Blogfinger

This house is #27 Heck Avenue. Notice the curb cut to the right. The empty space extends to Main Ave.  Directly behind this house is another house under construction on Main.   Do you suppose that the Main Ave. mirror image will also want a driveway?     Blogfinger photo 3/28/17 ©

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net

As usual, lawyers will seek to find some loophole to circumvent the Neptune land use ordinances, in this case to discover an “exception” to the rule about new driveways. But this time, the OGHOA has stood tall, studied the case, and is supplying talking points in opposition.

This  ZBA meeting is Wednesday, April 5 at 7:30 pm..  Citizens should go to support the HOA in an effort to finally resist double standards and favoritism in Ocean Grove.  It might actually be fun to witness this dispute.

What you see below is from an email sent by the OGHOA to its members.  Hopefully their embrace of this issue signals a change in emphasis for that organization.

The Neptune Township Land Development Ordinance, at Section 412.06 G, reads as follows:

New driveways shall be prohibited in all Historic Zone Districts. (Emphasis added.)

The applicant seeks a use variance pursuant to the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A 40:55D-70.c.

•   There is nothing “exceptional” about the property at 27 Heck. It is two standard 30’ x 60’ lots. The shape and dimensions of the lots do not limit the ability to use the property for construction of a single-family home.
•   There is no “extraordinary situation” affecting the property. To the extent that the property is in an area with a short supply of on- street parking, that is the situation for most Ocean Grove residents.
•   The proposed driveway is exactly what the Land Development Ordinance is designed to prevent. The driveway would encroach on the flared avenue open space area, a key feature of the Ocean Grove streetscape that was highlighted in the designation of Ocean Grove to the National Register of Historic Places.
•   Because the property lacks a garage, presumably the purpose of the proposed driveway is to provide off-street parking. Using a driveway to park cars is not consistent with a 19th century streetscape.
•   One condition of the grant of a variance is that the benefit of the variance to the applicant must be outweighed by the detriments of the variance. Construction of the driveway will reduce the amount of curb space available for on-street parking by one or more cars. The preservation of one or more parking spaces will not solve the parking problem in Ocean Grove; but, in a town where parking in the summer is an ever-increasing challenge, it certainly will not help.
•   The proposed driveway would benefit one property owner. The board must weigh the disruption to the historic streetscape, the damage to the integrity of the zoning ordinance, and the elimination of one or more public parking spaces against that single driveway.
•   Further, the board cannot ignore the disappointment of the vast majority of residents if the board declines to strictly enforce the ordinance.

And:

 The application seeks to “construct a driveway which historically existed”. What “historically existed” at 27 Heck Avenue was not a driveway. The curb cut provided access to the loading dock at the Sampler Inn. Trucks backed up to the inn, unloaded their cargo, and drove away. The applicant intends that the proposed driveway be used for parking. That use did not historically exist at the Sampler Inn.

FIORELLO: