Planner spells out options for future of downtown
3 plans outlined focus on municipal buildings and pedestrian safety
BY LIZ SHEEHAN
Correspondent

Sea Bright

SEA BRIGHT - - "Our work starts now," Councilman William Keeler said Saturday after a planner from a firm hired to draw up a revitalization plan for the town had presented a summary and answered questions about the changes proposed.

Keeler asked those present to please come to meetings and open discussions on "every part of the plan" after the presentation by Diana Marsh, of Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates Inc., New York. "Don't leave here thinking this is done," he said.

The plan explained by Marsh focused on the downtown area of the borough from Peninsula Avenue to Central Street, and included a discussion of the town's municipal facilities and recommendations concerning improved pedestrian safety on Ocean Avenue.

Before beginning the presentation, Marsh said that the process had begun in the summer of 2005 with a walk around the town with local officials and residents to look at the areas under study.

She said some of the recommendations of the plan were somewhat uncertain because of the lawsuit that has been filed by the state regarding beach access in the borough.

Marsh presented three proposals for the town's municipal buildings; the first was to expand borough hall upward one story where it stands now, to renovate the police building and to move the first aid and Office of Emergency Management to a new building north of the existing fire department building.

The second option was to relocate borough hall, the police and the municipal court to a new building that would be on the large municipal parking lot and replace the present police headquarters with a new building to be used by the first aid and OEM. The lot where borough hall now stands would be sold or kept for other uses.

The third option outlined by Marsh was to move the court and the borough hall to a new structure on the large municipal parking lot while renovating the police building for use by the police department and moving the OEM and first aid to a shared building north of the fire department. The borough hall lot would be sold or kept by the town under this plan.

Marsh said her firm recommended the second option because it would place the police department and the court in the same building, giving the court police protection.

In all the options, she said, the Department of Public Works would move to a new building on the north end of the municipal parking lot, the firehouse would be extended by 10 to 20 feet, beach offices would have a new building that would have showers, outdoor lockers or cabanas for public rental, and the old firehouse would be leased, sold or reused.

Marsh also outlined zoning changes and changes in the traffic flow on Ocean Avenue in the center of the town so that there would be two-lane traffic each way, with diagonal parking spaces to provide more parking for retail needs and a center meridian in one of the two options.

Some attending the meeting questioned creating four lanes on Ocean Avenue in the downtown area and asked if it was related to the N.J. Department of Transportation's plan to remove the existing drawbridge that connects Sea Bright to Highlands and replace it with a stationary bridge.

They said that the new bridge would be wider and feed four lanes of traffic into the existing two lanes in the northern part of the borough, and the next step would be making that portion of Ocean Avenue four lanes.

But Marsh said that the work on the Smart Growth plan was done without consulting the DOT concerning the bridge and had no connection with it.

"We didn't work with DOT to come up with this plan," she said.

The new bridge is opposed by both Sea Bright and Highlands and the towns have hired a consultant to try and block the project.

Former Borough Councilman Andrew Mencinsky questioned planning to spend money on new municipal facilities instead of looking at sharing facilities with nearby towns.

He said Fair Haven, Little Silver and Rumson were in discussions about shared services and the borough should join in such efforts.

The plan presented by Marsh was a draft proposal. The final plan is expected to be available in several weeks. The plan was funded by a grant from the New Jersey Office of Smart Growth.