Mayor Nicholas Williams is now involved in the train wreck called the North End plan. Blogfinger photograph. December 2017 ©
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger and Jack Bredin, Reporter and Researcher @Blogfinger.
At the Township Committee Meeting on February 26, 2018, Committeeman Brantley said, “At our next meeting we will have some big announcements to make regarding re-development.” Neptune has a number of areas in need of redevelopment, including the OG North End.
At the Committee meeting of March 12, 2018, Mayor Nicholas Williams reported, “We have been showing developers around town and telling them what we should like to see developed, and they are making proposals on what they would like to build.”
Then he went on to say, “There are two developers interested in the West Lake Avenue and the North End (OG). We have a meeting next week with WAVE and the Redevelopment Attorney.” Will WAVE be informed that they need to “fish or cut bait?”
This reminds Blogfinger of a photograph (below,) posted on our site, of Committeeman Michael Brantley showing the North End property to unnamed developers on July 27, 2016.
This Blogfinger photograph of Dr. Brantley giving a tour of the North End to developers. July 27, 2016. ©
This sounds to us like the Township may be fed up with the interminable delays regarding WAVE and the North End project which has floated like flotsam in the Atlantic Ocean for nine, non-transparent years, leaving an ugly ocean front dirt lot for Grovers and visitors to admire.
During the public portion, Jack Bredin went to the microphone to say that any meetings regarding this “area in need of redevelopment” should be open to the public. He stated that there are procedures and rules spelled out in New Jersey Land Use Laws regarding such transparency. He said that if he were the mayor, he would never be showing developers around and/or having “private discussions in the back of some limousine” about the project because “that would give the perception of an impropriety.”
Note that the Redevelopment Attorney was not present at either the February 26 or the March 12 meetings.
It’s time for the Committee to do what’s best for the town and break off its relationship with WAVE, even if breaking up is hard to do. And while they are at it, it’s time to cancel the Revelopment Plan and follow the Master Plan for single family homes on that property. All New Jersey Land Use laws should be followed and all future discussions on this issue should be held in public view.
NEIL SEDAKA:
The single party dominance in Neptune Township has created an unsavory situation. The Committee is all Democrat, and the demographics in Neptune would seem to insure that continuance, but “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” More balance, transparency, checks, and bipartisanship are needed.
The next election will offer two open Committee seats to be filled. The Republican party has picked one candidate already, and they are seeking a second. But our system does not provide for a seat on the Committee for a specific representative from Ocean Grove.
If interested in a Republican slot, contact Chairman@neptunerepublicans.org
Paul,
Re: your article on lack of representation by the current Neptune Committee members to OG concerns or attention to OG matters by the existing Committee.
The obvious appropriate action to rectify this is to have several members of the OG community run for Council, win election, and then represent OG interests.
So long as we are seen as a stepchild and outsiders(and treated as such) OG interests will remain secondary.
This reply to RM is from Paul Revere of Ocean Grove:
“I am reminding RM that the old North End Hotel in OG was demolished in 1980. That’s 37 years wasted!!!”
This would be great news! This uniquely valuable redevelopment site has been mired in ineptitude and secrecy for almost a decade now (while our region, and Asbury Park in particular, has been in the midst of a remarkable boom). WAVE has fully demonstrated that they are not capable of handling such a development by their complete lack of progress. It’s time to put control of the property into a new set of hands and make the process public since this is such a high profile project for our small town. While I was always open to the prospect of limited retail (i.e., boutique hotel, cafes, restaurants, etc.), I have since evolved to agree that stately single family homes would be the best use of the site. If people are looking for a large condominium project, that’s what Asbury Park and Bradley Beach are for. Ocean Grove is a unique community and we should all work towards keeping it that way. Now I just hope that the housing market and economy stay intact for any future developer to succeed. Almost ten years wasted. It’s terrible.
I.M Radar
Thank you Mr. Radar.
My New Year’s resolution this year was to never attend another OGHOA meeting. But, if you ever plan to attend a meeting, I would be happy to pick you up.
Jack
I said it on September 10, 2015, and I say it again:
“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.”
————————–
Is there one blog advocate who has the initiative at the next OGHOA meeting to make a motion to support the Master Plan for development of the north end ? And is there another who will second the motion ?
(Radar would do it if he were present, but he like most property owners is out of area….but cognizant of where our future lies.)