Developer will appeal DEP permit denial
Agency says site includes wetlands filled in during '70s
BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

The developer seeking to build an adult residential condominium project on East Main Street, Oceanport, will appeal a permit denial by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) within the next 30 days.

Holiday Oceanport LLC had applied for approval to construct a 36-unit, three-and-a-half story, age-restricted condominium project known as Ocean Creek on a tract along Oceanport Creek where a vacant restaurant currently stands.

The applicant received final site plan approval from the borough Planning Board on May 10, according to the applicant's attorney, Edward J. McKenna Jr., Red Bank, who said the project has been held up because the DEP failed to approve an environmental permit needed to proceed with the construction.

On May 25, the DEP denied an application from Holiday Oceanport for approval under the Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act to continue with the proposed project, according to the denial from the DEP.

On Monday, McKenna said that Oceanport Holdings plans to revisit the components of the project with the DEP sometime this month.

"We will see if there is a viable alternative that will satisfy the DEP and [Holiday Oceanport]," said McKenna. "The DEP had earlier indicated that they were going to approve the project. Now we need to meet with the DEP. Once we meet, we will have a better idea," McKenna added.

According to the denial, in its application, Holiday Oceanport proposed to legalize 279 square feet of existing fill material within an area that was formerly flowed by the tide and was also mapped coastal wetlands.

The denial states, "In reviewing the applicable aerial photography, it appears that a larger area (approximately 11,000 square feet) of mapped coastal wetlands had been filled sometime between the years of 1971 and 1977.

"The extent of this area is very difficult to quantify based on the aerial photography, but well exceeds that which the applicant is trying to legalize."

The permit approval would have granted the applicant permission for regulated activities on tidally flowed waterways and areas adjacent to water bodies, according to the application on file at the planning office.

The denial states, "The applicant has not shown that the project could reasonably be designed and constructed to avoid the wetland area if it were restored. Although the subject site is currently developed, it may be possible to redesign and construct the proposed development to avoid the wetland area if it were not restored."

The principal in Holiday Oceanport is Thomas Ruane of Totowa.

Plans for the project called for razing the existing restaurant and constructing the condominium complex which would accommodate residents ages 55 and older, according to the application.

The applicant also received approval from the board for a height variance to exceed the permitted three stories to construct the 3.5 story project, according to Planning Board Secretary Stephanie Smeltzer.

The plan called for a ground-level enclosed parking lot standing a half-story high, according to Smeltzer, who said the remaining three stories would each contain 12 condominium housing units.

The project engineer is Maser Consulting, Red Bank.