A look to the future. Paul Goldfinger ©
There are a lot of moving parts to Ocean Grove’s parking problems.
I believe the number one problem starts with the Neptune Township Committee.
The process of site-plan approval is guided by both the local zoning ordinance and the State off- street parking requirements.
When local standards are inconsistent with State Standards, then the State Standards supersede the local ones.
The local Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment can grant a variance from the zoning ordinance, but there is no approving authority in the Township that can grant a “waiver” from the off-street parking requirements until the Township applies for and the State grants approval of a “Special Standard.”
However, when the Township is reviewing a site plan application for Ocean Grove, it is the Township’s policy to usurp State Authority and circumvent the State’s off-street parking requirements (that the State has exclusive authority over) and grant an approval with no off-street parking.
As a result of this practice, with few exceptions, all site-plan approvals in Ocean Grove over the past 18 ears, were granted in violation of State law.
Kevin Chambers has been telling us that for years, and it is not just his opinion—-it is a fact!
When developing a standard 50×100 foot lot, the State off-street parking standard, requiring two (2) off-street parking spaces for a detached single family house, is reasonable because the State standard was designed using the 50’x100’ lot format.
Ocean Grove cannot be re-subdivided into 50 x 100 foot lots, and so the strict application of the State off-street parking regulations would cause practical difficulties in developing any 30 x 60 foot lot in the Historic District.
Because the 30 x 60 foot lot size is 2 ½ times smaller than a 50 x 100 foot lot, there is simply not enough room to include off-street parking into a site-plan without destroying Ocean Grove’s historic character.
We are the only town in New Jersey like this, and so we qualify for a State waiver for detached single-family houses with no parking.
Last year the Township filed an application for an exception from the State off-street parking standards.
So what’s the problem?
The problem is that Ocean Grove is zoned single-family, and the waiver the Township requested is not only for detached single family houses, it is for all new residential multi-family development, foreseeing variance approvals for condominiums.
If approved it would open the floodgates to condo development; that would destroy the Historic District.
The threat to our historic designation comes from an increasing real estate demand for a “condo by the ocean, for vacation.”
Make no mistake about it. The primary reason for the Township’s application was to permit condo development throughout Ocean Grove, and not just for the big guy, but also for the little guy.
As an example: If you own a two family house like I do, you can form a condominium association and, like magic, your two family house becomes two (2) attached single-family houses (aka condominiums) which are worth a lot more money than your former 2-family house. That also applies to 3,4,5 family and up. The only problem for this agenda is that you now need two (2) off-street parking spaces per unit, and the Township cannot grant you a waiver or a variance.
Although the Township had reasons for a single-family waiver, they had no reason to ask for a multi-family waiver. And so, at the Township’s request, the Town Planner manufactured the reasons, after doing a parking study of Ocean Grove.
In support of a multi-family waiver the planner determined: We have plenty of available parking spaces, and the residents also have the option of parking in Asbury Park or Bradley Beach and then walking home.
This is nonsense, and if it were such a great benefit to Ocean Grove, then why did the Town Planner call the State Advisory Board last December and request that the application be withdrawn?
The Committee has been silent on why, or who instructed the Planner to withdraw the application, and has given no indication if or when they will reapply.
But they must reapply. They can’t keep breaking the law. And when they do reapply, we should insist that we still need that parking exemption for SINGLE FAMILY HOUSES ONLY, and not for multifamily buildings that are inconsistent with the Master Plan and with Historic Preservation.
I am offering a motion for your consideration that the OGHOA would support the single family application. The HOA should be pro-active and get ahead of the curve.
The motion is: “The OGHOA is in favor of the Neptune Township Committee re-filing an application for a waiver from the State RSIS parking standard for detached single-family houses only.”
Editor’s note: Jack Bredin’s motion was seconded, but the group voted to table the motion. —-PG
Kevin Chambers Comments About Parking in the Grove (2011 post on Blogfinger)
Posted in Ocean Grove news, tagged Kevin Chambers comments on parking issues, MLULll in Ocean Grove, RSIS application in Ocean Grove, Special area standard in Ocean Grove, Zoning violations in Ocean Grove on November 21, 2015| 32 Comments »
Editor’s Note (2015) : Kevin Chambers is a long time Ocean Grover who has brought suit against Neptune Township regarding condominium projects in town.
Kevin has never, in the past, commented on Blogfinger, but he decided to join the discussion in 2011.
–This article was originally posted on BF in January 2011, but it is as relevant now as it was then. I think this 2011 post pretty much explains Kevin’s views in 2015, but perhaps we will hear from Kevin again now if he wants to bring us up to date with his views on zoning and parking in Ocean Grove.
—Note the interesting comments section from 2011 which can be added to now.
———Paul Goldfinger . Editor @Blogfinger
August 2013. Kevin Chambers, an OG historian, testifies at the HPC demolition hearing re: Whitfield Hotel on Surf Avenue. Paul Goldfinger photo ©
From Kevin Chambers of Ocean Grove:
The following is to address RSIS and parking in Ocean Grove:
In 1997 the State of New Jersey created the New Jersey Site Improvement Advisory Board that established “Residential Site Improvement Standards” (RSIS). RSIS is a part of the Municipal Land Use Law (MLUL) that governs all zoning in the state of New Jersey. Every town in the state, including Neptune, was mandated to amend its zoning to conform to RSIS.
Neptune, when amending its Land Development Ordinance in 2000, violated the MLUL and RSIS when it created the Historic District Oceanfront (HD-0) zone.
The Historic District of Ocean Grove, a section of Neptune, is the only development in the entire state, in which the township that governs it refuses to enforce RSIS.
The state wrote three letters informing Neptune that it is required by law to enforce RSIS. Neptune, seeking a way to circumvent the law, created an ordinance that prohibits driveways and curb cuts for Ocean Grove. Believing that the new ordinance gave Neptune the right to ignore RSIS, the Township continued permitting the conversion of unauthorized nonconforming apartments and hotels into condominiums without providing parking.
The Township, still in violation of RSIS, was then forced into seeking a waiver known as the “Special Area Standard” designation from the State. Neptune believed that the designation would permit the Board of Adjustment to continue its abuse of granting improper high density development within Ocean Grove, which in turn has lead to more car congestion on the streets.
The RSIS Board explained to Neptune’s representatives, that if Neptune enforced RSIS within Ocean Grove that it would prohibit improper high density uses that would in turn lessen the density of cars on the streets.
If Neptune acted responsibly and brought its zoning for Ocean Grove into conformity with the MLUL it then wouldn’t need to seek the designation from the state. The enforcement of RSIS would break the vicious cycle of permitting greater density in Ocean Grove at the expense and the detriment to Ocean Grove residents.
Even though all the committee members of the RSIS Board were well aware of Ocean Grove’s problems having visited Ocean Grove, the RSIS Board was forced to deny Neptune the “Special Area Standard” designation since Neptune’s zoning for Ocean Grove was and is in violation of the MLUL.
Even more troubling, Neptune was in violation of the “Open Public Meeting Act” when it sought the designation. Neptune is now required to hold open public meetings in which to provide a legitimate parking study in order to establish a need to seek a waiver from the state. Neptune must also bring Ocean Grove’s zoning into compliance with the MLUL before reappearing before the RSIS Board.
Solving Ocean Grove’s high density and over crowding of the streets doesn’t take “brainpower or innovation;” it only takes following the law, the very law that every Committee member in the state is sworn to uphold.
To this very day, the Township continues to be in violation of the MLUL and continues to refuse to enforce RSIS. Both were created and designed for the protection of every resident of the state, including the residents of Ocean Grove. Every resident of Ocean Grove should be leery of any township committee person who hinders or who refuses to demand their enforcement.
Kevin Chambers
Editor’s credit: Top photo was taken at the Historical Society of Ocean Grove Museum. Blogfinger photo
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