Here are some links on BF about the Aurora (and other posts can be found by searching above right:)
2018 Aurora: What will become of it?
Approval to convert the Aurora. Read this!
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
The Aurora, built in 1884, was a historic hotel with 30 rooms. But Neptune Township has once again dumped on our single family zoning and on our Master Plan, permitting this illegal condominium conversion, and, incidentally, once again, with no significant parking. There is one narrow driveway and a single car garage.
That neighborhood will be negatively impacted, and it will be just another inappropriate cluttered mess to complement the proposed North End plan a few blocks away.
And as for the claim that these 4 condos are “historic,” that is just a lie. There is nothing historic about condominiums in this town. The promo on-line suggests that a prospective buyer “immerse yourself in the rich history of the Aurora.”
There will be nothing historic experienced by buyers of those expensive condominiums even though the sign says “RELIVE HISTORY.”
Go to http://www.auroraoceangrove.com.
It is true that the Aurora was a historic hotel, but that all changed when the prior owner turned it into a single family house. He had trouble selling it, but someone would have eventually bought it as a single family home. It would not have been the only large single family in the Grove. Have you seen some of the mansions on Ocean Avenue?
JERRY ORBACH:
Phil: I guess you have your tongue in your cheek. You should have bought the Aurora while it was for sale as a hotel. Once the prior owner bought it as a single family house, it could not be used as a hotel again.
It stood empty for a few years before the current owner and his lawyer (out-of-towners) blasted their way past the Planning Board and the Township to create a crowded condoized situation on Atlantic Avenue.
BUT: if the Neptuners can offer it to the current owner to be turned into 4 condos, then why couldn’t the law have been twisted in your favor to go back to a hotel again? Oh, maybe you don’t have the right influence, incentives, and connections. —PG Blogfinger.net
Now, it’s too late as the current manipulator (ie “developer”) has already turned it into those 4 residences.
OK, given your deep appreciation for the historical role of the structure, I think I’ll buy it and make a 30-room hotel out of it. Bring out your lawyers!
What makes the Aurora case important is that the RSIS board denied its application. That establishes that Neptune is in violation of law.
Its definitions for uses are in violation; the uses, excluding single family are not permitted, and the overlay zone used to grant the North End is invalid and therefore all the hearings for the North End were illegal and invalid.
Neptune has hired three attorney’s and a planning firm to write legal zoning, follow court rulings and enforce state laws. All four of these people have refused to follow or enforce the laws of this state when it comes to zoning in OG.
When I challenged this application in court, Neptune failed to provide a legal definition for a single family lot, failed to use zoning that conformed with state law, and not only failed to follow state regulations and requirements for parking but knowingly argued that the applicant would be submitting an application to the RSIS board knowing that the board could not grant relief from parking as long as Neptune was in violation of State and Federal laws.
Judge Weis, knowing this, on his own violated the very laws he was appointed to uphold and instead, against long standing court decisions, granted the illegal variances.
As long as the State has judges that promote perjury in their court, as long as the State has judges that violate the laws they are sworn to uphold, then corruption wins in the end.
You can see this with this very development.
State Land Use law requires 2 off street parking spaces for each residence. So this project should have provided 8 off street spaces which it cannot do. Approvals by the Neptune betrayers should not have been given.
At the Planning Board meeting where approval was given for the 4 condo Aurora, the parking issue was not solved–it was just dumped and hidden from further scrutiny by those who are supposed to be protecting the public. Let the folks in the neighborhood figure it out.
Who was representing the Grovers who live in that neighborhood? No one !! The HOA and the HPC just sat mute.
Instead deference was given to the aggressive out-of-town developer and his lawyer who bulldozed their way over the Planning Board.
Did someone get paid off? It sure smells that way.