Owner Contests Value Set For Beachfront Home: Commissioners Put Value Of Home Below City's Offer

Attorney William J. Ward filed an appeal in Superior Court last week stating that the value set by condemnation commissioners was far from what his client Frances DeLuca would accept for her Ocean Terrace home with an ocean view. “$750,000 is just not what we are looking for,” said Ward in an interview last week, adding that the amount is what he expected. “We figured the value would come up in that area and we are not willing to accept that amount,” he said. Ward said he is now looking to have the value of the home determined in a jury trial and is expecting arguments to begin sometime in July.

Condemnation commissioners appointed by a Superior Court judge determined the value of DeLuca’s property last month at approximately $25,000 less than a previous offer made by the city to acquire the home, according to city attorney Paul V. Fernicola, Red Bank….

“We had a meeting in October to negotiate a purchase price for the home,” Fernicola said in an interview Tuesday….

“When we negotiated, Mr. Fernicola made it very clear that he wanted to keep everything confidential and said he did not want to read about the meeting in the papers,” Ward said. “Now he is doing just that,” he said, adding, “He violated his own confidentiality agreement. I am not going to negotiate a figure in the papers.” – By Christine Varno, Staff Writer