BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT — Borough officials are tapping the town’s residents and business owners to help figure out how to best spend $50,000.
Buoyed by the interest shown by members of the public at a May 26 workshop session on the proposed revitalization of the downtown district, the town’s leaders are inviting citizens and entrepreneurs alike to come out again this weekend.
The second of two workshop meetings to discuss ways to better use municipal facilities and to enhance the downtown district as a whole is scheduled for this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cecile Norton Community Center, 1167 Ocean Ave.
While the open session has been billed as a special meeting of the Borough Council, the sole purpose of Saturday’s forum is to find out what residents and business owners would like to see, be it streetscapes, new lighting, bicycle paths or other amenities, in the downtown district divided by Ocean Avenue.
With $50,000 in the form of a Smart Growth grant from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) in hand, borough officials are eager to solicit input by those who will be most affected by any changes made in appearance, accessibility, or traffic flow in the town’s main corridor, according to Councilman William “Jack” Keeler.
The Smart Growth grant, received by the borough last fall, is a nice chunk of change, but officials want to be sure they put it to good use, Keeler said.
“Fifty thousand doesn’t go far,” Keeler said.
The borough has hired Red Bank-based Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates, a professional municipal planning firm, to assist with compiling the views offered by those who attend the workshop session this Saturday, Keeler explained.
Going forward, Ken Bowers, a planner with that firm, will be using those suggestions in devising a revitalization plan designed to transform Sea Bright from a town that motorists pass through on their way to somewhere else, to a destination, Keeler said.
The May 26 workshop showed that residents and business owners want to participate in the makeover of the borough’s downtown, Keeler pointed out.
“People have strong opinions. Some were critical of things that are already in town,” Keeler said. “Some were concerned that their point of view will not be included.”
With the public involved, borough officials will be able to set deadlines and time frames for accomplishing the proposed revitalization and stay grounded, Keeler said.
“We’re hoping it’s not ‘pie in the sky,’ ” Keeler said.
In addition to the workshops, the council is mulling over how to best organize a citizens committee to work with officials in bringing the revitalization proposal to fruition.
About 6 to twelve members could be chosen for the committee, which would work with Mayor Jo-Ann Kalaka-Adams and a council subcommittee, Keeler noted.
Meanwhile, how to give anyone interested in serving on the committee a fair shot at membership was debated by the council at its June 7 public meeting.
Council President Maria Fernandes suggested using a lottery system or “putting the names in a hat” to ensure that all interested persons get an equal opportunity at selection.
Representatives should come in equal numbers from each of the borough’s three different sections, North Beach, South Beach and the center of town, as well as the business community, Fernandes said.
A major part of the proposed revitalization focuses on better usage of borough-owned properties such as the community center and the police station, Keeler pointed out.
Officials are hoping that the revitalization plan, if put in place, will make those often crowded facilities more accessible to the public and more user-friendly to borough employees.
Borough businesses and aesthetics are included in the second part of the revitalization plan in an attempt to create streetscapes with landscaping, better lighting and improved traffic control along Ocean Avenue, which is actually a portion of Route 36, a state highway.
While pitching his firm’s proposal to the council last fall, Bowers indicated that the New Jersey Department of Transportation would have to be consulted about any plans for that roadway.