Christ Episcopal Church, Toms River, N.J. (File Photo)
As part of a larger plan to redevelop the Toms River waterfront district, officials will be tasked Wednesday night with deciding whether to introduce an ordinance that would allow the municipality to take several properties by eminent domain, if necessary, including the Christ Episcopal Church where a controversial homeless shelter has been proposed.
Located adjacent to a residential neighborhood off Washington Street with single-family homes, neighbors have objected to adding a homeless shelter to the church property. A zoning board meeting held earlier this month drew more than 100 residents, most of whom were opposed to the proposal to establish a 17-bed shelter within the facility. Residents have expressed concern over safety, a decline in property values, and the idea that the would-be shelter could become a magnet for homeless people to congregate, especially after its proponents expressed the desire to have people walk from the township’s bus station to their neighborhood. Homeless shelters are not permitted in the zone, however the church has argued the use of the facility would be “inherently beneficial” under state law, and should not have to meet the normal positive and negative criteria for a zoning variance.
Proponents of the homeless shelter claim the facility is needed because of the lack of a formal county-run shelter, and hold that it would be unlikely the temporary housing would lead to an increase in crime or vagrancy in the surrounding neighborhood.
Under the ordinance up for introduction at Wednesday’s council meeting, the church property would be one of several that the governing body will be asked to acquire by either a cash purchase or eminent domain. The church property, Mayor Dan Rodrick said, would become one of Toms River’s largest parks, and the other properties – all marinas – would be operated as one large public marina where residents could access the water and lease affordable boat slips.
Downtown Toms River, March 2023. (Photo: Shorebeat)
The properties that would be acquired include the church, at 415 Washington Street; the Dupont Marina at 89 Water Street; the property at 93 East Water Street (adjacent to the Marina Grill restaurant); Sunset Cove Marina at 95 East Water Street; the property at 97 East Water Street; and the property at 99 East Water Street. The properties subsume three marinas, all of which are aging, Rodrick said.
“The three marinas that are there are in really bad shape,” said Rodrick, predicting grants and infrastructure funding could be tapped for the project. “It will be a municipal marina. A lot of these marinas wind up run down and few people have the capital to invest in them, and we lose them. Around the state, the only marinas that tend to undergo renovations are the ones that are acquired by the municipalities, the counties or the state. It would be nice, and we’ll offer the slips to residents first at a discount.”
While plans have been floated over the decades to develop a cohesive waterfront district in Toms River with marinas and waterfront access, the taking of the church facility will undoubtedly draw the most attention. Rodrick said he is legally barred from commenting on the homeless shelter proposal before the planning board, but the site itself has been the subject of past discussions on acquisition in order to turn the property into a park.
“We have always had a plan to do this. It’s been a long-time idea,” said Rodrick. “We had plans to take this property before this process ever began. It’s something we had been talking about as an administration and as a council for some time.”
The church property would allow a park to be developed closer to the downtown section as well as the surrounding residential neighborhood, which does not have an easily-accessible park of its own. The property, measuring dozens of acres, could also be used for the construction of pickleball courts, tennis courts, a skate park and playground.
“There is no playground for kids anywhere downtown, for the most part, but specifically this would serve about 20,000 families who live between St. Joseph’s Church and Washington in that ‘diamond’ that runs up to Route 37,” said Rodrick. “There’s nothing there servicing those kids, and this would provide 20,000 to 30,000 people with a place to play. It would be bigger than Castle Park.”
Financing was not part of the ordinance, which would allow the township to formally declare the properties in need of redevelopment and authorize the administration to negotiate a sale or file eminent domain proceedings to take them. The owners of the properties would be compensated for the market value of the land, which is often overseen by the courts if there are any discrepancies between the township’s appraisals and those of the owners. The ordinance enables the administration to begin the process, but the financing and other aspects of a purchase would require council approval.
“We’re going to make it a place where people want to hang out,” said Rodrick. “This is Toms River Township and there are really no access points to the Toms River.”
It was an open question as to how the council, fractured between two warring factions of the Republican party, would handle the matter. News of the potential proceedings first emerged after an agenda was published Tuesday. The governing body is scheduled to meet Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the municipal complex, at 33 Washington Street.
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