Board…Sending this to the Planning Board is not just a formality this is the vote that matters if this goes forward or not.”
Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn, a strong proponent of the plan, had just outlined the financial benefits behind a proposed Payment-in-Lieu-of-Taxes [PILOT] agreement that came with the redevelopment plan. PILOTs are particularly sticky because of their lack of fair share contribution to a school district’s budget, which is largely supported by taxpayers.
“The total taxes for these houses would be $278,000 a year,” she said of the six-home tax structure. “The city would get $95,000 a year, and the school would get $140K. If we do the development, approximately 90 units, we save the church. What we’ve seen is affordable units generally have kids that they send to the Asbury Park School District so this would be building 18 more units for families in Asbury Park who send their kids to the Asbury Park School District, in theory. So with a PILOT, the city would get $313,000 a year toward taxes, way more than the 95…we would preserve the church, and we would have 18 affordable units, which would provide housing for families who send their kids to the Asbury Park School District.”
The third alternative Quinn outlined would kick a projected $140,000 back to the school district, leaving the city approximately $173,000 ahead of the tax-funding game.
Here is what the developer Joseph Hanna, President & Cofounder of JLD Investment Group, a subsidiary of JLD Investment Group, had to say in a post-vote text discussion:
“It’s shameful that we lost affordable housing, the protection and reuse of a beautiful structure that is part of the city for a few parking spots and disinformation.”
