Jersey Shore town residents speak out against zoning variance: "It's turning into condo city"
A controversial paid parking ordinance was recently repealed and rescinded in Lower Township, New Jersey, after public pressure. Now, some neighbors in Diamond Beach are taking a stand again, fighting to save their dwindling business corridor.
Six custom luxury condos are being built at the corner of Pacific and North Station avenues, where the South Station Market once stood. Some people living nearby say they feel like they're being invaded.
"It's turning into condo city," Carmen Axmann, who lives in Diamond Beach full-time, said. "Everything is going to be residential."
Axmann and some of her neighbors are speaking up about another small business up for sale. The owner of Diamond Beach Bums is seeking a zoning variance, which would allow the commercial property to be converted into eight residential units.
Axmann and her neighbors are fighting against the variance. They said it will add more traffic, and they want Diamond Beach to remain a walkable and convenient community.
"I'm going to have to travel a half hour to get anything to go to a restaurant," Axmann said. "If I wanted that type of living, I would have chosen a different town."
Multiple businesses on Pacific Avenue have closed in recent years and have been turned into residential properties.
"It's all going to add to the density," Peter Greco, who lives in Diamond Beach, said. "It's all going to add to additional parking problems."
The owner of Diamond Beach Bums declined an interview but told CBS News Philadelphia she is retiring and would love to find a commercial buyer, but she hasn't been able to. She also said it's hard to survive financially with only a few hundred full-time residents in the offseason.
As construction continues, some neighbors are now mobilizing and plan to fight the variance at Thursday night's Lower Township Planning Board meeting.
"I feel bad for them, but they knew what they were going into as a commercial property and I hope they can find somebody to sell it to as commercial," Axmann said.
