Waterfront Apartment Proposal Rejected By Toms River Planning Board

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River Planning Board rejected a proposal for a five-story, 64-apartment building with retail space in downtown Toms River on Tuesday night.

The 7-2 vote to deny approval of the project proposed by Waterfront Development Partners LLC came after about 90 minutes of testimony in a hearing that had been ordered by Ocean County Superior Court Judge Francis Hodgson Jr. in September.

The development group, led by Mark Tress, has twice filed in court to force Toms River to act on the project. On March 1, Hogdson ruled the application was complete and had to be heard by the planning board. Testimony on the application was heard on July 3, but a second hearing that had been set for Aug. 7 was canceled to make room for a special meeting of the Toms River Township Council.

Robert Shea, the attorney for Waterfront Development Partners, sought court intervention a second time, saying the planning board had exceeded the statutory time to hear the application and that automatic approval should be granted.

In that Aug. 14 filing, Shea contended Toms River planning officials had dragged their feet deliberately from January onward on the application, which was filed in November 2023.

Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick, who made the motion to deny the application Tuesday night, said during discussion on the parking requirements that the proposed project didn't conform to the underlying zone.

Shea countered, saying the project does comply with the area's zoning, which was changed under the downtown redevelopment ordinance, which created "village" zoning, and said that had been signed off on by the township's planner, Christine Winter.

Rodrick also argued the application is required to have a redeveloper's agreement in place before it was heard because the site of the proposed apartment building — at the corner of Irons and West Water streets — falls into the downtown redevelopment area defined by ordinances passed in 2021.

Those ordinances are slated to be repealed Wednesday night at the Toms River Township Council meeting.

Shea argued at the start of Tuesday's hearing that Rodrick and assistant township attorney Peter Pascarella, who also sits on the Planning Board, should have recused themselves because they would be involved in negotiating the redeveloper agreement.

Shea also said Waterfront Development Partners had requested a redeveloper's agreement from Toms River officials and were never provided the documents.

"Five months later I'm still waiting for it," Shea said.

In the August court filing, Shea wrote that Waterfront Development Partners had requested the draft agreement multiple times dating back to March 6.

"I need to see it to see if it is reasonable," Shea said Tuesday night. He reiterated that he believed Rodrick and Pascarella should not be sitting on the application because of their role in the redeveloper agreement negotiations.

"The planning board is the mayor's board and this is the mayor's seat," Rodrick said. "I'm not conflicted in my seat, this is my seat."

Their exchange can be heard beginning at the 20-minute mark of the video of the meetingpublished on YouTube by Paul Williams.

After the meeting, Rodrick reiterated his arguments in a text message, saying a redeveloper's agreement being in place before the planning board could hear the project is a requirement of state law.

Rodrick also said the proposed building did not conform to underlying zoning, which he said only allows four stories and requires more parking spaces per apartment.

"We met with Shea and his client and they were unwilling to negotiate," Rodrick said in the text.

Shea did not comment on the application's rejection beyond saying more litigation would be filed.