Coaster Photo
A view of the currently vacant site of the 1201 Memorial Drive apartment building proposed in Asbury Park.
By PAT MCDANIEL
A proposal for a Memorial Drive apartment building, which includes a percentage of affordable housing units, is now one step closer to reality after action by the Asbury Park City Council.
The council, at its June 26 meeting, adopted an ordinance to give the 1201 Memorial Drive project – located between Fourth and Fifth avenues – redevelopment designation.
And at the same time, the council passed a resolution asking the Planning Board to review the possibility of a second access point into the proposed 126-unit apartment building along Fifth Avenue – access in addition to the Fourth Avenue access proposed by the developer.
The vote was 3-2 in favor of the redevelopment ordinance, with Mayor John Moor and Councilmember Angela Ahbez-Anderson voting against it.
The ordinance, which had its formal public hearing at the meeting, was already the topic of much comment at past meetings from residents of Fourth and Fifth avenues who are concerned about the impact of both extra traffic and increased parking along adjacent residential streets.
The apartments would front on Memorial Drive, just west of the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast Line railway tracks.
The project calls for studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, with a total of 132 parking spaces, raising concern that occupants might have two cars and will need to find off-site parking.
The project by Douglas Development, Washington, DC, now calls for some retail spaces on the ground floor and the scale of the building appears lower, with a fifth story set back from the face of the structure, the developer’s architect said at a previous meeting.
Twenty percent of the units would be designated for affordable housing, developers noted.
And many members of the public – including residents near the proposed apartments – expressed their support of having more affordable housing units in the city and of expanding the area’s diversity.
Several housing experts, including a representative of Coastal Habitat for Humanity, gave presentations earlier in the meeting about how the need for affordable housing in the area far outweighs the number of units available.
But residents continued to express a lot of doubts about how their neighborhood will be affected by this particular project.
Eric Galipo, a resident of Fifth Avenue, lives in his family home right next door to the site – which he said is an undeveloped “dust pit” currently.
So he said he welcomes development there – but it has to be done with the “best outcome” in mind:
Residents “deserve the best outcome, not just a good enough outcome,” Galipo, himself an urban planner and a member of the city Planning Board, told the council.
He and other speakers are concerned about access to the site. In general, residents say they would like to see access on Memorial Drive, with north and south bicycle lanes moved to the east side of Memorial Drive.
At a meeting June 12, the developer’s traffic engineer recommended one access point on Fourth Avenue, where a traffic light is to be installed later this year at Memorial Drive.
That was a big concern for residents who say there is too much traffic – that goes too fast – on that street and cross streets such as Langford.
In a resolution the council approved earlier in the meeting before the public hearing on the redevelopment ordinance, it is asking the Planning Board to review the possibility of another access point to the development from Fifth Avenue.
Resolution 2024-346 amends the redevelopment plan for the site after hearing “extensive public comments regarding the location of the building’s required access on Fourth Avenue.”
“After hearing those comments, the city finds it is appropriate to also permit access to the site on Fifth Avenue,” the resolution states.
The city Planning Board will make a report in 45 days from the referral containing its recommendation, the resolution says.
But the fact that there is no consideration of a Memorial Drive access point was a disappointment to residents of the area who appeared at the meeting.
Galipo said that the Planning Board will have “zero power” to make any changes to the redevelopment plan.
But Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn said city professionals and an independent traffic engineer found Memorial Drive access the least favorable option because of the heavy traffic there – 8,000 to 10,000 cars a day.
“Memorial remained a concern from the very beginning of this project,” Quinn said.
She said the 1201 Memorial project’s density is one way to bring more affordable housing to the city, a “carrot” – or incentive – for developers to build inclusionary housing.
