By DON STINE
Ocean Township will move some of its municipal offices into a renovated building near the William F. Larkin golf course and the entry road there will be named after Warren Goode, now president of the Board of Adjustment.
“Warren is one of those people who has definitely earned this honor. He has volunteered selflessly for 40 years on the Planning Board and zoning board. We want to thank and recognize him for contributing so much over these years,” Mayor Christopher Siciliano said.
The entrance will be named Warren Goode Way and is part of a township campaign to recognize longtime volunteer public servants.
The township demolished part of the 10,000-square-foot building, next to the William F. Larkin golf course in the Wanamassa section, to pave the way for future uses of the building. The building, which is now 5,000-square-feet and on a 1.3-acre site next to an upper pond of Deal Lake, was formerly a church and an office building. Ocean Township purchased the building, at 1001 Wickapecko Dr., several years ago for approximately $500,000 with the intent of making it an integral part of the golf course, with a recreation room and a pro-shop.
But Siciliano said plans changed based on the needs of the township and the zoning and Planning Board offices need more space.
“Storage for archives is one of our biggest problems. There are a lot of big surveys, plans and applications that need to be housed and we always need to move people around into better offices,” he said.
He said the new space vacated at the municipal buildings may become shared offices or house the housing department. The moves are planned for some time this year.
Money to purchase the building came from a developer’s impact fee imposed on an additional 85 condominiums added to the Nobility Crest project in the Wayside section. The impact fee is created when a developer cannot provide recreational uses on their own site.
Previous owners had proposed creating an adult medical daycare facility there- a move that concerned nearby residents.
