Asbury Partners was granted the two (2) more, one-year extensions of zoning protection by the planning board at the June 17th meeting. The board approved the site for construction of a beach club on the north end of Asbury Park beach on Ocean Avenue previously on November 15, 2021. According to state law the permit can only be extended in one-year increments three times.
Mayor John Moor and Jim Henry were recused from the hearing. Dan Sciannameo was the sole vote no, underscoring that Asbury Partners had significant time to take action on the project as well its inability to get Madison Asbury Retail to consent in writing to the request.
In the Asbury Park Waterfront Redevelopment agreement, once the luxury pool club is built, a second beach club catering to the public must be built by Madison Asbury Retail within 18 months of the completion of construction on the private beach club. The hesitancy on Madison Asbury Retail signing off on the project might be an indication that Boardwalk developer has no interest in building and maintaining a public pool club at this time.
There is speculation that the reason Asbury Partners sought the zoning extensions was not to move toward building the luxury pool club, but rather to keep the increased value of the land for resale.
The luxury beach club proposal was highly unpopular to many people in Asbury Park. Detractors fought against the loss of the last amount of open public space on the Asbury Park waterfront. Additionally, there was outcry against building an exclusive pool club that would likely be unaffordable for most Asbury Park residents. Current neighbors will likely lose access to open space and views. Increased flooding in the Deal Lake area as well as other impacts of climate change have environmentalists concerned about this project.
