Photo courtesy Fred Yahn/ Eagle Drone
ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – Though the planning board gave its blessing in May for the construction of 16 townhomes on one of the last remaining pieces of undeveloped Bayshore property, the leader of a resident opposition group said the land battle isn’t over yet.
An appeals process is underway, said Benson Chiles, a borough resident and the face of nonprofit corporation Neighbors for Waterfront Preservation. Chiles said in the months following a 6-2 decision that approved the Denholtz Custom Homes application for these residences – each expected to be priced between $1 million and $2 million – several questions still remain unanswered.
According to Chiles, Neighbors for Waterfront Preservation attorney Kevin Asadi of Zager Fuchs, Red Bank, filed an appeal July 30, most notably for a piece of zoning legislation the opposition group feels was overlooked during the 27 hours of testimony and 10 months of hearings that preceded the planning board’s ruling.
“After (Super Storm) Sandy, the borough updated an ordinance to prohibit new construction in the flood zone. The reason we’re appealing is because we do think this applies and we can’t explain how they (the planning board) willfully ignored this part of the ordinance,” Chiles said.
Denholtz Custom Homes CEO Steven Denholtz declined comment on the appeal.
The McConnell Tract is a 7-acre plot of land that overlooks the Sandy Hook Bay at the end of Avenue D. The most eastern point of the property presses up against a bulkhead that separates the land from a slender beachfront and the bay waters.
The property is currently home to Blackfoot Mobile Marine Service, a boat storage and repair facility. Residential properties are located to the south and west of the acreage and the headquarters of the Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club is situated to the north.
According to Asadi, in response to Super Storm Sandy, the borough council adopted an ordinance in April 2013 requiring all properties located in the FEMA-designated flood zone to be preserved as undeveloped open space.
In the May 2019 meeting, Chiles and another Atlantic Highlands resident, Brent Sonek-Schmelz, stressed the relevance of that ordinance, given that three of the 16 homes are positioned inside the AE flood zone, while portions of seven other proposed lots are also sited inside that risk area.
Asadi said the planning board chose not to apply the legislation in its ruling because of an interpretation that the McConnell Tract had previously been developed in 1929 by Standard Oil as a refinery. The site was later owned and operated by Exxon for other industrial operations.
“The opening line of the borough’s master plan recognizes the town is fully developed. There isn’t any land in the borough that hasn’t been developed at one time. The McConnell Tract had a refinery. The Bayshore Trail was a railway. So how can an ordinance in response to Sandy only apply to lands that haven’t been developed, when you recognize that the borough is completely built out? What was the purpose of adopting the 2013 ordinance? What was it supposed to protect as open space if not a property like the McConnell Tract,” Asadi asked in an interview.
In addition to residential development inside the flood zone, Asadi’s appeal, among other grievances, addresses the planning board’s decision to approve the construction of a sanitary sewer pump station inside a flood zone and questions the participation of board member and borough councilman Louis Fligor.
Fligor serves as a Class III member of the board and, according to the appeal, Class III members are prohibited from participating in the consideration of applications for development which involve relief, including conditional use variances. Fligor’s participation could potentially void the board’s action.
“All of our points of appeal are meritorious. The planning board made errors. But I think the one count that has most public concern is how the board ignored an ordinance regarding development in a flood area,” said Asadi, who noted the appeal is due before a judge Jan. 13, 2020, when a possible trial could be scheduled.
Neighbors for Waterfront Preservation is non-political group, but acting on his own accord this past spring, Chiles said he was considering a mayoral run to further promote the concept of open space preservation in Atlantic Highlands.
Instead, Chiles said he is endorsing Republican candidate Loretta Gluckstein, who has served as president of both the Henry Hudson Regional High School Board of Education and the Atlantic Highlands Parent Teacher Organization.
Chiles said Gluckstein is an advocate for open space preservation in regards to the McConnell Tract and other borough lands.
“An important part of my agenda and my running mates Steve Borrachia and Brian Boms over the next few years will be to preserve open space in Atlantic Highlands,” Gluckstein said. “We have a lot of natural beauty in town and should do everything we can to preserve it for future generations. I welcome support from Benson Chiles and I look forward to working closely with him, the borough council and the residents of our community to preserve the McConnell Property for public use.”
Gluckstein will run against borough mayor Rhonda C. Le Grice, who is seeking a second term, and independent candidate Joshua Leinsdorf, who last ran for elected office in 2017 when he opposed Sean Byrnes for the Democratic party nominee in the election for the 13th Legislative district. The Senate seat was ultimately won by Republican Declan O’Scanlon, who replaced former Sen. Joseph Kyrillos.
