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The Board of Commissioners voted Wednesday night to introduce an ordinance authorizing the purchase of 4.8 acres of beachfront land at Loch Arbour’s border with Asbury Park.

The vote was 3-0. The property is owned by Jack Kassin [right, with sons Steven and Albert at the board meeting], who built a private beach club on the tract after taking ownership 18 years ago.

A public hearing has been scheduled on the ordinance for August 19 at 7:30 p.m., after which the commissioners may vote on the measure. The three-member board also voted unanimously to approve hiring professionals to evaluate the purchase.

If negotiations are unsuccessful, the ordinance authorizes the use of eminent domain by the village. The ordinance states the acquisition of the property is for flood control and protection against storm damage, conservation of open space and expansion of the village’s existing public beach.

“We’ve not committed to do anything except to start the process tonight,” said Mayor Paul Fernicola. “This is the first step.”

Earlier in the day, Fernicola told the Sun the availability of Hurricane Sandy relief funds is the impetus for exploring the purchase at this time.

“Based upon the state and the federal Sandy recovery funds, this represents the best opportunity that the village will ever have to receive public funding to finance the acquisition of this property,” Fernicola said.

To the north of the Kassin property is the Village Beach Club, owned by Loch Arbour. South of the property, over the Asbury Park border, is a tract of beach that some county officials have proposed to acquire for open space as part of preserving the Bradley Cove area.

The village’s move to purchase the property came as a complete shock to Kassin, who first learned of it the day before Wednesday night’s meeting, he said.

“With 99 percent of the residents we’ve also had a very good relationship,” Kassin told the board. “This comes as a complete shock to me and my family. I’m taken aback and I’m quite surprised.”

“I feel like I’m in the twilight zone,” Kassin said.

During his family’s 18 years of ownership, the property has been beautified, kept clean and the village has used a portion of it at no charge, he said.

“I would like to appeal to each and every one of you to try your best, if possible, to just imagine that you have a precious possession that you bought for your family and someone wants to take it away from you. And you want to hand it down to your children and grandchildren,” an emotional Kassin told the commissioners, his voice choking up.

“I’m willing to talk. If the village has additional needs let’s talk about them,” he said. “I’m a reasonable person. I’m not hard-headed. I know you guys are not hard-headed. You’re nice people. We’re all Americans. We’re all adults. I don’t want to see the village get hurt, and I’m sure you don’t want to see me get hurt.”

The village going through with the purchase “will destroy me. I don’t want to downplay monetary concerns, but that’s secondary to the family concerns,” he said.

Kassin made it clear that he will fight if a compromise can’t be 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,” he said. “We’re going to do whatever we have to do.”

Kassin’s attorney Lawrence Shapiro questioned the availability of federal FEMA funds for the purchase.

“That’s for the pumping of sand, repair of homes, lifting homes and assisting people who were displaced,” Shapiro said after the meeting. “As of right now, it’s not for property acquisition.”

“The issue of whether it will be is to be determined by the state and the Army Corps,” he said. “To start this process before the village knows who’s going to pay for it — for what could be potentially millions of dollars for the value of the property, not to mention the legal expenses — doesn’t seem to make sense.”

One of the professionals retained last night, consultant Mark Mauriello, Hamilton, is an expert in coastal regulations who will assist the village in obtaining public funds for an acquisition, Fernicola said. The resolution approving Mauriello authorizes payment for his services not to exceed $5,000.

Also retained last night were appraiser Jon Brody, Livingston, to conduct an appraisal on the property at a cost not to exceed $15,000, as well as Peter Steck, a planner from Maplewood, who will work with Brody. Steck’s fees were capped in the resolution at $6,000.

In his family’s 57 years of business, Kassin said there was only one lawsuit involving anyone in a business or personal matter — his legal battle with Sophie Bubis, who successfully fought him to the New Jersey Supreme Court over the height of dunes at the property.

It’s an experience Kassin says he does not want to repeat.

“What plagues me from time to time is that I was not intelligent enough to avoid it,” he told the commissioners. “I want to negotiate. I want to understand. Whatever we have to accomplish we will figure it out.”

“Let’s sit down, let’s talk,” Kassin said. “Let’s try to come up with a Solomonic decision and split the baby.”

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