A Democrat-authored bill to overhaul Atlantic City’s tourism industry is filled with major proposals that could change the face of the city and its operation. But one aspect of the drafted legislation has taken an off-the-radar topic and launched it into a sea of speculation.
The bill calls for the Casino Reinvestment
Democrats say it is simply evidence of their foresight to ensure that southern New Jersey would benefit from any sale of the airport. Republicans speculate a more sinister effort is at hand in an attempt to avoid potential efforts to strip the SJTA of its autonomy. As for the SJTA, officials there are in the dark.
Sharon Gordon, communications and marketing director for the SJTA, said no Democratic or Republican lawmakers have advised the authority on the reason behind the clause, nor have there been any recent discussions or negotiations to sell the airport.
“We read it in the paper,” she said. “It was news to us.”
Assemblyman Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, believes making the CRDA the sole beneficiary of an airport sale is the Democrats’ attempt to spur support from northern New Jersey lawmakers on a potential plan to merge the SJTA with another state transportation authority. The assemblyman pointed to a proposal made in January by the governor’s transition team to consolidate the SJTA — which also oversees the Atlantic City Expressway — with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which oversees the turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.
“Merging the toll roads can achieve efficiencies in management and operations, promote common, best practices, standards and contracting methods, as well as make traversing of the roadways seamless to motorists,” the team wrote in its report.
Those talks continued months after the report’s release but eventually petered out because of the SJTA’s management of the airport.
“The turnpike is a transportation agency, and the airport is a completely separate entity,” Polistina said. “It was decided early on that the plan wouldn’t work if the airport was attached to SJTA because it brings a whole other set of considerations.”
State Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, acknowledged that he has had concerns about the SJTA losing its autonomy, insisting that whether Polistina’s theory is true or not, that part of the bill benefits southern New Jersey.
“Whether it was as complicated a plot as Vince is saying it is, or if it’s simply to try to secure as much funding as we can down here, either way I believe it’s good,” Van Drew said.
“There’s something to be said for the autonomy of the SJTA,” he continued. “South Jersey is so easily absorbed by the north, I’ve always had concerns about that, and not only with the SJTA.”
State Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, who co-sponsored the bill, did not humor Polistina’s theory nearly as much as Van Drew.
“I think we’re getting pretty far out in the hypothetical here,” he said.
The state purchased Atlantic City International Airport from the city in 1991. The facility at the time featured an 83-acre jetport that was sold for about $11 million, along with additional annual payments to the city.
As broker of the sale, former Atlantic City Mayor Whelan said there should still be a sense that the facility truly belongs to the resort city. He insisted that the inclusion of the airport language is to ensure that Atlantic City and the region benefit as much as possible from the sale of its own facility.
State Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Mercer, questioned the relevance of the airport-sale issue about two weeks ago.
“I guess if there’s some windfall out there, it would go to CRDA and they would use it for the purposes that are articulated here,” Whelan said. “SJTA, to my knowledge, has no plans to sell it, nor are there any people knocking on the door to buy it. As a general rule, airports — you’re lucky if you break even.”
But the airport has been reporting record numbers this year. Earlier this month, the SJTA said the Egg Harbor Township facility had its best year ever, even before the year had come to an end.
Authority officials expect to accommodate 1.4 million passengers by Dec. 31, which would be a 25 percent increase over 2009. About 1.2 million passengers, including commercial and charter flights, passed through the airport in the first 10 months of this year, numbers provided by the SJTA show.
Gordon said the airport’s recent success is a result of expanding connections by airlines, the authority’s marketing plan and other positive developments.
“There are a lot of components as to why,” she said of the steady traffic increases. “It’s just becoming a popular place.”
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