Richard Williams, President of the OGHOA. 11/25/23 at the HOA meeting.
Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor, Blogfinger.net
Most of this 9 page essay is based on Robert Ingato’s in-person presentation which was amazingly informative, although, not entirely understandable. The HOA deserves credit for their new online efforts including this one. Hopefully they will come up with answers in addition to lectures.
You will notice that Mr. Ignato hints at his own opinions in his session, and that is helpful.
We recommend that you all print a copy from the HOA website and then read it. You will find that it is first and foremost a very helpful time-line.
But as 2023 evolves, the latest issues become tangled and hard to understand without a lawyer’s knowledge and a pile of Neptune and State documents about land use. And historical facts are important, but some of those facts become confused in this “summary,” so more clarity is needed. Read it and judge for yourself.
At Blogfinger we find assorted questions that we can’t answer—-question marks are away for the day:
Here are some of our questions derived from this HOA document:
What happened with required developer bidding; what really happened with required public input during “visioning sessions;” how does the original “redevelopment plan” compare to the current “amended” one.
Define “acquisition price” paid by OGNED; What is the “sale price” paid by OGNED; what is a “perpetual lease” given to OGNED by CMA; did OGNED buy the land or just lease it-;
In Nov 2018 Township named OGNED official “North End Redeveloper”; Is there a new “Redevelopers Agreement; ”
When was the “site plan approval ” signed—was it 2019 or 2020–and where can we read it, especially the parts about storm water management and Neptune Township Fire Officials approval;
What is in the new “settlement agreement” which is up for approval in court;
What does this “financing plan” say; why did it take so long to receive a financial plan–can’t start without one; when did the “construction mitigation plan” surface?
And finally, regarding a “hotel conversion to condos”—where are the provisions for that cast in stone…Do any public documents authorize this item.
After all these years, Blogfinger is drowning in North End fallout. We wish the OGHOA luck in continuing their efforts to explain all this to the rest of us, but now it’s time for Festivus. I hope more of you understand all of this HOA document.
We of course will air out our opinions as they emerge.
Liza Minelli Cabaret. From the 1972 movie soundtrack
There is a reason why Blogfinger and others in OG have been unable to understand what has been going on regarding the North End since 2008.
It is because the Neptune Township governance has purposely refused to keep we-the-people informed. Their motives are unclear because no one has investigated.
And then secondarily, none of the “professionals” who work for the Committee fail to do their duty to keep the people informed.
This includes the Township lawyers, engineers, zoning officials, planning officials, HPC, ground water management, Lake management, pollution control, etc.
These people have even defied the law in order to keep the Comedy happy. For example the rules that govern establishment of redevelopment zones.
And, on top of that, we have had apathy by the citizens, and failure on the part of citizens groups such as HOA, Historical Society and Chamber of Commerce. All these problems still continue.
If you read about how difficult it was for the Founding Fathers to create a republic for we -the-people, it is shocking to see the devastation of democracy in Ocean Grove.
If there were proper accountability and transparency for all the people all these years, we would have had a neighborhood of single family homes thriving at the North End to the benefit of all OG citizens and tax payers long ago.
Now the lack of representative governance in OG continues.