The Battle Of 'The Cove At Toms River' Is Over

by Patricia A. Miller

Board of Adjustment members approved the final section of plans for “The Cove At Toms River,” after a meeting that last more than four hours on Wednesday night.

“We spent years on this,” Board President Richard Elliott said before the vote. “I have put up with abuse ...when I go out for breakfast from the gentleman that used to own it and turned it into a pit.”

The man he referred to was Paul Santo - whose family founded the battered Santo Marina at the mouth of the Toms River back in the 1950s. Santo sold the property to Staten Island developer Ray Masucci for $1.9 million several years ago.

Board members approved the final phase of Masucci’s project - a two-story dockmaster’s house with a 28-seat snack bar and a marine store.

Residents who attended the meeting were primarily concerned that the snack bar would eventually morph into a restaurant that might serve alcohol.

But John Paul Doyle, Masucci’s attorney, said at the beginning of the meeting the rumors were false.

The only item on Thursday night’s agenda was the approval of the dockmaster’s house. Everything else is “history,” Doyle said.

The board granted variances in 2012 to Masucci for 15 single-family homes on undersized lots where only 10 are allowed, a dockmaster’s house, snack bar, bait shop and a parking lot at the old Santo Marina site on Williams Street in Bayville.

The property is located in the R-100 zone. Fourteen of the 15 homes will be built on undersized 55 by 100-foot lots of approximately 5,000 square feet. Homes in the quiet neighborhoods surrounding the project are primarily on 100-by-100-foot lots.

But with the variances granted by the board, Masucci will be able to build 15 homes where only 10 are allowed, on smaller lots.

The property is surrounded by homes located in the Toms River Shores section of Berkeley.

Come back on Thursday for the full story.

Photo credit: Patricia A. Miller