Asbury Park On The Record: The Basics.

The master plan does not only govern the historic buildings. It also sets detailed rules for how much new housing can be built on the waterfront, and how it has to look.

Buildings are limited in height to eight stories. That cap is set to match the height of the existing Berkeley-Carteret Hotel, a familiar landmark on the oceanfront. Most new buildings are held to a shorter range of two to five stories. Any building taller than six stories is classified as a high-rise under the plan and carries five extra requirements: it must sit back at least fifty feet from the ocean, its long side must run perpendicular to the ocean to preserve the view corridors created by the original street grid, it must be positioned to protect ocean views from existing homes and streets, it cannot cast a shadow on the beach between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the summer, and it cannot be sited in a way that would erode the dunes. High-rises are kept away from the boardwalk itself and grouped further inland, along Kingsley Street.

Across the whole redevelopment area, the plan allows a maximum of 3,164 new homes, spread out at different densities in different parts of the waterfront. The plan also requires that five percent of the new homes be set aside as affordable housing for lower- and moderate-income residents. A developer can meet that requirement either by building those homes directly or by paying the city a set amount for each one.

The plan also controls how new buildings look, not just how large they are. New construction has to follow one of three architectural styles already present on the waterfront: Mediterranean Revival, the style of the Berkeley-Carteret Hotel; Arts and Crafts, the style found on the surrounding residential streets; and Moderne, the style of Convention Hall, the Paramount, and the Casino complex. Styles common in modern suburban development, and buildings that are mostly glass or covered in balconies, are not permitted.

Within those styles, the plan sets specific material and color rules. Walls have to be built from materials already found on the waterfront, stone, brick, stucco, cast stone, or wood, with no more than two materials on a single building face. Colors are limited to warm tones already present on the historic buildings: cream, ochre, pink, terra-cotta, and white. Windows have to sit recessed into the wall rather than flush with its surface, matching the thick masonry walls of the older buildings.

The plan ranks how a new building can meet the sidewalk. An arcade or covered walkway, like the ones at the Casino and Convention Hall, is the preferred choice, followed by a shopfront with an awning, then a stoop, porch, or landscaped yard. A blank wall, an exposed parking structure, or an open parking lot are the least preferred and are meant to be avoided; where a parking structure faces a public street, it has to be hidden behind a normal building front. Each city block of new construction must also use at least two different architects, so a single block does not end up looking like one uniform project.

A city panel called the Technical Review Committee checks every new building's design against these rules before it can move forward. How that review fits into the overall approval process is covered in the next section.

The master plan itself was adopted on June 5, 2002, and is set to expire in 2032, thirty years later, unless the city extends it.