'I can't do anything': Keansburg luxury Baypoint project makes smaller owners feel ignored

David Wellington owns two properties on Myrtle Avenue in Keansburg. One is an unoccupied bungalow that he had raised and renovated. The other is a vacant after he tore its bungalow down with a goal of building a bigger house.

He needs variances to proceed, but since the summer, both projects are on hold over questions from the borough’s planning board about whether the properties have merged.

“I pay two different tax bills; how can the properties be merged?” said Wellington, who lives in Bloomfield. “So now I’m sitting here month to month and I can’t do anything.”

Last month, when Wellington saw news of the Keansburg Amusement Park’s owner suing the borough to prevent the loss of a parking lot for a massive redevelopment project, a lightbulb went on in his head.

“It’s not just me,” Wellington said.

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The two problems are vastly different in scope, but they shine a light on the pangs of change that are rippling through Keansburg as stakeholders try to take advantage of a hot housing market to remake a hardscrabble waterfront borough.

“I’ve never seen anything like this here,” Keansburg historian and longtime resident Edward Balyk said. “I do want to see development, but it’s exploding.”

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Finding the right balance

To Gary Forshner, a land-use attorney based in South Amboy and an adjunct professor at Monmouth University’s Kislak Real Estate Institute, Keansburg is executing a well-worn playbook.

“What you’re seeing in Keansburg is not novel in the state of New Jersey, particularly in communities that have a number of natural resources like Keansburg, notably with regard to the waterfront,” he said.

“Finding the right balance — different types of housing, different types of commercial use — is absolutely critical," Forshner said. "What you’re seeing is Keansburg pursuing that kind of balance.”

The Baypoint redevelopment project that is going up just west of the beachfront Keansburg Amusement Park involves plans for 700 luxury apartment units and 45,000 square feet of restaurant, entertainment and retail space. Park owner Hank Gehlhaus is concerned that borough officials are going to use Baypoint “to squeeze me out,” starting with the loss of parking. Mayor George Hoff said that is not the intention.

Elsewhere throughout town, houses are being sold, rebuilt and resold for eye-popping prices. Balyk, who lives on Cottage Place, said new houses are shooting up “like weeds in a field” and selling for upwards of $500,000.

“There’s one house near mine, five years ago it sold for $39,000,” he said. “You know what they’re asking now? For $375,000. The prices are beyond shocking.”

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When the market is strong, Forshner said, the time is right.

“You may have a wonderful project, but if there’s not a market to support it, it’s not going anywhere,” he said. “Knowledgeable developers will not invest in properties where there’s not a market for the development and, if they were to do so, the project would be a white elephant, eventually causing its own problems, including large vacancy rates.

"The market is a critical component. It’s not always, ‘build it and they will come.’”

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The next Asbury Park?

Keansburg officials have cited Asbury Park’s revival as their model, and Baypoint’s developer Sackman Enterprises did a lot of the work in that city.

Is that a realistic goal?

“There are definitely some commonalities in potential, but the end result is every community is going to be a little bit different,” Forshner said. “Asbury Park is oceanfront whereas this is fronting on the bay, so it’s a bit different. … Having said that, there’s a lot of common potential.”

One troubling thing for Keansburg, Forshner said, is its reduction in population over the past several decades. According to Census figures, it topped out at just over 11,000 in 1990, but has since dropped down to about 9,700.

“That speaks volumes about existing challenges, often leading to vacancies, blight and falling property values," he said. "Redevelopment brings in opportunities that reverse these trends and I applaud Keansburg for their efforts in that regard.”

But as he notes, the first step is the hardest.

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Changing the character

David Wellington is feeling the pain. He paid $135,000 to buy one of his Myrtle Avenue houses and $84,000 for the other, put a bunch of work in, and remains in limbo. It didn’t help that last year he had renters living at one of the properties without a certificate of occupancy, but he paid a fine and is ready to turn the page.

He hired an attorney, Richard Sciria, who told the Asbury Park Press a hearing with the planning board for variance relief is going to happen — but has not been scheduled yet. Planning board attorney Kevin Kennedy declined to comment.

“It’s become more of a personal issue now where I stepped out of line because I challenged them,” Wellington said, “so they’re going to try to make it difficult for me until I run out of money and I’m going to sit there with two pieces of property, two pieces of land that I can’t use.”

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Like Gehlhaus, he’s pushing back. They don’t have much in common — besides being landholders in a small town that is attempting transformation.

That initial step, “trying to change the character of a community,” Forshner said, "is the hardest.”

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Keansburg Baypoint luxury development leaves out other landowners