Traders Cove Restaurant Plan In Brick is a 'Breach Of Faith,' Freeholder Says

BRICK, NJ — In a room packed with opposition to a plan to build a restaurant at Brick's Traders Cove, there was one person whose remarks stood out above all the others: Ocean County Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr.

At a special Brick Township Council meeting Monday night to collect comment for the state Department of Environmental Protection's Green Acres program division, Bartlett, who is chairman of the county's Parks and Recreation department, delivered prepared remarks through Deputy County Administrator Michael Fiure. Bartlett is undergoing chemotherapy treatments for cancer and was not able to attend the meeting.

"The proposal for a restaurant/bar at Traders Cove unfortunately constitutes an unfortunate breach of faith between the County of Ocean and the Township of Brick," Bartlett said, adding the original plan to buy and develop Traders Cove was negotiated between the county and Brick's previous mayors, Joe Scarpelli, Dan Kelly and Steven Acropolis.

Bartlett said the agreement was "a cooperative relationship for public recreational facilities."

"I do not regard a bar on this limited site to be in the general public interest or in keeping faith with the County’s investment of a total of $3.5 million at our park," Bartlett said.

Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey said the plan to lease part of the site at Traders Cove Marina to Chefs International, which operates other restaurants in the area, including the 9th Avenue Pier in Belmar, the Lobster Shanty and the Wharfside, is necessary to help offset the impact of more than $13 million in debt the township still has from the purchase and development of the site, which township officials have said resulted in a $22 million investment by Brick Township.

The site was purchased in 2006 for $6.8 million, officials said. Of that, $3.4 million was Green Acres funding. Brick contributed $3.4 million initially and was reimbursed $1.5 million by Ocean County, officials said.

Brick then spent $7.8 million cleaning up the site, Ducey said, before constructing the marina at the site. While the debt has been partially paid down, annual debt service for Traders Cove is more than $1.1 million, Ducey said. It equals about .76 cents on the 2016 tax increase, he said.

Ocean County owns part of the site, which is now a park that encompasses a fishing pier under the new Mantoloking Bridge. The county also owns the portion of the park that includes the entrance/exit to the site, Bartlett said.

It is that partial ownership that prompted the most biting portion of Bartlett's objections to Brick's plans: a suggestion in the lease that Chefs International could use parking on the county's portion of the site if needed.

"Quite frankly, how you can sell property to the county, and then lease to a profit-making body parking facilities you do not own or have any legal right to administer," Bartlett said. "This is highly inappropriate if not arrogant ... At the very minimum you might have sought the owner’s advice. You did not!"

Ducey, Business Administrator Joanne Bergin, Township Attorney Kevin Starkey and the Township Council sat stoically as Fiure delivered Bartlett's remarks.

In addition to Bartlett's remarks, County Administrator Carl Block said the county has concerns about the traffic and parking, as well as impervious coverage — how much of the site will be covered by material that does not allow precipitation to seep directly into the ground.

Ducey said two drawings included with the lease for Chefs International — which the council approved in May — have been revised because they reflected incorrect parking and boat slip availability for the restaurant. A traffic study conducted this summer is expected to be ready in two weeks, officials said, and Block said the county would wait to see that study.

Others who spoke at the meeting, however, said a traffic study wasn't necessary to convey what they see as residents in the area, which they said was traffic backing up along Mantoloking for as much as 3 miles on the weekends in the summer.

Nancy Bowden Harris, whose family owns the home in Mantoloking directly across Barnegat Bay from Traders Cove, said the plan to put a bar and restaurant at the site adds to what she said is already a significant danger to residents due to people speeding through Mantoloking and along Mantoloking Road.

"You will have drunk people flying through here," she said. "We've already had two people killed (this summer). This is an accident waiting to happen."

Tara Dunning of Nejecho Drive, who lives about a mile from the park, said traffic along Mantoloking Road "is ridiculous." It takes several minutes to get out of her neighborhood, Nejecho Beach, and she said she is concerned the restaurant will only make matters worse.

"This is about more than revenue at this point," she said. "It's about quality of life."

"The last thing we need is more noise and more drunken havoc," said Joseph Napolitano, who said he has lived along Mantoloking Road since 1955. He echoed concerns of several residents who questioned whether the restaurant and the ability to dock in transient slips while getting a meal would add to continued problems at F Cove, a nearby hangout for boaters that has been a thorn in the side of many residents for quite some time. F Cove was shut down to boaters in 2012 by federal authorities after continuous issues, but it was reopened in 2013, with the warning that wild parties that had existed in the past would not be permitted. A few residents on Monday said those problems have since resumed.

Willie deCamp, president of Save Barnegat Bay, which has been fighting the plan since Ducey first announced the idea last year, spoke tersely about the restaurant proposal, just barely stopping short of calling the mayor a liar, calling a number of statements by the mayor "very untrue" and "misleading." DeCamp said the township's claims that Green Acres officials had approved of the restaurant plan were not true, and that those officials said they did not know the restaurant was proposed to including seating for 400 people.

Bergin, in response, said the township has had an ongoing dialogue with Green Acres officials and that the township has submitted information, including site plans of the proposed restaurant, all along the way, going back to June 2014.

"We were told as long as the restaurant complies with applicable regulations it's permitted," Bergin said.

Comments opposing the project also were voiced by the Sierra Club and Clean Water Action, a national organization that works to protect water sources.

There were those who spoke in favor of the project.

Brick resident George Scott, who attends most Township Council meetings and pays close attention to how township officials spend money, expressed support for the plan to lease part of the site for the restaurant. He reiterated his criticism of the amount of money the township is receiving under the lease, a figure he has previously said should be more.

"The restaurant will add to the success of the other uses (the marina) at the site," Scott said. "They (Chefs International) get credit for taxes and I oppose that. But I support this."

Dwight Layton of Brick said he, too, supports the plan because it will bring jobs to the township, not only for those directly employed at the restaurant, but those who will be involved in the construction and the maintenance of the site, such as landscapers.

"I think it will put people to work for a long time," Layton said.

Township officials said minutes from the meeting, which was recorded, would be provided to Green Acres officials, along with photos showing how many people attended.

The decision is now in the hands of the DEP, officials said.

But the closing words of Bartlett's statement seemed to signify that the county will not sit quietly on the issue:

"Your proposal breaches the concept of public recreation, public access to a beautiful piece of publically preserved waterfront, and leases land you do not own," Bartlett said. "May I respectfully remind you that the county built, at its expense, the ingress and egress road at its entire expense. The ingress is county/parks land. The county will lend every effort to protect its investment."

"I fully trust that our good working relations of over 36 years will continue to flourish in the future," Bartlett said, referring to cooperative efforts in the past that resulted in the construction of the county's Forge Pond Golf Course in Brick, "but I would be remiss in my duties if I did not point out that your present proposal constitutes a serious breach of faith – but one that can be, and hopefully will be, corrected."

Spectators packed the municipal courtroom/council chambers in Brick Monday night for the Township Council's public hearing on the Traders Cove restaurant proposal. Karen Wall photo