The Ross Bathing Houses, 1878. North End, Ocean Grove Beach. From the Atlas of the Jersey Coast. Blogfinger.net copy.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net Ocean Grove, NJ, USA. This 3/6/25 post is in response to the Planning Board’s approval of the NERP in February, 2025.
We bemoaned the Feb 2025 approval of the latest North End Redevelopment Plan. We have written many articles opposing the plan since 2009–our founding. We also address how the Coaster has manhandled the reporting of this huge OG news event.
Before we report about a NEW LAW SUIT described on the front page of the 7/3/25 Coaster, please review the history below from our 3/6//25 post which lashes out at the result of the Feb. 2025 Planning Board meeting.:
3/6/25 Blogfinger post: Voting in favor of the 2/2025 “Development” was Rob Lane, the Neptune Mayor. He seconded the vote. At least he could have given a nod to the Grovers who are not approving the approval. He could have voted “No” without affecting the final disgraceful nail in the redevelopment coffin.
The WAVE/OGNED/CMA developers conceived of this idea in 2007, and then the Neptune Committee gave birth to their anti-OG NERP offspring, turning their back on the wishes of We-The-People as they illegally changed the zoning into a Redevelopment process in violation of the Master Plan and Redevelopment laws.
As for the current Planning Board, do any of you know if any of the Planners actually live in Ocean Grove? Do those who voted “yes” have any idea to why over 80% taking our poll in 2018 wanted the project abandoned with a return to single family zoning? Have these Planning Board rubber-stampers ever give a thought about how the people in OG will be affected?
Neptuners call us their “historic district” but actually, Neptune governance leans heavily in a westerly direction, and we have been trained to expect very little from them.
But most American small towns are not controlled by private companies as we are. The fact that the CMA owns the land and has great influence in Neptune leaves We-The People without democratic representations as occur in other towns. In the Grove the CMA has inordinate sway at the Mother Ship. A good example is the Independence Day parade which is seldom held on July 4 and where patriotism is lost in the shuffle and where tribute is for politicians and CMA and its supporters . There was nary a Boy Scout, active duty military, or a traditional marching band.
The February 2025 Coaster reporter gave no indication that he knows anything about how this North End plan tortured all of us who gave it any thought over the years since 2008, and who could imagine how it would affect those of us who live in the Grove, and especially those at the North End?
But, don’t be fooled. This project will affect all of us in a variety of ways including how we see our town, how we will endure construction , who comes to town, who buys or rents in town, will tourism get worse, will we enjoy walking our boards past that huge northern private enterprise, what if there’s a fire over there? And how will it affect the lake waters, the ground waters, the soil, the air, the beaches, sea breezes, and ocean/lake views ? And has anyone considered what Asbury Park will do with their Casino and related boardwalk.
And there were other considerations such as what will happen to the large lot, on the beach, where the burned-out White Whale used to live. The mayor says that project will be delayed for years, but how can he predict if any construction will be allowed on the beach there, regardless of what was before. Supposedly it is privately owned, but can there be private ownership on our beach–there will be litigation over that?
The reporter called this matter a “long, contentious plan” but he has no idea how we in Ocean Grove have been steam-rolled over the years by those who stand to profit from this takeover of our town. It doesn’t matter that the CMA owns the land. The citizens and law should be most important. Contentious? You bet—It’s taken OGNED et al 18 years to get to this point. Contentious? He has no idea. And suspicious? Absolutely.
Does this reporter know how the Neptuner Committees accepted the push and shove of the developers? We don’t even know, to this date, who all the members of OGNED are. This is a disgrace because a redevelopment plan is a public project supposedly led by our local government representatives . If we were a regular American town this plan would never have happened. We would have a park at the North End or, at least, a community of families in single family homes.
I have a photograph of a Neptune Committeeman giving two developers a tour of the North End. Is that how this Land Use process is supposed to work? I posted that photo, but no one stepped up to run the ball into the end zone.
I heard a discussion on the radio as to why Long Beach Island is so popular. It is a place where there is no honky tonk at all, and so it is quiet. But OG is like that too. How will this project affect our quietude in the short run and the long ?
The reporter of this piece assigned a new name to the project, calling it a “development”. It shows that he is clueless about the long history of this debate where this project was finagled into a “Redevelopment,” and many of us thought that designation was illegal and gave OGNED, Neptune and the CMA permission to violate the Master Plan and the existing single family zoning, much less to consider how We-The-People felt about it. Normally the citizens would get priority from the local governance when there is true representative governance.
Never once during these years of North End discussions did any of the principals mention the quality of life for Grovers. You can be sure that this “development” will attract many more tourists producing noise, trash, traffic and parking distress. The current Planners likely saw only the dollar signs and the bullying by the OGNED lawyer. No independent thinkers there.
And lately a courageous and generous group of Grovers tried to block this project in court, but our mayor dismissed that exercise in democracy as a waste of time and money. He also wouldn’t allow public speakers to discuss certain opinions due to obnoxious legalisms demanded by the OGNED lawyer at the Planning Board. Mayor Lane should be impeached immediately for that betrayal.
Judy Collins: