Toms River May Buy Troublesome Downtown Motel: Official

TOMS RIVER, NJ — (Updated, Tuesday, Jan. 23) The Toms River Township Council will be considering two ordinances Tuesday night to allow it to purchase a troublesome Toms River motel that has been the source of more than 750 police calls.

The agenda for the council meeting includes first reading of two ordinances: One to buy the Red Carpet Inn at 2 West Water Street, and a second appropriating $4.8 million, and bonding for $4.56 million, to do so.

The council meeting begins at 6 p.m.

The motel has been a source of multiple problems for years. In November, the township filed a nuisance complaint against the motel, citing more than 750 police calls since 2015. Many of those incidents have involved serious offenses including narcotics, weapons and theft. Police arrested 15 people at the motel in early October in a quality-of-life raid at the motel, police said.

The problems at the motel have existed for much longer, residents have pointed out.

In late November, the township adopted an ordinance to crack down on the problem, requiring anyone staying at a motel or hotel in Toms River to present government-issued photo identification that the motel must photocopy and keep on file with the room registration record.

The motel property was listed for sale on Dec. 13 with Leaftree Real Estate, according to the listing on Loopnet.com, with an asking price of $4.7 million. The listing refers to it as a redevelopment opportunity and suggests an adult day care, a child day care, a school or turning it into apartments.

The first proposed ordinance would authorize the township to acquire the motel property either by purchase or eminent doman. The second authorizes appropriating $4.8 million and "the issuance of$4,560,000 in General Improvement Bonds or Notes of the Township of Toms River tofinance the same."

The possibility of the town purchasing the property was first reported Sunday by the Toms River Press, a purported news website that popped up last year ahead of the election campaign and has criticized Republicans and praised Democrats. That story, which (like most on the site) lacks any identifiers of who the reporter is, cited an unnamed source in the mayor's office and said the "Democrats have gotten their way" on the purchase.

The publication of the article, which emphasizes the Democrats' role, is a clear indicator that the commitment to bipartisanship that both Democrats and Republicans pledged at the Township Council reorganization meeting won't last.

The Toms River Press story says the township is trying to purchase the property but would go the eminent domain route if a price cannot be negotiated, and the motel will be torn down and Huddy Park expanded. It was not known Sunday night if that is indeed the council's plan.

Photo via Google Maps