This is Tillie, the poster boy for funny business in Asbury Park. But who will be responsible for funny business on the OG side of the divide ?
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net and Jack Bredin, Blogfinger reporter/researcher.
We have received a detailed Coaster report regarding the HOA meeting of Feb. 1. During that meeting there was information presented by President Michael Badger of the OG Camp Meeting Association regarding the North End project which suggested that great progress was being made. The Coaster headline described the presentation as “an update.”
However, Badger offered misinformation which went unchallenged at the meeting. Evidently, he has a fundamental misunderstanding of the redevelopment process as defined by NJ Land Use Law.
The North End Redevelopment plan is supposed to be a public project under the supervision of the Township Committee, but the two Committeemen present, Carol Rizzo and Robert Lane, had nothing to say during the presentation.
Instead the CMA seemed to be usurping their authority. And why was this presentation being made at the Home Owners Association meeting instead of in a public forum at a public venue with the discussion lead by the Township?
Badger said that “the North End developers and the CMA have been in protracted discussions and hope for a final signed contract within 30 days or shortly thereafter.”
But, in all the years we have been following this mess, no one has ever used the term “North End developers.” Badger should have defined this term. You may recall that this is a “redevelopment” project and not a “general development” project—an important distinction having to do with local government involvement.
The 2008 zoning for the North End was established by the Neptune Township decision to make that property into a “zone in need of redevelopment.” So any subsequent negotiations and contract talks should be led by the Township.
Of course, private negotiations, such as regarding ground rents, would occur privately between the CMA and WAVE (the presumed redevelopers) but such agreements do not move the ball forward as far as the public’s interests.
So, until these private issues are resolved and until the process finally culminates in a Redevelopers Agreement, signed by the Township and the Redevelopers (whoever they will be,) there can be no developers officially involved in the project.
The only project plan that was ever approved by Neptune is the original NERP from 2008. There was talk of a changed plan (with reduced density) in 2011, championed by the HOA and publicly announced by Committeeman R. Bishop in 2015 , but that 2011 “scaled down” plan mentioned now by Mr. Badger, as if it were the current plan for 2018, was never confirmed by the Township.
Any change in the density of the original North End Redevelopment Plan “shall require notice and public hearings in a manner similar to the adoption of the original plan.”
And, Mr. Badger said, “some of the permits* are still not completed.” But that implies that some are completed, and, without a re-developers agreement, no permits should have been granted.
This project seems to be no further ahead than it was in the past, and the Feb 1 presentation merely served to muddy the waters even more.
* For more details about permits, see the comments below.
LEON REDBONE (Is anyone home at the CMA, HOA, or the Neptune Township Committee?)
Linda, I agree, change the plan to single family houses, or a ground level parking lot owned and operated by the OGCMA.
Change the plan!
This site is the final frontier.
Linda,
Contrary to popular belief the fact is there is no legitimate plan to develop the North End.
After all these years, the only thing they have is a 2008 unworkable pipe dream that should be tossed into the ‘Wesley Detention Basin’.
11 single family homes, 39 condos, and a 40 room hotel will bring in a lot of tax dollars for Neptune and a lot of ground rent dollars for OGCMA.
But, consider a parking garage on that site:
1. One level underground, three levels above.
2. Decorate the outer walls with murals.
3. Provide plenty of parking for OG AND AP.
4. Make millions of dollars for co-owners Neptune and OGCMA (AP made $4.9 million last year alone from parking).
5. Then residents can get permits to park on streets because we can welcome visitors to OG by offering them paid parking.
Of course, a parking garage is expensive. But building this would yield huge future profits and solve our parking problem.
Editor’s note: Your list of North End specifications are not what are found in the official (by resolution 2008) North End Redevelopment Plan which specifies 165 residential units. You can review a variety of Blogfinger posts or check the Township to find out the contents of the official NERP.
As for the parking garage, just check this week’s Coaster where Michael Badger, the President of the CMA, says that parking will be provided only for residents of condos and for guests staying in the hotel. The Township and the CMA seem to be irretrievably opposed to the idea of making money from parking and of doing something to ease the burden of those who live in the Grove.—PG
Suffering Surfer
It’s true that “most of us would like to see single family homes on this property.”
Unfortunately for “us” the CMA and the HOA have partnered in their mutual support of developing condos, condos, and more condos.
That’s where the market and the money is, and the Township is giving “us” what
“they” want, because the Township wants the taxes, while we want Historic Preservation.
Whatever is eventually built at the North End will be there for the rest of our lives setting an example for the future development of the entire first two ocean front blocks and the rest of Ocean Grove.
We will not get a second chance at this.
The site, which has been an eyesore for decades, must be developed. Most of us would like to see only single family homes on this property. How are 90 residential units going to fit here? Is there going to be an eight storey building with condos on some floors and hotel rooms on other floors and an underground garage (like what is being built next to the Stone Pony)? Are they going to tear down the “white whale” and build residential units east of the boardwalk? Is there an actual plan/date now to start construction?
“CMA and its collaborators” have historically dodged land use laws–driveways, curb cuts, massive condos, master plan violations. Best reference: Kevin Chambers, who happens to be commenting on “Wassup.”
At last night’s Township Committee Meeting, Township Attorney Gene Anthony said, ‘The only plan the Township is considering is the March 24, 2008 plan approved for 165 units.
This would confirm the Blogfinger report to be correct.
However, after the meeting HOA President and attorney Barbara Burns said that the Coaster article and the comments by CMA President Michael Badger were both correct because in her opinion the 2008 plan can be reduced in size at any time without notice.
Of course, we believe Miss Burn’s opinion is inconsistent with the local Housing and Redevelopment Law.
Radar assumes that the CMA and its collaborators will be able to dodge land use laws and get whatever plan it wants with the blessings of the Township, and that is worrisome given the values that most of us live by.
And, if that is a given, then why is BLOGFINGER spinning its wheels over all this? The answer is that our Constitution promises justice for all, and you never know when subpoenas might be just around the corner.
Recently the CMA threatened us with a law suit, so we should also think that way. We could contact the new governor and ask for an investigation by the new attorney general.
Whatever evolves from this ill-fated OGCMA proposal. . . .
At HOA, Badger said, “11 single family houses, 39 condo units, and one 40 room hotel, with a parking space for every condo and hotel unit.”
These housing facilities should be high-taxed by Neptune Twp. like all OG ocean proximity properties and that 40-room hotel taxed like others in the township. (No tax-exempt OGCMA “conference center.”)
Camp Meeting will make its money on escalating ground rentals. (And hopefully those 39 condo owners will know about it before purchase.)
Even if reduced from 165 to 90 residential units, that still means a lot more cars in the northeast corner with the new owners and their visitors. Is there a plan for parking?
Editor’s note: Supposedly they devised a garage on site with one level underground.
At the HOA, Badger said, “11 single family houses, 39 condo units, and one 40 room hotel, with a parking space for every condo and hotel unit. The density plans have not changed for several years, he said.”
Regarding the 2008 NERP he said, “The original density for the North End development project was too high and it was scaled down.” Note once again Badger uses the inappropriate term “development project,” and once again we must point out that the original 2008 NERP has not been legally changed.
Consider this: A development project is something which is done by private parties who satisfy zoning and other regulations. No Neptune governmental interference would be required.
But Badger doesn’t seem to know that this NERP project came under the scrutiny and supervision of the Neptune government when the Neptune Committee granted the designation “zone in need of redevelopment,” thus legally creating the zoning over-rides, the official name of “Redevelopment Zone,” and control under the jurisdiction of Neptune Township.
Also note that an “area in need of redevelopment” was an illegal strategy to get the zoning changed.
The reason that the designation is thought to be illegal is that the OGCMA was perfectly able to construct the 25 single family homes permitted by the zoning then. The only reason for the NERP designation was to get around that original zoning impediment.—-Paul @Blogfinger
I don’t think they have a plan. They a bunch of people waiting for other people to do something. They are frankly, a lazy lot;;like the useless “Wesley Lake Commission.” They take these paychecks, and happly put them in their accounts, and frankly must laugh at their jobs. THEY ARE RIDICULOUS.
I object to the usage of Tillie icon being used even in jest . Tillie(ie not y) should not be associated with OGCMA or Neptune Township . Tillie is a symbol of honesty pureness and simpler decent times .
Instead pehaps a more fitting icon would be Sea Side Heights Alfred E Neuman icon . SSH is currently involved in some questionable redevelopement shenanigans .
Editor’s note: Your definition of what Tillie symbolizes is nonsense. Tillie was painted on the side of Palace Amusements. The Internet says, “Tillie has become an international symbol of Asbury Park, and its smiling likeness can be found on everything from T-shirts to coffee mugs to earrings.”
So if you accept that explanation, then you could associate the face with just about anything related to Asbury Park, including, as we said, “the poster boy for funny business in Asbury Park,” and “funny business” could have a variety of meanings. So we stand by our caption, but the spelling is corrected,,,thank you.
Before an application is filed for any permits required by the Township or the State, there are some questions which must be answered first. Here are a few:
1. Can the town zone a portion of its beach property (ie the White Whale) that is reserved for recreation and conservation to be used for residential/commercial purposes?
2. Has the town acquired the land for the necessary streets called for in the NERP?
3. Is Lake Avenue a street or a walkway?
4. Is Wesley Lake an estuary or a detention basin?
5. Was there “a request for proposals?”
6. Are there bonds to guarantee the project’s completion on file with the Neptune Township Clerk?
7. Without a signed redevelopment contract, are WAVE and/or the CMA redevelopers yet?
8. There can only be one plan presented to every agency having jurisdiction over the project and empowered to issue permits. Is there any doubt as to which plan is currently in effect? It is the original 2008 NERP without any subsequent modifications.
Note: Michael Badger says that the plan density has been reduced from 165 residential units to 90 units, but that change has never been officially made.