TOMS RIVER – A mixed use development overlooking the river downtown has been officially changed, as the second of two important votes reduced the height of the construction from ten stories to six.
The project contains 3.4 acres on West Water Street, in the area surrounding where the Red Carpet Inn was demolished. The redeveloper, Capodagli Property Company, has plans for ground level retail with apartments overhead.
The project has been controversial. Opponents have said they don’t want the traffic and increased school taxes that would come with hundreds of apartments. Proponents of the plan said that these new residents would be good for business downtown.
Opponents didn’t like height of the plan, and that’s the most significant part that has changed. The old plan was ten stories and the new plan is six stories. However, there is still a very similar number of apartments. The difference is that the newer plan has more studio and one-bedroom apartments and fewer two-bedroom apartments. There is also slightly less retail space.
The plan was approved 6-0 by the Planning Board. Board member David Ciccozzi, a councilman, was out of the country and unable to attend.
A township employee confirmed the changes between the two plans.
The Planning Board had previously approved 285 residential apartment units divided as follows: 44 studios, 141 1-bedroom, 56 2-bedroom, 22 2-bedroom affordable, 1 3-bedroom and 21 3-bedroom affordable.
The new plan has 281 apartments divided as follows: 53 studios, 145 one-bedroom, 38 two-bedroom, 22 two-bedroom affordable, 2 3-bedroom and 21 three-bedroom affordable.
The retail space was reduced from 16,485.57 square feet to 14,731 square feet.
The parking hasn’t changed much. There is still 389 spots in a two-story garage and 22 exterior spaces. The 12 handicapped accessible spaces was reduced to 11.
Robert Shea, an attorney representing the developer, said that the improvements for the public will still be there, such as the amphitheater, boardwalk, and bulkheading on the river.
He said that Capodagli is “very experienced in what they do.” Apartment residents get small vouchers that they can redeem at the stores on the ground level of their complex. The parking garage has security.
The residents tend to be young professionals, he said. There has been dialog with Community Medical Center because there will be 160 rotating students every year and they would want to live close to the hospital.
The redeveloper needs outside agency approval by mid-2024 for an early 2025 date to start construction, he said. The entire build is expected to take 24 months.
Shea noted that the number of affordable units in the development haven’t changed and they are part of the obligation the town needs to provide as part of state regulations.
Opponents of the plan said they didn’t like that the land was purchased for a large amount of money and then sold to Capodagli for a dollar. They also didn’t like that the redeveloper will be paying an amount of money in lieu of paying property taxes over the course of many years. Both of these points will stay the same.
Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill had said that the old hotel cost the town resources because of how often the police were called out for crimes, often drug-related. Getting a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) and being able to have police officers not get tied up at that location is a net positive, he said.
The original plan was approved by the Planning Board two years ago at ten stories. During a messy primary election this year, Hill announced that the plan had been changed to six. This led to questions about why and when the change came about.
Earlier this year, the Township Council had to vote on this new, six-story plan. This is because Capodagli has a redevelopment agreement with the township. Redevelopment is when current buildings are knocked down and something new built on it.
The Council voted 5-2 to approve the new plan, with Councilmen Daniel Rodrick and Justin Lamb voting against it. They had also tried to get a motion going to delay the new plan, but they were outvoted.
When asked about this new change, Rodrick said “The people of Toms River and I have made our opinions well known. There was an opportunity to pull out of this deal a few months ago and the administration extended all of their deadlines and reduced the size of the project to make it more affordable for the developer to build. They will get no such accommodations from my administration and when given the opportunity, we will stop this project.”
Rodrick, a Republican, is running for mayor against Ben Giovine, a Democrat.
“Every decision about the future of development in Toms River must start with listening to our neighbors,” Giovine said. “Tonight, the planning board did just that. While I have strong concerns about future downtown development, this vote and every step ahead must be done with our residents’ input in mind. We need to make sure what makes Toms River a great place to live and raise a family isn’t lost to blind and ceaseless development. We also need a vision for how we make sure that every storefront and current development is used to improve our town. I’m running for mayor because I want to keep what makes our town special alive. I’ll always fight for that and start by listening to our neighbors and not just impulsively saying no.”
