From the New York  Times

Sept. 23 , 2007

IN THE REGION | NEW JERSEY

Condo Sales and Rainbow Sails

By ANTOINETTE MARTIN

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP
AT a spot here where land meets water, nature lovers and developers are also starting to converge.

Every afternoon as the wind rises across Lakes Bay, a group of windsurfers and kite surfers gather to set off from a sandy beach that was recently ranked one of the top 10 sites in the country for such sports. It also happens to be an area where seaside wildlife abounds: osprey and great blue herons, foxes, muskrats, all sorts of fish and shellfish.

A few hundred yards upland on the same point of land, however, bulldozers and cement mixers are at work clearing vegetation and laying foundations for a 131-unit condominium development.

The surfers, recently organized into a nonprofit association with 102 paid members, have undisputed rights to use 24 acres of open space on the point, just down a dirt road from the condo site. Those rights were acquired through a partnership agreement between their group, the Lakes Bay Recreation Association, and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, which owns the marshy area. The surfers are authorized to manage the property, keeping it clean and safe for “nonmotorized” sports.

“We feel really great about it,” said Petra Kanz, a windsurfing instructor who helped organize a cleanup at the site, which used to be a dumping ground for construction debris and, she said, a hangout for late-night drinking. “Our main goal was to save this piece of land.”

Ms. Kanz conceded that she did not feel great, exactly, about the condos, which will be three-story town houses with large garages and family rooms, center-isle kitchens and access to a community clubhouse with a pool overlooking the bay.

“Honestly, it’s tough,” she said. “The land was wetlands, and as an environmentalist, I am fiercely for protecting every last bit and piece of it.”

And yet, Ms. Kanz said the developers, the Matzel and Mumford Organization, had been helpful — they donated dirt from their excavation for the road to the windsurfing beach — and she accepts that development will probably benefit the community at large.

“It’s a huge win for everybody,” said Deputy Mayor Stanley Glassey of Egg Harbor, “concerning the side-by-side passive recreation area and residential development.”

“We’re all water people here,” added Mr. Glassey, who used to make his living as a shell fisherman on Lakes Bay and continues to sail there. “We all want to see this beautiful, clean lake survive and be appreciated for everything it has to offer.”

Mr. Glassey has been an advocate for redeveloping some rather seedy areas of the West Atlantic City section of the township where the point is located. He said he favored a plan to replace a string of low-rent motels on the Blackhorse Pike across from the entrance to the land with new offices, stores and rehearsal space for the casino shows in Atlantic City, a few miles away.

As for the developers, they see both the casinos and the open space as amenities to offer buyers at the condo complex, called Bayport on Lakes Bay.

“The preserved area is open to everyone,” said Philip Hetzler, a salesman for the project, who works from an office on the Blackhorse Pike, within view of both the construction and the rainbow of sails on the water each afternoon.

“Bayport residents will be able to walk down to the nature area,” Mr. Hetzler said, “and those with a bay view will be able to watch the wind- and kite-surfers from their windows, porches and decks.”

The Conservation Foundation acquired the open-space land, situated just south of the Route 40 causeway connecting Egg Harbor Township with Atlantic City, in a sheriff’s sale in 1998 after the failure of a development project. The point was once the site of Ventnor Boatworks, a maker of PT boats during World War II, but the building was demolished long ago.

The foundation had made no changes to the land until the windsurfing enthusiasts and Mr. Glassey approached it this year.

This summer, the foundation put up a gate across the dirt road to keep out cars. Now, parking near the beach is limited to busloads of students on field trips, and those who join the recreation association by paying a $35 fee and filling out a form, available at lakesbayrec.org.

However, pedestrian access to the area, where the sea lavender grows thick, remains available to all.

The police can now monitor after-hours activity at the site via a security camera installed by Matzel and Mumford.

The developers are marketing the town homes as offering “the best of both worlds” — access to nature and to the excitement of the casinos, shows and high-end retail at the new Pier Shops at Caesars in Atlantic City.

Two-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath town homes at Bayport are priced from the low $300,000s to the low $600,000s, depending on site location and options like fireplaces; decks, patios or porches; and cabinetry.

Sales began in late June and have been averaging one a week, Mr. Hetzler said.

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