By Paul Goldfinger
The Ocean Grove Home Owners Association and the Historic Preservation Commission are expressing fears that the Township’s proposed new Master Plan will be bad for Ocean Grove.
A committee of the Neptune Planning Board has been working for months on a total rewrite of the Master Plan, a document that lays out basic goals and guidelines for land use and zoning throughout the Township, including The Grove.
On Friday, a committee of the OGHOA delivered a letter to the Planning Board stating a broad range of concerns about the proposed new plan. Also last week, the HPC passed a resolution expressing its own strong concerns.
In its letter, the OGHOA committee said, “Our fear is that so much broad language in the Master Plan, urging such sweeping changes, would give present and future administrations too much discretion to make whatever changes they might please. … we fear that this draft opens the door to a weakening of existing protections.”
The letter also expressed fears that a new Township Land Use Advisory Committee, proposed as part of the new Master Plan, would “usurp the authority of the existing citizens boards, replacing their judgments with the judgments of various executives of the Township. This would potentially allow for more decisions to be made outside the public’s view, and would be an invitation to more political influence and insider dealing.”
Other language in the proposed new Plan, the HOA committee feared, “could lead to the return of the flophouses in Ocean Grove, which the Home Owners Association has worked so long and hard to eradicate.”
The HPC resolution focused on the Historic Preservation component of the new Master Plan, stating that it “fails to adequately incorporate the defining characteristics of Ocean Grove which contributed to its designation as a National Historic District including the seashore vernacular design, flare area setback, recreational and park configuration and the grid pattern incorporated in the design of Ocean Grove.” The HPC’s resolution, passed by a unanimous vote, “strongly urges” the Planning Board to restore this information.
Representatives of both groups plan to attend a meeting of the Planning Board on Wednesday, September 14, at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the Municipal Building. The public is invited to this meeting.
NOTE: The posting that follows this one is the full content of the HOA’s letter. To read the HPC resolution, go to this link:
The cynic in me says the new master plan, with vague wording, will be set up to tap as much revenue from Ocean Grove as possible, and then some. The flare has already been encroached on, height restrictions have been ignored while parking and density issues are swept under the rug. I just hope that Long Branch South isn’t in the cards.
I am extremely concerned about the Ocean Grove historic part of the Master Plan because it is so vague and general. Anyone with a fancy lawyer or knowledge of legal loopholes could end up building anything they want, especially the developers that have a lot of money to spend on lawyers, architects and planners.
This is a crucial time in Ocean Grove for building, and the changes in the Master Plan could completely change the historic value of Ocean Grove (which is why Ocean Grove is so special). Especially with our current issues regarding parking, building in the flared setback, signage, commercialization on the lake/ocean, and developers who want to make money with large condo projects.
This is why changes to the Master Plan are so important. We need adequate regulations to keep Ocean Grove a very special town with all its historic value.
Does anyone really understand the politics in Ocean Grove? I have lived here now starting my 5th year and been coming to Ocean Grove for 15 years. I see all the towns around the Grove doing way better and I run into nothing but red tape and excuses when it comes to needed repairs and changes. Everyone points their finger at someone else when it’s time to fix things that need to be repaired. Camp Meeting blames Neptune and visa versa or the HOA and consistently nothing gets done.
On the contrary, Asbury Park is doing way better and is much more responsive to citizen complaints. A few weeks ago I asked them to remove the overgrown bushes from the Wesley Lake bridge because they covered 3/4 of the sidewalk and attracted homeless; and at night it was scary to my wife to have to walk through them. Within two weeks the bushes were removed, and I got an email from the head of public works. I wrote him back and thanked him for his quick response and work.
Just once I would like to see Ocean Grove fix something and respond like Asbury Park did. I have been trying to get the sidewalk to the Emory street bridge that goes over Wesley Lake fixed for 4 1/2 years now. Camp Meeting knows it’s a public fire lane but has blamed it on everyone from Neptune to the adjacent home owners when I asked them about it; but they know it’s their responsibility. What was the answer? They had Neptune just tear it all out and now we have a mud and sand trench that turns into a river when it rains.
So if the new language helps rid some of the confusion that they use to keep from fixing things then it may be a welcome change.
Can someone who really understands the politics here let us know if there is an agenda by some to usurp current OG authority? Do the folks who are drafting the Master Plan have an agenda to diminish the uniqueness of the Grove? Or is it simply the case that they are writing the Plan from a viewpoint that thinks only of the rest of Neptune and we are an afterthought. The reason I’m asking is I would like to understand if we are fighting against a determined opponent, or simply working to make sure that they don’t carelessly use the wrong language that could be later used against us by a developer or whoever.
Thanks for an explanation.