Preliminary plans for redevelopment along Shark River in Neptune call for a hotel, residential units, restaurants, a pier (below) and parking.
By WILLIAM CLARK
The Neptune Township Committee approved a resolution this week entering into a conditional agreement to redevelop the waterfront along Shark River.
The ambitious project would chan
ge forever the landscape along the Shark River which currently features boat slips and just one restaurant on the water.
The preliminary plans set forth by
North Channel Redevelopment, LLC call for residential buildings, a hotel, retail sites and public promenades. The development would replace the current Sunsets restaurant and bar on the river and the Headliner, across the street, with the new construction.
The final project, as proposed, would create 180 market rate residential units, a 100 room hotel, 24,000 square feet of commercial space, and 560 parking spaces.
Plans for the project must be approved by the Planning Board and Board of Adjustment before any construction can move forward.
Neptune Resident Dona Yaser voiced concerns over the height and footprint of both buildings as plans show them towering over nearby businesses and houses. Yaser said there must be traffic studies that go along with any examination.
“If the traffic pattern presented isn’t amended, the increase in car traffic through our smaller streets is going to cause a safety hazard,” Yaser said.
Although the development would be alo
ngside Route 35, a major corridor of the region, traffic spillover onto the smaller roads could prove disastrous, residents believe.
“If this development becomes the successful attraction that you anticipated, new traffic volumes are going to irreparably change the community and the safety of all this in this non-contiguous area of Neptune,” she said.
One site that is currently unaccounted for is the dilapidated America’s Best Value Inn on New York Avenue The site has been a point of consternation for residents of the neighborhood as it has sat vacant since a storm tore through the roof in 2021.
Steve Roberts, who has taken up the ma
ntle for those in the neighborhood displeased with the slow pro
gress concerning the motel, spoke regarding the absence of the motel in the plans.
“We’re going to be going to a fourth summer now with that thing over there,” he said.
Roberts said that he has information regarding the owner’s own plans to redevelop the site but did not go into specifics, but said that the township’s lack of impetus to push t
he owner into action has been noted by he and his neighbors. That idea was echoed by Yaser.
“I think sometimes you can forget we’re down there on the other side of Neptune City,” she said.
