Are five floors one too many in Belmar zone? – Star News Group

BELMAR — Following a lengthy discussion Monday night, the Belmar Planning Board fell short of advising the borough council whether its pending rescission of an amendment to the Seaport Redevelopment Plan would be consistent with the borough’s Master Plan. 

The council had voted to introduce the measure at its April 11 meeting and could vote to approve it following a public hearing at its April 25 meeting. Approval would nullify a controversial element that raised allowable building heights from 52 to 60 feet so that a new building could include a fifth floor, as long as it was set back from the fourth for a more pleasing exterior appearance. 

The prospect of a five-story downtown, described at the time as “way too big” by Councilman Thomas Brennan, helped animate continuing concerns about overdevelopment in Belmar. Following that 2022 amendment vote, Maria Rondinaro, now also a member of the borough council, wrote: “This overdevelopment will risk flooding, overstress our already aging infrastructure and change our community from a beach town to an overdeveloped city like Long Branch.”

The Seaport Redevelopment Plan has already seen multiple revisions through ordinances over the years. Monday’s planning board discussion ended only with a decision to write a letter to the borough council, laying out a series of related concerns but not advising approval or disapproval of the proposed amendment. 

Mayor Gerald Buccafusco described the discussion as “academic,” explaining that his reading of the proposed measure is that it would simply restore a 2018 version of the Seaport Redevelopment Plan that had already been deemed “consistent with the master plan.”

However, planning board members, as well as the board’s attorney, said they could not provide the borough council with a statement as clear as the mayor’s. Instead, the board directed its attorney to write the letter.

“Our role is to identify any consistencies that are there and bring them to mayor and council’s attention,” said board attorney Douglas Kovats. “We don’t approve the ordinance. We don’t vote on the ordinance. We sort of act as the mayor and council’s legislative committee in regards to land use and zoning.”

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