Environmentalists in Monmouth County are trying to keep a small section of Asbury Park clear of new homes.

Developer iStar has plans to build 15 four-story town homes in the Bradley Cove section of the town. But those opposed to the plan say they want to make the area land that the whole community can use.

“What the community and what the city wants is to create an oceanfront community park at this location,” says Joyce Grant with the environmental group Citizens for Oceanfront Preservation.

Grant says that if the homes are built then only those who live in them will have access to the beach.

“It needs public access. If you have town houses right in front of this that becomes privileged. It becomes more private,” she says.

Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn says that she hopes for a compromise. She says that Asbury Park has a working relationship with iStar and says that she is hoping that the developer will work with the town in preserving Bradley Cove.

“We saw after [Superstorm] Sandy this was all water and there is certainly concern about putting condos where we saw the devastation of Sandy in Asbury Park and along the Jersey Shore,” Quinn says.

The city and iStar also disagree on how much the land is worth. A city appraiser valued the land at $3 million, but iStar’s appraiser put the value around $20 million.

Quinn says that she hopes the city will eventually be able to buy back the development rights to Bradley Cove and turn it into an open space park.

iStar officials did not wish to comment on the situation.