Margate voters deny building referendum

Last Updated on Tuesday, November 27, 2012 01:22 pm Written by SHAUN SMITH Tuesday, November 06, 2012 11:23 pm

MARGATE – Residents here shot down a local referendum to allow the city to bond $600,000 for a new building to house the construction department.

Voters denied the referendum question 1,453 to 1,124, according to unofficial results Tuesday, Nov. 6 from the Atlantic County superintendent of elections.

The city has been leasing office space at 101 N. Washington Ave. for the department for the past 14 years.

If the referendum had passed, the city would have moved forward with plans to demolish the building at 101 N. Washington Ave. next to City Hall and build a two-story office building. The older building had housed the Margate City Historical Society until earlier this year, when it was forced to vacate.

“Of course I'm disappointed,” Commissioner Brenda Taube said in a statement released Wednesday morning addressing the referendum. “But frankly, it doesn't seem that important to me right now with all that's gone on this past week with Hurricane Sandy.

“There's nothing to say except that the people of Margate spoke, and we will find another alternative solution for our building department that won't include continuing to rent.”

The interpretive statement that voters saw when they went to the polls read:

“Bond Ordinance 2012-04 authorizes Margate City to issue $570,000 of Margate City Municipal Bonds & Notes and to spend $600,000 to demolish an existing building on city-owned property located at 7 S. Washington Avenue and to construct a Construction Code Office on that site in lieu of continuing to lease space for the construction office.”