Ocean Grove New Jersey. Many homeowners in OG have done remarkable restoration work on their homes. This finial and gingerbread work is on Mt. Hermon Way.
A major commitment is required if we want a Victorian town. The cherrypicker was needed to to do the artistic multicolored detailed paint work (see the top photo.) The painter did her work in short shorts, attracting many aficionados of Victorian colors. Blogfinger photos. 2002©
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
In a letter to Blogfinger on April 11, J. Cortese vented regarding what he sees as a deterioration in our town’s efforts to maintain historical preservation, and he sees the situation worsening over the last 10 years .
If you haven’t read his piece, here is a link:
I love you, you’re perfect, now change
Blogfinger’s writers and commenters agree with J., as do others in town, but is he correct to fear the eventual fatal decline of Ocean Grove as a very special historic place?
We agree that our election to the Federal and State Historic Registers would be endangered if the deterioration that J. describes continues, consider this:
When we moved to Ocean Grove in 1998, the town was still in a pretty raggedy condition. Most streets had historic houses that were in serious states of decline. But you could see signs of life—indications that homeowners coming into town wanted to help bring these properties back to life.
We saw tremendous progress after that. Homeowners were putting up large sums of money to resurrect those irreplaceable Victorian buildings. This effort showed results over the next 10 years where every street had multiple examples where beautiful and accurate historic work had been done.
Derelict houses, while still existing, were no longer the main theme of our town’s architecture. Instead, most of our streets were uniquely lovely.
This investment and commitment by homeowners is the main reason Ocean Grove looks so wonderful today as a Victorian-style community. And Blogfinger and its supporters are correct in criticizing Township officials, the CMA, and developers who are willing to exploit the town for financial reasons and to play fast and loose with zoning and land use regulations.
This network of exploiters produces results that yield less parking, less historic beauty, and more congestion. They are a force pushing us in a different direction. To add to the problem we have a Homeowners Association which has lost its way and a Historical Society which is barely visible in terms of preservation. The HPC is currently hiding in the shadows, and the Chamber of Commerce has no interest in the issue. If all that continues, the town will, as J. predicts, lose what makes it so special as an authentic historic community.
We have interviewed many newcomers, and they all say, “We fell in love with this town,” and for good reason.
I don’t have to tell you about the lifestyle of Ocean Grove now, an element that is apart from the architectual. It is the organic component which adds a thrilling dimension to living here. We have many children, young families, Wiffle ball games in the park, beautiful beaches, a vibrant porch culture, artistic events, etc. We are a walking and talking town with smart, friendly citizens, and much of that stems from historic preservation.
However, not everyone in town agrees with the vision of people like J. Cortese, Kevin Chambers, Jack Bredin, Ted Bell, Blogfinger, HPC and others. And if those forces, including citizens, elected officials, and organizations, which should be supportive, continue to turn away, the town will become something other than a Historic District.
As J. points out, many residents are just looking for a wonderful shore town to enjoy and to share with friends and family, and this one is very special and thus very popular. And our proximity to the new Asbury Park will contribute to the popularity of OG.
Judging from the newcomers that I have met, they all want our town to continue being a place to love, but there are those who are not interested in our 19th century Victorian theme. So, although some of them will concern themselves with historic preservation, we don’t currently know how many will actually care.
We believe that most Grovers would hate to see the historic vision decline further, and hopefully most of us will stay involved and help to hammer out an aggressive plan for Ocean Grove’s Victorian survival . But will the dream be too much for too many?
REV. GARY DAVIS from the album Harlem Street Singer
There is always an undercurrent, and sometimes quite outright anger directed at condo property owners who pay high ground rents and considerable amount in taxes. No one really gave a hoot about these high ground rent fees until the business with the Carriage House sale became known. Up to that moment folks were content to pay their $10.50 per year on property maintained by the owner and taxes paid by the owner. Possibly more than some single home owners.
But there is a kind of snideness, a clear accusation that the condos created the parking crisis.
Apartment accommodations are also squeezed out of single freestanding old historic homes, sometimes renting for a week or two, and then the renters move on.
Condo owners, in some cases, have limited rental restrictions built into the bylaws, and so those folks cannot rent for anything less than one year. It’s all part of the mix. There are some lovely old homes on Ocean that are always rented, where parties go into the nights and over weekends. Some home owners leave their inherited houses in disarray and pose a danger to all around them. Condos and private homes and hotels are placed at risk by these derelict structures. Some individual homeowners with several vehicles and motorcycles take up two and three or more spots on the streets by using cones and moving other vehicles to take up those spots. It is almost as if the street parking in front of their homes belongs to them. It seems to be survival of the fittest out there at times. Perhaps parking permits for those who own property in OG might the answer, and short term parking permits can be issued to guests, whether condo owner of single house owner. The complaints re parking spots always seems to be directed at condos but never to other places like hotels, B&B’s and institutions like Mary’s Place and the Retreat Convent on Main and Beach. All of those folks also love Ocean Grove and deserve to have parking available. When we have guests coming for a weekend or for a few days, we go into parking panic mode and look around and wonder where our guests are going to park. Yes, development needs to be contained. Yes, the Historic Preservation Committee needs to continue to monitor changes. And yes, development needs to be reigned in for this small village by the sea.
I have not met those newcomers that you are referring to. Yes, the property had a buyer that you see once or twice, then there is a revolving door of short term renters…beautiful one-bedroom apartment accommodates up to 5 people (with five cars)…1-bedroom apartment sleeps 7…2-bedroom sleeps 10.
The noise when windows are open in the summer makes going to bed before 1 AM impossible on most nights. On summer weekends, I take a cab to work at the hospital because even parking at Clancy’s is impossible.
Yup, I think Ocean Grove is already “just another shore town.”
It’s inevitable. The Township wants to increase property values to collect more taxes,and the easiest way to do that is allow properties to be enlarged and updated.
The place on Heck (which is a nice house in the wrong place, IMO) that wants a variance for a driveway is the model – a new house in the old style. I think a compromise could be worked out with the Township if there was a will and organization to do that, but the odds are against it.
And I don’t think the HPC has helped itself by abusing their authority and imposing unreasonable restrictions. I think there would be less support for “more user-friendly” guidelines if the HPC was less authoritarian. Nobody in town detests the HPC more than I do, but I don’t want to see historic preservation trashed in the way the town wants to do it.
A line spoken by the wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of OZ when accidently doused with water from Dorothy. “I’m melting, I’m melting” .
Stokes and company built a wonderful ice cream cone long ago and now it seems, it’s melting, it’s melting.
Find the rainbow “Grovers” before it’s just another shore town, with no parking……..
It’s true that the homeowners deserve credit for bringing back historic homes and they are also the people who are paying high taxes to Neptune. But instead of gratitude from the town, we have betrayal with all these zoning distortions and non-historic plans such as NERP. When these taxpayers ask for something in return such as parking stickers, adherence to the Master Plan,recovery of Wesley Lake, and less congestion, they get ignored.
And the greedy developers, who have no interest in historic preservation and want more condos, forget that the reason there are customers for their condos is that the citizens of OG created such a beautiful and desirable place. If this town were still in the 1980’s, there would be no customers for condos. And the Township would not have the appraisal values that currently exist thanks to OG citizens.