Six months after asking the land use board to begin a preliminary investigation into the LBI Grade School property as an area in need of condemnation, the Ship Bottom Borough Council last week cleared a hurdle for a local architect seeking to build single-family homes on the land.

“Of course, you know, this is bittersweet for me as far as what is happening with the Long Beach Island Grade School,” Mayor William Huelsenbeck said before the council unanimously voted June 25 to declare the site an…