This is what’s left of the Park View Inn on Seaview Avenue. Blogfinger photo Sept 22, 2016 © On the left is the Warrington (see our Warrington posts), and on the right is the La Pierre condos at the lake and a private home on Seaview. Click on photo and you might be able to discern palm trees in A. Park.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
Shirley and Ted Bell were married 62 years ago in the Park View Inn on Seaview Avenue in Ocean Grove which was owned by Shirley’s parents. It was a busy place and quite wonderful. There were porches in the back where guests could look out onto Wesley Lake and enjoy great hotel food. Lake Avenue ambled by, and walkers provided a parade for the Park Viewers. The Park was Founders Park.
Ted, an eminent Ocean Grove historian, recalls that Lake Avenue was “always a walkway.” The founders would not allow even a horse and buggy on that footpath. Lake Avenue actually had two levels, with the houses and hotels being elevated (see photo below). But for now, Ted and Shirley can sit on their porch on Seaview Avenue, look across the lake, and see real palm trees!
1896. Wesley Lake. Ocean Grove. Clearly the precedent for Lake Avenue is a walkway. Courtesy of Ted Bell, Ocean Grove historian. Look closely and you will see Ted walking over to Days Ice Cream Garden.
1896. OG. Lake Avenue had upper and a lower elevations. No one imagined that someone might want a roadway there. Courtesy of Ted Bell.
Now that the Inn is gone, the Township has approved plans to subdivide that narrow lot into 4 undersized house lots. Two would be on Seaview Avenue, while two would be on Lake Avenue. Those lots are currently for sale. The two lake front lots are $459,000 each. The two Seaview Avenue lots are $419,000 each. The four houses planned are said to have received approval for 3 stories each.
But since Lake Avenue is not a street or a road, land use law would forbid building those two lakeside houses. They should have never been given permission. We also need to determine if the lakeside houses are being built on Green Acres properties.
Municipal Land Use Law (New Jersey). Official record. Click to read it easier. Source: Jack Bredin.
The neighbors over there are concerned about parking and access issues. Supposedly a path between the houses would allow access to Lake Avenue from Sea View. Or the residents could walk around to Lake Avenue (aka Beach Avenue) by the boardwalk and then head west. But what about UPS, garbage trucks, mail delivery, etc.?
And won’t those houses be crowded together when built on small lots? Would they get any breezes or light? Aren’t OG lots small enough? Shouldn’t there be only two houses there, fronting on Seaview and with lovely rear yards and views of the lake?
Blogfinger will be investigating these issues. Please comment if you have any information.
Link to our 1/14/16 article about the land under the now demolished Park View Inn. It is very interesting:
So how exactly were these permissions given? How long has this been going on?
PEGGY LEE
I just don’t understand the logic here. A building owner allows the property to decay and become a dangerous eyesore, and he is then rewarded by bending the rules so the property is made even more valuable. This is just plain insulting.
David, you are correct. There was a danger to the public by leaving that building up in the condition it was in for all those years, however, the Township had the authority to demolish the building and charge the expense to the property owner on their next tax bill, because it clearly was a hazard.
I don’t really disagree with any of this. However, there was in my mind a great danger in leaving a building such as The Parkview standing. The demolition,taxes construction etc will only be taken on if there is a profit to be made. Therefore, exceptions will be made. Do I like it? No! But that being said, I don’t miss The Parkview, as it was.
David: Whether or not residents can “cope” with their access issues is not the point. The real issue is that these 4 proposed houses are not grandfathered in, so they must comply with the land-use law which says that a new house be must be built on a street/road.
Lake Avenue is not a street even though some “experts” have already said the contrary. You can read those opinions in our January piece which is linked in this post.
David, the residents of OG must do more than just “hope for the best”
As to the 30 homes you refer to on Lake Ave. west of Founders Park, the residents must rely on the eight (8) 40 foot wide public access walkways between Lake Ave and Asbury Ave. This is all grandfathered in and historically correct.
However, these public access walkways are on private property, and the agreement between the property owner (the OGCMA) and DEP (Green Acres program) is renewable once every 3 years and can be cancelled at any time by the OGCMA.
Absent the agreement, the Planning Board could not deny an application to subdivide the former public access areas into building lots, and the Township would be required to provide access to the Lake Ave homes by developing Lake Avenue into a municipal street. (There is case law supporting my opinion.) If the Town permits the development, they must provide the access.
The Township already has a conceptual plan to do just that on Lake Ave west of Founders Park as a result of their proposed development at the North End. This is all inconsistent with historic preservation within a historic district.
It’s the same old problem. Trying to put modern, life, access and usage into an area that was laid out in the time before the automobile.
While wandering about the area around my house in the North End of town, I’m frequently asked by someone or a delivery person, “Where’s Lake Avenue?” When you tell them it’s a sidewalk along the lake, they ask, “Where can I park?” That’s the big question, where DO you park?
There are quite a few homes on the west side of Founders Park that have houses without direct access to Asbury Ave. I assume these have existed for some length of time. They seem to be able to cope with just a “walkway”. I remember much concern with the Parkview when it was deteriorating. I am glad it’s gone and hope for the best!