By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger. April 16, 2015.
There have been times in the past when Grovers have asked to know the identity of the NERP Co-developer WAVE. That issue has been raised before on Blogfinger and at OGHOA meetings. I.M. Radar, for one, has brought this up before on a number of occasions. Jack Bredin brought it up again at last Monday’s Township Committee meeting , and so did the HOA President Ann Horan. But so far silence and opacity prevail.
The North End Committee of the HOA has not discovered this important information nor has the Township Committee revealed what they evidently know. In June, 2012, an article in Blogfinger said, ” The developers are the Camp Meeting Association, which owns the 5.6-acre site, and a company run by Ocean Grove developer William Gannon III.”
But there has been the suspicion that others might be involved in WAVE, perhaps investors who are going to put up a lot of money. Evidently, the Camp Meeting Association, the land owner, was motivated to change the zoning and come up with a project that would be more profitable than just single family homes. But shouldn’t others who stand to profit from this endeavor be named also? This is not a typical private development enterprise.
After the Planning Board approved the designation of the North End as a “zone in need of redevelopment,” which in turn allowed the Township Committee to permit multi-use zoning, this project became a public redevelopment zone, under the management of the Township Committee, where all decisions would require public scrutiny and all subsequent steps in the process would be the public’s business.
Ever since Ann Horan, President of the HOA woke up a sleeping giant by telling the Coaster in December that the HOA North End Committee (and she named all of the current members) had “persuaded the Township Committee to revise the redevelopment plan,” Blogfinger has been trying to find out what really is going on.
Is there anyone in Ocean Grove who doesn’t believe that this matter should be carefully looked at again by the citizens who pay taxes here and worry about the future of the town and of their own real estate investments?
Yesterday there was a meeting to discuss the Redevelopment Agreement which is the contract required under the Redevelopment laws. It is a contract between the Redeveloper and the Township. The meeting was attended by the Town engineer, Town attorney, WAVE and a Township Committeeman (Randy Bishop.) Not present was Mayor Mary Beth Jahn who is part of the negotiating committee.
According to Barbara Burns, the Vice President of the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association, in a letter to the Coaster dated March 26, 2015, “The CMA will be an active participant in negotiation of the redevelopment agreement that is the next step in the process.” So Barbara, why wasn’t the CMA present at yesterday’s active administrative proceeding?
She also said, “Blogfinger seems to be laboring under a misconception that there is an active administrative proceeding underway with respect to the North End…There is no ongoing proceeding.” Really Barbara?
We need a homeowners association that is better informed and more aggressive.
It looks like the CMA has taken a big step back to allow WAVE to negotiate the agreement, presumably because WAVE has a contract to buy the land if all the approvals go their way. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with any of this, but we the people need all the facts.
And among the facts is that WAVE is now called OGNED
Meanwhile, a Blogfinger citizen researcher from Ocean Grove found the above document regarding WAVE. In an email to Blogfinger, D.T. said:
“Hi Paul,
“A while back I visited https://www.njportal.com/DOR/businessrecords/ and downloaded the only document on WAVE that New Jersey appears to be tracking as a “business record”.
“This is their original certificate of formation (attached). It only lists William and Paul Gannon as owners — in an LLC the owners are called “members.”
“If there are any outside investors, they are not legally involved from a corporate standpoint (which, while certainly still possible, would be odd; investors usually like to have voting rights on how their money is being used).”
Reader 20 , you are so correct. We can all agree to disagree, but when Barbara Burns, VP of the OGHOA, said in her letter to the Coaster, that Dr Paul Goldfinger was “prejudiced “this went over the line, and was uncalled for.
Kudos to all for the detective work that has been done to date, but — of course — detective work should not be required to learn what our municipality or the OGCMA are doing regarding this critical matter. I was most disturbed to read the letter criticizing, and making clearly unfounded accusations against, Dr. Goldfinger simply for raising appropriate questions on this blog.
As Mayor, Mary Beth Jahn is the head of the negotiating committee and would be required to sign the Redevelopers Agreement.
I would advise the Mayor not to sign the Redevelopers Agreement until she gets advice from her own personal attorney.
I would advise any other Township Official, that before signing the agreement, to first check the Municipals facilities element of the Master Plan, to be sure there are comfortable accommodations at the Township Jail.
The Wesley Atlantic Village Entity (WAVE) is a limited liability corporation that was formed by the Gannons when they were the designated re-developer of the North End. If you do a web search, you will find several references to William P Gannon III as the attorney for and principal of WAVE.
I understand from some well-connected locals that the Gannons have been out of the picture for this project for some time and the OGCMA approached a few other area developers last year.
Editor’s Note: Blogfinger was told by the Township Clerk that WAVE was present at yesterday’s meeting to negotiate a Redevelopers Agreement with the Township. —–PG