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Property owner asks Ocean Township to clean up C-4 ordinance to speed leasing at Seaview center
Summary
Representatives for Seaview Shopping Center asked the council to standardize C-4 zoning language and add or clarify permitted uses to avoid months-long approval delays that cost leases; developers withdrew a proposed AI/data center use and said battery storage will be reconsidered only with a qualified tenant.
Representatives for the Seaview shopping center presented the council with a proposed clean-up and modernization of the township's C-4 zoning language, saying inconsistent sections of current ordinance have slowed approvals and cost leasing opportunities.
"We spent a lot of time, we spent a lot of money," property owner Isaac Mastry told the council, recounting how his company bought the site after foreclosure and invested to attract tenants including Costco and Marshalls. Mastry said the center now generates substantial tax revenue for the township but that protracted approval timelines contributed to losing at least one prospective tenant. "We thought we were done," he said, describing a string of bankruptcies and renewed leasing momentum.
Counsel for the applicant said the changes would make the ordinance uniform across the roughly 120-acre C-4 area, removing contradictory sections that currently leave uncertainty about whether uses such as indoor recreation, gyms, car washes, banks with drive-throughs, or medical offices are permitted or permitted only conditionally. The applicant said a proposed AI/data center has been removed from the list; a battery-storage tenant had inquired but the applicant does not yet have specifications and indicated that, absent a concrete tenant with technical details, the council should not approve a broad new use.
Council members asked technical questions about battery storage and impacts to surrounding tenants; staff and the applicants agreed to exchange notes and to return with clarified language. The planning director asked that council members provide comments within two weeks so the item could move from work session to an ordinance introduction or first reading at the next meeting if the council wishes.
The presentation did not propose immediate zoning changes; applicants sought council feedback and a timetable to finalize an ordinance amendment that would allow certain uses administratively rather than requiring conditional-use review, reducing delay for typical shopping-center tenants.
