The mark in the foreground is at the south eastern corner of the property Blogfinger photo. Click to enlarge and read the side of the truck.
This mark is on Lake Avenue at the north western corner of the property.
This view shows the southern edge of the “blighted area in need of re-development”. At the lower edge you can see the orange marker. The hotel (or more condos) will be at this location**, with views of the ocean. Further west on Spray will be a row of single family homes with underground garages. Blogfinger photo July 14, 2015 © Click to enlarge.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Orange marks have been placed around Block (1) and a section of the Lake Avenue walkway by a land surveyor who is preparing a survey map that will be used by an architect and engineer in creating site plans that must be submitted for approval to all agencies having jurisdiction over the proposed plan. After those approvals, construction plans can be prepared. These maps will demarcate the outlines of the property which will comprise the bulk of the North End plan. They also will provide documentation regarding the sale of the property.
We know that WAVE, the mysterious LLC that will soon become the sole re-developer of the NERP, has contracted to purchase most of the North End property from the Camp Meeting Association. That purchase is tantamount to owning the land, although it is officially promoted as a 99 year lease in perpetuity.
The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association stands to receive a large sum of money for selling that valuable property to WAVE. As we have reported, the identities of the individuals behind WAVE have not been released. Meanwhile, the CMA has requested that the Township officially remove them as co-developer. That will require a resolution by the Township.
For some observers it seems like a poor decision for the CMA to give up such valuable property because there is so much money to be made in the future from all sorts of possible uses including parking for the Township. But perhaps the CMA is somehow still involved with WAVE and thus stands to gain in that way. We already know that if the hotel is turned into condos, the CMA will receive a 10% fee for each one sold.
Blogfinger will continue to educate the Ocean Grove public as to the truth of what’s happening with the NERP. We are sticking to this because, according to the Duck Principle, “If it quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.”
We plan to report on a variety of issues related to the NERP. Some of them will be surprises. There’s quite a lot to keep us busy.
Among those matters, we want to revisit the outrageous 2007 Planning Board vote which recommended that the Township approve the special designation (“area in need of redevelopment”) which resulted in the zoning being changed despite what was in the best interest of the Grove. That was the key event in this whole story.
Here is a link about that 2007 Planning Board vote: http://blogfinger.net/2015/04/20/2007-the-planning-board-passes-a-resolution-to-allow-an-area-in-need-of-redevelopment-why-did-they-do-that/
Wee will soon report on something else that relates to that Planning Board vote in 2007.
You can forget about the Coaster for information. They merely are stenographers who copy down whatever the HOA and the Committee tell them. And as for the OGHOA, they have no idea about the the real truths beneath the surface, and they don’t want to know. Their last statement was replete with errors.
We will try to find the truths and to assemble the pieces of the puzzle.
**The location of the hotel building is the worst possible choice. The hotel (or probably condos) will be the tallest building (5 stories) in the zone and will block the most views of the Ocean. The tallest building should be placed in the back of the zone, not in front. This decision is arrogant and gives a clue as to the attitude of the developers towards the town of Ocean Grove. The idea that they have reduced the density has been celebrated by the out-to-lunch OGHOA who should be standing on their heads in opposition to this “travesty.”
Credit: Ocean Grover Jack Bredin has been doing important research for Blogfinger as we pursue this story.
BAHA MEN:
Jason: Anyone in OG who has a 99 year lease renewable in perpetuity owns the land. It’s a different kind of land ownership.
This will also be the case if the OGCMA signs a 99 year lease with WAVE for Block (1).
This does not apply to Wesley Lake, the beach, the land under the Pavilion Building, the Boardwalk and the Atlantic Ocean. (The zoning for the Pavilion Building property is illegal.)
So, the CMA is selling off parcels of land? Seems like that will undermine their control and their very raison d’etre.
The CMA will sell the land at this time to WAVE, but we don’t know exactly when that will occur. Until recently CMA has retained ownership.
Several years ago, on this blog in fact, when it was suggested that the area could be used as a parking lot until any sort of development would take place I think it was MBJ who said that the CMA no longer owned or controlled the site. Not sure which. Just when was this land sold and to whom? Is the land still owned outright by the CMA at this point in time?
Decades of history unmarred by progress………….and now this debacle.
It amazes me that the Camp Meeting Association has sat on this”blighted” piece of real estate for so long without taking advantage of it. If there had been a pay to stay parking facility there it would have raised enormous amounts of money while promoting more beach tag sales, better attendance at the auditorium, and more business for the merchants. Instead, it looks to what is obvious over development and added density in a town where you can’t turn around without seeing a fire lane blocked, a corner obstructed or a hydrant impeded during peak times. How about a decision that considers those of us already here loving this great place. Shame on Neptune and the CMA
Three questions for someone who might know (perhaps someone from the OGCMA itself?)
Is this just the necessary work that must be done to develop a specific plan — rather than the actual beginning of the redevelopment itself? (that is, surveying as a first step to create formal plans of the redevelopment but no actual work will be done until the plan is submitted/approved)
If it is true that the OGCMA has been silent for years on this project, my question is why? Are they a secretive organization who wants to operate in the shadows? (This is a sincere question — not intended to be snarky)
Finally, why would the OGCMA ever sell off its land? Without its land, its got nothing. Sure, they might get a couple of million dollars now, but in a generation (or maybe just 5 years) that money will be gone and they will have lost control over 5% or so of the town. If they are willing to sell the North End, why don’t they allow any homeowner who wants to buy the land under their house to do so.
Thanks.
It is important for OG residents to understand that it’s not Mr. Gannon, WAVE, or the OGCMA that are to blame for the proposed overdevelopment of the North End.
It is the Neptune Township Committee, Randy BIshop, Dr Michael Brantly, Eric Houghtaling, Kevin McMillan, and Mary Beth Jahn who are the conscience of the community in matters of zoning and it is they who have the exclusive authority to adopt, amend and enforce the zoning ordinance in our town.
In this case, the zoning in their NERP for block (1) permits an unbelievable 165 units, the highest density in the most remote location (transportation wise), and with a “wink and a nod” the Committee handed over zoning to a group of unknown developers who are now surveying the property for development and the developers are just doing what the Committee is permitting them to do in a National Historic District.