By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Monday, September 7, 2015 at Bishop Janes Tabernacle in Ocean Grove.
At today’s Labor Day public meeting, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association placed the North End project near the top of the agenda. But President Dale Whilden left out much more than he included, so let’s review what he said and then try to read between those brief lines.
- WAVE and the CMA worked out a plan for the North End about ten years ago, but “the project has languished for a variety of reasons.”
—The main reason nothing has happened is that no redevelopment agreement was ever signed between the CMA/WAVE partnership and the Neptune Township Committee.
- “Lately significant progress has been made, and we are now very close to a development agreement with WAVE resulting in a new plan.” Whilden said that only a few minor details remain to be ironed out.
—-That agreement between those two re-developers is being negotiated privately, with no details being released. If they ever do finalize that private agreement, it would have to be presented to the Township to finalize a redevelopers agreement.
—-The North End Redevelopment Plan is a public project, and the Committee will have to sign that agreement.
- “The project is greatly scaled down to half the original density. As a result, the aesthetics are improved, and there will be ample parking on the site. No one will have to give up their parking space.”
—-The original NERP, with 165 residential units and an underground parking garage is still the only official plan, and it cannot be changed if substantial changes are desired, such as cutting the density in half or changing the underground parking garage.
—-If the WAVE/CMA partnership and the Township want to substantially change the 2008 plan, they need to go back to ground zero and engage the process all over again including public hearings. Otherwise they risk legal problems.
- In the Q and A, Whilden was asked about the names of the WAVE investors who have over 10% interest. He said that he did not know the names and that the Township is handling that.
Editor’s Note: Today we only addressed the items which Dr. Whilden mentioned at the meeting. But there are many issues which he chose to leave out.
In our next article we will list the main problems that are resulting in a black cloud over this project.
Credit: Jack Bredin, research.
THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES. Recalling today’s meeting:
Mr.Magoo: Dr. Dale Whilden is the most honorable person I have ever had the privilege of meeting.
In the article OGCMA President Dr. Whilden states he does not know who the names of the WAVE investors who have over 10% interest. What complete b.s.!
How can Whilden and other OGCMA Leaders not know who they are dealing with? Man up, OGCMA.
Another thing is that North End property has a great deal of economic value. So the CMA and Neptune might be well-advised to break any deal, even if they are breaking contract.
Isn’t it ironic that the OGHOA has made their mission into being a tool of the “man?” They should represent the people not be enablers of those who want to commercialize a part of town that, regardless of ownership, should be for the people. After all we are a historic district with a master plan designed to protect that design theme. The Home Groaners board needs to oppose this plan or else resign and be replaced by a group that really wants to make a difference.
As Wisher points out, OG is one of the most important and unique Shore towns because of what it represents in terms of history, beauty, religion, diversity, music, art, Constitutional rights, and architecture.
We need to remember the trails blazed here: Think of Caruso, Robeson, Teddy Roosevelt, Suffragettes, Women’s Temperance, William Cullen Bryant, Osborne, Stokes, Hope Jones, Tali Esen Morgan, Pres. McKinley, Great Auditorium, Pres. Garfield, Pres. Grant, Pres. Nixon, Pres. Wilson, and many other milestones, famous people and events.
This is not a typical ramshackle or Hampton style shore town. It should be defended from the greed of developers; the owners of the land cannot do whatever they please. Why should they be permitted to turn the North End into an extension of Asbury Park?
Those of us who live here now need to consider how the current NERP will change the town. We have no control over the CMA, but we can get a second legal opinion, and it should be provided by an independent outsider whose fees are paid by our elected government body, i.e. the Neptune Township Committee which needs to explain to us why they are not siding with the public in this controversy. Until the matter is studied by an independent expert, no work should be permitted at the North End. The Committee has the power to insist on that.
Paul Goldfinger Editor @Blogfinger
O.G.Lover: Good Idea.
If someone forms the group, you can count me in.
Legal offices have special interests, too. They don’t present that way, but it’s true. They want settlements, not expensive trials. They want clients to be “reasonable,” and compliant, not always defiant.
But Ocean Grove should never attempt to be just another Shore town. We are the first shore town—-and the best. Snookie, go home.
OG Lover, a suggestion:
At the OG Homowners Association meeting this month, make it a motion under new business–but be sure you have a second in the audience. OGHOA has a legal fund.
What about crowd funding to hire an attorney to look into this matter. Mr.Bredin and Blogfinger have been doing a wonderful job but it may be time to get some legal process going on our behalf.
If I knew how to do it I would set it up, but I am more than willing to make a contribution to get information so we can all be properly informed and know where we need to go from here. Just a thought.
You cannot be cow-towed to people claiming best interest when what should be sought is legal advice that is objective.
Jack: The County GOP should not look as OG and Neptune as liability, rather asset.
I.M. Radar: You are spot-on about taxes. Neptune wants the taxes.
And there may be resentment towards the CMA; The CMA has much more power than they know, and more importantly, what they want to exercise.
I.M.Radar, WAVE does not own the Town, they “Own the Township Committee”, and the County Republicans have given up on Neptune Township and O.G.
We cannot loose our roots, otherwise we are indistinguishable.
Mr. Bredin is to be commended for his continuing efforts to expose The North End Monster. And as Mr. Chambers can attest to, it may take legal action on a long continuing basis.
What is difficult to fathom is the hand-maiden role the Ocean Grove Homeowners Association continues to play to the Camp Meeting Association.
That is not the advocacy that built OGHOA when it was necessary to restore this community.
Unless OGHOA unites the community in an effort to protect the quality of life current homeowners enjoy, it is supporting the overwhelming greed of Neptune Township (more high tax ratables), the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (inordinately sky-high condo ground rentals) and WAVE whose main principal feels he “owns the town.”
Kevin, as to the North End, the Committee still has a chance to correct the mistakes.
Except for repairs resulting from Sandy, the first shovel that goes into the ground in Block (1), I will file a formal complaint with the Office of the State Attorney General.
The entire North End Development is in violation of state law. The Court has stated “Municipal action in the land use control field taken in direct violation of law or without legal authority is void from the beginning and has no legal result, … nor, in deference may a property owner by unilateral action secure a valid nonconforming use based on a violation of the zoning ordinance.”
The Court has also stated, “Where the purpose of the ordinance is not to promote the purposes of zoning set forth in the statute, but designed to achive some unauthorized purpose through a subversion of the zoning power, the ordinance is invalid.”
This is what has been happening with all of these large developments, from the North end to Mary’s Place. which require at least four variances for height, where 35 ft.is permitted; number of stories, where 2 stories is permitted and 4 are being built; ground coverage and parking.
The Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL) states that, “The Board of Adjustment has a duty, as has the local zoning official, to take cognizance of all variances required for a particular application even if the applicant doesn’t address them.” If the zoning official and the three Township attorney’s for the Township are turning a blind eye to the variances required for Mary’s Place, what do you think will happen at the North End?
The nightmare being built on Main Avenue will pale by comparison to the monster that will be built on the North End.
WISHER: Thank’s for joining our merry band. The fact is that the beach is owned by the people of the State of New Jersey. The State gave a lease to the Camp Meeting Association, but the beach was always to be reserved for recreational purposes and not for condominiums.
A restaurant, a skee ball amusement area, an ice cream shop, a fishing pier, a bathing pavilion, a dog beach, a boardwalk, a surfers area, an umbrella concession, etc are all permitted recreational uses. But not hotels or condos.
When the original North End concession/hotel area was built in 1910, there were no zoning laws and no master plan. Yet if you look at the postcards, there was no housing and you don’t see too many cars.
To blithely assert, as did the CMA President, that this NERP is merely a rebuilding of a historic hotel is nonsense. And you are right, at the CMA meeting, the CMA COO JP Gradone repeated the mantra that OG was established as a place of growth, rebirth and spiritual renewal. Do you think that those sentiments originally stated by Ocean Grove’s founders refer to high priced condominiums and a hotel which will crowd the people’s beach. And then there is that vast underground parking garage—? a place of spiritual renewal?
I would like to think that the Founders were on the same wave length as you and I: health, fresh air, beautiful vistas, quietude, and spritual inspiration for all.
And their inattention to long-term considerations is startling, to say the least. These developers are not bad people, but their deep hunger for oceanfront money and profit is inconsistent with what we need. We need pedestrian access, air quality, vistas, swimmer and surfer access: all off the radar screen to a developer.
So we need to be tough, and deeply different from other shore communities. Really, we need conservatism: environmental, spiritual, and paying attention to the nature of a community founded with the spirit of health, and quietude.
We don’t need to be deceived by developers. We need to be a deeply conservative and reflective community in this matter.
Ronald Reagan once said, “unlike fine wine, bad political decisions don’t get better with time,”
The North End Redevelopment Zone was a bad political decision for the future of Ocean Grove.
I believe the Township Committee is not getting all the blame they deserve.
It is no exaggeration, or offense, for you to dish on the dilettante class here. They are delicate beyond action to change big things, instead of small things. They should look to big fights. The small ones are ridiculous in comparison. Spot on.
Wisher: We can “re-think” all day long, but the power lies in the hands of the Neptune Township Committee. They are supposed to represent our best interest, but they do not. Remember that at the next election.
Meanwhile, the Committee can get itself out of the line of fire by trashing the NERP plan and starting over, this time by following the rules. Why are they so loyal to these developers anyhow? Where is the transparency? Where is the money trail?
Why don’t they follow the advice of Committeeman Brantley who evidently smells a rat and who publicly recently advised the Committee to review “all” the zones in need of redevelopment in the Township of Neptune? That would include OG’s North End zone in need of redevelopment.
Since the Committee hasn’t yet signed a Redevelopers Agreement, (and which of them will have the courage to do so?) they can still get us back to the Master Plan which calls for single family homes.
Where are the Homegroaners on this? They are just hanging around observing the progress of this wrong plan. They should get aggressive and courageous and summon their large but silent membership to picket and protest at town hall, demanding that the whole NERP be dumped into the ocean.
And maybe someone in town with deep pockets will lodge another law suit to revisit the NERP. The HOA has a legal fund which I will never again support, unless maybe they get some legal advice on this matter from an expert on NJ land use law.
Instead they are currently making a fuss about lights on Broadway. How dainty can you get? —-Paul @Blogfinger
They put the North End Hotel on many a post-card. But realistically, building large structures with ocean views to developers’ delight was not good for the town. We need to re-think.
CMA may be too confident about the over-assurances of the developers, as they are fierce proponents of finance and profit. We need to be aggressive, objective and biased, in our own right. They need us, and we don’t really need them. We are fine. Air flow, traffic on Main Street, are two big what – ifs.
JCo: Thank you, but just to be clear, Blogfinger is also anxious to see the North End developed, but we believe that the process has been played and that the current plan is not what the people would want (despite the “public hearings and “vision” meetings of 2007) and also is not what is in the best interest of the town–remember that the Master Plan and prior zoning called for a limited number of single family homes. That is how it should have gone, and it would have been wonderful and finished years ago.
Now we are facing a commercial project which will cut down on the views of current homeowners, increase congestion and pollution, and cause traffic and parking issues even if current parking rules are followed. Unfortunately, the Township Committee, the HOA, the CMA and OG developers are all part of the problem. –Paul @Blogfinger
Thanks so much for covering this story. It’s the most important story in the County from the perspective of uncovering what may be corruption in a real estate deal that will not (at least in its prior-proposed form) benefit the town, and yet no one is talking. I am amazed that the APP is not covering this story and I thank you, Blogfinger, for trying to shine the light to reveal what is being hidden.
The secrecy surrounding this public project is worrisome to say the least.