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Posts Tagged ‘Worries at the Warrington’

The Case of the Worrisome Warrington Part III: Final Site Plan Approval to be signed this week.

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove controversies, Ocean Grove land use issues, Ocean Grove lifestyles, Ocean Grove RSIS issues, tagged , , on February 28, 2017| 14 Comments »

The Warrington Feb. 2017. Photo by a citizen reporter who lives a stone's throw away. The ParkView site is adjacent, approved for undersized lots. © Blogfinger.net

The Warrington, Feb. 2017. Photo by a citizen reporter who lives a stone’s throw away. The Park View site is adjacent, approved for undersized lots. © Blogfinger.net

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger  and Jack Bredin, Researcher @Blogfinger

This is no surprise, but the final Site Plan approval for turning the Warrington into a boutique hotel will be signed this week by the Zoning Board of Adjustment Engineer, Secretary,  and by the Board Chairman. As you may recall from our October, 2016 article  (see link below,) the process of final approval had been held up pending consideration of a variety of issues.

Our concerns last October included the need for an easement to connect the Lake Avenue structure with the utilities on Seaview Avenue. There are two small cottages which are interposed between the Warrington and Seaview Avenue.

According to Kristie Armour, the Zoning Officer for the ZBA, in an interview today, it was found that there was a pre-existing easement which would cover this matter.  But the tax map has shown no such easement.

Also, the new project encroaches on CMA property, but Ms. Armour tells us that the CMA wrote a letter to give permission. However, normally, such a letter would be useless unless the CMA property were newly subdivided to show that the Warrington owner now owns that encroached property.

There were other matters as well, but we have no information about these concerns including the bizarre suggestion by the Home Owners Assoc. to turn part of Lake Avenue into a two-way street near Founders’ Park ostensibly in order to create new parking.  New parking should never crowd out a historic location.

Another irregularity is that the Warrington is on a land-locked lot, not fronting on a street;  Lake Avenue is not a street. This should be illegal now as it pertains to the new project.

Other violations include failure to follow New Jersey state RSIS parking standards whereas this project should have been required to provide on-site parking.

The Warrington originally received final ZBA approval in 2015. In June 2016, the ZBA Engineer found that a Developers Agreement was needed.  In September 2016, the Developers Agreement was passed.  But there were still loose ends, and now we hear that the matter is finalized.

The only way that this project could be blocked now is with an appeal to the governing body or a law suit brought by the citizens to the Superior Court.  There is a 45  day opportunity to sue, and then it will be a “done-deal.”

But the Home Groaners  have shown no interest in this project or any other important land-use issues in town including the condoization of the Grove.  How do the residents of Sea View Avenue feel about this situation?

So there will be project approval this week even though the application is riddled with land-use law violations.

https://blogfinger.net/2016/10/21/the-case-of-the-worrisome-warrington-chapter-ii/

SUTTON FOSTER:  From Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein.  If you think that land use policies in Ocean Grove are hopelessly corrupted, do something silly and have a roll in the hay.

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The Case of the Worrisome Warrington. Chapter II.

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove controversies, Ocean Grove land use issues, Ocean Grove lifestyles, tagged , , on October 21, 2016| 4 Comments »

The Warrington as seen from Seaview Avenue. The lot in the foreground is the site of the Parkview Inn. Blogfinger photo. Oct 21, 2016 ©

The Warrington as seen from Seaview Avenue. The lot in the foreground is the site of the Parkview Inn. Blogfinger photo. Oct 21, 2016 ©

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger and Jack Bredin, researcher and reporter @Blogfinger

On October 7, we posted our piece “The Case of the Worrisome Warrington” about the plans to turn that derelict building at 22 Lake Avenue into a boutique hotel adjacent to Wesley Lake.

We pointed out a number of land use issues that concerned us including the illegal subdivision of the original lot into 3 nonconforming lots, two of which are undersized and now contain two small cottages.  In addition we addressed the “easement “ connecting Sea View with Lake Avenue, but that easement does not appear on the tax map.  Other matters include the illegal encroachment of the Warrington onto property owned by the CMA.

Now we turn our attention to the process which the owner of this property utilized to achieve Final Site Plan approval by the Neptune Zoning Board of Adjustment.

In 2014, an application was filed with the Neptune Township Board of Adjustment to redevelop this former rooming house at 22 Lake Avenue into a 20-unit hotel on Wesley Lake. However, the Warrington lot is isolated  (land-locked), not fronting on a municipal street in the front, on the sides, or in the back. Lake Avenue is not a street. It is illegal to construct a building at such a location.

Also,  the hotel will not be providing any on-site parking for guests and staff. New Jersey RSIS Site Improvement Standards  require off-street parking for the Warrington.  Without that, the approval is illegal.

The Board held hearings where its professionals and the applicant’s professionals gave a two thumbs up and proclaimed, “This project will advance the intent and purpose of the Zoning Ordinance.”

After more hearings in 2015, the Board gave its approval of the Warrington’s Final Site Plan and  also adopted a Memorialization Resolution signed by the Board Chairman, Secretary, and the Board’s Engineer.

The decision was published in the newspaper, and then the Board’s jurisdiction was automatically transferred to the Superior Court pending an appeal that did not materialize, so the Board’s job was completed.

Then, the jurisdiction was automatically transferred to the Neptune Twp. Building Department for building plans and permits to begin construction.

But first, there were some details discovered recently that had been so far ignored in the process.  On June 17, 2016, the Board’s Engineer reported “that some conditions of approval remain to be satisfied” including a Developer’s Agreement with the Township Committee.

 On September 12, 2016, the Township Committee passed resolution #16-400 authorizing a Developer’s Agreement.  They did so on the written advice of the Township Attorney.  The agreement addressed all other “conditions of approval” and states “the Warrington Hotel LLC applied for and was granted preliminary and final Site Plan Approval.”

Two weeks ago Blogfinger asked the Board’s Administrative Officer, Kristy Armour, to send us the Finalized Site Plan.

She emailed us the Plan, but in her text to Dr. Goldfinger, she said, “This plan has not received final approval from the Board at this time.”

The opinion by Ms. Armour is contrary to the Board of Adjustment’s Resolution and the Township Committee’s Developers Agreement, both of which state that the Site Plan was indeed finalized.

We went to her office to review the Site Plan application. We discovered that the approval block on the cover page of the Site Plan was not signed, sealed or dated by the Board Chairman, the Secretary or the Board Engineer.

When we asked Ms. Armour how this could happen, she said that there was a “to do list” consisting of a variety of approvals and tasks which remained to be done before the document could be finalized.   This probably explains why, when we went to the Building Department to find out about construction permits, we were told that they had not yet granted permits.

It is our opinion that the Warrington approval is a “done deal” despite all the issues of land use law that we have raised.  It appears that this is the way that “business” is done by the Neptune Township government.  They have approved a site plan that violates Municipal Land Use Law.

We will continue to report on the Warrington.

FATS WALLER  “Undecided.”

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The Warrington Rest Home hopes to be transformed into a “historic hotel.”

Posted in Blogfinger citizen reporter, Blogfinger Presents, tagged , on March 13, 2014| 20 Comments »

The Warrington. Blogfinger photo

The Warrington. Blogfinger photo

We have received the following information from a citizen reporter who wishes to be anonymous:

“FYI   Re:ZB13/17-conditional use &. bulk variances application scheduled to be heard on April 2, 2014. The owner of 22 Lake Avenue (The Warrington) is proposing to add a new use to the property….add a 20 room historic hotel, a conditional use  within the HD-O historic district.  

“The applicant has applied for variances for which Zoning Board of Adjustment approval is required. Some of which are:  construct a fourth story deck In the flared open space Area, on OGCMA Property;  to reconstruct a stairway leading to the front porch in the flared  open space area, on OGCMA Property; to reconstruct  10′ wide concrete walkways in the flared  open space area, on OGCMA Property; proposing construction to the non-conforming front porch that encroaches over the front property line  into OGCMA property…where necessary.

“Other variances are also required for construction. Neptune’s zoning official denied the permit application #3970, 06/04/2013 necessitating filing for a variance to the Board of Adjustment.”

Editor’s Note:    Many of you will recall that the Warrington was a rest home which housed about 15 clients who rested there when it was closed by the state in 2012.  It was closed because of a long laundry list of deplorable conditions inside. Those who live near there consider it to be an eye sore and a risk to the neighborhood.  Blogfinger posted a number of articles about this situation.  The quote below is from one such BF piece dated August 2012: —-PG

“All 15 boarders at the Warrington Rest Home in Ocean Grove have been relocated to permanent housing in other state-licensed facilities. Tammori Petty, a spokesperson for the Department of Community Affairs, said Wednesday that this resolves the state’s concerns about the property. The DCA closed the run-down boarding home on June 13 due to what it termed “serious conditions affecting the health, safety and welfare of residents.”

With the State out of the picture, it remains unclear what will become of this now-empty and deteriorating building, which faces Wesley Lake at 22 Lake Avenue, directly behind the Park View Inn. It had been licensed to provide room and board for veterans and physically challenged people. According to tax records, it is owned by Jack Ancona LLC of Long Branch. We have been unable to contact this individual for comment.”

This project seems about as plausible as the Duke of Earl finding a woman in Ocean Grove:

GENE CHANDLER AND THE DUKAYS

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Letter to the Editor. Re: The Warrington

Posted in Letter to the editor, Preventing crime in the Grove, tagged on April 14, 2013| 22 Comments »

The Warrington is at 22 Lake Avenue in Ocean Grove, NJ

The Warrington is at 22 Lake Avenue in Ocean Grove, NJ

To the Editor:

Can someone please give the people of OG, and in spite of what is being done with the clasping  (sic)  building THE PARK VIEW and the building that is the second Park View, THE WARRINGTON.  There has been strange people in and out of there;  can someone please help— these buildings are an accident waiting to happen.

SIMON

Ocean Grove, NJ

April 12, 2013

EDITOR’S NOTE:

This is the second such letter that Simon has sent us. It is not edited.   The first, an email,  was forwarded by us to the Neptune Police. They responded by  email to us saying that if someone sees something worrisome,  they should call the police.  They did not indicate if they would look into this report.

If you live over in that neighborhood, you might want to take a walk over there. We all have an obligation, according to Neighborhood Watch, to keep an eye out and “if you see something, say something.”   Call the police for anything suspicious—

There have been a number of articles in Blogfinger about the Warrington.  You can do a search above. The last time we had a report about that place was in August, 2012,  by Charles Layton:

“All 15 boarders at the Warrington Rest Home in Ocean Grove have been relocated to permanent housing in other state-licensed facilities. Tammori Petty, a spokesperson for the Department of Community Affairs, said Wednesday that this resolves the state’s concerns about the property. The DCA closed the run-down boarding home on June 13 due to what it termed “serious conditions affecting the health, safety and welfare of residents.” (For more info about the reasons for its closing, go here.)  With the state out of the picture, it remains unclear what will become of this now-empty and deteriorating building, which faces Wesley Lake at 22 Lake Avenue, directly behind the Park View Inn. It had been licensed to provide room and board for veterans and physically challenged people. According to tax records, it is owned by Jack Ancona LLC of Long Branch. We have been unable to contact this individual for comment.”

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