Asbury Park planning director walks council through waterfront redevelopment rules; residents press Main Street vacancies and affordable housing needs

Michelle Alonso, Asbury Park director of planning and redevelopment, gave the City Council a step-by-step presentation on the city's redevelopment process and the specific rules that apply to the waterfront redevelopment area.

Alonso told the council the Waterfront Redevelopment Area has been governed by a redevelopment plan in effect since February 2002 and has been amended over time. She said the plan sets maximum building heights for individual lots (with many interior lot centers capped at three or four stories and many edges capped at eight stories) and a blanket density cap for the waterfront: "no more than 3,164 residential units can be built in the waterfront," she said. Alonso also described a blanket CAFRA (Coastal Area Facility Review Act) permit that applies to the waterfront and said developers east of Memorial Drive proposing more than 24 units must apply to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for CAFRA compliance.

The presentation explained the legal and contractual structure that shapes waterfront projects. Alonso said the city has a long-term redeveloper agreement with a master developer, Asbury Partners, and noted that Asbury Partners has ceded development rights for the boardwalk area to "MAS and Marquette." She said the master redeveloper agreement requires both parties to agree to amendments to the redevelopment plan and that subsequent redevelopers (Toll Brothers, K. Hovnanian, Pulte, and others, she said) typically negotiate "subsequent redeveloper's agreements" with the city.

Alonso outlined common provisions the city negotiates in those agreements: workforce development and local hiring outreach, timelines and phasing, green-building requirements (the council has asked that waterfront buildings meet the equivalent of LEED Silver), affordable-housing payments or on-site units, public art and other community benefits. She said the waterfront plan usually requires 1.5 parking spaces per residential unit and that developers must still provide required parking even when they borrow unused density from other lots.

Alonso described the financing mechanics used for waterfront infrastructure. She said the city and the master developer entered a special assessment agreement tied to a 30-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) formula; the special assessment pays for infrastructure in the waterfront and is billed to properties in the waterfront as a separate line item on tax bills. She also listed state and regulatory approvals developers must obtain before building: CAFRA compliance letters, FEMA flood-plain approvals (she said CAFRA now requires raising the height of a structure if it is in a FEMA flood plain), a Sewer Treatment Works application for large projects, sewer connection fees, and review by the Freehold Soil Conservation District.

Alonso said the CAFRA permit created a technical review committee (TRC) that advises the municipal council on waterfront redevelopment and is distinct from the planning board. The TRC is composed largely of licensed professionals and sometimes includes representatives from state agencies; it issues a report to the governing body after a developer's conceptual submission. After TRC review and a council workshop, the developer proceeds to negotiate a subsequent redeveloper agreement and then to the planning board for site- and design-level review.

Members of the public used the council's public-participation period to connect the presentation to local concerns. Regina Flemming of Eighth Avenue asked whether Main Street is a redevelopment area; Alonso confirmed that Main Street is a redevelopment area. Flemming said she had observed long-term "coming soon" signs, vacant storefronts and some businesses relocating to Belmar, and asked who is responsible for curating Main Street and enforcing property conditions. Alonso said the city balances regulatory tools and incentives, noting programs such as the Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) and the limits of enforcement without a financial incentive: "We cannot force an owner to take care of their structural issues unless we're giving a financial incentive," she said, and encouraged an offline conversation about specifics.

Terry Edelstein, a volunteer with local housing organizations, urged the council to accelerate affordable housing efforts. Alonso said there are projects in the pipeline and cited an upcoming planning board application this month that will include 20% affordable housing; she also described the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund for non-waterfront projects and said redevelopment-area affordable-housing provisions differ from the waterfront's separate rules.

The council took a package of routine measures at the meeting. Minutes for the council's March 26, 2025, executive-session and regular meeting were approved with Council member Beza Anderson recorded as abstaining. The council approved multiple consent-agenda resolutions covering contracts and routine purchases, including renewal of storage-unit leases, sanitary-truck replacement for the Department of Public Works, pest-control services, and a change order for a boardwalk decking replacement project. The council also authorized the Asbury Park UEZ coordinator to apply for enterprise-zone assistance funds for a public-safety patrol program and passed a resolution supporting a lower speed limit along State Route 71. The governing body introduced an ordinance to prohibit motorized vehicles on the boardwalk and set a public hearing for April 23, 2025; Deputy Mayor Quinn voted no on that introduction.

Alonso closed her presentation by offering contact information and pointing meeting attendees to the city website for the redevelopment documents she referenced. Several council members thanked her for the overview. The council adjourned after completing the evening's business.