OG North End waiting for development since 2007. Home Groaners Ass. (HGA) are clueless. Blogfinger file photo ©
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger and Jack Bredin,, researcher @Blogfinger.
A Blogfinger reader suggested we view the minutes of the Nov. 28, 2015 Home Owners Association (HOA) meeting. It can be found on their website (OGHOA.org,) and below is our evaluation of their North End misinformation including some quotes from their minutes. We suggest that all of you familiarize yourselves with the truth:
- The Township’s application for a RISS exemption is ignored by the OGHOA, according to their minutes. There is no mention of that situation which we have been reporting about recently. The Neptune Township application to the Sites Improvement Advisory Board in Trenton has important implications for the North End Plan. The Home Groaners are missing in action. That application must be blocked by our citizens.
- “The entire negotiation process has come to a pause.” Sorry, but there is no negotiation process going on. The CMA is having private discussions with WAVE, while the Township waits for WAVE to sign a Redevelopers Agreement. The Town Attorney has been waiting for 7 years for WAVE to show their financial capability and to sign the Agreement.
- OGHOA says there is “a newly revised and reduced plan that has lowered the amount of RSIS standard required parking to be accommodated in a one level underground parking garage which will be for the condos in block one.”
This is nonsense. Committeeman Randy Bishop presented a concept plan earlier this year which, he said, would replace the 2008 NERP. But that “new” plan was never approved because no revised plan can be approved before the signing of a Redevelopers Agreement for the 2008 NERP.
On page 22 of the 2008 NERP it says, “Any proposed changes in permitted uses in the land use plan (NERP)—residential density, building height, or the core design concepts in this plan shall require notice and new public hearings in a manner similar to the adoption of the original plan.”
The “new” WAVE plan presented by Bishop proposed reducing the density west of the boardwalk by 50% and also increasing the density east of the boardwalk by 100% by adding two upper stories of condos to the large Pavilion on the beach.
When Bishop was subsequently questioned about the “new plan” by a member of the public, Bishop said, “That plan was a mistake.” Ann Horan must have missed that meeting.
- “WAVE has asserted that they will not give complete financials to the Township until the CMA signs a revised CMA-WAVE Agreement.”
This is also nonsense: Private negotiations between OGCMA and WAVE have nothing to do with and cannot hold up the redevelopment process that is controlled by the Township Committee.
- OGHOA says that “reduced RISS mandated parking would be accommodated in a one level underground parking garage.”
That is wrong because no actual garage plan has ever been submitted for the 2008 plan. In the “new plan” there is a dotted line on a drawing to show the extent of a parking garage, but again, there is no actual plan available and no engineering estimate of the project’s costs for such a garage. There is reason to believe that the bulk of the new condo’s will sit on top of the garage, but there is no plan to show such an arrangement.
- Another issue that is not mentioned by the HOA: According to the NERP and the “new plan” no parking will be required for the boardwalk Pavilion despite the condos and the banquet hall mentioned in the “new plan.”
So, the OGHOA, which supports all of this, would agree that for a wedding reception to be held in the Pavilion during the summer, the guests can park on Ocean Avenue or use the meters in Asbury Park or Bradley Beach. Of course such situations will produce increased need for on street parking at our North End.
This scenario actually could come true if the State awards Neptune Township the parking and streets exemptions which they are currently seeking.
Blogfinger readers need to learn about these issues so that they can be knowledgeable when it comes time to demonstrate and speak up in large numbers, not only about the North End Plan but also about the application to the State RISS Board. The Home Groaners Ass. continues to be incompetent in their assessment of this situation.
BARRY MANILOW with music like we will be hearing from the new North End Hotel and the Banquet Hall in the Pavilion on the beach (aka “Asbury Park South.”)
JB is correct, but the point remains that the OGCMA is completely absent from the debate (or– because who knows — actively abetting Neptune Township).
We do know that the OGCMA is an active supporters of the North End redevelopment. That also probably means that they would love to bust the RSIS standards in OG because that advances their development agenda. The fact that they don’t have an omnipresent spokesperson who make the presence of the OGCMA felt at Township Council meetings, in the press, in Trenton, etc., is most mystifying to me. But, of course, that would only be a good thing if they represented the views of OG homeowners (and not crony developers, crony politicians, their accountants/bankers, etc.).
I would challenge the OGCMA to make a public statement about their position of the North End redevelopment as well as proposed changes to RSIS enforcement in OG.
Hey OGCMA — silence makes you look bad (or even Machiavellian) and hurts OG. We need you to be leaders who protect this town.
OhGee, the reason this special town exists, is to the credit of the OGCMA.
The Township Committee has the exclusive authority to adopt our zoning ordinance.
We cannot blame any property owner for developing what they are permitted to develop under the zoning ordinance adopted by the Committee.
With zoning, the buck stops with the Township Committee.
The problem is that the Committee, Planning Board and Board of Adjustment use Municipal Land Use Law in ways that were never intended by the NJ State Legislature.
Why isn’t the OGCMA being attacked harshly on this blog, and elsewhere? Its easy to bash the OGHOA. But why be so timid on the property owners themselves? Publically calling out, embarassing and picketing the OGCMA will have better results. Several years ago, community group Ocean Grove United supported a lawsuit against the OGCMA. They held protests, press conferences, & got major media outlets involved. It got nationwide attention. Confronting the OGCMA about their plans for the North End – and the dire consequences we all face if it gets built – will hit them were it hurts. OGCMA hates any negative press. It affects their auditorium sunday services, concerts, and big donors pull back.. Go for it. Let’s go after the real bully in this fight.
“And also, in the HOA minutes, in the part about the dopey parking survey, they revealed that the 300 responses represents a ‘50% response rate.’ So that sounds like at least 600 members…”. When I read that about the 50% response rate, I wondered what they meant — 50% of what? I responded to their survey, and I’m not an OGHOA member; I thought they wanted the opinions of all Ocean Grove homeowners. I just went back and reviewed the survey questions and one does ask for your address; so that must be how they could know if you’re a member or not. They don’t mention that in the results, though (i.e., member vs. non-member responses). Maybe I was the only non-member to take the survey? But I read about it right here at Blogfinger, so I bet I wasn’t the only one. There’s also no way to prevent the same person from responding more than once. Many surveys do prevent this, but not this one.
My point is that it’s not certain that the 300 respondents were all OGHOA members. OGHOA may not have verified this and just assumed that all were. They used a Constant Contact survey, and even Constant Contact says that a typical survey response rate is 10-20%. So a 50% response rate would be highly unusual. http://support2.constantcontact.com/articles/FAQ/2344
Jack. I know where you are coming from—there is power in numbers. Last night a large group of Shark River citizens were mobilized by their HOA to fight an outrageous tax by the Neptune Joker’s Committee.
But the Ocean Grove HOA is a testosterone deficient, “hide-under-the bed group” that does nothing to rally our troops for the fight with Neptune Township politicians. Maybe we can hire the SRH activists to show up at meetings on our behalf, like the British did when they brought Hessians to America As a guy called Jack once said, “A homeowners group should be a watch dog instead of a lap dog.”
And also, in the HOA minutes, in the part about the dopey parking survey, they revealed that the 300 responses represents a “50% response rate.” So that sounds like at least 600 members plus the ones who didn’t waste their time responding.
Therefore what are they doing with the membership money and the legal fund? They should be using it to sue the Township over their nonsense. It’s time for a revolution in that organization. Throw them out and get some tough guys and dolls in there who have, like the cowardly lion, acquired some courage.–Paul
If this comes to be, I will eat my hat in front of Stokes. If the A. Park developers have their eye on our North End, and they may very well be winding up developing that area, we are in store for serious damage to our town’s character, unless they suddenly find religion instead of Zombie parades. —Paul
The residents of Neptune Township should have just one Homeowners/Renters Association that represents all the different sections of the town, with one half (1/2) of the yearly membership dues going into a legal defense fund.
WAVE refuses to release the names of its investors—probably due to embarrassment since some are from OG /CMA.
WAVE. OGCMA. Who are the actual negotiators? The specific people involved? Without knowing who, can we be sure there’s no conflict of interest?
Time for a letter writing campaign to OGHOA to politely ask them to get into the game. I wrote one and I urge as many readers as possible to do so.
It is mystifying that the OGCMA did not send a representative to Trenton last week. It is mystifying that they are passively watching the North End project unfold without vigorously standing up for the homeowners. Have they tried to get relevant State government departments involved to investigate recent RSIS violations? Nope. Having nice planters, or whatever the OGHOA does worry about, is great, but not if the town becomes unlivable and we lose our Historic District designation because of a flood of condos being built. Condos on the beach? Please.
BTW, its hard to view the CMA very favorably either.
It all makes me wonder….other than Blogfinger, are there any advocates for OG?