Berkeley Dispatch

Township Officials Going After Longtime Eyesores

Beachwood Shopping Center, Santo Marina site under code enforcement scrutiny

  Are you tired of looking at the battered hulk known as the Beachwood Shopping Center when you cross Beachwood's boundary and enter Berkeley Township? So are township officials. So sometime next week - unless things improve - summonses will be issued for the current condition of the site off Route 9 South, Township Council President James J. Byrnes said. "Something has got to be done soon," Byrnes said this weekend. The shopping center - which is actually in Berkeley, not Beachwood - has been largely vacant for decades, slowly deteriorating from the elements. Plants and weeds are growing inside some of the stores. The show "Life After People" could film here. Developer Donato Donofrio has yet to sign an agreement with the Johnson family, …

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Township Officials Ramping Code Enforcement Efforts

Extra staff added to deal with violations, mayor says

  No more Mr. Nice Guy. Township officials are stepping up efforts to deal with property maintenance violations by issuing more summonses and adding more staff to the code enforcement office. Council President James J. Byrnes said he recently toured a section near Mill Creek Road with a resident, who pointed out numerous code violations on some properties. "There's a lot of vacant homes, a lot of violations in there," he said. "It needs to be cleaned up. The officer will be out there next week. Maybe we need to rethink bulk pickup. There's mattresses lying around." Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. said the township recently hired two part-time retired police officers to add to the code enforcement staff. "They are busy," he said at the Aug. 14 …

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John M

6:41 am on Saturday, March 23, 2013

You sound like an upstanding citizen. I couldn't imagine someone falsely accusing you. I'm willing to bet fines aren't handed out based on a phone call, but I could be wrong.   more ›

Township Cracks Down On Owner Of Santo Marina Property

Cleanup of site will begin next week, developer to pay costs

Larry Irons is going to be a busy man next week, if the weather holds up. Township officials have arranged for the longtime Bayville contractor to clean up the old Santo Marina site. The cost of the clean-up will be paid for by Ray Masucci, a Staten Island developer who bought the property from Paul Santo for $1.9 million nearly two years ago. "It's scary out there," Irons said late Friday afternoon during a tour of the site with Council President James J. Byrnes. "I've counted 25 boats so far. We counted 2,000 cement blocks." Byrnes, Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr., Masucci and township Code Enforcer Kenneth Anderson met at the site earlier this week to determine what security measures to need to be taken and to iron out the details of the …

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Code Enforcement, Owner Of Defunct Santo Marina Site To Meet With Township Council President

Meeting will take place at 9 a.m. Wednesday on the marina site off Williams Street

Township Council President James J. Byrnes plans to meet with the owner of the old Santo Marina site and the township code enforcement officer Wednesday morning. "He's going to get the opportunity to move things along," Byrnes said Tuesday afternoon. "It's just to see how we can start moving things along. The guy wants to be a good neighbor."" James Murray, a Realtor with Remax of Barnegat Bay, handled the sale almost two years ago. Longtime owner Paul Santo - whose father founded the marina in the 1950s - sold the property to Ray Masucci, a builder from Staten Island. A number of residents in the quiet neighborhood nearby the marina are planning to attend the May 23 Board of Adjustment meeting to oppose Masucci's plans to build 19 single-…

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