The North End site–there are prison yards more attractive than this. Paul Goldfinger photo. © Click to enlarge this photo. Re-post from spring, 2022.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor, Blogfinger.net
This redevelopment scheme has been in the works for about 14 years. It is supposed to be a public project given the “zone in need of redevelopment.”
What is needed is for the Neptune Township governing body and its allies in Ocean Grove who want to exploit the last remaining open space on the ocean at the Jersey Shore to get out of the way for a sensible project to be implemented. according to the Master Plan for this small town.
We are going to get a project that will crowd 39 condominiums, 10 single family homes, a 5 story hotel, an underground garage, and stores.
There has been no consideration as to what is best for this small town which already is over developed. The needs of the homeowners and renters have not been addressed in all these years.
There should be an independent investigation by the State of New Jersey to review what the heck avenue is going on here. The whole thing is a disgrace. It is at least something to be ashamed of, or something to be ridiculed, or, at most, something illegal.
Consider the photo below:
The site of Country Day Estates on Monmouth Road in Oakhurst. 18 single family homes on a site similar in size to the OG North End. Paul Goldfinger photo. Work has just begun on this development. 4/22. Click to appreciate the size of this property. ©
This large property will be developed as a comfortable neighborhood in this residential town. There will be 18 single family homes.
When this project was first presented to Ocean Township in 2010, the developer wanted to build 24 single homes and 17 three-story townhouses. What do you think the town government said to that? “Nuts!”
The developer was told, and it is in the town minutes, “This proposal is not in the interest of the area!”
Zoning is supposed to protect the citizens, and that is what happened at the Country Day Estates. That 18 home project will fit nicely in the neighborhood where it is going.
But in Ocean Grove, as our project was debated over 14 years, no one in Neptuner-Town gave a rats ass about what should happen at the North End where the original, historic plan was to build 25 single family homes for clergy.
The gobbledygook goes on, and the lack of transparency is a way of life among all the players, and when will we-the- people be told who all the members of OGNED developers are?
The aroma of possible conflicts of interest permeates the North End of OG near the ocean, and that smell has lingered for years.
“Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saens:
By the way, Mayor Rizzo did approve the original North End plan, but signed off on the wrong plan.
Accordingly, the entire North End Plan is now expired and invalid thanks to Mayor Rizzo. It may be the best thing she did while serving as Mayor.
Let’s be clear, the North End plan is dead. And, CANNOT be revived by the Historic Preservation Commission.
All the information regarding the Neptune Township approval of ‘the North End Redevelopment Project’ should be presented to a Grand Jury, to determine if any public money was used to approve a private project. ( And, the answer is YES)
I also believe that from day one, the only Neptune agency who did the right thing was, the Historic Preservation Commission.
The delay at the North End can be traced back to 1977 when Aldersgate, a senior lifecare facility, was proposed and the North End Hotel demolished to make way for it in 1978. At that time, the decline of Asbury Park likely scared off buyers and there was considerable local opposition to the project. Nothing came of this. I see the developer of the AP Casino area is now considered “in default”—yet another failed project there. I can think of better locations to own a house than that immediate area.
I believe NJ requires municipalities to review their master plans every decade, so they are not written in stone.
Jean: The North End project has been tied up recently in the Historic Preservation Commission where they should have been acting on behalf of the citizens of Ocean Grove, but their actions have been recently obscured in a foggy smokescreen.
About two weeks ago, Neptune announced that the process will be delayed for one year while the developers get their acts together. We have no details, but this plan, which was allowed to move forward 14 years ago should have been abandoned after the Township and the developers failed to produce a result consistent with the town’s Master Plan which still calls for single family homes.
And the designation of a Zone in Need of Redevelopment was, in our opinion, illegal and should never have been approved by the Neptuners backed by OG insiders.
Hi, thank you for your blog!
When was this postponement announced and by whom?
Jean Tracy
jean.tracy@verizon.net
I’ve been following this since I first started visiting the Shore in 2010 to assist an aging relative who lived in Ocean Grove. Where I live (Oregon), we have limits on how long “urban renewal zones,” development rights, and such, can be held, before concepts need to be re-evaluated. I can’t believe how long these “rights” have been held in AP and OG, given climate change, sea rise, lessons learned with Storms Irma and Sandy, changing economies, etc. That iStar could build that gigantic tower in AP and is now fighting to build the “beach club” is beyond absurd. The shady group proposing the huge development for North End of Ocean Grove, with no concessions for Wesley Lake water quality, storm surge drainage (underground parking in a storm surge area is an environmental no-no) is an insult to the community of Ocean Grove and the Environment. The site is appropriate for either the single family homes, the condos, or the hotel…but not all three. The proposed development is simply insane.