By Charles Layton
Saturday, September 24 — The latest draft of a new Master Plan for Neptune Township came under intense criticism today at the meeting of the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association.
Trustees of the association said the language being proposed by the Township could weaken protections for Ocean Grove, including zoning protections against excessive height and density.
In recent months, a committee of the Home Owners has been following the Planning Board’s deliberations as it rewrites Neptune’s Master Plan. On September 9 the committee delivered a letter to the board containing a list of its concerns. (To read the Home Owners’ letter, go here.)
Joan Venezia, co-chair of the Home Owners Association's committee on the Master Plan. Photo by Paul Goldfinger
On Saturday, that letter and other documentation were distributed to members at the Home Owners’ regular monthly meeting, as part of a presentation by the committee’s co-chairpersons, Joan Venezia and Francis Paladino.
A lively discussion ensued, in which two issues stood out.
One was a concern about the draft’s many mandates that the Township government should “review,” “evaluate,” “redraft,” “reconstitute” or “update” various rules and standards having to do with zoning regulations, density limits, the flared setback and other matters affecting Ocean Grove.
Home Owners officials said the Planning Board’s draft contains more than 200 such open-ended, non-specific calls for changes. Such wide-ranging, unspecified changes, they argued, could end up doing considerable damage to Ocean Grove.
The second issue of major concern was a proposal to create a new government entity, called the Land Use Advisory Committee, to deal with minor building issues. Venezia said this new body would have the authority, out of public view, to make decisions that are now made in public by the Zoning Board and other citizen boards.
Joe Krimko, who is a member of the Home Owners but also a member of the Planning Board, spoke from the audience in defense of the proposal, saying the new committee would only deal with insignificant matters. Sometimes, he said, people are forced to go before the Zoning Board because their building plans only exceed the rules “by inches.” This costs them considerable money, he said, when their issues could easily be handled administratively.
Paladino said the problem was that the new Land Use Committee would itself decide what is minor and what isn’t. “That’s dangerous,” he said. Several people said it was unclear whether the state land use law allows such a body to substitute its judgments for those of the Zoning Board. Better to stay within the traditional legal framework, Paladino said, than “create some monster that is going to cause us a lot of trouble down the road.”
Krimko said the new committee “would not have the ability to bypass any board.” He said the Township’s zoning officer performs a similar function now when he decides whether an application requires a variance, and that the new committee would only supplement that function.
According to the proposal, the new committee would be composed of the township attorney, township land use administrator, township director of engineering and planning, the zoning officer “and any other appropriate township representative.” Paladino said it is a problem that the language is so vague about who could be added to the committee.
At the end of the discussion, Home Owner President Denis McCarthy proposed that the organization’s members take a month to study and consider the new Master Plan draft. Then, in October, the members would vote on whether it wanted to endorse the letter that has already been submitted to the Planning Board by the group’s Master Plan committee. The audience members voted, without dissent, to do that.
If the membership formally endorses the letter at its October meeting, that action will be communicated to the Planning Board.
Two other local organizations — the Historical Society of Ocean Grove and the Historic Preservation Commission — have also written letters criticizing aspects of the Planning Board’s proposal. (To read about that, click here.)
McCarthy and Venezia urged Ocean Grovers to attend a November 9 meeting of the Planning Board, when the Master Plan will be discussed and members of the public will have a chance to speak.
The Master Plan is a blueprint that guides decisions about zoning, growth and development in a community. Every town in New Jersey must have a Master Plan, and the law requires that each town conduct a formal review of its Master Plan at least once every six years.
A community shelter is a permitted use in the HD-O Zone District (Historic District Oceanfront) so no variance was needed.
ken
Ya think maybe the proposed TOWNSHIP LAND USE ADVISORY COMMITTEE has already made its first de minimus ruling here?
Yes, I would like to know how this was done with Mary’s Place. Was this rezoned to rest home use? Once it has been changed to a rest home does that mean they can now sell it as a bed and breakfast or for condos? This could be very dangerous. Could someone tell me how this was done?
Someone told me that the new “Mary’s Place” on Broadway was allowed to change from a single family to a bed and breakfast without going before the zoning board. Anyone know if this is true? Did the zoning official approve this?
Of course now the door has been opened for other single family homes that can’t sell to be used for short time stays for recovering alcoholics, etc.
I think the vagueness of this new master plan as pertaining to historical Ocean Grove could be dangerous. We want to keep our historical designation and the things that are very unique and special to our town, such as our flared setbacks, our Ocean Pathway, our limited heights of buildings and especially our limit on building density, especially with our parking problems.
Residents can have a voice. Please go to the township meetings and join the Ocean Grove Homeowner;s Association. This is a crucial time in Ocean Grove’s history.
Naive on my part, however … it seems to me that if you protect and strictly enforce the ‘Flare’ ordinances and guidelines many issues could be resolved. Home buyers and developers would know going in that there will be no invasion of the ‘Flare’. Buildings can only be so high, the set back firmly mandated, footprint only so large, etc. Even if they are replacing a previous structure, historical or otherwise, it must conform to the ‘Flare’ guidelines. Secondly, enforce the State mandated parking regulations. I simply don’t understand how you can continue to increase density, grant ‘waivers’, whatever, without definitive parking ordinances in place.
Q; IM RADAR; Why does the OGHOA president ask for subsequent membership concurrence a month later??
A: DM; Because that is procedure. We introduce at one meeting and then take a vote at a subsequent meeting.
The Ocean Grove Home Owners Association through its committee’s deliberations and letter to the Township Planning Board has taken a very reponsible, thoughtful, and accurate analysis of the proposed Master Plan.
Vague language and a proposed Land Use Committee without definition of what would be minor changes endangers critical issues– especially those of height and density (which continue to be overlooked by township bodies).
Why does the OGHOA president ask for subsequent membership concurrence a month later? Why the delay in mounting an aggressive Ocean Grove community impact on the Planning Board?
Ken, you are not. Denis
If, as Mr Krimko said, the Township’s zoning officer performs a similar function now, it follows that this Land Use Committee would only need to function in cases the zoning officer does NOT approve. Am I the only Neptune resident to “smell” the potential in this?
ken