Hovnanian project postponed, will undergo further design review
Decision leads members to argue over board's process
After hearing the testimony from four different applicants, leaving just 45 minutes remaining in the meeting, members of the Asbury Park planning board voted to postpone K. Hovnanian’s application to build 28 townhomes in the western waterfront to a special meeting to be held June 19.
The board also granted permission by a 6-2 vote to allow developers to meet with a planning board subcommittee in the interim to further discuss details of the project’s design, a decision that planning board members squabbled over at the end of the meeting.
At issue was whether the developers could meet with a subcommittee after the application was presented to the public.
A chief concern of planning board member Robert Feinstein, who provided one of the dissenting votes and questioned the need for subcommittees overall, was that the developers meet with subcommittees that offer comments and suggestions on design but are not empowered to approve or deny any aspect of the application formally, and that comments and suggestions are later used as leverage in front of the full board.
“[Developers] are going to try to hang their hat on this, that they have had meetings, in private, with the review committee when they could have done it in public with everybody,” Feinstein said. “The fact is, now that conversation will happen off-record from all of us, when it could happen on-record with all of us.”
Councilman John Moor read the situation as no different from the Vive townhome application, when the subcommittee met with the developers to discuss the color of the buildings and the window shades during the review process.
“I trust the three people going, you’ve trusted them every other time. If you are going to do it for one be consistent and do it for all, or do away with the subcommittees all together,” Moor said.
The size of the application and the implications it holds for setting a precedent in the redevlopment of the city, said planning board member Seresa Grillo, who provided the other dissenting vote. To have a select few people meet with the developer was not “prudent” to the rest of the board, who will eventually vote on the full application, she said.
The reason for the subcommittee’s existence is so that the “tedious” details could be reviewed beforehand rather than the full board being subjected to them, said planning board member Sara Ann Towery, but Feinstein contents the board puts themselves in a position to be steamrolled by applicants who get feedback from the subcommittee and who may treat the opinions of the subcommittee as an extension of the entire board.
“If [developers] are that earnest about their efforts they should have no qualm about making the application formally,” said planning board member Harold Suggs.
Phase one of the project, called “South Grand” proposes four separate buildings of contiguous townhomes built on western portion of the block bound by Grand, Sewall, and Monroe avenues and Heck Street. Phase two plans have not yet been formally submitted. The project was split into two phases so the developers could begin construction on the block while the last piece of land developers did not yet own on the eastern side of the block could be acquired.
Comments from board’s technical review committee prior to submitting the formal application caused the developers to reconfigure the layout of the buildings slightly. However, some board members still object to the updated layout due to concerns for the streetscape along Sewall Avenue.
The June 19 special meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
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