Spring Meeting TONIGHT + Updates/optional pre-read

OBSC1 Members:

As a reminder, our annual Spring Meeting is tonight, Thursday, May 26th at 7pm. Zoom details are included again below for your convenience. If you have not reviewed our Spring Newsletter, please be sure to do so at your earliest convenience. Prior to our meeting, we wanted to share background/pre-read (for those interested) on couple of key matters, including Tort Immunity and Parking, both of which will be discussed during our meeting tonight and some key updates/reminders on topics of interest to all. 

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Quick Updates and Reminders

Bay beach cleanup will take place on Saturday, June 11 at 10am. We are looking for volunteers to help so please join us if you can. Bring any shovels, rakes, brooms and wheelbarrows you happen to have. We are appreciative of your support!Owners badge pick-up will take place on Saturday, June 11 from 10am-2pm at 236 Bay Beach Way (more info to follow via email closer to the date). There will options to pick-up badges if you are unable to make it on 6/11.Dues. Thanks to the vast majority of members who have paid their 2022 dues however we have a few members with outstanding balances. As a reminder membership dues for 2022 are $600 and were due no later than May 15, 2022 (which included a two week grace period). Outstanding balances are now subject to late fees – please check your inboxes for the latest invoice reminders sent out last week. Please remit payment via check or online as soon as possible.Bulk Pick-up Trash Collection. Reminder that Toms River Sanitation requires special request pick-ups for certain items. We've noticed that some members have been putting out large items which will not be picked up until scheduled and/or may need to be dropped off the recycling center. Please see the TR website for more information or call TR at 732-255-1000, ext. 8604 with any questions. 

Tort Immunity

In today’s world, we seem to be spending quite a bit of money on both legal matters and insurance premiums. In an effort to control costs and keep our annual dues at a minimum, as well as maintain OBSC1’s ability to continue to access insurance at a reasonable cost, we would like the membership to consider this Tort Immunity matter. Please see attached background paper for more information on this subject.

Despite our best efforts to avoid legal matters, over the years our Club has been sued in a number of personal injury lawsuits. Even when not at fault, the costs of defending and resolving said disputes has increased our insurance premiums, our legal costs, and puts retention of our insurance policies at risk. Incidents experienced last year on the beach in Seaside and again just this month at Ocean Beach 3 will put continued upward pressure on insurance premiums and availability.

In an effort to mitigate issues, the Trustees have done some research and found a number of laws that, essentially, provide the Club with certain “immunities” from these types of lawsuits. The laws are called “qualified immunity laws,” and allow the Club to avoid being sued by certain individuals for alleged personal injuries.

To afford such immunities from certain lawsuits, OBSC1 would need to amend its Bylaws by a 2/3 vote of the membership. Ultimately, the Trustees support a vote on qualified immunity laws, which the State of New Jersey has enacted in Title 2A (linked above) but are seeking your input and comments before doing so. Please note that we are not voting on this matter at tonight's meeting; a vote would occur at a later date with ample notification to members.

We have invited the Club’s attorney, Paul Leodori to share a comments and answer questions related to this matter during our meeting on Thursday evening. We would like to extend our thanks to member Don Beshada for helping us research this matter. 
 
Parking

In anticipation of our meeting, we thought it helpful to provide additional information on two related topics - parking on streets and parking on vacant lots.

Last year, we communicated the following to all:

Parking on lots which do not have a house constructed on them (vacant lots) is a violation of Toms River Code, and subject to increasing yearly fines by the township. Use of vacant lots for parking is also not consistent with OBSC1 regulations nor intent of land usage. This is something we will be enforcing to ensure we don’t slip into a situation of empty lots being rented for off street parking.

Although the rules have called for lots not to remain empty, but be built on immediately, we have experienced three situations where that has not consistently happened:

Post the hurricane Sandy devastation of almost a decade ago, some houses needed to be taken down and have yet to be rebuiltDuring the COVID pandemic, material has been slow or difficult to obtain and/or contractors and inspections impossible to keep to a short timeline. To that end, a delay beyond the one year rebuild period we have been accustomed to in the past is often unavoidableOwners acquiring a second lot and either legally combining lots to have an official double lot or not legally coming but using as a double lot…with no current intention of building on the second lot in either case

As such, the topic of vacant lots will be discussed during our meeting. 

The Trustees plan to revise the appropriate documents to ‘grandfather’ all existing vacant lots under (a) above, and clarify the documents and ensure enforcement to avoid a repeat to this in the futureAs to (b) above, continue to work with owners so all have a clear understanding of construction cycles and ensure expeditious completion of constructionAnd as to (c) above, recognize that adjoining lots which have been combined are in fact one lot and parking should be able to accommodate a maximum of five cars, two per original lot plus oneAnd as to (c)above, standalone vacant lots cannot park more than 2 cars on the lot, and are never allowed, under any circumstances, to “rent” spaces to transient cars or weekly renters as this would be viewed a commercial business

Below is not intended to be complete analysis but rather some background that was considered as we reviewed this matter.

Our OBSC1 Rules state the following:

h. Parking Restrictions - All roadways in Ocean Beach Unit #1 are private roads. All parking of motor vehicles, other than temporary parking by trucks and other vehicles while making deliveries and/or repairs shall be prohibited in these roadways. Parking of motor vehicles shall be made on all lots in the areas adjacent to the cottages and not in the roadways. Limited daytime parking under the control of Ocean Beach Surf Club located at Bay Beach Way shall be permitted with the current Ocean Beach Unit 1 decal.  No parking of any motor vehicle larger than a pick-up truck is allowed on any lot in Ocean Beach Unit 1. 

Toms River Ordinances state the following:

Toms River Zoning - parking is considered an accessory to a principal structure. If the principal structure does not exist, then the accessory cannot either - example besides parking is swimming pool. Ocean Beach rules say parking shall be made on all lots in the areas adjacent to the cottage - so there can be no accessory parking if we interpret as Toms River ordinance setting the minimum standard. Principal structure means a structure used for a principal use of the property as distinguished from an accessory use.

Toms River requires vacant property registration when vacant for more than 30 days.

All vacant properties/buildings must register with the Toms River Township in accordance with Ordinance 4579-18 (Property, Vacant, and Foreclosed). The vacant property registration payment included with this form pertains to the current period of vacancy in which will expire on the last day of the calendar year in which you applied. The property will need to be renewed at the start of the following calendar year if still considered vacant in accordance with Ordinance 4579-18. Fee Schedule: Initial Registration: $1000 Second Renewal: $3000 First Renewal: $2000 Subsequent Renewals: $5000

(Note that OBSC1 Rules do not supersede the ordinances; as such, Toms River has the final say on their ordinances. We assume vacant lot owners in compliance with the appropriate Toms River ordinances.)

Last year, we communicated the following to all:

As a reminder, vehicles extending into the OBSC1 roads while parked in driveways will be considered “illegal parking.” These vehicles actually can cause safety and sight line issues; safety is our number one priority so please be sure your vehicle is parked within your property limits at all times. We will be piloting towing illegally parked cars, at owners expense, by a professional towing service that will patrol our property. To avoid your vehicle being towed, please abide by our parking rules at all times.

Illegal parking, including parking on roads or vehicles extending into the OBSC1 roads will as continue to be considered illegal parking. Last year, you did a superb job with ensuring compliance/appropriate parking of vehicles. Thank you and please continue your vigilance.

In 2022, illegally parked cars will continue to be subject to fines by the association, but we will not start the season using towing. Rather, we will either fine the owner of the property or have our Security write a parking ticket which will be (potentially) payable to the respective Townships of Toms River or Lavallette.

As it relates to parking on Bay Beach Way, we are still considering the full extent of this matter; once the Trustees have finished deliberations, we will share outcomes with you. While there are potentially some benefits, there are a number of drawbacks as well. In the interim, we will more closely monitor parking at the west end of Bay Beach Way, extend the parking curfew to 11 pm, ask those parking in said spaces to place a copy of an owner’s badge on the driver’s side dashboard, and enforce by either issuing a fine to the owner of the property (even for renter violators) or have our Security write a parking ticket which will be (potentially) payable to the respective Townships of Toms River or Lavallette. If we find that we do not have ample daily parking for usage of the bay beach, we will adjust; accordingly, this hasn’t been a reported issue to date.

We sincerely appreciate your attention to these matters and look forward to a productive discussion on these and other matters at our meeting tonight.
 
Thanks,
-THE TRUSTEES