borough
Ordinance will make use conditional in
borough’s R-2 zone
By Sherry conohan
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT — An ordinance to make legal a helipad in a vacant lot just south of McLoone’s Riverside Dining restaurant was expected to come before the Borough Council on Tuesday.
The ordinance got the blessing last week of the Planning/Zoning Board, which had the obligation to review it and which had recommended in its proposed revision of the master plan that the helistop site be made a conditional use in that zone. The revised master plan has not yet been adopted.
The helipad, which is used by John Mulheren, of Rumson, a prominent figure on Wall Street and owner, with his wife Nancy, of the Chapel Beach Club here, was shut down in May by the then-zoning official, Ray DiPasquale, who held that a use variance was needed for its continued operation.
The Borough Council approved use of the helipad on Oct. 15, 1984, but it never came before, or was approved by, the Zoning Board as required by state law. A helipad is not a permitted use in the zone where it is located.
The ordinance the council was to consider makes the helistop a conditional use for the site on the Shrewsbury River across Ocean Avenue from the Sands Beach Club, requires that it have a ground cover of a semi-permeable or permeable character such as gravel or well-watered turf so that a helicopter doesn’t blow up dust, limits flights to four per day, with two landings and two takeoffs, and restricts the hours of operation to 6 a.m. through 10 p.m.
The ordinance also prohibits the maintenance or fueling of helicopters at the site, or storage of fuels or helicopter parking or storage. It also requires a fence of not less than 4 feet in height around three sides of the property.
A public hearing on the ordinance was scheduled for Tuesday night, which was to be followed by a vote on final passage.
The property where the helipad is located is owned by Rozinante Inc., which also owns the Sands Beach Club. John and Gail Chimento are each 50 percent owners of Rozinante.
DiPasquale issued a cease and desist order to stop the helicopter flights, which he said would remain in effect until such time as the Planning/Zoning Board reviewed and approved a use variance application.
"As we understand the current zoning conditions on the property, a formal use variance has not been obtained to operate this type of facility," he wrote in a letter to John Chimento conveying the cease and desist order. "In order to clarify the zoning issues associated with the use, it is our position that a specific use variance must be obtained to continue the current operations."
Michael Leckstein, the attorney who subsequently filed an application for the use variance with the board, claimed the operation of the helipad is vital to the borough’s emergency management program.
"It’s a pre-existing non-conforming use authorized by the mayor and council and has been in continual use for almost 20 years," he wrote.
The initial request for the helipad nearly 20 years ago was made by Michael O’Shea, a borough resident and friend of Mulheren who would ride to New York in the helicopter with him.
Mayor Gregory W. Harquail said at the time the cease and desist order was issued in May that the helipad is now primarily used by Mulheren, who owns the helicopter, and members of his family.
The Borough Council tried to create a helicopter zone two and a half years ago. An ordinance passed by the council on Nov. 21, 2000, established a "helistop" to be used only to pick up and discharge helicopter passengers and only between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., with no more than four flights a day, except in cases of emergencies. That ordinance was quickly rescinded three months later on Feb. 20, 2001. The ordinance repealing it said the borough did not "strictly adhere" to the notice and procedural requirements placed on a municipality when amending its zoning ordinances as it had done Nov. 21.
Asked in March of this year, when the issue of the helipad was initially brought up to the council by Jim LoBiondo, owner of the Surfrider Beach Club, what the deficiency was in that 2000 ordinance, Arnette said Sea Bright had failed to notify neighboring municipalities within a certain distance — namely Rumson and Ocean Township, which own islands in the Shrewsbury River — of its establishment of a helistop.
"That’s why I advised the council that the appropriate course of action is to rescind," he said.