Heck Avenue, by Jack Bredin. This is the sort of Ocean Grove which we should have at the North End.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.
It took 12 years, but now a Redevelopers Agreement will be signed for the commercial redevelopment of the Ocean Grove North End. The document is well over 100 pages and was probably prepared by the re-development lawyer who was hired by Neptune Twp. to make sure that this happens. Only individuals with specialized knowledge can dig into this monster and judge if it is OK.
The Township Attorney evidently went for it as did the Township Chief Financial Officer. The latter even certified that the re-developers have the financial credibility and “strength” needed, but this document gives no tangible financial information. No specific costs are mentioned, and there is no “letter of credit” presented either. They are supposed to show us guarantees that they have enough money for the project—-where are those guarantees?
The document begins by saying that this plan is “in the best interest of the Township.” But is it in the best interest of the historic community of Ocean Grove?
There will be 39 condos, 2 and 3 bedroom. The underground garage will house 140 cars, and there will be 10 single family homes. In addition, there will be a 40 room “boutique” hotel as well as retail spaces.
The document does not address how this project will affect the quality of life for those who inhabit and love this town.
The Home Groaners sent the document around by email, but do you suppose they read it, and perhaps had a citizens’ lawyer look it over? They used to have a legal fund; well now would be a good time to use it instead of the secretive spending of HOA money used to hire an attorney to look into ground rents.
If you were at the Flea Market today and saw all those tourists having a swell time, you will understand that visitors will like the new OG/Asbury Park South End. But we who live here will imagine the crowds, the traffic, the pollution, and, like the Flea Market, we will ask who will benefit from this grand scheme?
This would never have happened if the Township Committee back then had considered what was best for the Grove when they illegally allowed the existing single family zoning, per the Master Plan, to be flushed down the toilet to be replaced with zoning that would benefit developers. To call this a “Zone in Need of Redevelopment” was a travesty, and the CMA was complicit.
Our reporter will attend the meeting. Hopefully he won’t explode from outrage. We will have some more information on September 10.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger (NOTE: This article was originally posted on Dec 31, 2015, and again in 2020. )
In view of the current signs of life emerging out of the North End Redevelopment Plan’s resting place, here is another chance to read selected quotes by your neighbors and a few others regarding governance in this town and about the North End plan.
Why is it that our local institutions never seem to place the interests of OG’s citizens first? Representative government here has failed. The Neptune Committee makes you wait 3 hours before you get 5 minutes to speak at their meetings, and they show essentially no interest in what the citizens of Ocean Grove think.
They have even threatened a Grover who spoke “out of turn” at their meetings.
Now (2020) they will take advantage of the coronavirus to further distance their governance nonsense from we the people.
Here is a collection of comments, mostly from 2015, but some from 2011 and 2012, repeated now to show the extent of discourse, mostly on the critical side, and to offer a sense of clamor for change leading up to 2016. Note that this is just a mere sprinkling of quotes, chosen arbitrarily from the nearly 17,000 comments made on Blogfinger (except for A.O. Scott) since 2009 to 2015.
A.O. Scott of the New York Times, 2015, talks about “how power operates in the absence of accountability. When institutions convinced of their own greatness work together, what usually happens is that the truth is buried and the innocent suffer.
“Breaking that pattern of collaboration is not easy. Challenging deeply entrenched, widely respected authority can be very scary.” (This quote of A.O. Scott comes from his N.Y.Times movie review of “Spotlight” but it rings true for Neptune Township.)
Jack (Bredin) : The proposed subdivision on Sea View Avenue will result in 4 illegal lots. Whoever purchases them could have big problems in the future, and the Neptune Township Planning Board doesn’t give a flying fig*.
Devo: Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Jack: You would increase your chances of getting a subdivision if you hire a politically connected attorney who can trot out a professional planner who is willing to lie to the Board under oath. You must first make a campaign contribution.
Kevin (Chambers) : As a service to the people of Ocean Grove it would be nice to have that Committee oath of office printed on your site to remind each of the Committee people that their duty is to uphold the laws of the State and to enforce those laws, and that includes zoning laws—–for the protection of all the people in Neptune equally.
Kevin: The attorneys and the planners have the obligation to the public to make sure that testimony is factual, consistent and truthful. In one of these two cases it is anything but that.
Paul Goldfinger: The people of Ocean Grove are being plundered, just as if the Vikings returned from Iceland and landed on the shores of Ocean Grove.
Jack:
What we do know is :
-The Township Committee has no heart.
-The Planning Board has no brain and,
-the OGHOA have no courage.
They all just “go along” with the “Flat Earth Society” opinions from the Township’s professional planners and engineers who most likely were referred to Neptune by the Great Wizard.
The fact is, we have no idea who is running (ruining) our town.
Blogfinger: The Home Groaners’ Board has taken the Kool Aid and has jumped on the bandwagon which says that RSIS*** parking standards are no good for Ocean Grove
Rev Janeba: Although I am a Brooklynite, my heart is in Ocean Grove – the Ocean Grove I KNOW, not the cartoon theme park version that so many misguided persons are trying to bring about. Thank you so much for looking out for MY best interests, too.
Radar: I can’t remember any recent meeting that a vote was taken on the Homeowners’ position.
By the Sea: Who does the OGHOA think they serve? Why do they not test their positions with their own membership? I am a member and I can attest to the fact that OGHOA members were never offered an opportunity to review the RSIS issue, vote on or even discuss it.
From the Neptune Application to SIAB**: “This application…seeks relief from RSIS standards in an overall effort to balance the needs of residents, visitors, and public safety with the unique challenges of maintaining a Federal and State Historic Designation coupled with the unique and historic patterns of development that comprise Ocean Grove as a whole.”
“It is estimated that there are approximately 1.38 potential on-street parking spaces per occupied unit (ie house or condo). This potential inventory adequately addresses the parking need, given that the average number of vehicles per household in the 2010 census is 1.5 vehicles.”
“Neptune Township has worked in concert with the OGCMA to continue to ameliorate parking issues within Ocean Grove.”
Blogfinger (re: RISS:) Let’s face it, this has nothing to do with history or even parking, and everything to do with greed.
Blogfinger: The $64,000.00 question: Even if the State turns down the application and leaves the RSIS rules in place, who is going to enforce the law? After all, even today, the RSIS rules are in effect in Ocean Grove and they haven’t prevented condos without parking from being built— single family homes should have been constructed instead.
New Kid in Town Has any thought been given to forming a citizen’s group to formally object to Neptune Township’s dishonest efforts to destroy our historical town for greed and profit? I for one, would be happy to join such a group and support it in anyway I could. I know many others who would do the same.
Upset taxpayer I invite anyone on the Township Committee that thinks we already have adequate parking, to sit on my porch on any Friday, Saturday or Sunday all spring, summer and fall, and watch the frustration among all visitors to Ocean Grove.
Michael Grover (2011) I believe the language in the proposed Master Plan is intended to further develop ratables for the Township in Ocean Grove at the expense of its residents. The Board is attempting to set up a structure that will permit replacement of B and B’s with condominiums and development of larger structures, further adding to our density.
Don’t count on the HPC to protect us, using historic preservation as grounds to prevent conversions. Recent decisions and the North End project demonstrate their weakness against the Planning Board.
As for the Township Committee, don’t look to them for much help either. The town needs money, and this is New Jersey, enough said. We will need to protect ourselves.
Mary Beth Jahn: (2011) I am the sole member of the Township Committee to vote against the North End plan, and I still believe that single-family homes and not condos should be built on that site.
OGrover: 2011 The recent high density project with it’s proposed underground parking is not supposed to add to the parking issues but will do nothing to alleviate them either. (Underground parking next to the ocean and a lake? The Titanic was unsinkable, too!)
Frank: (2011) New Jersey Site Improvement Advisory Board knows the situation of our not owning the property, and their recommendation for parking is that Neptune follow the Municipal Land Use Law’s standards that are used throughout the state. I have a copy of the letter addressed to Neptune from the Sites Board that states that the Township is to follow the standards for parking
Joan C (2012) I was rather surprised to read that Mr. Williams stated so emphatically that he would never read nor respond on Blogfinger. Is Mr. Williams “too good” for the blog? Is he choosing to remain unaware of the concerns of our residents? I frankly had hoped that all members of both parties read Blogfinger, which is the least divisive, non-political posting of relevant information for those of us living in Ocean Grove and Neptune Township
Devo (2012) The North end project, in its current form, will not benefit the Grove. It will generate significant additional traffic, create additional parking issues (despite what they say they are planning), will depress home/condo prices for the existing housing stock, and will add out of character buildings. I wasn’t here when all this went down, but I can’t imagine why folks in OG think this is a good idea.
The longer it is delayed, the better.
Michael Grover (2012) Those of us concerned about noise and congestion, not to mention density and over-development, need to look no farther than the North End project. Want a problem that really happens and lasts forever? Why was this project approved, and where was the HPC to protect the integrity of our beloved historic district? It’s a lot easier to enforce the rules when the issue is the color of a house and other minor cosmetic concerns, or when you have the authority to impose a decision no matter how unjustified on a weak, defenseless homeowner. Take on the town and the developers, that’s another story.
Devo (2012) Scuttle the redevelopment plan now, or forever be sorry you did not.
Bythesea (2012) Developing the North End under a State sanctioned redevelopment designation is a terrible idea. I can tell you right now that, based on what has happened most other places in NJ, OG will lose all control and hate the outcome. OG should seek to bring about the collapse of this redevelopment plan. The land and location is valuable/desirable enough that the CMA should be able to manage its own redevelopment.
Despite Mary Beth Jahn’s best intent and all of our wishful thinking, redevelopment areas take on a life of their own and they always gravitate to higher than expected density and insensitivity to quality of life concerns of the town they are occurring in (e.g., traffic impact, parking, etc.).
Gosh: (2012) I have to say for the last time, the approval of the redevelopment of the North End was never legal.
Mary Beth Jahn (2012) Those who are sucking sour lemons and trying to run a smear campaign wouldn’t know or care, because they have no respect for the Grove’s historic designation and would have no problem turning the Grove into Condo City.
Wisher: (2012) There will be no distinguishing OG or Asbury Park in the future. No grand vistas, or public places for shoppers and beach-goers. People won’t come here any more than they will go to any of the myriad of other shore towns. No distinguishing characteristics. Just everything shoved up against the shoreline while developers walk about with their boatload of cash.
Gosh (2012) Condos have been motivated by GREED and REVENUE that they bring into Neptune. There is absolutely no interest in keeping O.G. historic with single family homes; just look at the new Master Plan— there are so many gray areas for interpretation.
Bythesea: (2012) Where is the OGHOA on the North End Development? What stand have they taken relative to the abomination of a plan that now exists for the “redevelopment” of the North End? It is they who should be the champions in the fight against poor planning that will hurt the town. Do they just play a reactive game, or do they try to lead? Where is their position paper? Seems to me that this is by far the biggest issue on their plates for the next year.
Jack The first and only comment from our new year (2016):
OhGee, the reason this special town exists, is to the credit of the OGCMA.
The Township Committee has the exclusive authority to adopt our zoning ordinance.
We cannot blame any property owner for developing what they are permitted to develop under the zoning ordinance adopted by the Committee. With zoning, the buck stops with the Township Committee.
The problem is that the Committee, Planning Board and Board of Adjustment use Municipal Land Use Law in ways that were never intended by the NJ State Legislature.
**SIAB is the State Site Improvement Advisory Board in Trenton. They keep Blogfinger up to date on their agendas so that the Neptune Comedy doesn’t sneak into one of their meetings without the people knowing.
*** RSIS means Residential Site Improvement Standards” regarding required off site parking standards for new construction.
Editor’s note: June, 2020. The OGNED North End Redevelopers applied to the DEP for CAFRA approval to build an underground garage at the North End. But they were rejected, and we are seeking up-dated information as to the current status of that fraudulent plan.
By Sue Gioulis, Blogfinger staff based on a BF photograph from July, 2016.
By Jack Bredin, researcher and reporter @Blogfinger and Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
At the Township Committee meeting of May 22, 2017, the Township Attorney Gene Anthony finally stopped making excuses for the stalled North End project with an announcement saying, “Mr. Gannon has an agreement with the new redeveloper and WAVE.”
William Gannon III is the spokesman, the leader, and the lawyer for WAVE, the mysterious group behind the North End Redevelopment Project (NERP) which has been languishing since 2008.
Jack Bredin went to the microphone to ask Anthony, “How can WAVE select a new redeveloper? You become a redeveloper when you sign a Redeveloper’s Agreement with the Township, and WAVE has never signed its own contract with Neptune Township.”
Anthony replied, “That may be true, but the Township Committee designated WAVE as a redeveloper.”
Yikes, talk about evading a question!
Let’s take a look at some background information regarding the term “redeveloper” as it pertains to the North End project. And let’s also pay close attention to the words “Committee,” “WAVE,” “Association” (i.e. OGCMA,) “Redeveloper’s Agreement,” and “developer.” And let’s look for misuse of the English language that would distract from the truth.
On June 9, 2008, the Township Committee adopted Resolution #292 designating Wesley Atlantic Village Enterprises LLC (WAVE) and the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (OGCMA or Association) as Co-Redevelopers of the NERP.
Resolution # 292 said “Whereas the Association conducted an extensive process to seek and interview potential developers for the property, and….
“Whereas, the Association selected Wesley Atlantic Village Enterprises, LLC as the developer of the property.” (Note that the word “redeveloper” is not used in these two quotes)*
We believe that illegal procedures were used to get this project going in a direction that suited the developers and not the people of Ocean Grove.
To begin with, the selection process should have been conducted by the Township, not the Association, including advertising a request for proposals followed by a public bidding process as required by law.
The Township Committee allowed the Association to usurp the Committee’s legal authority to select a redeveloper. In a redevelopment project, the Township is in charge and should be the entity that selects a redeveloper.
In addition, the resolution confuses the issue (? intentionally) by twice referring to “developers” instead of “redevelopers.” These words are not synonymous.
So, from the beginning, the whole process has been tainted, and now, at the May 22, 2017 meeting, it was reported that the Committee is currently permitting WAVE to do the same thing, i.e. to usurp its authority to select a redeveloper. In other words, the first illegal redeveloper is now choosing another illegal redeveloper. And the Committee, the citizens’ elected representative, remains silent on this shell game.
It also must be noted that no entity can be officially named as “Redeveloper” without signing a Redevelopers Agreement, and neither WAVE, the Association, or the new kid on the block (currently not identified by Anthony) have ever signed such a contract with the Township.
When will our elected officials take the side of the citizens, follow the laws, and favor the Master Plan as they deal with North End redevelopment ?
So here’s a metaphor. Consider that the Town Committee are a bunch of teddy bears having a grand old time at their regular picnic, aka the Committee meetings. They love to dance and prance and act innocent, but they are blind to the forest rangers who are watching them very carefully.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor and Jack Bredin, Researcher.
At the April 24, 2017 Committee meeting, Jack Bredin went to the microphone to ask about the recent Coaster ad seeking a redevelopment attorney for Neptune Township. He found out that the ad was placed by the Committee without a formal resolution to back it up. This is not a position which is part of the usual Township line-up of employees and consultants. The Township already employs very knowledgeable attorneys for the Planning Board and the Township who are currently on the payroll.
But evidently the Committee needs a lawyer who has a bigger tow truck to pull the NERP (North End Redevelopment Plan) out of the haze, smoke and mud it’s been stuck in for years.
Hiring for such a position, which undoubtedly will be costly for the Township, should be justified in a resolution, but Jack was told that no resolution was required. The Committee said, “We don’t need one.”
You might recall that the original NERP from 2008 was still in effect. It consists of 165 residential units (mostly condominiums,) an underground garage, and a hotel. Many are skeptical regarding the latter two components. You might also recall that no formal engineering plans have ever been submitted to estimate the costs and to explain the engineering challenges of the whole project, especially the garage and the pilings.
WAVE and the CMA are still listed as the redevelopers, although the CMA has said that it no longer wanted that job. WAVE has been promising to present its financing arrangements and to identify its investing partners, but that hasn’t occurred so far either. A redevelopment plan cannot go forward without those financial details. Also no formal re-developers agreement has ever been signed.
In January a newly enlarged redevelopment committee was announced which will not only deal with the OG North End, but with other redevelopment projects around town. No one from Ocean Grove is on that line-up. How about some affirmative action for the Grovers?
It would appear that the new lawyer will have a lot of ‘splaining to do.
THE OINKER SISTERS: The current NERP has been a dead duck for some time… or is it a pig? Well, it’s time for a new way to walk at the North End. (song by Joe Raposo on Sesame Street)
This is Part V of a series of articles about the North End Redevelopment Plan in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
Since the OGCMA would have been able to develop the North End on its own, and since the North End was no blighted, crime-ridden, disease-laden, drug selling, rat-hole dilapidated slum in need of immediate rescue by government, why did the Neptune Township Planning Board fudge its way through the criteria in order to enable the North End to become a congested, money-making, commercial zone—-an “area in need of redevelopment,”—- which was not in the best interest of the people of Ocean Grove?
In the Resolution document they listed everything that was wrong over there that justified the creation of a redevelopment zone. Those were code violations which were corrected as soon as the CMA was cautioned by Code Enforcement. Thus the result was no code violations and thus no valid reason to declare the North End property an “area in need of redevelopment.” The CMA was perfectly able to work on that property itself.
To argue, as the Planning Board did, that there was some sort of emergency in 2007 is a joke. The North End in 2015 is no different than it was in 2007 except for some 2012 Sandy damage and a burned out storage shed from a few years ago.
Surely the Planning Board realized that the reasons they gave (including a few crummy abandoned unsafe buildings, a wreck of a swimming pool, over growth of vegetation, lack of utilization etc) were a joke and that the real purpose for the Township’s request was to achieve a dramatic change in zoning.
The Planning Board said that redevelopment at the North End was “necessary and overdue.” OK, why not tell that to the owners in 2007 and skip all the rest? Is the project still “overdue” or is it not convenient now to say “overdue?”
Whether there were hidden financial motives, we cannot say, but for the Planning Board to conclude that the positives outweighed the negatives; that a hotel and condos would be better for the whole town than single family homes, is clearly, to any objective observer, a hoax.
On February 28, 2007, at a meeting of the Township of Neptune Planning Board, the Resolution 07-12 was presented, and a motion to approve was offered, and a vote was taken.
Resolution 07-12 is a “Resolution recommending that the Township Committee of the Township of Neptune designate certain properties as being in need of redevelopment (North End Ocean Grove.”)
That 22 page document mentions all the experts and citizens who spoke either for or against the plan, all the dotted i’s and crossed t’s, all the photos that showed how crummy conditions were at the North End, all the lawyers who weighed in, and the sworn witnesses which included Peter Avakian, the Township engineer.
The Resolution papers also mentioned that there were those who submitted written objections to the Resolution including former Mayor Joseph Krimko (now deceased,) Richard Seltzer, Esq., and Edward V. Kolling, PP, AICP (professional planner.)
The motion to approve the resolution was offered and then 5 Board members voted “Yes” including D. McCarthy, M. Hood, J. Shafto, W. Lapp and M. Golub. The Resolution needed 5 out of the 11 Board members for a legal vote.
No one voted “No” but there were six members of the Planning Board who were absent: R. Ambrosio, L. Berardi, A. Cardinale, W. Gizzi, J. Kortenhaus and I. Calderon. Why were so many board members absent for this vote? Can you guess?
If Dennis McCarthy, a Trustee of the OGHOA had voted “no” or even, along with the six others, had not shown up, the Resolution would have gone down to defeat.
Finally, on page 19 of the Resolution, we have this quote:
“The Planning Board is of the unanimous belief that there is an immediate need for appropriate development in the subject North End/Ocean Grove (as referenced herein)— and that appropriate redevelopment is beneficial to the Township as a whole, and the residents of Ocean Grove.”
Editor’s Note: Here is a quote from an October 2012 editorial by Blogfinger: “We urge the people of Ocean Grove who care about preserving the charm, character and livability of this community to start paying attention to this process now…”
The Planning Board vote described above was borderline and was suspicious. Most members of the Board did not even vote. Eight years have gone by, and the current NERP should be trashed now, and the process, beginning with the Planning Board vote, should begin again—-this time with hundreds of Grovers attending the meeting.
Maybe this time we can get that “old black magic” working for the people of OG:
MICHELLE WILLIAMS. From the movie My Week With Marilyn
Credit: Mr. Jack Bredin of Ocean Grove for his invaluable research.
Wesley Lake retaining wall. Photo taken Oct. 20 by Mary Walton
While people worry about a controversial condo/hotel project at Ocean Grove’s North End, the immediate problem there — the slowly collapsing retaining wall — keeps getting worse. The part most in danger of failure is a 500-foot section running westward from the boardwalk, on the site of the proposed North End Redevelopment project.
Asbury Park has completely repaired the wall on its side of Wesley Lake. Neptune doesn’t have the money to repair the entire 3,400-foot wall on its side, but Mayor Randy Bishop, Committeewoman Mary Beth Jahn and others have said they expect the North End developers to fix the part adjacent to their proposed construction. So far, the developers have not agreed to do this.
As the 2012 Labor Day weekend drew to a close under cloudy skies, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association reported a somewhat gloomy financial picture at its traditional season’s end review.
Operating income of $3,164,000 fell $39,000 short of operating expenses. Contributions to the choir festival, Camp Meeting week and other special events were down by $24,500 over last year. And ticket sales to the Saturday night entertainment programs experienced an especially severe drop. They totaled 20,347, compared to 27,588 in 2011, a 26 percent decline that resulted in the lowest profit margin in eleven years.
Dr. Dale Whilden, CMA president, attributed the fall off in Saturday night attendance to competition from new entertainment outlets in the surrounding area, particularly Asbury Park. The loss of revenues when Johnny Mathis cancelled his August 11 appearance was another factor. Whilden added, “And the economy has got to be a part of this.”
On the bright side, as of Aug. 20 beach revenues had outpaced expenses $928,000 to $760,000. Beach profits, however, cannot be used to defray operating losses.
More than 100 people attended the meeting, which was held this year in the Youth Temple rather than its customary venue, the Bishop Janes Tabernacle. In another change from past years, the meeting was closed to the media.
“This meeting is targeted for supporters,” Ralph del Campo, interim chief operating officer, told this Blogfinger reporter before the meeting began. I was invited to sit in, but told not to report. He explained that people were under the false impression that the CMA was a public entity, which has not been the case since it was a municipality running Ocean Grove, a role now occupied by Neptune Township. He noted that as a religious organization the CMA is not obligated to make its sessions public. There was no explanation for why the change was suddenly enacted. In fact, Blogfinger has covered the meeting in past years. “We’re not trying to hide anything,” Whilden chimed in.
The change in policy was not announced during the meeting, and Bonnie Graham, a reporter for the Coaster, took notes throughout. Graham was unaware of the no-reporting rule until I made an issue of it during the questions and comments session that concluded the meeting. I asked that the CMA reconsider its policy in the interest of openness. Graham also objected to the rule against media reporting, and afterward said she was shocked and mystified. Trustees apparently were not aware of the decision either. “What’s that all about?” one asked me.
On another subject, Joan Caputo spoke for Ocean Grove United, a gay advocacy organization that has often been at odds with the CMA, most recently over the appearance of actor and evangelist Kirk Cameron, the author of harsh anti-gay remarks. After an OGU protest, Whilden and other CMA officials met with a group from the organization to hear their concerns. Caputo thanked them for having “in many ways opened their hearts and taken the time to meet with us, to listen and to share. Let the dialogue continue.” She made her remarks available to Blogfinger.
CMA Trustee Douglas E. Arpert responded to a questioner who asked the status of the North End development of condos, homes and a hotel. The CMA and a company called WAVE (Wesley Atlantic Village Enterprises) are co-developers. Arpert told Blogfinger they hope to conclude a redevelopment agreement with Neptune Township by the end of the year and to break ground in 2013.
After the meeting Del Campo and Whilden sat down with me to review the information that had been presented at the meeting, so that it could be included in this article.
In addition to financial news, they said that the search for a chief operating officer is nearing its conclusion. After an initial round of searching last year failed to produce a suitable candidate, the search was widened in the spring. The search committee received more than 30 resumes, and has narrowed the field to three, all men. The committee will conduct interviews in September and expects to name the new officer by year’s end.
In other statistics of interest, the most popular speakers this summer were Ravi Zakarias, who drew 2,900 Sunday morning worshippers this past Sunday, followed by Kirk Cameron, 2,300, and Tony Campolo, 2,058.
Neil Sedaka attracted the largest Saturday night crowd, 2,722, followed by Diana Krall, 2,470, and Michael W. Smith, 2,316.
Site of the North End project, looking north toward Asbury Park. Photo by Paul Goldfinger
By Charles Layton, Editor @Blogfinger
Committeewoman Mary Beth Jahn’s recent victory in the Democratic primary has made one thing clear. The Township is more likely now than ever before to try to restrict the building of condos at the North End.
Although Neptune Township previously approved a plan that would allow for between 70 and 80 new condos along Wesley Lake near the boardwalk, Jahn told the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association on Saturday that the plan might now be scaled back dramatically.
Many of the members seemed elated when Jahn spoke of “the condos [the developers] think they’re going to build,” and then added, “I think they are going to build 12 single-family homes.”
Ever since the Township Committee formally approved a redevelopment plan in 2008, many Ocean Grovers have regretted and feared its implementation, an opinion Jahn has shared. At the time, she called the plan “a travesty” and a detriment to the quality of life of OG residents. Now that she is all but assured of reelection in November, Jahn is predicting that the plan could be changed during negotiations between the developers and the Township Committee. Jahn and Mayor Randy Bishop are the Township Committee’s designated negotiators in those talks.
Jahn’s opponent in the primary election, Nick Williams, never took a public position on the North End Project. However, Williams’ supporter and campaign manager, James Manning Jr., is a long-time proponent of heavy condo development as part of the North End project. Had Williams unseated Jahn on the Township Committee, he could have altered the balance of power in the government and undone efforts by Jahn and Bishop to prevent an overly-massive development.
The North End redevelopment plan, as presently written, would allow for up to 85 residential units, most of them condos, plus a hotel with a maximum of 80 rooms. The developers are the Camp Meeting Association, which owns the 5.6-acre site, and a company run by Ocean Grove developer William Gannon.
But before construction can begin, the developers and the Township must sign a contract spelling out the details much more specifically. Jahn told the Home Owners that the Township holds considerable power over the final shape of that deal. “Plans change,” she said. “We’re going to go through probably ten or twelve versions of this redevelopment [plan].” Financing, feasibility and other considerations may force the plan to change, she said.
One crucial issue is whether it will be possible to build the large underground parking garage called for in the plan. Because the site is beside the ocean and a lake, there is serious doubt as to how deep it will be possible for the developers to excavate. Without the off-street parking for the condos, the Township might be in a position to force the developers to scale back or even entirely give up their condo plans. Or so it seemed from Jahn’s remarks.
She also predicted that the financing of a luxury hotel at the site might be difficult in today’s market, especially given that the hotel would not have a liquor license. She said she had heard that the hotel portion of the project alone could cost between $30 million and $50 million.
Another “sticking point” in the upcoming negotiations will be a traffic study, Jahn said. Before any construction begins, she and Bishop want the developers to conduct a study of the impact on traffic in Ocean Grove during peak periods, such as the 4th of July weekend.
She also cautioned that the developers would have to find acceptable ways to bring in supplies to the construction site and to situate heavy equipment within the confines of that area. She also said the developers would be required to rebuild the portion of the Wesley Lake retaining wall along the northern edge of the site.
These are all issues the Home Owners Association’s own north end committee has raised in the recent past.
Although negotiations between the developers and the Township have been stalled since an initial meeting in February of 2011, Jahn said the developers are now saying they want to resume those talks.
For a refresher course on the North End project, go here and here.
It looks as though, over the next couple of years, Asbury Park will resume construction of new beachfront townhouses and condominiums. But it will proceed more slowly and carefully this time to avoid the calamities that resulted from its fast-track development plans of the past.
There is a lesson here for Ocean Grove, as negotiations proceed over our own North End hotel/residential redevelopment plan.
Asbury Park had soaring ambitions in 2002 when it set out to revive its beachfront area. It drew up a $1.25 billion redevelopment plan that was to include 3,100 new residential units, mostly condos. But then, in the midst of construction, the housing market crashed. The Esperanza, a high-rise project that was to contain 224 luxury units next to the beachfront, was abandoned by its developer and foreclosed upon by its lender due to lack of sales. Wesley Grove, another condo project just across from Ocean Grove, also fell flat in the market. The developer only completed one of four planned phases, leaving a forest of unsightly wooden stumps in an open field where the rest of the homes would have been.
Last December, the City of Asbury Park took its master developer to court, accusing the developer of defaulting on its obligations. And three weeks ago an arbitrator ruled that the developer was not responsible for most of the delays and failures the city had cited. Instead, he declared, the primary failure was the city’s own fast-track plan, which was at odds with housing market reality.
“The market conditions in the United States, including New Jersey, during this time period were, and continue to be, extremely poor,” the arbitrator, retired federal judge Nicholas Politan, wrote. “Testimony elicited at the hearing supports the fact that there exists a housing market catastrophe. This is particularly true in areas primarily geared to seasonal and second home development.”
(Every realtor in Ocean Grove would probably say “amen” to that.)
And so, rather than allow the city to acquire a new master developer and plunge headlong, as before, Politan prescribed a more modest and prudent course. He ordered the developer to deliver plans this month for a new project – 28 townhouses at Asbury Avenue and Kingsley Street – and to complete those homes within about a year and a half. Once 50 percent of those units are sold, the developer could begin building 168 more units at Munroe and Cookman. Until 50 percent of those are sold, other proposed housing projects in the oceanfront redevelopment area would remain on hold.
How does all this affect Ocean Grove’s North End? Well, in the first place, besides a hotel, the North End plan includes as many as 85 residences, most of them condominiums. In the second place, as Politan says, the catastrophically bad housing market continues. And in the third place, the additional residences likely to come on line in Asbury, right across Wesley Lake from the North End, will be added competition for the North End condos — and in an already glutted market.
Last month, the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association approved a list of suggestions for Neptune Township to consider as it negotiates a final agreement with the North End developers. One of its suggestions is a timetable somewhat like the one Politan is imposing on the Asbury Park developers. The HOA suggests that each block of condos should be 75 percent sold before the next block is started, “to insure no empty partially constructed structures.”
The wisdom of this suggestion is obvious.
A victim of the housing market, The Esperanza in Asbury was never finished. Photo by Mary Walton
One of the most disturbing things about the recent fuss over swan boats on Fletcher Lake was the way information about that proposal was withheld from our citizens.
One example: Sometime this spring the promoters gave a presentation to the Fletcher Lake Commission — a public body — but the fact that they did so was never made public in any way. People in Ocean Grove who care passionately about that lake, and who normally ask to be notified about the Commission’s meetings, were not notified about that particular meeting. This, they say, was suspiciously unusual. Even now I cannot find anything on the Neptune Township website about that meeting. If you click on “Agendas & Minutes” and then click on “Fletcher Lake Commission,” you get a blank page. The Bradley Beach website is equally unhelpful. We only learned what was afoot with Fletcher Lake because some Ocean Grovers got wind of it, purely by accident, and spent an inordinate amount of effort digging out the facts.
Why the official silence?
Another issue of huge concern to our town was the recent settlement between the Neptune Board of Education and the ACLU. But have you seen anything on the school district’s website explaining the terms of that settlement? I can’t find it there. Have you heard school board officials describe the terms in any detail? Blogfinger published those terms in full because no one else was doing so, questions were flying and erroneous accounts were starting to spread. But the details we published didn’t come to us from school officials; we had to get them via the ACLU.
Again, why so much official reticence?
Here’s something else Ocean Grovers urgently care about: the North End Redevelopment Plan. But there’s a general lack of understanding among our citizens as to what that plan contains. The plan’s full text is available on the Neptune Township website, but just try to find it. Here’s what you have to do: Type “redevelopment” into the search field. (Typing “north end” gets you nowhere.) Scroll down to “Economic Development” and click the phrase “Read More.” Then scroll way, way, way way down until you get to “Redevelopment Plan-OG North End.” It took me two days to figure this out; it was like searching for The Lost Chord.
On Saturday the Home Owners Association passed a resolution about the North End, and that resolution includes a request that the Township use its website to keep citizens informed and updated. Good idea, and we hope the HOA continues to press the point.
Here’s another transparency issue: demolition by neglect. We try to keep people up to date on the court proceedings against the owners of problem properties in Ocean Grove. But wouldn’t it be better if the Municipal Court kept its schedules of trials and hearings online so every citizen could keep up — not just about code enforcement cases but all cases? This is the 21st century, the information is already in the court’s computers, and it is a basic public record.
Sometimes information that rightfully belongs to the public is kept from us because someone in authority wants it so. And sometimes it’s kept from us because no one cares enough to make the effort to share it. But whether the motives are active or passive, the result is the same: people are left in the dark about the workings of their government.
We used to rely on the media to keep us informed, but our local news media are weaker and more overextended than ever before. Given the economics of the news business, this won’t change. So if people in Ocean Grove want sound information, they’ll have to start demanding it.
By a voice vote, with no nays, the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association approved a North End resolution Saturday containing a long list of suggestions aimed at easing the project’s inconvenience for Ocean Grovers.
The North End Redevelopment promises to be the most massive building project in Ocean Grove for many decades. As presently planned, it calls for a maximum of 80 hotel rooms and a maximum of 85 residences, mainly condos with a few single-family homes.
The Township Committee has already enacted an ordinance describing the project’s outlines, but now the Committee must negotiate with the developers on a much more detailed agreement, which also is to be enacted into law.
The HOA’s list of suggestions will be passed along to the Township’s negotiators, who are Committeeman Randy Bishop and Committeewoman Mary Beth Jahn.
In general, the HOA hopes to mitigate the adverse impact of the project on the lives of Ocean Grovers both during construction and thereafter. The organization’s proposals therefore emphasize the need to prevent parking and traffic problems as a result of the increase in density at the North End.
The proposal also calls for a maximum of transparency, including publication on the Township’s website of all relevant findings and reports, especially those related to traffic, environmental impact and the nature of the water table at the site. (Problems with the water table could affect the developers’ ability to provide the necessary amount of underground parking.)
It also calls for public release of information relating to the developers’ financial ability to complete the project. It asks that the developers be made to build the complex in stages, beginning with the hotel, followed by the single-family homes and then the condo units. “Each block of condos must be 75% sold before other condos are started to insure no empty partially constructed structures,” the resolution says. These suggestions are intended to avoid the fate that befell Asbury Park when a developer began construction on a large condo project only to have the project fail financially, leaving a large, ugly skeleton of an unfinished building.
The HOA also asks that a swimming pool be included in the complex, with public access.
The developers of the North End are the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association and a company headed by Ocean Grove contractors William and Paul Gannon. Other investors in the Gannon company are unknown, and the HOA resolution urges that the Township require that they be identified.
There has been no indication as to how long the Township/developer negotiations might take, or how long before construction begins.
-0-
BACKGROUND — Here are some basic facts about the North End Redevelopment Plan, as presently written. During negotiations, however, some of these details could change:
*Location: Between Spray Avenue and Wesley Lake, from the boardwalk west to Beach Avenue
*Elements: a hotel, condos, a few single family detached homes, townhouses, retail commercial space
*Maximum number of hotel rooms allowed: 80
*Maximum number of residences of all types: 85
*Off-street parking requirements: one space per hotel room; approximately two spaces per condo unit (in compliance with state RSIS standards); one space for each 300 square feet of banquet, conference or restaurant space in the hotel.
*Other parking requirements: Off-street parking for the hotel and residential structures must be below ground and sheltered from street view, although the below-ground lot or lots may rise a maximum of 3.5 feet above street level. A maximum of 20 surface parking spaces are permitted for loading, valet and pickup/drop-off, provided these spaces are screened from public view. Any existing on-street parking spaces eliminated due to the development must be compensated for with additional on-site spaces.
*Height limitations: Hotel no higher than 65 feet. Condo buildings no higher than 48 feet.
