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Posts Tagged ‘Ocean Grove Home Owners Association’

More Gobbledygook from the Home Groaners

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove Home Owners Association, tagged on June 29, 2017| 3 Comments »

Blogfinger Editorial Board:

According to our source for HOA meeting gobbledygook, Bonny Graham at the Coaster, the Groaners are taking credit for being “overwhelmingly in favor of issuing parking permits.”

But the fact is , as indicated in our post link below, they put the idea forward one year ago and then gave up without a fight when the township breathed some hot air on them and said, “No.”  They folded  like a cheap umbrella.

We all know what happened next: The Groaners Parkng Committee ceased to function as they jumped into the Wesley muck with both feet supporting  the Township Parking Task Force in placing 18 new diagonals spaces on Central Avenue. And now, as of yesterday, more diagonal spaces were placed on Main Avenue in a residential area extending from Firemen’s Park west to the gates.  What happened to that group which “overwhelmingly” voted in favor of parking permits?

But now the Groaners feel pressure from all the Blogfinger posts about permits and they can smell a bandwagon they can jump on.  Their parking leader, Joyce Klein, told the incredulous audience on Saturday that “this will only happen if the OGHOA members attend the Township Committee meetings, speak up, and advocate for the issuance of parking  permits.”

So her idea of leadership is to drop the ball in the members’ laps and go hide under the bed.

Here is a link to our recent post about the HOA’s effort to get parking permits—–one year ago.  You will find nothing about “overwhelming support” for permits.  That must be fake news. But if it’s real, then why didn’t they fight for what everyone wants?

BF article about the HOA and parking permits

And in April 2017, at the HOA meeting, when the report from the parking committee was presented, this is what the HOA minutes said, “Parking report:  Joyce Klein reported that the Neptune Council will have a second  and final reading of the ordinance allowing for the potential addition of about 18 angle parking spots.” 

In other words, there was no mention of their “overwhelming support” of permit parking.

The other topic of interest is the fate of the new HPC guidelines which we had been told threaten historic preservation in the Grove, according to the HPC leadership.  But at this Groaners’ meeting we learned that the situation is worse.  Osepchuk said, “The revised guidelines were dramatically changed” from the current set of regulations, as they allow for satellite dishes and solar panels.  She said that “homeowners spoke up, and the Township committee tabled the guidelines.”

Is this good news, or is the HPC just waiting powerlessly for the next shoe to drop?    It appears that the Groaners have once again failed to resolve a problem.

For those of you HOA members who support your leadership, ask yourself what your organization has actually accomplished in the areas of: Wesley Lake pollution,  rapacious developers, parking problems, high property taxes,  home owners with tax assessment issues, violations of State Land Use Laws, threats to Lake Avenue, threats to the integrity of Wesley Lake, climbing ground rents for some Grovers, uninhibitated condo conversions without parking, etc.

 

ROY ORBISON says “ding a linga linga  linga linga linga, “–mamamamamamama—-a tribute to gobbledygook wherever it’s found.  Sing along.

 

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Home Groaners last meeting a big zero; accomplish nothing worth talking about; in fact, maybe less than zero would be more accurate.

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove controversies, Ocean Grove Home Owners Association, Ocean Grove issues, tagged , , , on January 28, 2017| 13 Comments »

What we have here is a fine kettle of fish*"

What we have here is a fine kettle of fish*”

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net

What are we to do with the totally ineffective Home Groaners? They have a meeting, drag a crowd of Grovers away from their warm beds, and find out that the Groaners accomplished next to nothing.

The first order of business was the Parking Committee report. It seems that the Township accepted none of their recommendations. In particular there will be no parking permits for residents, no parking meters on Ocean Avenue, and no park-and-ride trolley.   Conclusion: A big zero for the Groaners.

 

Second order of business: Converting the Laingdon Hotel into a rehab facility? Well, the Groaner’s president, a lawyer, announced that she knows nothing about zoning law and that her board was considering spending $5,000.00 for another lawyer to represent the group at the Zoning Board meeting.  She even admitted that she knows nothing about brain surgery either, so the Groaners should be disqualified from discussing zoning or performing lobotomies in the future.

Luckily, the Sprout application was withdrawn and saved the group $5,000.00   The Groaners must have a lot of dough, because they recently wasted $7,000.00 for a lawyer to look at a false alarm—ground rents. (i.e. no weapons of tax destruction were found.)

Oh, and why was the Sprout application withdrawn? The Groaners have no idea. Conclusion: Everyone should have stayed home in bed.

 

The third order of business: The meeting agenda promised that the HPC would come to discuss the “HPC War” because the Township wants to dilute the HPC historic guidelines, and this is a subject that could impact Ocean Grove’s future.

But golly, the HPC representatives instead reviewed what everyone already knows about  (HPC history 101 minus the Greek Temple ) and ignored what everyone wanted to hear about—i.e. the “HPC War.”

Therefore we regrettably must report that the HPC laid an egg at the meeting and continues to deny the public information about this critical situation.

The Blogfinger correspondent concludes that “The Home Groaners Association knows nothing and does nothing.”

And that, ladies and germs, in the words of Laurel and Hardy*, “Is a fine kettle of fish.”

For our musical enjoyment we offer a suggested theme song for the HGA when the current board resigns and is  replaced by a group of Grovers who will actually accomplish something for the town.

DINAH WASHINGTON:

 

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Letter to the Editor: Was the March 26 OGHOA meeting “legitimate and binding?”

Posted in Ocean Grove Home Owners Association, tagged , , on April 6, 2016| 5 Comments »

Jack Bredin offers his opinion at an OGHOA meeting in June, 2010.© Blogfinger photo.

Jack Bredin offers his opinion at an OGHOA meeting in June, 2010.© Blogfinger photo.

To the Editor:

As a new Ocean Grove Home Owners Association (OGHOA) member who attended my first meeting on Saturday, March 26, I decided to check its website today for the meeting minutes. They were posted and I was surprised to read that neither President Ann Horan nor Vice President Barbara Burns had been there (I’d arrived a few minutes late and hadn’t heard all the names of the people running the meeting). According to the minutes, the President and Vice President were “away on vacation,” so “Secretary Richard Williams opened the meeting…”.

While I was at the website, I decided to read the OGHOA bylaws. I found a couple of things that made me wonder why the March 26 meeting was held at all.

Under Article 3, “Meetings,” the bylaws state:

  1. General membership meetings shall be held on the 4th Saturday of every month except when the 4th Saturday is on a holiday weekend, at which time an alternate date will be scheduled.

March 26 was the day before Easter Sunday, so the fourth Saturday of March 2016 clearly fell on a “holiday weekend.” According to the OGHOA’s own bylaws, a general membership meeting should not have been held that day.

 

I also read under Article 5, “Duties”:

  1. The President shall preside at all meetings.
  1. The Vice-President shall assume all duties of the President in his or her absence and shall assist in every way.

Probably because it was a holiday weekend, neither the President nor the Vice President was there to preside at the meeting. If the President “shall” preside at “all” meetings, and the Vice President “shall assume all duties of the President in his or her absence,” what happens if neither of them is present? Does anyone else have the authority to preside over a general membership meeting of the OGHOA? The bylaws suggest that only the President and Vice President have this authority.

It appears that the March 26 general membership meeting should have been rescheduled, both because the date fell on a holiday weekend and because neither the President nor the Vice President was there to preside.

At the February meeting, Jack Bredin put forth an important motion, proposing that the OGHOA take the position that the State’s Residential Site Improvement Standards (RSIS) be enforced throughout Ocean Grove, with an exemption for single-family homes only.

I’m not certain when it was decided that a vote on Jack’s motion would be held at the March meeting, but in the month between meetings, did no one on the OGHOA Board realize that holding the meeting on a holiday weekend, and when neither the President nor Vice President could be present, would be in violation of the organization’s bylaws?

To see how often both the President and Vice President miss a membership meeting, I reviewed all the minutes posted at the site (they’re posted back to March 2015); March 26, 2016 was the only time this happened. I also checked the meeting dates and the only one held on a holiday weekend was the meeting on March 26.

Is an OGHOA membership vote legitimate and binding when it takes place at a meeting that itself violated OGHOA bylaws?

— FRAN HOPKINS

Ocean Grove, NJ and Cedar Grove, NJ, April 6, 2016

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OGHOA betrays the people of Ocean Grove as it supports the RSIS application

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove historical preservation, Ocean Grove North End Redevelopment Plan, Ocean GRove parking issues, tagged , on January 21, 2016| 9 Comments »

OG civil war canon is aimed towards AP. Let's turn it around to symbolize the betrayal by Ann Horan and her HOA gang of nine. Paul Goldfinger photo. ©

OG civil war canon is aimed towards AP. Let’s turn it around to symbolize the betrayal by Ann Horan and her HOA gang of nine. Paul Goldfinger photo. ©

Editor’s note:   Some of you may have missed this piece when we posted it last month on Christmas Eve. It is about how the Home Groaners Association has taken the side of developers regarding RSIS. 

Moving this piece to the top is needed because the OGHOA is about to present a “forum” on this subject.  But they should not be moderating this forum because their main purpose is to defend their anti-Ocean Grove position regarding this topic. 

If the forum is ever held, keep in mind that an unbiased presentation is not possible under the auspices of this group who would back the conversion of old rooming houses and hotels into condos, and if you think that there are no more such buildings in town, here is one at 17 Embury Ave.  that so far has slipped under their radar.  I passed it today quite by accident.  Jan 21, 2016.  Ocean Grove, NJ

The Seacrest Manor is on Heck Avenue at Embury-a choice location. Blogfinger photo Jan 21, 2016

The Seacrest Manor is for sale at 17 Embury Ave. —-a choice location. Paul Goldfinger photo Jan 21, 2016  I told my wife never to put me into a place with the word “manor” in its name.

The below post was originally published on Dec. 24, 2015:

In a memo to its members the OGHOA President Ann Horan declared “The HOA supports the township’s effort to secure a Special Area Standard for Ocean Grove.”

In her long note, full of head-spinning irrelevances, Horan tries to create fear and confusion by discussing standards that have nothing to do with our current situation including sanitary sewers, yellow striped boxes, parking stalls , etc.  She says that enforcing the RSIS rules in OG would be “a disaster.” This outrageous and fearsome  characterization is based on absolutely nothing.

The truth is that the special area under discussion is only about off-street parking and street widths. The latter is not even an issue, because our street widths are pretty well set.

Not only is the HOA betraying historic Ocean Grove by this announcement, but they doubled down by sending a letter to the SIAB in Trenton explaining why it is essential that the new standard be adopted “in order to prevent a bad situation from becoming worse.”

The explanations by Horan in these two documents are outrageous and plain wrong. She can’t even get the date of last week’s meeting correct.

The people of Ocean Grove need to insist that the HOA do the right thing before we are inundated by more condominiums, townhouses, conversions to apartments, big buildings like Mary’s Place, etc.

Blogfinger has explained our position already to our readers pointing out that granting the requested exemption will open the doors to developers. We want the RSIS regulations to be retained for all structures in town except  for single family homes.  Horan doesn’t seem to understand what we are talking about.

The Editor’s note below regarding the position advocated by myself, Jack Bredin and Kevin Chambers sums up our views, which are opposite that of the HOA:

Editor’s Note:  Here is the “hook” regarding the RSIS rules.  If someone wants to put up a condo building with the RSIS standards in place, then it will be impossible for them to comply, because they would have to put the parking on their lot or lots. Since that would be impossible in most situations, then a single family house or an empty lot is the only option. 

Single family houses should get the exemption from the State because if someone wants to put up a single family house, there will be no room for the required driveway and parking. So the exemption for them would create a single family Victorian house with no driveway or garage, a situation that is not only historic but is very Grovey.  —-Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger

 

We know that this subject is a bit hard to understand, but here is another practical example, different from above, taken from the perspective of what the HOA and the Township are advocating:

Suppose the HOA/Township viewpoint is accepted by the SIAB, and the exemption is granted for every project in town. The next time a developer buys a derelict old inn, razes it, and proposes condos, they will be permitted to do so without having to supply any parking.

So all the people who live in that condo building will be looking for on-street parking along with their friends, party-goers, and relatives, resulting in reduced parking for residents and increased congestion for that neighborhood.  Every new multi-residential structure that is permitted will negatively impact our lifestyles and endanger our historic designations and and our town’s character.

It is as simple as that, so don’t be mesmerized by Ann Horan’s unbelievably disloyal and destructive position on behalf of the HOA as she stands shoulder to shoulder with the Neptune Township Committee, supporting their phony rationale for requesting the Special Area Parking Standards.

STUFFY SHMITT.  This song is about good ideas…something the Home Groaners  should find out about

 

 

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Letter to the Editor: Re: Mary’s Place construction.

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, tagged , on July 9, 2015| 18 Comments »

Mary's Place under construction on Main Avenue in Ocean Grove. June, 2015 photo by Blogfinger.net ©

Mary’s Place under construction on Main Avenue in Ocean Grove. June, 2015 photo by Blogfinger.net ©

To the Editor:

Re: Issues surrounding Mary’s Place construction.

Paul, You bring up Mary’s Place, and it reminds us that the noise and the disruption in and around that project continue at a pace.

One of our neighbors raised questions at a meeting during the approval process and she was roundly criticized for daring to question a project with such good hopes and intentions. All she wanted was information and she was made out to be a hard-hearted person. Her point was simply that no neighbors had been notified about the project and the impact that it might have on neighbors adjacent to the site, and how parking would be impacted.

Not even the courtesy of an approach to their soon-to-be neighbors informing them of a time-line or anything else regarding this project. Not a word. Not a letter asking us for our forbearance. Nothing. All we had were rumors to contend with.

Summer time is here and parking, as usual is a challenge, but the cones and trucks manage to take up spaces that could be used by Grovers and guests. The noise during the day is constant. In the meanwhile, one neighbor who recently had surgery and is recuperating, has had to endure the constancy of this construction project. The summer will come and go and noise will persist.

Paul, you have raised important questions in the NERP and should be commended for insisting on transparency and clarity in such efforts.

We thank you for raising these critical questions.

CONCERNED NEIGHBOR

Ocean Grove, NJ, July 9, 2015

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Ocean Grove Home Owners Association V 2.0 Flexes Its Muscles

Posted in Blogfinger News, Ocean Grove history, Ocean Grove Home Owners Association, tagged , , , on March 3, 2013| 4 Comments »

OGHOA logo

Candidates meeting of the OGHOA on October 27, 2012. PG photo

Candidates meeting of the OGHOA on October 27, 2012. PG photo

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor

In a recent letter, President Ann Horan of the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association encouraged nonmembers to join.  She pointed out  that the group has become very active in a number of important areas including derelict housing, emergency management, North End redevelopment and Sandy recovery.  The dues are only $10.00 per year. You can go to the web site for more information:  OGHOA web link

The OGHOA has been  revitalized by a number of new officers and members.  Pres. Horan and her activist team have formed committees to stay on top of important issues.  The organization has begun  to flex its muscles in town, such as their submission of a North End proposal as seen through the eyes of homeowners.  The OGHOA has potential clout by virtue of its large membership.  It has been difficult to get the exact numbers, but each home gets one vote, even though there may be more than one member in a home.  A conservative estimate is that they have over 500 members at this time.  The exact count is unclear because they  sometimes count the members who are not up-to-date on dues.

But regardless of the precise count, they could have even more influence if they were to  increase the membership.  Ideally every homeowner should belong to this advocacy group, and that could mean a membership of well over 1,000. Don’t forget how powerful they were in the ’80’s and ’90’s when they had their largest historic membership and when their political reach extended to Trenton.  You can read about that era in the Blogfinger timeline. *

The HOA meets on the 4th Saturday of each month in the Community Room.  They get about 60 Grovers at their meetings which are open to the public, but they will have to  change the venue if they want to get better attendance.  At the meetings, the policy has been to have a  guest speaker go on first,  leaving the business for the end.  It is the business component that tends to produce discussion about issues that concern the members, and sometimes people walk out just as those  debates begin.  Maybe they should skip the opening act and get on to the main course, or just reverse the order.

The HOA has a new web site which is still a work in progress in terms of content.   The President’s report, which was recently issued, is still not posted on their site. Because the members who come to meetings are relatively few, the group needs to work harder at disseminating their information including the workings of their board , which used to behave like a secret society.   There is an email list which you can join at their web site.

It seems clear that we are going to hear a great deal of constructive outrage and productive ideas coming out of the “new and improved” OGHOA v. 2.0.  That is good news for the Grove.

* NOTE: This excerpt from the BF Historic Timeline focuses on the part of our history where the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association, on steroids, made things happen to save the town of Ocean Grove:    timeline link

“By the 1980’s, the town is characterized by an overall “decrepitude,” including deterioration of buildings, declining tourism, crime, and a growing poor elderly population. (2)  Deinstitutionalized mental patients are housed in empty old hotels and rooming houses in Ocean Grove. The town becomes a “psychiatric ghetto” (NY Times, October 1988), and, by the 1980’s, 10% of the town’s population are mental cases who are not receiving appropriate services and are sometimes abused by landlords. The prognosis for Ocean Grove is dire.

“During this period, the Ocean Grove Homeowner’s Association (OGHOA) develops as a political and activist force that successfully begins the process of converting the town from decay to renaissance. (2f)

“1990’s:  OGHOA, led by Mr. Herb Herbst, Fran Paladino and others, fight for fair treatment in the allotment of the mentally ill around the state. The process is complex and difficult, but the numbers of “deinstitutionalized” in OG drops considerably.  The group also saw to the closing of many substandard boarding and rooming houses. The HOA presents Neptune with a “master plan” to protect the historic nature of OG and to rezone for the promotion of single family houses. OGHOA promotes secular tourism while working with CMA to increase religious tourism.  New people come into town to buy homes and invest in businesses.”

PAUL McCARTNEY:

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Camp Meeting Association Seeking Funds to Rebuild — — Cost Could Be $3 Million. FEMA Money a Possibility.

Posted in Blogfinger News, Ocean Grove news, tagged , , , , on December 4, 2012| 11 Comments »

As planks are removed from the damaged boardwalk, they are saved in piles for possible reuse. Photo by Mary Walton

As planks are removed from the damaged boardwalk, they are being saved and evaluated for possible reuse. Photo by Mary Walton

By Mary Walton

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association estimates that it will cost roughly $3 million to restore the boardwalk and pier damaged by Hurricane Sandy, interim administrator Ralph delCampo said Tuesday.

The cost for the pier alone is estimated at $500,000 to $750,000. In addition, the insurance policy which covers the damaged roof of the Great Auditorium, now under repair, has a $100,000 deductible.

DelCampo emphasized that the estimates are preliminary, given many questions about how to proceed. “We want to enhance the kind of construction,” he said. “We do not simply want to replace the boardwalk. What did we learn from other towns?”

One thing they learned is not to follow the example of Spring Lake, he said. After last year’s Hurricane Irene demolished the boardwalk there, the town rebuilt it in nearly identical fashion, only to lose it to Sandy.

In fact, planks in the heavily damaged section of the Ocean Grove boardwalk between the south side of the pavilion and the beach office were recently replaced at a cost approaching $300,000. “All of that money just went to the ocean,” delCampo said. That section, known as the Middle Beach, now must be completely rebuilt.

In probing why the pavilion itself and the boardwalk north of Seaview Avenue survived almost intact, initial credit went to the dunes. No one is discounting their importance, but, in addition, the Camp Meeting discovered that a hidden bulwark of massive boulders and rubble lies beneath them. “We believe that’s what saved the boardwalk and dunes,” delCampo said.

Dale Whilden, president of the board of trustees, who joined delCampo in a conference call with Blogfinger, said the boulder wall was built in 1953 following a major storm. Post Sandy, he discovered drawings and documentation in his files. “I had forgotten,” he said. “A couple of trustees remembered it vaguely.”

Under discussion now is extending that bulwark south in tandem with new dunes. DelCampo said the Camp Meeting is working with consulting engineer Peter Avakian and with local contractors in designing a plan. At present, the Middle Beach boardwalk is being systematically dismantled and inspected for structural integrity, a process that will take about three months. “We will remove joists and planks and even some of the pilings and save them to be reused,” delCampo said.

At the same time, he said. the Camp Meeting has hired a consultant “to help us work through applications.” Topping the list of potential funders is the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA will pay 75 percent of the cost of approved projects and up to 100 percent under certain circumstances. Gov. Christie has asked for the higher amount.

The Camp Meeting is also seeking private contributions from people in the community. delCampo said he was intrigued by Belmar’s “Buy a Board” campaign, which allows contributors to pay from $25 to $5,000 for individual planks, with their name and board level displayed at beach entrances.

The topic of private donations came up at meetings the Camp Meeting held last week with representatives of the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association and with Ocean Grove United. Both groups praised the meetings as positive but expressed reservations about a glossy fund-raising flyer titled “Let’s Rebuild” mailed to Ocean Grovers in late November. It stipulated that checks should be made payable to OGCMA “with ‘Now & Forever’ in the memo line.”

Home Owners president Ann Horan said her understanding is that the Camp Meeting’s “Now & Forever” fund is money that “they could take and use it for whatever they want. We think they should make it more specific.”

OGU raised a similer objection. The organization has a history of friction with the Camp Meeting, most recently over the speaking engagement of actor Kirk Cameron last summer for a Sunday worship service after Cameron had made anti-gay remarks in a television interview. Last week’s meeting between OGU and the Camp Meeting fulfilled a Camp Meeting pledge to improve communication between the two groups.

The flyer was a major topic at the meeting. “People are not comfortable giving to a general fund,” said OGU co-chair Harriet Bernstein. “They would certainly be willing to give to an earmarked fund with some accountability.” She and co-chair Luisa Paster told the Camp Meeting officials, “Everyone wants to help, but they want it dedicated to the replenishment of the beach and the boardwalk.”

Bernstein and Paster suggested that the Camp Meeting consider holding a fundraiser and also forming a coalition of community organizations to drum up financial support for rebuilding.

The Camp Meeting also met with board members of the Ocean Grove Chamber of Commerce, but the “Now & Forever” issue did not come up at that meeting, said Chamber president Rich Lepore, owner of Smuggler’s Cove on Main Avenue. “I’ve heard it more from customers,” he said. “They want to give but they don’t quite know how.”

Whilden explained that the press of time was why people were asked to donate to a general fund rather than one earmarked for rebuilding. At the time the fund-raising flyer was sent out, he said, “We were planning an immediate response. We didn’t have a strong idea of where the money ought to go. We wanted flexibility to put donated funds where they needed to be.” He said that if donors specify a preference in the “For” line of their checks, such as “boardwalk” or “pier,” or specify the intended use in a letter, the Camp Meeting is legally obligated to use the money for that purpose.

Meanwhile, delCampo said, the Camp Meeting development committee is meeting Thursday and will be coming up with an alternative “for those who don’t want to give more broadly.” In addition to donations for beachfront damage, he added a plea for funds to help pay for the auditorium repair. “We cannot forget the auditorium. It is a central focus of the community as well,” he said.

 

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The Battle of the North End Resumés

Posted in Blogfinger News, Neptune Township News, Ocean Grove news, tagged , , on June 23, 2012| 38 Comments »

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.

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Jahn Among the Home Owners — Nary a Discouraging Word

Posted in Blogfinger News, Neptune Township News, Ocean Grove news, Politics, tagged , , on May 26, 2012| 30 Comments »

By Charles Layton

Mary Beth Jahn told the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association on Saturday that she should be re-elected to a third term on the Township Committee because of her hard work for constituents.

“I am someone who is more dynamic, I go to more functions, I respond to more emails, more constituent problems,” she said.

Jahn: “I respond to more … constituent problems.”

The audience of approximately 50 Ocean Grovers seemed to agree. In comments from the floor, they responded with an outpouring of support, including specific examples of Jahn’s quick responses to their particular problems.

“I’ve never had a public official respond to me the way you do,” Susan Taylor said. “For one thing, it’s instantaneous.”

Ray DeFaria gave Jahn credit for the quick response by police following the theft of a treasured family heirloom, a wedding ring. He said Jahn took a personal, hands-on interest in the theft, and the ring was recovered.

Joan Cruz suggested that, although the Home Owners Association is a non-partisan group, individual members should write letters to local newspapers supporting Jahn.

Jahn is engaged in a tough fight in the June 5 Democratic primary. She is one of three candidates competing for two seats on the Township Committee — a race that has split the Neptune Democratic Party bitterly. (For background, go here and here and here.) The Neptune Democrats have not endorsed Jahn; the Monmouth County Democratic Party has endorsed her.

Saturday’s meeting had been billed as a “candidates’ forum,” but the other two candidates in the primary race, Dr. Michael Brantley and Nicholas Williams, declined to appear. The audience expressed some resentment that these candidates were unwilling to speak to their organization, although their refusals were somewhat understandable given the degree of Jahn’s support among the membership. Not a single person had a negative word to say against her.

Jahn declined several opportunities to criticize Brantley and Williams because they were not present and “it wouldn’t be fair.” Instead, she emphasized some of her own history as a committeewoman. She cited her opposition to condo development at the North End, her support for a strong police force (she has twice served as police commissioner) and her work as the Township Committee’s liaison to the Township’s finance department.

She said the reason she has taken the lead on the issue of derelict buildings in Ocean Grove is that Mayor Randy Bishop had been criticized by one particularly intractable owner, Marshall Koplitz, as having a conflict of interest because he lives in Ocean Grove and owns a bed and breakfast here.

Committeeman Eric Houghtaling. Photos by Mary Walton

Asked by people in the audience why she and Neptune party officials had parted ways, Jahn repeated her assertion that the split was mainly over her refusal to back James Manning Jr., a former Neptune mayor, for the position of business administrator. Many party leaders have sided with Manning, whom Jahn says she considers unqualified for the post.

Another member of the Township Committee, Eric Houghtaling,  spoke briefly in support of Jahn, calling her “a vital asset to the township.” Another Township Committee member, Kevin McMillan, is working for Jahn’s two opponents. Mayor Bishop, on the other hand, is backing Jahn. Neither Bishop nor McMillan were at Saturday’s meeting.

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Mayor Randy Bishop Meets With OG Home Owners Assn.

Posted in Blogfinger News, tagged on January 28, 2012| 8 Comments »

By Yvette Blackman, Contributing Writer @ Blogfinger

Mayor Randy Bishop. Blogfinger photo

Given the chorus of objections from Ocean Grovers to parts of the Neptune Township Master Plan, it was a surprisingly civil crowd that greeted Mayor Randy Bishop Saturday.

The Ocean Grove Home Owners Association invited the new mayor to its first monthly meeting of the year, and he seemed unsure whether he would face a friendly or a hostile group. Bishop, an Ocean Grove resident and member of the Planning Board, was among those who had promoted creation of a Land Use Advisory Committee to review certain building applications. The proposal was a part of a draft of a new Master Plan written under the supervision of Bishop and other Neptune officials.

The OGHOA feared that such a committee could lead to influence peddling and that the judgments of existing citizens’ boards could be replaced by those of  various Neptune Township executives, outside of public view. Last November, the HOA expressed its objections in a strongly-worded letter to the Township.

The result: On Wednesday the Planning Board voted to approve a new version of the Master Plan that did not include the creation of this controversial governmental committee – an apparent victory for the HOA.

Saturday’s HOA meeting was the first opportunity Grovers had had to publicly discuss the Planning Board’s action.

If there was lingering bitterness over the controversy, Bishop tried to diffuse it by taking responsibility and moving quickly through his agenda.

“What we were trying to do, I will tell you, we presented poorly. There were some questions about it, we regrouped and instead have adopted [a model] used by the [Historic Preservation Committee],” Bishop told the audience of about 45 people packed into the Community Room.

Going forward, Bishop said, instead of having the committee that was proposed, a building application will be reviewed by the Zoning Board chairman, another member of the Zoning Board and several professionals. At that committee’s discretion, members might decide to meet with the home- or business-owners to resolve any issues that might otherwise delay the application process.

“We’re trying to become more consultative,” Bishop said. “The idea of doing this is to try to help a homeowner and business get through the process smoothly, faster and with less money.”

Bishop, who was sworn in as Neptune’s mayor on Jan. 1, also announced that once every quarter he intended to randomly select two applications, from the Zoning and Planning boards, and call the applicants for feedback.

Here, briefly, are highlights of other issues that came up for discussion during the two-hour meeting:

* Neptune Township has purchased a seven-acre parcel on Corlies Avenue, site of the former Welsh Farms dairy, and intends to turn it into Veterans Memorial Park. It will honor Neptune Township residents who have been killed in action.

* As a result of the razing of the Sampler Inn, Bishop said, there has been an uptick in the number of people maintaining their buildings. However, the Township has begun looking at buildings that have fallen into disrepair in Neptune. “We’re going to start sending a very clear message that they will not be tolerated,” Bishop said. He has set aside in this year’s budget $25,000 to be used to demolish two buildings identified as abandoned or derelict after review.

* Because of an increased number of burglaries in recent months, some members of the audience suggested that every homeowner purchase a motion detector. “It would make the town less foreboding at night,” one home owner said.

* Residents also raised concerns about hydrants that become lost in snow piles; blind spots that result from piling snow on corners; changing recycling days to a day other than Monday; fear of accidents caused by people driving the wrong way down Sea View Avenue from Central Avenue; an increase in goose droppings near parks, and the need to address the parking problems sure to arise this summer because of the meters that went up in Asbury Park.

Ed. note: For background on the Master Plan issue, go here and also here.

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Home Owners Slam Planning Board Over New Master Plan — Hints of Legal Action

Posted in Blogfinger News, Neptune Township News, Ocean Grove news, tagged , , on November 26, 2011| 1 Comment »

Home Owners pledge allegiance to the flag. Photos by Mary Walton

By Charles Layton

The Ocean Grove Home Owners Association pressed its case against the Neptune Planning Board’s proposed new Master Plan on Saturday, dropping hints of legal action over one section of the plan relating to building decisions.

Although the Association has complaints about several aspects of the Planning Board’s new plan, the part that drew nearly all the attention at Saturday’s meeting was a proposal to create a Land Use Advisory Committee within the Township bureaucracy. The Association fears that this new entity could usurp the authority of the Zoning Board, potentially to the detriment of Ocean Grove.

The Planning Board, an 11-member body appointed by the Township Committee, has been working for many months on a complete rewrite of the Master Plan, which guides decisions on land use and zoning throughout Neptune Township.

The purpose of the proposed new Land Use Advisory Committee would be to review certain building applications. Critics say this body could end up making decisions in private that should be made in public by the Zoning Board or Planning Board, both of which are composed mainly of private citizens.

The Historical Society of Ocean Grove and the Historic Preservation Commission have raised similar objections to the advisory committee idea.

At least two Home Owners trustees, Barbara Burns and Francis Paladino, have argued that such a committee may be illegal. In October, the organization’s membership approved a letter stating that the proposal “would potentially allow for more decisions to be made outside the public’s view, and would be an invitation to more political influence and insider dealing.”

Edna Dierk makes a point about the Master Plan

“We could in theory sue to stop that provision of the plan,” Burns told the members. Ann Horan, the group’s treasurer, noted in her financial report that the Association has $29,450 in its legal fund and remarked that some of that money “might be needed sooner rather than later.”

Burns and other trustees told the members that the Planning Board had dismissed their concerns when they voiced them at its most recent meeting, on November 9. She said the board was “very disrespectful.” Donald Hooper, speaking from the audience, said he had attended that meeting and “It was a classic example of don’t bother me with the facts, my mind is made up.”

The audience at the Home Owners meeting, consisting of about 45 people, seemed in agreement with the above criticisms. No one spoke in defense of the Planning Board or its proposals.

When a discussion arose about the best way for individual Ocean Grovers to voice their disapproval to the Planning Board, Horan suggested that people complain to Randy Bishop, who is a township committeeman, a resident of Ocean Grove and also a member of the Planning Board.

“One of the reasons to focus on Randy,” Burns observed, “is that he is an elected official. He’s the only one who’s subject to the approval or disapproval of the voters.”

Bishop was among those who defended the creation of the new advisory committee at the November meeting, contending that it was only meant to formalize a process that already takes place when matters of small significance need to be decided, such as whether to move something a few inches to avoid having to seek a zoning variance.

The Planning Board will hold a meeting in December — not open to the public — to discuss what revisions to make to its Master Plan draft based on the public comments it received on November 9. It will then publish an updated draft on the Township’s website.

On January 25, the Board is scheduled to meet in public session, although members of the public will not be allowed to comment. At that time, the Board may vote on final adoption of the Master Plan. However, the proposals in the new plan still would not become law until acted on by the Township Committee.

To read the Home Owners Association’s letter to the Planning Board, go here.

To read about the November 9 confrontation between the Planning Board and Ocean Grove organizations, including the Home Owners, go here.

To read the Planning Board’s proposed new Master Plan on the Neptune Township website, go here. Then scroll down to “Draft Elements of the Master Plan.” The elements of most concern to Ocean Grovers are those on “land use” and “historic preservation.” You can click on each of those separately.

Trustee Joan Caputo and Home Owners President Denis McCarthy took a moment to promote the new Home Owners hats, which cost $10. "They make a great holiday gift," Caputo said. At left is Ann Horan, the treasurer.

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Ocean Grove Home Owners Oppose Master Plan Rewrite — Organization’s President Refuses to Let Lone Defender Speak

Posted in Blogfinger News, Ocean Grove news, tagged , , , on October 22, 2011| 5 Comments »

By Charles Layton

On Saturday, members of the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association endorsed a statement critical of the Neptune Planning Board’s proposed rewrite of the Township Master Plan. The statement raises concerns that the proposed rewrite could lead to an erosion of Ocean Grove’s unique historic character.

A special committee of the Home Owners, co-chaired by Joan Venezia and Francis Paladino, had already criticized the Planning Board’s rewrite on those grounds. Its criticisms appeared in a September 9 letter from that committee to the Planning Board.

Saturday’s action by the Home Owners membership simply affirmed the contents of that letter.

One concern is that the draft rewrite contains “a lack of clarity” on issues of central importance to Ocean Grove, including those pertaining to zoning, density limits and flared setbacks. The rewrite often simply recommends that a certain provision of the current laws and rules should be “reviewed,” “evaluated,” “redrafted,” “reconstituted” or “updated” without saying who would make those changes, in what manner, or why.

“Our fear,” the letter says, “is that so much broad language in the Master Plan, urging such sweeping changes, would give present and future administrations too much discretion to make whatever changes they might please.”

The letter also expresses fears that a new Township Land Use Advisory Committee, proposed as part of the new Master Plan, would “usurp the authority of the existing citizens boards, replacing their judgments with the judgments of various executives of the Township. This would potentially allow for more decisions to be made outside the public’s view, and would be an invitation to more political influence and insider dealing.”

OGHOA trustee Joan Venezia briefing the members. Photo by Mary Walton

The Planning Board has been working for many months on a total rewrite of the Master Plan, a document that lays out basic goals and guidelines for land use and zoning throughout the Township. The Master Plan contains special provisions that apply solely to Ocean Grove, because it is designated as a National Historic District.

In recent weeks Venezia and others on the Home Owners board have been urging the organization’s members to study the issue. At the beginning of Saturday’s meeting she distributed more written material to members. Then she delivered a briefing during the business portion of the meeting, prior to the vote.

One member of the audience asked Venezia why she thought the Township might be trying to “water down” Ocean Grove’s protections in the Master Plan. “There is no motive that we can detect,” Venezia said. (Venezia confirmed to me later that, so far as she knows, no one from the Planning Board has ever responded to the concerns expressed in her committee’s September 9 letter, not even to acknowledge having received the letter. She seemed puzzled by the Planning Board’s silence to the Home Owners’ concerns.)

Joe Krimko, a Home Owners member but also a member of the Planning Board, did attempt to speak in defense of the Planning Board’s rewrite at Saturday’s meeting. He said the proposed new language calling for redrafting and reviewing various provisions would not allow anyone to skirt the protections in current law. Any change would require an amendment to the Township’s land use ordinance, he said, and “any change to the ordinance has to have public input.”

Before Krimko could say more, the presiding officer, Home Owners President Denis McCarthy, cut him off, saying “Explanation is not needed now.” And with that, the question was called to a voice vote.

No dissenting votes were heard, although Krimko voted “abstain.”

Venezia and McCarthy reminded the members that the Planning Board is to meet on the evening of November 9 to review its rewrite draft once more. At that meeting, it is expected that the public will be allowed to speak. At the Planning Board’s most recent meeting on the Master Plan, on September 14, no public comment was allowed.

To read the entire text of the letter approved on Saturday, go here.

For more background on the issue, go here.

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Saturday’s Home Owners meeting also included a set of two forums featuring candidates for office. The first forum (pictured below) consisted of candidates for state General Assembly and state Senate. The second consisted of candidates for county freeholder and surrogate. It would be impossible, in this space, to even summarize the discussions except to say that they included the issues of property taxes, state deficits, pension and benefits reform and unemployment.

Of particular interest to many in the audience was the statement by incumbent state Sen. Jennifer Beck that, whereas she previously voted against gay marriage, she has now changed her mind and is in favor of it. — CL

Politicos on parade. From left: senate candidate Ray Santiago (D), assembly candidate Kathy Horgan (D), assembly candidate Vin Gopal (D), assembly candidate Dan Jacobson (I), incumbent Sen. Jennifer Beck (R), incumbent Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (R) and incumbent Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (R). Photo by Mary Walton

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Neptune Planning Board Gives In To HPC on Master Plan — However, the Board Seems Headed For a Confrontation With the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association

Posted in Blogfinger News, Charles Layton, Neptune Township News, Ocean Grove news, tagged , , , , , , , on September 15, 2011| 17 Comments »

By Charles Layton

The Historic Preservation Commission seems to have persuaded the Neptune Planning Board to include stronger protections for Ocean Grove in its rewrite of the Master Plan.

But the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association remains at odds with the Planning Board over its own issues, and it appears that a fight between the two groups may be in the offing.

The newly-included language proposed by the HPC stresses the importance of Ocean Grove’s architectural heritage, its emphasis on single-family homes, and such defining characteristics of the town plan as the flared setback on avenues near the ocean.

The Planning Board has been working for months on a total rewrite of the Master Plan, a document that lays out basic goals and guidelines for land use and zoning.

Last week, the HPC passed a resolution expressing concern that the board’s proposed rewrite did not do enough to protect the Grove’s historic heritage. But at a public meeting on Wednesday night, the board revealed that it had inserted into its draft much of the language suggested by the HPC.

Also on Wednesday, the Historical Society of Ocean Grove weighed in for the first time with a letter to the Planning Board, in which it agreed with the issues raised by the HPC and also with a broader range of concerns raised by the Home Owners Association.

While acceding to most of what the HPC had asked for, the Planning Board made no concessions to the Home Owners. Members of the Home Owners board who were present at the meeting came away unhappy with that, and also with the Planning Board’s refusal to allow comment from members of the public.

“This is nonsense,” Home Owners trustee Fran Paladino told me after it was made clear that no one would be allowed to voice concerns or raise questions. The three-hour meeting was taken up by a lengthy report to the Planning Board by its consultant Jennifer Beahm, covering the details of the entire 207-page draft of the proposed new Master Plan.

In a letter delivered on Friday, a committee of the Home Owners had expressed fears that this new plan, as written, would be bad for Ocean Grove. (For full details, read the Home Owners letter here.)

There was no indication on Wednesday night that the Planning Board was in any mood to accommodate the Home Owners’ concerns. Neither did the Home Owners trustees show any willingness to back off, and it seems likely that the issue will be raised at the group’s next membership meeting, which is on September 24.

One of the Home Owners’ chief concerns is a suggestion in the Planning Board’s draft that the Township create a new Land Use Advisory Committee to make decisions as to whether “minor changes that have been found to be di-minimus [sic] in nature can be approved administratively” rather than going to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Home Owners committee’s letter said it feared this new bureaucratic layer of authority would “usurp the authority of the existing citizens boards, replacing their judgments with the judgments of various executives of the Township. This would potentially allow for more decisions to be made outside the public’s view, and would be an invitation to more political influence and insider dealing.”

Support for the Home Owners position on this and some other issues appeared to be growing in certain quarters. In its Wednesday letter, the Historical Society made a point of concurring with issues raised by the Home Owners. Gail Shaffer, president of the Historical Society, told me she was especially concerned about the issue of the proposed new advisory committee. Deborah Osepchuk, chairwoman of the HPC, told me she too was concerned about that issue, although she stressed that she was speaking only for herself, not for the HPC, on that matter.

Another major concern of the Home Owners committee is the proposal’s frequent recommendations that various rules on zoning, density limits, the flared setback and other issues important to Ocean Grove be “reviewed,” “redrafted” or “evaluated.” So much “broad language in the Master Plan, urging such sweeping changes, would give present and future administrations too much discretion to make whatever changes they please,” the Home Owners letter said.

The Historical Society’s letter specifically supported the Home Owners on this issue. It spoke of “weakly defined language that urges sweeping changes to the present regulations.”

Osepchuk said she was pleased that the Planning Board had accepted the HPC’s suggestion to put protective language from the old Master Plan into the draft of the new one. “There are marked improvements from what was originally written,” she said, but added that “there is still room for some tweaking.”

One important historical passage from the old Master Plan, which Osepchuk’s commission succeeded in having transplanted into the new one, described Ocean Grove’s physical decline in the 1990s as hotels and rooming houses for summer lodgers gave way to multi-family residences and boarding houses for the indigent. Legal changes since then, prohibiting similar conversions to multi-family residential use, “have limited additional deterioration and facilitated a renaissance of investment in single-family housing, bed and breakfasts and historic hotels,” the restored language says. It continues: “These types of uses are more appropriate to the scale and character of the [historic] district and provide appropriate development that preserves the character of Ocean Grove.” The newly included language also promises “a strong commitment to the protection and preservation of Ocean Grove’s unique town plan, particularly its flared setback, and all properties designated as having architectural and historic significance.”

The HPC considered that language important to protecting Ocean Grove’s status as a National Historic District.

Planning Board Chairman Joseph Shafto said the public would not have a chance to speak before the board until it meets on November 9 for what could be its final consideration of the Master Plan. Between now and November 9, however, anyone who wishes to submit a letter for the board’s consideration may do so, Shafto said.

After the plan is approved, in whatever form, by the Planning Board, the Board and its attorneys would then rewrite the local land use ordinance based on what’s in the new Master Plan. The new ordinance would then be passed into law by the Township Committee.

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