By Kenny Walter
Staff Writer
LONG BRANCH- Despite concerns over a lack of parking, the Long Branch Planning Board has approved a plan for 12 residential units above two retail units on Brighton Avenue, replacing a mixed-use building that was destroyed by a fire in 2012.
During the Feb. 16 meeting, the board approved the proposal and granted a parking variance after developers scaled down the original plan for 12 two-bedroom residential units to four one-bedroom units and eight two-bedroom units.
“We’ve been slaving over that since the last meeting as to what direction we wanted to go with,” Thomas Hirsch, the attorney representing Emgee Realty LLC, said. “The critical issue was the question of parking, obviously we have no parking.
“We didn’t envision making four less bedrooms to be a very strong impact on parking. I think everyone would like to see this section of West End come back again, instead of having a field of grass there.”
Martin Grubman, principal of Emgee Realty LLC, requested that the board carry his application for 57-61 Brighton Avenue on Jan. 19 to revise plans after an unofficial tally of board members revealed a 4-4 split as to whether they would approve the project.
Several buildings, including Grubman’s, who has owned the building since the 1980’s, were wiped out by a fire in 2012.
Under state law, because mixed-use developments were not previously a permitted use in the zone, Grubman was unable to rebuild without a use variance. However, in 2015, the city amended the zoning in West End, which enabled the project to move forward without a use variance.
During a lengthy discussion regarding parking, the board pointed out both the need to bring a development to the area to attract people to businesses, as well as the hardship of bringing more vehicles to an area already starved for parking.
Despite the concern, the board approved the project with an 8-1 vote.
“I think this applicant has worked very hard, under very difficult circumstances to get back what he had,” board member Mark Smiga said.
According to Hirsch, the developer attempted to provide parking but was unable to reach an agreement with neighboring property owners to come up with a shared parking plan.
He also said the parking issue is something that has always been attached to the property.
“The parking demands of this building are less than the parking demands of the building that was destroyed,” Hirsch said. “We have a hardship, we realize what we are asking for, but this is what was there.”
Hirsch said despite being unable to provide parking in the current plan, he said the developer is willing to work with the city or property owners in the future if a situation arises where they could provide parking.
“In the future, if something changes, we are more than happy to find parking,” he said. “It’s not something we are opposed to, we are more than happy to do it, we tried.”
Last April, the City Council voted to amend zoning ordinances to create a C-3 West End Overlay District and permit both institutional and residential uses on the second floor of retail buildings in the zone.
The new zoning also permits mixed-use development that is now prohibited in West End.
The ordinance change came after a series of contentious hearings on the Chabad of the Shore’s proposal to convert the vacant West End movie theater into a Jewish community center.
Attorney Scott Kelly, who has an office in West End, filed a lawsuit in 2015, charging the city engaged unlawfully in spot zoning by amending zoning ordinances to add religious uses to the conditional uses permitted in the West End zone.