Jim and Kim Occhipinti, owners of Waters Gate Marina in Holgate for 21 years, asked supporters not to attend a Long Beach Township committee meeting after a possible path forward emerged. The township had been moving toward taking the 24-slip marina through eminent domain; the couple now say a proposal could let them build a home while keeping the property.
From Rally Call to Stand Down
The dispute has drawn public attention, but the immediate change came through discussions between the parties’ lawyers. NJ.com reported that the township notified the Occhipintis it intended to acquire the marina through eminent domain. In August, the township said it would pursue that route, then sent a certified letter saying a township-hired professional would appraise the property—a step the township described as the first move in the process. A Facebook page supporting the couple attracted 1,000 followers in less than a week, and the Occhipintis said they received emails from as far away as North Carolina, according to NJ.com.
According to NJ.com’s reporting, a township attorney contacted the Occhipintis’ attorney with a proposal that could let the couple build their house without a forced sale—or any sale—of the property. Attorneys for both sides are working out the details. Jim Occhipinti asked supporters to wait for an update rather than attend the Monday committee meeting. The couple said the discussions had shifted what they feared would become years of litigation toward a possible way to keep the property.
A Two-Decade Fight to Own the Marina
The Occhipintis’ purchase began with a 1999 contract, followed by six years in court to enforce the deal, according to NJ.com’s earlier account. Their purchase partner then became seriously ill, leaving them in limbo for five years before they bought him out. Superstorm Sandy later destroyed seven years of improvements they had made to the property, the same report said.
In May 2026, the township approved the couple’s plan for a single-family home on the marina site. The Occhipintis have said the plan would allow them to build their home while continuing to operate the 24-slip marina, according to NJ.com.
Township Cites Public Waterfront Access
Long Beach Township Mayor Joseph Mancini has framed the township’s interest differently. He has said the town wants to maintain public access to the waterfront and believes a public marina would serve a broader community interest than converting the property into a single-family residence, per NJ.com’s earlier reporting. Mancini separately told The SandPaper that the township’s interest involved a marine-related use with a public component. The township bought the property across the street from Waters Gate Marina in 2017 and established the Long Beach Township Marine Education Field Station there, which opened in 2021, as reported by NJ.com. Mancini did not immediately respond to a request for comment for the earlier story.
Occhipinti said he feels better about where things stand and believes the couple is moving in the right direction, while urging caution as attorneys work out the proposal’s details.
What New Jersey Law Requires
New Jersey’s Eminent Domain Act sets out a condemnation process covering negotiations, authorization to condemn, a commissioners’ determination of compensation and, ultimately, a trial on compensation, according to a summary published by pstrust.org. The summary says a condemnation action generally cannot begin unless the condemning authority has attempted bona fide negotiations and made a written offer explaining the property, compensation and valuation method. It also says owners are generally entitled to fair market value, including the property’s current use or a commercially valuable use that could reasonably be anticipated.
The Occhipintis’ case arrives months after the New Jersey Supreme Court weighed in on a different eminent domain dispute involving Jackson Township, which had sought to condemn two privately owned parcels as part of a land swap tied to a developer’s plan to build four private religious schools while preserving other land as open space. The court ruled in July that Jackson Township had improperly used eminent domain, holding that municipalities may only condemn private property for a public purpose, not for private use, and warning that allowing condemnation without meeting that public-purpose requirement could lead to abuse, according to NJ.com’s coverage of that ruling.
A Separate Shore Eminent-Domain Case
A New Jersey Appellate Division opinion describes another shore municipality’s action: on April 28, 2022, Seaside Park adopted an ordinance authorizing eminent-domain acquisition of property occupied by the 50-room Desert Palm Inn, according to the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division. That matter involved a motel property and a different project; the cited description does not establish that the acquisition was completed or identify it as a marina or public-waterfront-access project. It therefore offers a limited comparison, not a direct parallel to Waters Gate.
