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The Board of Commissioners approved a tentative agreement Wednesday night with a family owning a 4.8 acre beachfront tract to avoid eminent domain proceedings on the land.

Under the agreement, Loch Arbour would receive 1.1 acres of beach as a gift from Jack and Joyce Kassin, who own the property. That land would expand the village’s existing beach by 50 percent.

The vote approving the agreement was 3-0.

“I’m very pleased and happy to say that we have an agreement with Mr. and Mrs. Kassin and their family to avoid the need to take any portion of the property by eminent domain,” Mayor Paul V. Fernicola said at the commissioners meeting.

“I do think it is monumental,” said Fernicola in regard to the gift of 1.1 acres of beach. “There’s a tremendous benefit to the village.”

The Kassins would keep their remaining 3.7 acres extending to the border with Asbury Park, subject to new restrictions — including the prohibition of any residential or commercial development.

In exchange, the commissioners [in photo at top at a prior meeting] must now approve various changes to the zoning ordinance governing the Kassins’ land, such as allowing them to rebuild their cabana as a permitted use. Currently, only a refreshment stand and parking lot are permitted on the tract which is zoned for beach recreation. The cabana destroyed by Hurricane Sandy was built before the property was rezoned for that use.

Under the tentative agreement, the Kassins would also give Loch Arbour an easement allowing the Army Corps of Engineers access to conduct beach replenishment on their property. The easement is required for Loch Arbour to be included in the beach replenishment project next year.

The Kassins also agreed to give the village a deed restriction that would prevent any residential or commercial development on the remaining 3.7 acres of their land. And the Kassins, at their own cost, agreed to build the same shore protections structures, such as dunes, that the village builds on its beach next door.

“It’s a win-win situation for everybody. I’m very satisfied with it,” Jack Kassin [above right with sons] told the commissioners. “I look forward to being a good neighbor for many more decades, God willing.”

“Nothing should change and it should only get better and better, and I’m very happy we could work this out,” said Kassin.

In August, the commissioners began the process of potentially taking all or part of the Kassins’ land by eminent domain. Intense negotiations to resolve the matter began almost immediately, according to Fernicola.

With the tentative agreement, the commissioners also rejected a pending ordinance to authorize the use of eminent domain on the property. The vote to reject was 3-0.

The rejected ordinance, whose introduction in August is what started the eminent domain process, stated that the village sought ownership of the Kassin’s property for shore protection purposes, to expand the village’s existing beach and to preserve the land from development. While expressing a willingness to compromise, the Kassins had made it clear they would fight the move if a voluntary settlement was not reached.

“I just want you to know we will do everything in our power, we will put all our resources behind us, we will seek anything and everything to squash it,” Jack Kassin said at the August meeting. “We’re going to do whatever we have to do.”

The tentative agreement will take effect once the Board of Commissioners approve the various zoning amendments required under it.

In addition to making the cabana a permitted use, the zoning ordinance would be changed to allow the Kassins to rebuild the cabana six feet higher to prevent further storm damage. However, the rebuilt cabana must stay within the existing footprint.

Other zoning amendments would allow the Kassins to keep the hedges now on the property, but at a height not to exceed six feet six inches. The Kassins would be allowed to keep the privacy slats currently in the chain link fence on the property’s border with Asbury Park. The slats are not allowed under the zoning today.

The zoning amendments required under the agreement must be approved by the commissioners at subsequent public meetings and after public hearings, Fernicola said.

Failure to approve the zoning amendments means the compromise agreement with the Kassins will not go into effect.

All the provisions agreed to by the Kassins would also be binding on anyone in the future who owns their land, said Fernicola.

[Photo at top, left to right: Village Attorney Guy Ryan, Mayor Paul Fernicola, Commissioner Al Cheswick and Commissioner Denis D’Angelo.]

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