City: Hotel project will keep public beach access
Access point, booth will be operated by Ocean Place resort
BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH - Public access to the beach at the Ocean Place hotel will continue as part of a redevelopment agreement for a multimillion-dollar hotel/resort project on the oceanfront, according to a city official.

The agreement approved by the City Council calls for the redevelopers of the Ocean Place Resort & Spa to maintain a staff of lifeguards and a ticket booth at the beach area bordering the Ocean Boulevard site, according to City Business Administrator Howard H. Woolley.

"It will be a public access point," said Woolley in an interview this week. "It will operate as a place for the public to access the beach, as well as patrons of the hotel.

"If someone has a city beach badge, they will be allowed to go on the beach there," Woolley said, adding that the cost to access the beach at the hotel will be compliant with beach fees established by the city and charged at city public access points.

Woolley further explained that the redevelopment agreement with Ocean Place Development is consistent with the contract the city entered into with the developers of the original hotel on the site.

"This is the same language in the agreement that the city entered into with Gem Holdings, who built the [original] hotel back in 1988," Woolley said.

"In order to get the [original] hotel built there, the city agreed to allow the developers to operate a booth at the beach," Woolley said, adding, "It is and will be a public access point."

At the Aug. 14 municipal meeting, the City Council unanimously adopted resolution 228-07 to make "minor amendments" to the redevelopment agreement for the hotel/campus redevelopment zone, which was adopted earlier this month.

One such amendment came at the request of Councilman Brian Unger.

"A request was made by a council member to make the redeveloper's rights with respect to beach use and access specifically subject to the Public Trust Doctrine," the resolution states.

Unger said he asked that language referring to the Public Trust Doctrine be included in the redevelopment agreement.

The Public Trust Doctrine is an historical concept relating to the public ownership, protection and use of natural resources such as the beach, according to Unger.

"I want it to be recognized that the city and the hotel would adhere to and respect the Public Trust Doctrine," Unger said.

In the past, Unger explained, the beach area bordering the property of the hotel has operated as a public access point along the beach.

"At times, though, it may be made to look like it is just for hotel guests," Unger said, adding, " I think it is fine, as long as anyone can go on the beach and is paying the standard fee. [The developers of the hotel] do maintain a private entrance to the public beach. And anybody can go on the beach there and pay the same amount charged by the city," he said.

The City Council approved the redeveloper's agreement at a special meeting Aug. 7, authorizing Ocean Place Development to construct a $500 million mixed-use development project along the waterfront.

The agreement allows the redevelopers to provide access over or under the boardwalk by an elevated overpass or tunnel for general public access, as well as use by hotel guests, residents and tenants of the project, according to the agreement.

Under the agreement, the city also agrees to not construct any structures over the ground-level promenade bordering the project, except for gazebos and comfort stations.

There were no comments from the public.

The multiuse redevelopment project calls for the construction of an additional hotel tower, parking garages and residential and retail space on the 8-acre site. A key point in the plan is to relocate the hotel's current conference center, which intersects Broadway, in order to open the roadway all the way to the water.

The developers have also committed a $20 million cash payment toward the construction of the estimated $65 million Millennium Pier to be built in the Pier Village Redevelopment zone, which borders the hotel property.

At the municipal meeting, council also unanimously adopted ordinance 29-07 to authorize a land swap between the city and the designated redevelopers of the Pier Village redevelopment zone.

As part of the land exchange, the city will gain 0.93 acres of vacant land from Melrose Terrace to Laird Street in order to create a continuous bike and pedestrian pathway along Ocean Boulevard.

Developer Applied Development Co. will receive 0.61 acres of city-owned vacant land already located in the redevelopment zone to be used to expand a proposed parking garage for the redevelopment project.