Beachfront plan still a work in progress
Sea Bright council refines vision for beach complex
BY KIMBERLY STEINBERG

SEA BRIGHT — Council members discussed the evolving plans for the borough's beachfront revitalization at the latest Smart Growth workshop meeting on June 25.

Councilman Brian Kelly presented a revised architectural design titled "Peninsula Beach" created by Design Ideas Group architects and planners.

"At the last meeting, we got the first draft of the plans, and they had incorporated some changes but not all of them," said Kelly.

"We do have some positive change overall, but we still have a lot of feedback to send back to the architect," he added. "Hopefully, after this final revision period, they'll incorporate what we're asking for so we can move forward on construction and planning for funding and incorporating it into the master plan.

"The original draft plan was too futuristic for us," he said. "It didn't have that cute little shore façade. It required many changes."

The revised plan has all of the same basic components, including the lifeguard station, restaurant, snack bar, pool club, wading pool, lockers, cabanas, and a huge grand entranceway.

Council members discussed various suggestions for the building that would then be submitted to the architectural firm.

"Hopefully, they'll bring us back what we're finally looking for so that we have them for the DCA [state Department of Community Affairs]," said Kelly.

The DCA Office of Smart Growth coordinates planning throughout the state and implements the goals of the state Development and Redevelopment Plan to achieve comprehensive, long-term planning.

"We do have some improvements, but we still have a long way to go," Kelly said. "We're running short on time, so we have to stay on target in order to finish construction of phase one in 2010. So, hopefully, we're going to expedite this final draft."

The self-imposed deadline for phase one is 2010. It is not yet decided what aspects of the project will comprise the phase at this time.

"The project will be completed in three phases starting with the most mandatory item, the lifeguard station," said Kelly.

Discussion then centered on the order that the project would be completed in.

Several council members thought that the municipal pool should be phase one because it would be the revenue generator. Council President Jack Keeler said he believes the pool is the anchor of the entire project.

"That pretty much ensures that the beach building won't get done. I don't want taxpayers to foot the bill," Councilwoman Dina Long responded.

"We don't have the estimated costs yet," Kelly said. "We were supposed to have the numbers by this meeting, but we don't, so we will have to re-request them."

"We're going for a quaint, little fishing village. They did improve it somewhat, as they added more vegetation to increase its appeal, but it's not a very welcoming structure with all the lattice," he said.

Councilwoman Peggy Bills said the new design is too modern.

"I love the old Peninsula House, but I'm a history guy," Councilman James Lo- Biondo said. "I love South Beach, just not here."

Kelly was to meet with the borough's chief financial officer, Michael J. Bascom, on July 1 to discuss the details of the plan and funding options.

"We have some pretty good ideas, but we'll sit down with Mike and hatch them out. Then we'll have the numbers to work with shortly after that," he said.

Kelly also led discussions on the issues of energy efficiency and borough facility plan updates.

"Our goal is to make it as energy efficient as possible. Right now there are still incentives and rebates. There are quite a few things available to us, and it changes every week with the state right now, in a good way … there are still funding possibilities to get all of the energy efficiency we can incorporate," Kelly said.

LoBiondo, whose family owns the Surfrider Beach Club, brought up the issue of lockers.

"If I had the option and were building the beach club new, what I see the trend being is that lockers are in. Planning for the worstcase scenario, lockers are easier to rent than cabanas, especially in a bad economy. So I think that if we protect ourselves for the worst-case scenario, we should have all or mostly lockers," he said.

LoBiondo said he's not seeing as many cabana rentals at his club this year. The average rental goes for $10,000 to $20,000. Lockers go for $3,000 to $4,000.

He said they should consider having between 400 and 500 lockers. The current plan calls for just 70 lockers and 664 cabanas.

"I think we should scale it down now," said Kelly.

Council members agreed to reduce the number of cabanas. A total of 150 cabanas were proposed.

Long asked about the feasibility of digital day lockers just large enough to fit a chair, towels and some belongings in. Her idea will be looked into further.

"I want as many amenities as possible for the day-trippers," Long said. "Having a small pool and large pool is very family friendly."

Long said she preferred one restaurant and one snack bar or a concession place that could be leased, and felt that two pools are too much.

Sea Bright would own the pools and hire professionals to manage them. The pool management would go out to bid for a fourmonth operation.

"We'll be netting money if we do this. We can bring a lot of revenue into town," said Councilman C. Read Murphy.

Mayor Maria Fernandes thought otherwise, saying that taxes would not go down and cash flow would not even be possible for many years.

"Even the maintenance costs alone go up. We're not going to see a lot of money coming out of this," Fernandes said.

"I'm interested in revenue, not just breaking even," said Keeler.

"It has to bring in revenue," added Lo- Biondo. "We need an outside management team."

LoBiondo suggested that the borough meet with the management of the Deal Casino.

"What we're talking about, they're already doing," he said.

"We can learn from them," said Kelly.

Murphy said the borough would make a large amount of revenue from its two liquor licenses, which would be held by the longterm lease owner.

LoBiondo said, "We'd be much bigger and have parking. We'd be putting an oceanview restaurant out to bid. The restaurant could bring in $40,000 each night. When the private sector is involved, that's when money is involved."

Borough Engineer David Hoder mentioned that the plan calls for a parking deck for 105 cars and plans for a skate park.

"We're going in the right direction," said Murphy."

"We're at 50 percent," Kelly said. "We were at 10 percent not too long ago."