Latest design of the south side of the future hotel. It is one component of a large and crowded commercial development at the North End. From the 4/19/22 HPC meeting. Zoom photo by Paul Goldfinger, Blogfinger.net
This east view shows condos and “retail” facing the ocean.
This HPC approved project is a cousin to the “Victorian” mess about to be built across town. Blogfinger photo.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net 4/19/22.
As many of you know, the North End Redevelopment Plan developers (OGNED) have been tied up in meetings with the HPC since last year. We were unsure as to what was going on, but now it is revealed.
Tonight, April 19, 2022, an HPC meeting was held on ZOOM. It was devoted entirely to architectural minutiae having to do with guidelines, Victorian details, construction challenges, and “historically appropriate ” designs.
The OGNED lawyer Krimko announced at the outset that she would not allow any other related topics to be discussed or questioned. The same thing happened last year. Despite a promise that there would be questions from the audience this year, they ran out of time at 9pm.
We don’t know if any questions would have been permitted which were about topics other than how many columns can fit on the head of a pin.
We still want to know if the “Area in Need of Redevelopment” was legal to be approved by the Neptuners. And there are many other land use issues as well including Wesley Lake pollution, avoidance of the Master Plan, the blocking of audience or HPC questions or statements, and many others. Krimko would probably rule those topics out of order, but who put her in charge of an HPC/Neptune Township public meeting?
This is Jen Jensen, an HPC commissioner, who was working hard tonight with her colleagues on ZOOM, trying to wrestle with all the site plan details. Paul Goldfinger photo. 4/19/22
Zoom guy Jeff Rudell, HPC commissioner. 4/19/22 Paul Goldfinger at the HPC ZOOMFEST.
But now we don’t care so much about these details. What is crystal clear is that this project will come true. The days of trying to block the NERP are over.
The North End Redevelopment Plan, dressed in pseudo-Victorian garb, will happen and will be the mother of all prior architectural mishaps in the Grove.
The HPC abandoned their original rejection of the plan and now are just fussing over construction and design details.
Tonight many changes in the architectural drawings were revealed. Basically the developers and their co-conspirators will be getting what they want.
And we will probably be left with the same unresolved concerns: blocked views, stifled breezes, neighborhood congestion, parking issues, massive buildings overwhelming the nearby streets, environmental worries, and a significant change in the town’s character, appearance and mood.
It will be Asbury Park South, and the timing, now that the town is changing in a variety of ways, is unfortunate.
This project has slithered in silently under the door while the rest of the town is concerning itself with COVID, changing demographics, new renters including Airbnb, a sellers real estate market with rising housing prices which have kept many out of the market.
This town needs more affordable rental housing to attract young, lively, and imaginative citizens, but instead we are getting more housing for the rich.
OG needs stores that provide services to those who live in town, and such down-home businesses most likely will not be found at the new North End.
At Blogfinger we have raised fundamental issues having to do with life styles and pursuit of happiness by residents. We tried to promote the idea of small town America, but a variety of forces have succeeded in ignoring the best interests of the citizens, and when you pay your second quarter taxes next month, you might contemplate what you are receiving for your money.
The North End battle is lost for those of us with a different vision for the Grove. Citizen apathy, developer greed, and a bizarre form of local government have added up to a commercial district which will be built at the North End.
But now, what’s next? The South End development perhaps?
“The Secret Life of Daydeams.”
The public question/comment period was eliminated as the clock ran out at 9 PM. There will be yet another meeting in the future with yet more revised plans. Krimko suggested longer meetings. The HPC attorney raised no objection to her opening comments.
To David Fox: The Township announced yesterdays HPC meeting by saying, in an email, “This special meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission will be taking place remotely via ZOOM and will commence at 6:00 PM at which time you may appear via Zoom and present any objection or questions you may have at the appropriate time.”
But the OGNED lawyer Krimko engaged in a preemptive strike at the meeting to try and prevent any questions but design inquiries at this HPC session on the grounds, as you point out, that a redevelopment plan supersedes existing Neptune zoning.
That is the whole reason that the designation of “Zone in Need of Redevelopment” was sought in 2007. So of course Krimko will try to prevent free questioning now. She does not want to bring up embarrassing inquiries about how the process was conducted when the Zone was originally allowed. And the same for the process whereby Mayor Rizzo signed off on a questionable “new” North End Plan and Redevelopers Agreement.
Someone should have sued to challenge that stifling of speech by Krimko and to organize an objective and independent investigation of the original 2007 approval of the redevelopment designation by the Neptuner shadow government and the approval by the Planning Board, and other issues raised regarding Municipal Land Use Laws.
The OGNED attorney made an opening statement that the redevelopment plan approved by the “governing authority” was exempt from all Neptune regulations and the HPC was limited to considering design guidelines. So, the project was, in effect, previously approved by Neptune.
I do not find the hotel all that bad, especially with the suggested alterations, though the utility structures on the roof are unsightly. One can have elevators that do not have machinery rooms on the roof. The condominiums are quite another matter. At least they will be the least visible part of the project from OG. I am also uncertain how a vehicle such as a fire truck or ambulance is supposed to reach these unless the lakefront path is turned into a road.
The much-maligned building on Ocean Ave. might pass for a London men’s club from the 1840s, but that is well before the OG period. If it had a lighter color with white moldings, window frames, etc., it would have a less massive appearance.