This is why Grovers need to pay attention to HPC issues. Blogfinger file photo. ©
The Township Committee is having a first reading of the new HPC guidelines this Monday at 7:00. The Historical Society sent out an unsigned email stating,
“These new guidelines are very damaging to the historic district and threaten our historic designation. I’m hoping to get a good showing at the meeting to voice our concern.
The draft can be found on the township web site under committee agenda for Dec. 12. Scroll all the way to the bottom .
Thanks for any help you can offer.”
Below is the official announcement by Neptune Township regarding the HPC guidelines ordinance:
ORDINANCE NO. 16-45
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING THE LAND DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE OF THE TOWNSHIP OF NEPTUNE BY AMENDING SECTION 508, ENTITLED, “HISTORIC PRESERVATION DESIGN GUIDELINES”
WHEREAS, the Historic Preservation Design Guidelines have needed amendment from time to time based on changed circumstances,
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Township Committee of the Township of Neptune in the County of Monmouth in the State of New Jersey that the Land Development Ordinance, Volume II Section 508, entitled, “Historic Preservation Design Guidelines” is hereby amended as follows:
§508 – Historic Preservation Design Guidelines.
c. The Design Criteria in Guidelines: The aforesaid Guidelines, also known as the “Ocean Grove Historic District Architectural Design Guidelines for Residential Structures” are hereby adopted as an integral part of this Ordinance and incorporated in the Ordinance by reference to the Guidelines available as part of this Ordinance for review in the Clerk’s Office of Neptune Township. Future amendments to the Guidelines, where minor in nature; that is, not amending the entire Guideline document, may be amended by Resolution with all dates of amendments noted in the Guideline document.
All Ordinances or parts of Ordinances that are inconsistent herewith are repealed, but only to the extent of such inconsistency.
The amended Ordinance shall become effective immediately upon its passage and the publication as required by law.
APPROVED ON FIRST READING: APPROVED, PASSED, AND ADOPTED:
___________________________ Richard J. Cuttrell,
Municipal Clerk
___________________________ Kevin B. McMillan,
Mayor
Editor’s Note:
Here is a link to read the guidelines:
www.neptunetownship.org/agendas-minutes/township-committee
Click on Dec 12 in the agenda column and then scroll down to Ordinance 16-45 and then keep scrolling down and you will find the Guidelines dated October, 2016.
But where are the latest changes? Is there an official document that enumerates the changes? And who wrote these Guideline changes and why?
Someone sent us a notice from the OGHOA which said, “A key change will limit application of the design guidelines to the street-facing facade only of a building. The result of this change alone is not difficult to imagine. The sides and backs of homes could be faced with different materials, and historically appropriate materials would no longer be a requirement on non-street-facing facades.”
—Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
ETTA JAMES
Kevin Chambers Comments About Parking in the Grove (2011 post on Blogfinger)
Posted in Ocean Grove news, tagged Kevin Chambers comments on parking issues, MLULll in Ocean Grove, RSIS application in Ocean Grove, Special area standard in Ocean Grove, Zoning violations in Ocean Grove on November 21, 2015| 32 Comments »
Editor’s Note (2015) : Kevin Chambers is a long time Ocean Grover who has brought suit against Neptune Township regarding condominium projects in town.
Kevin has never, in the past, commented on Blogfinger, but he decided to join the discussion in 2011.
–This article was originally posted on BF in January 2011, but it is as relevant now as it was then. I think this 2011 post pretty much explains Kevin’s views in 2015, but perhaps we will hear from Kevin again now if he wants to bring us up to date with his views on zoning and parking in Ocean Grove.
—Note the interesting comments section from 2011 which can be added to now.
———Paul Goldfinger . Editor @Blogfinger
August 2013. Kevin Chambers, an OG historian, testifies at the HPC demolition hearing re: Whitfield Hotel on Surf Avenue. Paul Goldfinger photo ©
From Kevin Chambers of Ocean Grove:
The following is to address RSIS and parking in Ocean Grove:
In 1997 the State of New Jersey created the New Jersey Site Improvement Advisory Board that established “Residential Site Improvement Standards” (RSIS). RSIS is a part of the Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL) that governs all zoning in the state of New Jersey. Every town in the state, including Neptune, was mandated to amend its zoning to conform to RSIS.
Neptune, when amending its Land Development Ordinance in 2000, violated the MLUL and RSIS when it created the Historic District Oceanfront (HD-0) zone.
The Historic District of Ocean Grove, a section of Neptune, is the only development in the entire state, in which the township that governs it refuses to enforce RSIS.
The state wrote three letters informing Neptune that it is required by law to enforce RSIS. Neptune, seeking a way to circumvent the law, created an ordinance that prohibits driveways and curb cuts for Ocean Grove. Believing that the new ordinance gave Neptune the right to ignore RSIS, the Township continued permitting the conversion of unauthorized nonconforming apartments and hotels into condominiums without providing parking.
The Township, still in violation of RSIS, was then forced into seeking a waiver known as the “Special Area Standard” designation from the State. Neptune believed that the designation would permit the Board of Adjustment to continue its abuse of granting improper high density development within Ocean Grove, which in turn has lead to more car congestion on the streets.
The RSIS Board explained to Neptune’s representatives, that if Neptune enforced RSIS within Ocean Grove that it would prohibit improper high density uses that would in turn lessen the density of cars on the streets.
If Neptune acted responsibly and brought its zoning for Ocean Grove into conformity with the MLUL it then wouldn’t need to seek the designation from the state. The enforcement of RSIS would break the vicious cycle of permitting greater density in Ocean Grove at the expense and the detriment to Ocean Grove residents.
Even though all the committee members of the RSIS Board were well aware of Ocean Grove’s problems having visited Ocean Grove, the RSIS Board was forced to deny Neptune the “Special Area Standard” designation since Neptune’s zoning for Ocean Grove was and is in violation of the MLUL.
Even more troubling, Neptune was in violation of the “Open Public Meeting Act” when it sought the designation. Neptune is now required to hold open public meetings in which to provide a legitimate parking study in order to establish a need to seek a waiver from the state. Neptune must also bring Ocean Grove’s zoning into compliance with the MLUL before reappearing before the RSIS Board.
Solving Ocean Grove’s high density and over crowding of the streets doesn’t take “brainpower or innovation;” it only takes following the law, the very law that every Committee member in the state is sworn to uphold.
To this very day, the Township continues to be in violation of the MLUL and continues to refuse to enforce RSIS. Both were created and designed for the protection of every resident of the state, including the residents of Ocean Grove. Every resident of Ocean Grove should be leery of any township committee person who hinders or who refuses to demand their enforcement.
Kevin Chambers
Editor’s credit: Top photo was taken at the Historical Society of Ocean Grove Museum. Blogfinger photo
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