Court: Build 7 Seabreeze Lane Homes

AVALON MANOR — An appeals court has decided that seven new homes can be constructed on Seabreeze Lane despite neighboring homeowners’ complaints.
Appellate Division Judges Stephen Skillman, Joseph Yannotti and Laura LeWinn July 29 affirmed Superior Court Judge Valerie Armstrong’s December 2006 decision, which dismissed the neighbors’ complaints and allowed the construction by the development company Island Bay, LLC to continue.
“The courts have rejected every argument that the neighbors have raised,” said Island Bay attorney Richard Hluchan, a partner in the Voorhees law firm Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll.
Hluchan called the arguments “frivolous.”
“It’s been much too long in our opinion,” said Hluchan who specializes in land use and environmental law. “It’s time for this project to move forward.”
James MacElree, one of the neighboring property owners, disagrees with the appellate court’s ruling.
“It’s very disappointing. I don’t understand the court’s findings,” said MacElree, a Common Pleas Court Judge in Chester County, Pa. “We brought up a number of points that should have been considered.”
MacElree said the proposed project could have been stopped by the courts on any number of issues including: trial court errors, zoning board errors, boundary agreements, deed restrictions, contested site plan approvals and DEP and township sewer setback regulations from the wetlands.
“We reject these arguments substantially for the reasons set forth in Judge Armstrong’s written decision,” the appeals court decision stated.
When asked if the matter was now finished, MacElree told the Herald he wasn’t sure if the neighboring homeowners opposed to the project would continue the court battle to the Supreme Court or not.
“But either way, it’s up to us (property owners),” he said.
The Avalon Manor saga began in 1976 when the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) gave the area a waiver from its Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA). The waiver essentially allowed the area to be developed without the scrutiny of a CAFRA application after the DEP determined the area was already under development.
On Dec. 17, 1986, Middle Township Planning Board granted final major subdivision approval for single-family homes, contingent upon public water and sewer being available. Beginning in 1989, the sewers were installed and construction began.
Island Bay originally purchased the property on Seabreeze Lane in 1991 and between 1998 and 2002 they built 21 homes on the L-shaped subdivision.
In 2002, Island Bay asked the DEP for clarification regarding the remaining 11 lots on a narrow strip of land between the Intracoastal Waterway and Seabreeze Lane, specifically whether they’d be exempt from CAFRA review and eligible for sewer hookup.
On July 9, 2003, DEP Bureau of Coastal Regulation manager Kevin Broderick determined that Island Bay could build seven sewer-connected homes on the remaining 11 lots as long as it executed a conservation easement in favor of the DEP for all wetlands on the lots.
In late 2004, Island Bay received approvals from the township zoning board to build the seven homes.
In the summer of 2005, MacElree and a group of other homeowners brought a lawsuit against Island Bay, the DEP, Middle Township land use boards and township officials.
The group’s action was dismissed by the Appellate Division as an “untimely” appeal of the July 2003 DEP decision to allow the development, but on Feb. 2, 2006 at the request of the homeowners, Broderick wrote another letter rescinding the DEP’s prior approval of sewer connections.
Middle Township subsequently issued a stop-work order to Island Bay based on Broderick’s letter.
Island Bay appealed the DEP decision and the courts in June 2006 sided with the developer citing the July 2003 approval letter a “final agency decision.” The courts said Island Bay had vested rights to develop the property that the agency could not then take away.
The property owners also appealed the zoning board approvals, which Armstrong upheld in December 2006. They then appealed her decision, which brings the matter to this week’s announcement.
Hluchan told the Herald that site preparation has already begun at the site including the construction of a bulkhead, which was completed in January of this year.
He was unaware when actual home construction would begin, he said.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com