Residents Pack Controversial Santo Marina Zoning Board Meeting; Matter Carried Until June 27

About four and a half hours into a special Board of Adjustment meeting on the controversial Santo Marina application, attorney John Paul Doyle asked for a break.

His client, Staten Island developer Ray Masucci, needed five minutes to decide whether to withdraw his application to redevelop the marina site on Williams Street, continue or revise his plans, Doyle said.

When they came back, Doyle asked if another special board meeting on the matter could be scheduled for June 27.

"We may submit a revised plan, we may decide to withdraw," he told the board.

Masucci took to the microphone to explain his plans to improve what he called the "most beautiful" site on the Toms River.

And then he told the audience he could not redevelop the marina without building 19 three-story homes on undersized lots. Simply running the property as a marina would not cover redevelopment and cleanup costs, Masucci said.

"If you say build 12 houses, it doesn't work," he said.

Zoning board planner Anna Wainwright peppered Doyle and professional planner Ian Borden with questions about the density of the proposed 19-home development, a parking lot next to an existing home, a dockmaster's house, and the beachfront area.

Longtime Bayville Realtor Ann Schuld said she didn't think houses on 40 by 100 foot lots just 10 feet apart would sell.

"I don't know anybody who would buy houses 10 feet apart," she said.

"You can't make all the residents pay because you bought something maybe you shouldn't have," Schuld added.

"There's just too many houses and the parking lot is a big issue," board President James Fulcomer told Doyle and Masucci. "It's something you should carefully re-examine."

Masucci bought the marina site back in 2010 for $1.9 million.