Jetty Motel Owner Looks For Extension After Rejection
Jetty Motel Owner Looks For Extension After Rejection
There has been a ton of drama taking place over in Cape May in regards to a proposed project near Cape May’s Cove.
This project, which was first proposed in 2010, called for the demolition of the Jetty Motel, located at 2nd Beach Ave, for a more modern 33-unit hotel with 68 bedrooms.
The owner, Emmanuel Christin Demutis, was approved for the project back then with extensions happening through 2019. The final approval was given on August 13th 2019. (If you want to see the full dates in-between click HERE).
Since that last approval, Demutis changed his master plan. This time it required a zoning change to build over the city’s height rule and an approval for overflow parking for a restaurant and bar.
This change in overflow parking is at the heart of the application. When the project was first presented the hotel’s amenities were only for hotel guests.
Since Cape May is very limited on parking, any new business open to the public would need (X) amount of parking spaces. If it’s something only hotel guests could access then the parking situation wouldn’t be an issue since they already had enough parking for guests.
In 2021, Demutis’ team announced that a proposed restaurant and bar would be public.
In order for Demutis to move forward with his project he would need approval for this applications which would include needing 40-60 parking spots off property.
This outraged locals who started the “Save Our Cove” in September of last year. Their biggest concern was street congestion. Hundreds wrote into the city expressing their concerns over the project.
During the November 9th zoning meeting, the Planning Board voted 9-0 to reject the developer’s application for a larger hotel with a restaurant and bar.
Now the owner wants to extend his 2019 approval. The issue is that there are a 2 year limit on approvals.
According to Cape May’s city regulations, applicants can only ask for an extension within two years of the original approval. Since his application was last approved back on August 13th, 2019, he would have had to apply for an extension prior to August 13th, 2021.
Since Demutis failed to do so before the deadline, he will have to appear at the January 25th Planning Board to ask for an exception to this rule.
Those looking to express their opinions can stop by Cape May’s city Hall at 6:30 PM.
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