Design of new Sea Bright complex a work in progress
Ideas, input aired on placement of boro facilities
BY MELISSA KARSH Staff Writer
Like the pieces to a puzzle, Sea Bright Borough Council members and residents tried to fit together a plan for the placement of new and renovated municipal facilities at the Feb. 21 Smart Growth Committee meeting.

MELISSA KARSH Former Sea Bright Councilman Andrew Mencinsky discusses the borough's Smart Growth plans with Councilwoman Susana Markson and borough engineer David Hoder at the Feb. 21 Smart Growth meeting.

The Borough Council posed the question, "Where will the new municipal facilities be located on municipal property?" at the first public workshop smart growth meeting held in the recreation center gym at the Sea Bright Borough Hall.

The Borough Council, minus Councilman William J. Keeler, held the meeting to discuss and hear resident feedback about the site plan, or blue print, for the placement of municipal facilities on municipal property along Ocean Avenue from the Chapel Hill Beach Club to Donovan's Reef.

"The whole idea that we are looking to do is to stack … the line of sight through the center of our property where somebody driving by on Ocean Avenue could look out through our municipal lots and see the ocean over the top of the boardwalk," said Council Thomas Scriven, who heads the council's Beach Committee.

Scriven said the municipal facilities would be placed in a horseshoe-like design with the buildings stacked around the sides and parking in the center.

Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates, a New York City-based planning and real estate consulting firm, had previously presented three different plans to the borough for the use of the beachfront municipal property.

Mayor Maria Fernandes said at the meeting that the plan being discussed was a combination of those plans and while the consulting firm offered three options to choose from, the borough is not bound by any of the proposals.

Although council members stressed no final building placement decisions have been made, Councilwoman Susana Markson demonstrated where the buildings might be placed, marking the locations on a map for the nearly 25 audience members in attendance.

On one side of the horseshoe by the Chapel Hill Beach Club, a new two-story municipal office/police station, library building and skateboard park would be lined up, said Markson. On the other side of the horseshoe, by Donovan's Reef where the fire department building currently exists, would be a new first aid building, a two-story beach headquarters and an open paved walkway to the beach, according to Markson.

Councilwoman Dina Long gave a brief rundown of the status of the current municipal building and the results of an engineering structural review survey on the present facilities.

"From an engineering structural review we were advised that our present police facility will not withstand renovation or rehabilitation so therefore, renovating that building is really not an option," said Long of the police building, which will likely be taken down.

She said the current borough hall building located at 1167 Ocean Ave. is structurally sound and can withstand an addition.

"We feel strongly that we need to maintain a community center and we need to maintain this [borough hall] property as a community center so according to this plan, this remains a community center. The gym stays and it becomes a headquarters for recreation," said Long.

Other aspects of the preliminary plan include possible space provided for more recreation and the consolidation of the borough's public works sites into one facility.

Markson said the location could be behind the current borough hall on Wayne Street.

Scriven and his Beach Committee have already been working on a beach project that would include a boardwalk running from Donovan's Reef to Chapel Hill and a year round or seasonal pool club.

One piece to the municipal building puzzle that the borough council did not yet have a plan for is the municipal court, which is currently located in a trailer behind borough hall and is not completely compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or court standards.

Suggestions for the municipal court, which is at most used once a week, was to continue as it is used, include it in the new municipal office/police headquarters building or look into shared services with another town.

Most audience members responded positively to council members' ideas and added some of their own into the mix.

Some residents voiced concerns about parking and spoke about the need for consolidation of services.

"Everything sounds good so far. I like the idea of what's been presented here. One of the problems that I see is the parking," said James Forsman, Church Street.

Brian George, who owns Northshore Menswear on Ocean Avenue and is one of the co-presidents of the newly formed Sea Bright Business Alliance, shared his ideas about how to bring people into Sea Bright and also voiced concerns about parking.

"We would like to bring people to the beach. The greatest asset that we have is the beach and I think if we could build a nice bandshell which isn't going to be expensive on this new boardwalk, which is a great idea, and have events … I think it would be a great asset for the town and it would be beautiful at the same time," said George, Rumson.

Former councilman Andrew Mencinsky spoke about the need to share services with other municipalities and consolidate buildings.

"I think we got some very good ideas and the discussion was a good one," said Fernandes at the close of the meeting.

A survey of the municipal property is still needed in order to move forward with the smart growth project, she said.

According to Fernandes, a decision on an official site plan with the locations of the buildings will be made at the March 27 Smart Growth committee meeting.