Approvals, permits already in place for Tradewinds project
Plan for putting
houses on property
OK’d 14 years ago
By sherry conohan
Staff Writer

For members of the Tradewinds Beach Club in Sea Bright, it’s a real bummer.

A plan for converting the beach club and adjacent nightclub into a development of 20 single-family homes was presented informally to the Planning Board on July 8, and the applicant has asked to proceed to a formal hearing, preferably at a special meeting before the regular August meeting.

Richard B. Stone, lawyer for the applicant, the partnership, 1331 Ocean Avenue, Sea Bright Associates, said before the presentation that he didn’t know whether the beach club would be open or closed next summer.

"We have not made a decision on that," he said. "Right now the Tradewinds is a very fine family facility. We’re going to see how the approval process goes."

Stone told the Planning Board that his law partner, Frank J. Mandia, was a principal in the proposed project. The law firm is located in Neptune.

The property was given approval from the Planning Board for a use variance to permit residential development on June 13, 1988. On Dec. 19, 1989, it received preliminary site plan approval from the board for construction of 22 single-family luxury homes. The property has also received a Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) permit, which is valid until Feb. 7, 2007.

Stone said it seemed like only yesterday when he last appeared before the Planning Board on the Tradewinds proposal, but it was 13 years ago.

"But things being as they were, the economics and such, we were unable to go forward," he said.

He said the applicant now wants to move forward with a 20-lot subdivision.

Stone told the board it had not been decided whether the property would be sold simply as lots or the applicant would build the houses.

He was accompanied to the meeting by a builder, who he said was considering participating in the project. The builder later identified himself as John Mattaliano of Colts Neck.

Stone was also accompanied by Jim Higgins, a planner; Peter Avakian, an engineer and planner; and Peter Carton, a lawyer who came to address title issues.

Stone said the development was envisioned as an upscale community with some similarities to homes in Bay Head, Mantoloking, Sea Girt and Spring Lake. He showed the board a plan depicting houses on the lots but said that was not likely to be the final plan that would be submitted.

He talked in terms of houses costing $1.5 million to $3 million.

One board member expressed concern that the homes would all look alike, while another board member worried there would be so much of a difference in appearance between them that it would be disconcerting.

Stone said they would be similar in design, but not identical.

"You’re not going to have row houses," he said.

Stone said that even after the property is developed, there would be public access to the beach over the sea wall. He said the CAFRA permit requires it.

The public is entitled to use the beach up to the mean high tide line, he noted.

Avakian said the public access would be provided in the middle of the property, with six lots to the south and five lots to the north that abut the sea wall. They would be separated from lots on the Ocean Avenue side by a one-way road, 30 feet wide, running north and south through the project.

He said each lot would have two parking spaces, and an additional 22 parking spaces would be available on the westerly side of the road.

Asked if the road would be private or maintained by the town, Avakian said it was designed to be a town road with curbing, drainage and the like.

"Normally, the roadway is a municipal issue," he said.

In response to questions from Mayor Gregory Harquail, Stone said there would be no sidewalks, and utilities would be placed underground.

Avakian said in addition to the 20-lot subdivision, there are four lots on the east side of the sea wall. Stone said these are envisioned to be held by a homeowners association, similar to a condominium organization.

Stone also said each house will have a two-car garage.

Avakian said the property consists of six acres. He said it has 875 feet of frontage on Ocean Avenue and is 300 feet deep from highway to sea wall.

His plan shows lots 75 feet wide by 123 to 130 feet deep.

All setback requirements would be complied with by the houses, he added. He said they also would try to comply to the borough ordinance provision that limits building height to no more than 35 feet from the crown of the road.

Avakian said that whereas the site is 99 percent impervious now with the beach club, nightclub and parking lot, that will be reduced by 60 percent to only 39 percent impervious with the construction of the homes.

"So you’re going to get a tremendous increase in the site’s ability to retain water," he said. "The green [area] on this plan should absorb the water."

Avakian said the landscaping planned, as proscribed by the CAFRA permit, will range from beach plums to American hollies.

Councilman Andrew Mencinsky, who was sitting in the audience, told the board he thought the project would be beneficial to the town. He particularly liked the reduction in impervious surface, saying that would be a big benefit.

Mencinsky suggested, however, that, given the rising sea, the board require the base floor in the homes be 10 or 11 feet off the ground, instead of 9 feet.

The one request that Lance Cunningham, the Planning Board chairman had, was that Stone bring a rendering showing what the houses will look like when he returns with a formal application for site plan approval.

"We really want to know what this is going to look like," he said. "This board wants to see what’s going there, if possible."

Stone replied that the proposal is only "a concept" now.

"I can’t give you building plans," he said. "But we will do the best we can to make that formal presentation as acceptable as possible."