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Burlington Island focus of planned advertising Push A
national advertising campaign aimed at promoting Burlington Island to
potential developers is expected to cost about $12,000, Mayor Darlene
Scocca said this week. How the campaign will be funded and
whether interested developers should be charged $150 to show initial
interest in the island, however, has created another rift in the
historically strained relationship between the City Council and the
Board of Island Managers. The two elected bodies share control of the
400-acre island in the Delaware River off the city waterfront. Scocca
said city officials want to charge each interested developer $150 for a
copy of the bid specifications to recoup some of the costs of
advertising. Those specifications cost the city about $3,000 to produce. They will be available in CD-ROM format, Scocca said. Island
board President Joe Abate said board members are opposed to charging
potential developers for copies of the specifications because it could
turn them away from the project. "You can't charge for public
information and the island managers do not want to support a
pay-for-play process," Abate said. "We feel that it's not in the best
interest of this project to charge somebody $150 for 19 pieces of
paper." City Council President Ed Canivan said charging for
specifications is standard practice and would let city officials know
they were dealing with legitimate developers. "We're just trying to weed out the developers that don't have a strong interest in this project," he said. In late January, the island board approved wording for an official request for proposals for the island. Board members hope the document will attract possible developers who can turn the vacant island into a moneymaking venture. The
request for proposals includes attributes of the island, some of the
regulations that govern developing it and aerial photos. City Council approved it days later. Members
of both groups met with Scocca last month, and at that meeting city
officials agreed to pay for 75 percent, or $9,000, of the expected
$12,000 cost to advertise the island in national newspapers and trade
magazines, Scocca said. The island board, which has far less
revenue than the city but owns more of the island, would pay 25
percent, or $3,000, for the advertisements. Canivan scheduled a
conference Tuesday at 7 p.m. at City Hall with the island board to
discuss the development plan for the island.
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