By KENNY WALTER
Staff Writer
LONG BRANCH — A developer has proposed a four-unit townhouse in Beachfront North on the site of a nearly century-old single-family house.
Representatives of Tyler Homes presented plans during the Feb. 23 Workshop meeting for the four-unit development at 78 Ocean Terrace.
“Currently there exists a single-family, Cape Cod-style home that is probably 90 years old,” Tyler Homes Vice President George Brandt said. “We’re proposing the development of four townhomes on the property with eight parking spots to the rear of the project.”
Each unit will include three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, as well as two parking spaces allocated for each unit. The project also includes four street parking spaces.
The property is located in the city’s MTOTSA (Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace, Seaview Avenue) neighborhood, part of Beachfront North, one of the city’s six redevelopment zones.
Under the original redevelopment plan for the Beachfront North II zone, the city intended to obtain large swaths of properties through eminent domain, and designated Matzel & Mumford and the Applied Development Co., Hoboken, as developers.
However, property owners in the second phase of Beachfront North sued the city over the use of eminent domain. Long Branch eventually agreed to eliminate the threat of eminent domain, and some property owners signed an agreement to not continue the litigation.
City attorney James Aaron said this project is a direct result of the previous settlement.
“This is part of the settlement that came out of the MTOTSA litigation where property owners were able to develop certain properties to a certain extent pursuant to a settlement that was issued,” Aaron said.
Aaron also said city planner Pratap Talwar will need to sign off on the proposal before the developer can seek redevelopers status and ultimately submit a redevelopment plan.
Since the 2009 settlement, at least three property owners have come forward with smaller scale redevelopment plans.
In 2011, resident Rita Milano, principal at Debree LLC, received approval to develop her 69 Ocean Terrace property into six townhouse units.
In 2010, the city approved a five-home project on a Seaview Avenue property acquired by Matzel & Mumford, a K. Hovnanian company, and in 2012 two property owners and professionals presented plans to redevelop a multifamily home on Ocean Terrace.
