a paved parking lot containing more than 100 spaces where a gravel lot has been.

Apart from the boardwalk project, the coalition also opposes a 15-unit townhouse development known as Bradley Cove, as well as a private beachfront pool club. Both are projects envisioned by iStar under the redevelopment plan that coalition members say would threaten the environment and beach access.

"The old plan is (16) years old, and should be reviewed in light of Asbury Park's needs today, and in a future informed by Sandy and climate change among other things," American Littoral Society director Tim Dillingham, a coalition member, said in an email, referring to the waterfront's devastation during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

"We want to ensure broad public access and use along and to the beach is protected,property owner in Asbury Park, said losing in court is just what the city would do if it tries to keep iStar from moving forward with projects permitted under a redevelopment plan the company has been legally designated to carry out.

"I'm not surprised iStar's following the plan," said Fasano. "That's their mandate."

Quinn said what's happening on Asbury Park's north end was symptomatic of the city's steady growth of the past two decades. It's a process Quinn referred to as a "renaissance" but others call gentrification.

Some of the very things that have helped drive Asbury Park's resurgence have now been threatened by the rising property values, development and exclusivity that have followed: the city's art and music scene -- anchored by the Stone Pony and its reputation as a