Important Background    HOA source below: italics

Although the North End is zoned for single family residences, the Redevelopment Plan allows the property to be developed to include:

• A 40-room hotel
• 2 buildings with a total of 39 2-bedroom condo units
• 10 single-family homes fronting Spray Avenue
• 7600 square feet of retail space along the boardwalk
• A 140-space underground parking lot.

The Planning Board conditioned its approval of the Redevelopment Plan for the North End on the issuance of a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) by the Historic Preservation Committee (HPC).

The HPC denied the COA, finding that the developer’s plans did not comply with the Design Guidelines that govern the exterior of buildings in Ocean Grove.  In doing so, the HPC noted over 100 concerns with the developer’s plans, including:

• Flat roofs atop the hotel and the large condo building which will allow for roof decks
• Excessive mass and scale of the buildings
• Numerous design elements, such as inset balconies, as opposed to porches, that are inconsistent with with HPC Design Guidelines
• Towers and window and door designs that are inconsistent with Ocean Grove’s Design Guidelines.

Following the HPC’s denial of a COA, OGNED (the developer) sued Neptune Township and its Zoning Officer alleging that the HPC took too long to document its denial of a COA.  The Township sought to dismiss the lawsuit arguing that OGNED must first appeal the HPC’s decision to the Zoning Board before pursuing litigation.

A proposed settlement of that lawsuit is under consideration by the Neptune Township Committee, and would permit OGNED to move forward without HPC approval (except with respect to the 10 single-family homes). While the Township Committee claims that some of the HPC’s comments would be addressed in an amended Redevelopment Plan, many would not be – including the deficiencies noted above.

BLOGFINGER  OPINIONS:  Paul Goldfinger, MD.   Editor.  Blogfinger.net    11/20/23. Ocean Grove, NJ

a.  The new zoning at the North End became law in 2008 when the Township granted the outrageous “North End Redevelopment Plan” which disallowed single family zoning in exchange for the components noted including the garage, the hotel, commercial venues, and condominiums.”

The HOA says, above  “Although the North End is zoned for single family residences, the Redevelopment Plan allows the property to be developed  with condos, stores, a garage and a hotel.”    

I believe that the North End received new zoning by law when the original NERP was approved  by the Neptuners. So that North End zoning is real, not “allowed.”  That zoning change was why the developers wanted to come here in the first place. It meant a huge increase in profits when the North End was eventually developed.

Blogfinger has been writing articles about all this since 2008 including our pleas  for the HOA to oppose the plan, but they never did.

b. It is my understanding that once a township passes a Redevelopment Plan, which Blogfinger nicknamed the “NERP,”  then if significant changes are desired later, the entire process would have to be repeated according to Land Use Law.

But the HOA never went down that aggressive road.   Instead they were always nibbling at the edges.     So why are they allowing an “amended” plan now, after all these years of acquiescence.

c. Also there are issues which no one on either side is mentioning now, but we at Blogfinger have often done so:

1. What is the official name for Wesley Lake? (It was changed on some maps.) Which name is best for OGNED?
2. What specifically  will be done regarding ground water pollution after this “new NERP” is built.
3. There are “100 issues”  raised by HPC now, but how were those issues dealt with in the NERP of 15 years ago?  How many represent new issues rather than “amended” ones?   What has been done to those HPC guidelines to make things easier for OGNED?
4. Why didn’t the Neptuners and the HOA  pay attention to the issues  which Jack Bredin, Charles Layton and I brought up many times over the years?   Why did the Neptune governance allow itself  to ignore voices from We-The-People.  After all, a re-development project is run  by local government, not private groups such as OGNED and/or the CMA?
5. Now the HOA has joined with the Township to modify the original plan, and you can be sure that the Township had many more conversations with developers than with concerned citizens like us? We have a photo of a Neptune mayor giving developers a tour of the site. He never spoke to us, the only exclusively OG media.
6. Where is the documentation that proper developers bidding, as required by law, was ever done for this project?
7. And what ever happened to the required Redevelopers Agreement which never appeared early in then process despite promises, but somehow surfaced many years later. Mayor Rizzo signed it, but where is that posted and how did it get pushed through?
8. Where is the documentation that fair and proper public hearings were held  for We-the-People in 2008?    The meetings that were held in 2008 asserted that most Grovers loved the Plan.  Let’s review  those reports and methods again.
9. And let’s start over with public hearings where people can speak for more than 5 minutes. We have new people in town since 15 years ago.
10. And why did the HOA wait until now to obtain legal help regarding the North End. Instead their new legal committee is about to jump into a  situation when a great deal of time and research would be required.  They need more than  a finger in the dyke.  Instead the OGHOA previously hired a lawyer about ground rent,  spending $7500 of members money without revealing the legal opinion obtained.
11. We have stopped polling on Blogfinger because voters cheat.  They vote  multiple times by using multiple devices.  And they email all their friends to vote a certain way.   So although I expect and hope for  an overwhelming negativity from Grovers with this survey, don’t give this poll much credence as a scientific method .  At best it is an opinion survey. But some of our polls in the past were valuable, and I will try and find some to re-post.
12. If one of the HOA’s legal team recommended this, I suggest getting paid land-use  lawyers not some retired has-beens.  I am a retired cardiologist and I wouldn’t recommend me either.
13. When we moved here, we were told that the Neptune Committee has been known to cancel meetings about important matters if a large Grover attendance were anticipated; then rescheduled in the dead of winter. Watch those Neptune turkeys closely.
14. In the early 1900’s, Herb Herbst and his HOA swat team of Grovers made major changes in town by taking their case to Trenton.  Maybe we can follow their lead if we can hold up this freight train now.

So if the. HOA comes  up with  an effective  opposition to this “amended” plan, then we will give them credit.

But the only result which would satisfy many of us is to cancel the entire plan and then start over with a plan  which is conceived according to law, unlike that current new NERP.

The CMA should have hired developers to put in a new OG neighborhood with single family homes. It could have been done years ago.

AND:  Here is a piece that is relevant, so we are posting it again:  link below.

Blogfinger complains: Layton, Goldfinger, and Bredin.