BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer
CHRIS KELLY staff Michelle and Harold Bobrow do not want to lose their beachfront townhouse to redevelopment. The couple has formed a group to advocate for owners of properties in the city’s Beachfront South redevelopment zone. LONG BRANCH –– Michelle Bobrow resides in her home on the Long Branch shore afraid that the city will soon take away what she says was “a dream come true.”
“I grew up [in Belmar] on the Jersey Shore and loved living near the beach,” Bobrow said in an interview last week. “We bought our home in Long Branch because we liked the area and we have been very happy here.
“We would hate to have to surrender it.”
Bobrow and her husband, Harold, bought their home on Ocean Boulevard in 1991, not knowing that in just a few years the area would be designated by the city as the Beachfront South redevelopment zone.
The area is slated for eminent domain, which calls for the approximately 30 properties on the 12-acre tract of land that extends from Bath to Morris avenues between Ocean Boulevard and Ocean Avenue to be razed and replaced with upscale condominiums and townhouses.
“The law has been unfairly interpreted,” Michelle said. “The original purpose of eminent domain was to make the right of way for a railroad.
“Now the law is abused and many communities are taking advantage in a last-minute frenzy of what they interpret [eminent domain] to mean.”
The Bobrows’ home is one unit in a development of six townhouses. They bought their four-story, three-bedroom home because of the “location, location, location,” Michelle said.
“There are decks on the first, second and third floors and ocean views that are irreplaceable,” she said. “We are just 15 minutes away from my mom here and [our home] is right across from the ocean.”
The Bobrows use the home as a second residence, and Michelle said they live in the beachfront home every weekend that they can and sometimes during the week.
It may be secondary to their primary home in Maplewood, where they have lived for the past 35 years, but it is still “our property and our dream,” she said.
Michelle added that if her neighborhood is purchased by the city for redevelopment, the city should treat homeowners who use their Long Branch home as a secondary residence the same way as they would treat a resident who resides in their home as a primary residence.
“If the redevelopment comes to pass and we are forced to sell our homes, those individuals who own their properties should be given no special consideration whether it is a permanent or secondary residence,” she said.
“Just as we are not given special consideration when it comes to taxes and obligations to the city.”
On Aug. 4, K. Hovnanian Shore Acquisitions, Middletown, was designated as redeveloper of the zone. The $300 million project will consist of five buildings with 350 units that will range in size from 1,350 square feet to 3,530 square feet.
The units will be a combination of one- to four-bedroom residences that will range in cost from $400,000 up to more than $2.2 million.
“I believe that home, family, religion and freedom are the building blocks of our society in the United States and that is what differentiates us from other societies,” Harold said.
“Because of that, the government should not be able to take people’s homes to make a developer richer.
“To me, that is morally wrong and that is not what the United States is based on.”
His wife agrees that what the city is doing is an abuse of eminent domain.
“Taking property left and right for what [developers] think is a better use is wrong,” Michelle said. “No homeowner or business owner is exempt and everyone should be frightened.”
According to Harold, his home is not for sale, but Michelle isn’t thinking that far ahead.
“I am concentrating on saving my home,” she said.

