Point Boro May Hold Off on Waterfront Development Measure

Point Borough Council may hold off tonight on a measure that would ease one of the restrictions on waterfront development.

But there will be lots of discussion on the topic, which has local waterfront residents and marina owners, with their respective attorneys, pitted against each other.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at on Bridge Avenue.

The proposed ordinance amendment would mean that "restaurants and other eating establishments" would become "permitted uses," rather than their current status as "conditional uses."

As "conditional uses," restaurants need Borough Zoning Board of Adjustment approval, in addition to planning board and environmental approvals.

The amendment should be studied more in-depth before being adopted, according to a professional planner, said Councilwoman Toni DePaola on Tuesday.

This week, council received a report from Jennifer Beahm, a planner with CME Associates, based in Howell, Monmouth Junction and Parlin, DePaola said.

"Based on what the planner said, the best thing is for us to hold off," DePaola said late Tuesday morning.

Councilman Chris Leitner also said he does not expect council to move forward with the ordinance amendment on Tuesday night.

Leitner said, on Monday, "I don't expect us to vote for this Tuesday night. I'm not voting for it."

That's because more time is needed to consider what types of additional revisions may be needed, Leitner said.

However, he said it's still useful for the matter to be on the agenda because the fact that the ordinance is scheduled for possible adoption means there will be a public hearing, as well as presentations from a planner and engineer who have been studying the proposal.

"It's on for second reading because we want to discuss it," he said.

Borough Business Administrator David Maffei said an ordinance (or ordinance amendment) cannot be passed on first reading in one year (as this one has been) and then adopted on second reading in the following year.

Therefore, if the council fails to act tonight to move the amendment forward, it would have to again consider the matter on first reading in January. In other words, it would have to start from scratch.

And that's if enough council members want to re-consider it next year.

The council will have a slightly different make-up next year, with the current narrow Democratic majority becoming a narrow Republican majority.

Democratic Councilman John McHugh Jr., who chose to not run for re-election, will be replaced by Republican councilman John Wisniewski. Leitner was re-elected.

Councilmen Mitch Remig and Chris Goss each said in separate telephone interviews on Monday that they were still gathering information before deciding how to vote on the matter. Councilman Robert Sabosik said he did not want to comment on the issue.

Attorney Daniel Popovitch is representing which wants to build a second banquet hall, and attorney John Paul Doyle is representing the nearby residents, who are worried the revision will open the flood gates to development of restaurants and other uses along the waterfront.

The banquet hall construction and many of the marina improvements would still need approvals from the Borough Planning Board and CAFRA (Coastal Area Facility Review Act), which is regulated by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), said Leitner.

Doyle said at the crowded Dec. 6 council meeting that there are two old marina sites in the area that residents fear will become new restaurants. He said Clark's Landing should have to go for Zoning Board of Adjustment variances to build a second facility. (A variance is zoning board permission to build beyond what's allowed in the local ordinance definition of "permitted use.")

Voicing the other side's concern, Frank DeVito, president of Point Pleasant Yacht and Fishery Club, 1010 Hollywood Blvd., Point Borough, said that even fuel storage is not a conforming use and that it's an added burden to compel marina owners to have to get board approval for something that fundamental.

He also said the marinas were in their current locations before many of the opposing residents were and that the businesses should get their due consideration.