Save Barnegat Bay is objecting to a proposal to put 62 condos a restaurant and an upgraded marina at Traders Cove Marina, at the foot of the Mantoloking Bridge. Victory is possible on this issue. Read about a success we have had in Superior Court. See how you can help. See plot plan of the Traders Cove proposal.
February 10, 2002
Mr. Mark Mauriello
Land Use Regulation Program
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
PO Box 439
Trenton, NJ 08625
Re: CAFRA application for 62 residential units, a restaurant, and marina improvements at Traders Cove in Brick Township.
Dear Mark,
I am writing on behalf of Save Barnegat Bay, which is supported by more than 1200 families annually, to express our strong objection to the proposed development of the current Traders Cove site in Brick Township. Please enter this letter into the record of this application as soon as the Department assigns it a number.
We have a large number of objections to this proposal, some of which are as follows:
1 – It is an incompatible and excessively intense land use in relation to the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, to which it is immediately contiguous.
2 – Residential units are not a waterfront dependent use.
3 – The proposed housing is too dense: if you take out the marina and restaurant, it comes to roughly eight units per acre, which to us seems very unreasonable near the waterfront.
4 – It is in an area prone to flooding.
5 – In our view the units are too tall (thirty-five feet), both esthetically and as a neighbor to wildlife habitat.
6 – As the only attached waterfront housing in Brick Township of which we are aware, this use would be incompatible with all surrounding neighborhoods.
7 – The project would create runoff from a site at which water presently seeps into the ground. It would thereby increase pollution to Barnegat Bay.
8 – This development would disturb immediately adjacent roosting habitat for night herons.
9 – It would put a large amount of traffic onto Mantoloking Road, which already suffers from unreasonable traffic.
10 – The site exists at what is about to become a blind curve in Mantoloking Road once the new bridge goes in.
11 – As evidenced by the presence of large boat molds, this was the site of a major boat building operation in the past. As such it we ask (A) that the Department investigate the applicability of ECRA, (B) ) that the Department investigate the applicability of ISRA, and (C) that an independent analysis of onsite pollution performed.
12 – This would be a private development on one of the last remaining sites available for public access to the waterfront.
13 – Insofar as we are aware, the application does not reveal the identity of the principals of the corporate entity making this application, which makes it impossible for the public to have confidence that the process is uncorrupted by inside political connections.
No one except developers wants the shore to become more urban. We are counting on the Department to vindicate the public’s desire for CAFRA to maintain and to protect the natural character of the coast, rather than turn it into a city.
We request that we be advised in a timely manner of any changes in the status of this application.
We hereby formally request that a public hearing be held on this CAFRA application, in Brick Township and on a weekday evening.
We thank you for your careful attention to this environmentally deleterious proposal.
Sincerely,
William deCamp, Jr., President
Save Barnegat Bay
cc: Michele Donato, Esq.
See Plot Plan of the Traders Cove proposal.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
– Write to Freeholder Director John Bartlett asking that the site be purchased for a County Park (PO Box 2191, Toms River, NJ 08754).
– Write to DEP Commissioner Brad Campbell asking that a CAFRA permit not be granted (NJDEP, PO Box 402, Tenton, NJ 08608-0402).
Read May 26 Asbury Park Press update.
