BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT — As the luxurious beachfront homes of the new Tradewinds subdivision rise where a nightclub and swim complex bearing the same name once stood, so too will the crumbling dividing wall between the new residences and Sea Bright Village be restored.
It’s just a matter of when, according to Peter Lang, head of Sea Bright Village’s board of trustees the group that called on Tradewinds builder Kara Homes of East Brunswick to repair the cracked and crumbling concrete block wall.
“We’re in negotiations,” Lang said.
Two representatives of the developer agreed to submit plans for how to refurbish, strengthen and enhance the appearance of the nearly 4-foot-high wall when they met with Lang, Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams and council President Maria Fernandes on Sept. 13 at the Cecile Norton Community Center.
Both Phil Maconi, the onsite project manager for the Tradewinds project, and Tom Gough, an engineer who is Kara’s vice president of construction and land development, suggested ways to fix the deteriorating wall, according to both Lang and Fernandes.
Sea Bright Village residents claim that the wall has sustained damage through the impact of demolition and building associated with the new homes as well as heavy-duty construction truck traffic turning from Ocean Avenue onto Tradewinds Drive.
One of the construction vehicles even struck the corner of the wall closest to Ocean Avenue as it tried to negotiate a turn into the building site, according to Barbara Compton, another member of Sea Bright Village’s board who enlisted the borough’s support in helping to deal with the developer.
“[Maconi and Gough] said they would come up with some drawings for our review,” Lang said.
Kara Homes will bring in an architect and a landscaper to make the divider more aesthetically pleasing, he added.
The developer was also advised to submit a letter to Sea Bright Village’s board of trustees giving full details of how repairs and improvements would be carried out. A copy of that same letter is also to be forwarded to the mayor’s office, Fernandes explained.
The board of trustees of the 62-unit complex along Sandpiper Drive and Kara’s representatives will more than likely iron out a remedy for the wall between themselves, the council president noted.
“Hopefully, they’ll resolve their issues,” Fernandes said.
Kalaka-Adams agreed.
“[Kara Homes] is in the process of getting back to us ,” the mayor said. “Hopefully, they will be able to tell us what is going to happen with the wall.”
Two multistory, homes measuring between 12,400 and 12,600 square feet each are planned for two spaces adjacent to the wall, Kara’s printed brochures show.
The two representatives indicated that the developer might choose to wait until those homes are completed before dealing with the wall repairs, Lang said.
Kara Homes’ management did not return calls seeking comment by press time.
Altogether, Kara’s printed materials show that 20 homes are to be constructed in the new development along Tradewinds Drive and accessible from the east side of Ocean Avenue. Print real estate advertising states that the prices of those homes start at $4.6 million.
The 31-year-old Sea Bright Village, a complex of attached units also accessible from the east side of Ocean Avenue lies to the north of Tradewinds. Those units are owner-occupied, according to Compton.
The concrete wall shielded Sea Bright Village from the original Tradewinds nightclub and swimming complex, a once-thriving enterprise, that was razed to make way for the Kara Homes development.