CRDA says no to road diet, despite city’s plea (2024)

ATLANTIC CITY — Despite impassioned pleas from city officials calling for safety to take precedence over all else, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority rejected a planned road diet to reduce the number of lanes in a section of Atlantic Avenue from four to two.

No one in the crowded meeting room expects the Tuesday afternoon vote to be the last word on the matter, and both city representatives and CRDA Board Chairman Mo Butler said the authority and the city will continue to work closely together.

But the vote also highlighted divisions between city government and the authority, with City Councilman Kaleem Shabazz emphasizing that he was part of a governing body elected by Atlantic City residents.

The CRDA holds planning authority within the city’s tourism district.

“That’s nonsense,” Mayor Marty Small Sr. said of the board’s actions.

Speaking after the meeting, which he did not attend, Small expressed frustration with the vote and with the additional layer of oversight in planning and development issues.

“The bottom line is this, nowhere in America do you have two entities that developers have to report to, to get anything done,” Small said. “We don’t need a tourism district. The city has done zoning and planning for years. There was never a problem.”

He called for a statewide effort to return planning authority to the city.

Outside the CRDA building on Pennsylvania Avenue after the meeting, Michael Perugini, a city attorney, said the city will consider appealing the decision and that there are more discussions to come.

“We’re going to get this done,” Perugini said.

At the same time, both sides sought to downplay the fight, with city officials praising the efforts of the CRDA, and board chairman Modia Butler talking up the cooperation with city officials.

“We have, in my opinion, an amazing partnership with the city,” Butler said before the vote. “I do believe this is going to be resolved. But the reason that we’re here today, when this project first got started, your partner wasn’t at the table.”

He said the CRDA has worked with the city on street lights and public safety, spending millions of dollars a year in cooperation with Atlantic City.

Butler said the CRDA has been talking with the state Department of Transportation and the governor’s office.

“We’re going to come to a resolution. It won’t be the way the city would like to see the resolution resolved, but that’s called compromise,” Butler said.

All but one board member voted yes to reject the road diet. Paulina Banasiak O’Connor voted no on the resolution.

Several casinos and AtlantiCare have challenged the plan, and planning officials with the CRDA recommended it be rejected. City officials said there is no doubt that work is needed along the road and that the grant-funded project is the only way it will be completed.

“What we’re really, really talking about here is safety,” city administrator Anthony Swan said.

He argued that the lane reduction and other improvements that are part of the plan will make the road safer for pedestrians, and a bike lane included in the plan would also make things safer. He also cited a lawsuit over the city’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which the project would address with audible street signals and curb cuts.

“This has to get fixed,” he said.

‘Most dangerous road in South Jersey’

CRDA professionals liked some aspects of the plan, including the installation of fiber-optic cable, ADA improvements, new street signs and the coordination of traffic lights to improve traffic flow. But they did not agree with the lane reductions. Attorney Jane Fontana presented a report to the board finding that the change was not consistent with the goals of the tourism district master plan and traffic engineering design standards.

The road diet would inhibit traffic and exacerbate existing problems, she said.

Mark Moon, an attorney representing the city, said the CRDA cannot pick out what it likes about the project and leave out other aspects, as if it were choosing from a menu.

“The choice is not between what parts of the project that CRDA can support and what projects it does not support. The choice is between the status quo and what the project has to offer,” Moon said. “Atlantic Avenue is the most dangerous road in South Jersey. That’s the reality.”

The project is funded by millions of dollars in grants, more than either the city or the CRDA could fund, and that funding is contingent on the road diet.

What’s more, city officials told the board, the lane reduction is not irreversible. It’s paint, said Swan, and can be painted over.

A first phase reduced the number of lanes on Atlantic from Tennessee Avenue to Maine Avenue. The second phase was set to take place from Tennessee Avenue to Albany Avenue.

Multiple issues were raised before and at the meeting, including bicycle safety, the CRDA’s jurisdiction and the balance of business interests and safety. Atlantic City resident John Exadaktilos said the project only took into consideration the traffic impact during the day.

“Atlantic City makes its money at night,” he said. “Most of you are gone by 5 o’clock.”

Small said afterward that critics of the first phase were later convinced after seeing the lane reduction in action. While he had criticism for the board and CRDA professionals, he indicated the issue would not drive a wedge between the city and the board.

“This is not the end of the road,” he said.