City plans upgrades to Ocean Ave.
Residents applaud decision to keep roadway 'green'
BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer
Long Branch officials are now discussing plans to renovate portions of Ocean Avenue after the City Council voted last week to drop a proposal to reopen the closed oceanfront roadway.

Residents of The Beach House condominium complex on Ocean Avenue hung a sign at their building to thank the city for keeping portions of the oceanfront roadway closed to traffic.

At the Aug. 14 municipal meeting, the council unanimously adopted resolution 227-07 to withdraw plans that would permit traffic on a recreational roadway that borders the city's boardwalk and beach.

With the proposal off the table, Mayor Adam Schneider said the roadway would need a face lift.

"What we are looking to do is a complete and total refurbishing of the whole area, which would include the roadway and the boardwalk," Schneider said.

"What we need is better handicap access, bathrooms, paving," he said, adding that the city still needs to find the funding to complete the project.

The City Council approved resolution 227-07 last week to rescind its previous decision to submit an application to the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to remove portions of Ocean Avenue from the state's Green Acres Program inventory.

The original proposal by the council to open the roadway was followed by weeks of contentious municipal meetings crowded with residents opposed to the plan.

At the July 24 meeting, Schneider announced that the city was no longer moving forward with plans to reopen Ocean Avenue.

"We have been coming here for several weeks and we are very delighted," said Dennis Sherman of Ocean Boulevard, who has been publicly protesting the measure since it was first introduced in May.

"We want to thank [Mayor Adam Schneider] and the council for listening to all the people and all the petitions [opposing the opening of the roadway] signed," he said at last week's meeting.

Although Elberon Avenue resident Bill Schatzow agreed with Sherman, he said he wanted the city to clean up the roadway, which is currently used as a recreational area.

"Does Long Branch have control over the area?" Schatzow asked at the meeting. "Are we allowed to fix it up? It is unsafe.

"What about the holes in the roadway next to the boardwalk. It has not been just this year. It has been like this the last 15 years," he said.

"I disagree," Schneider said about the conditions Schatzow described on Ocean Avenue. "I think you exaggerate."

Schneider said that the city has repaired portions of the boardwalk and is planning to renovate the Ocean Avenue area that is deemed Green Acres.

Schneider further explained that the rebuilding of the boardwalk is part of developer K. Hovnanian's plans for the Beachfront South redevelopment zone.

"The whole boardwalk has to be built," Schneider said. "It is the whole reason for negotiating the deal we did with Hovnanian."

Hovnanian's plans for Beachfront South and the city's boardwalk are on hold pending the outcome of an appeal by residents in the Beachfront North, phase II redevelopment zone who are seeking to save their homes from being condemned for a private redevelopment project.

"They want to see the end of the litigation with Beachfront North," Schneider said. "It is very pricey and we can't do it in bits and pieces and then rip it out to rebuild it."

For more than two decades, 3.10 acres of Ocean Avenue has been listed as Green Acres and protected from development or vehicular traffic.

The council voted in May to enter into a land swap with the DEP to remove portions

of Ocean Avenue from the Green Acres program and in return the city would donate 6.19 acres of cityo wned "green" parcels to be listed as Green Acres.

Ocean Avenue resident Bill McLaughlin led a campaign opposing the city's proposal and more than 5,000 signatures were gathered on petitions seeking to have the roadway remain closed to vehicular traffic.

The sections of Ocean Avenue the city was proposing to remove from Green Acres are: from Brighton Avenue to West End; from Howland to South Bath avenues; and from Madison Avenue to Ocean Terrace.

In exchange, the city also proposed to donate approximately 4 acres of property at the Great Lawn in Pier Village and approximately 2 acres of the walking and bicycle path on the east side of Ocean Boulevard.