The hours when lifeguards are on duty at Long Branch beaches would be extended under ordinances introduced at the June 12 City Council meeting.
The council action comes in the wake of two drownings in the county, including that of a 17-year-old swimmer at a city beach, after lifeguard shifts had ended. The two ordinances introduced would extend beach fees and lifeguard hours from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends and holidays.
“I think what it does is it makes it a safer beach because [the crowds are getting larger],” Mayor Adam Schneider said during the council’s workshop session. “On hot days we’ve been putting [lifeguards] down there to have that set of eyes there.
“We know people are going to go in the water,” he added. “We are all looking at the two drownings so far this summer and everyone gets a little spooked.” Councilman John Pallone explained how the two ordinances would impact beachgoers.
“The bottom line is somebody is now going to come at 5 p.m., they are going to get lifeguard protection and they are going to pay for that protection,” he said. “If they have the daily badge or the season pass, then they just stay.
“It is basically just addressing people who come after lifeguard hours and have to pay to be on a guarded beach,” he added. The changes come after 17-year-old Rudy Mena disappeared while swimming with his family on May 27 at an unprotected city beach.
A search for Mena quickly ensued, but his body was not recovered until June 2 in the ocean off Pier Village.
A second incident occurred off the coast of Bradley Beach where a 24-year-old swimmer drowned while swimming after hours on May 29. Schneider said at the time that the city would consider extending lifeguard hours and using special police officers to order people off the beach at closing time.
He said last week the current plan would be to extend coverage by about six lifeguards an extra two hours, costing the city approximately $150 per day.
Under the proposed ordinances, the city would also extend the hours when daily beach badges are required by two hours at the current rate of $7 per day.
According to Schneider, there is more of a demand for the extended hours on the weekends than on weekdays.
“We are going to have a significantly bigger crowd, and it is where we want to spend our resources,” he said. “We’d like to do it on the weekends because the demand is there, and the demand is there for a safe beach.”
Councilwoman Joy Bastelli, often an advocate for keeping beach fees low, voted in favor of the ordinances but did not want to extend the hours when beachgoers must pay to access the beach.
“I don’t like the idea, especially on Fourth of July,” she said. “I like the idea of having them guarded.”
The council will vote on the measures during the June 26 meeting, putting the ordinances in place before their July Fourth Oceanfest celebration.
“People are going down to the beach nonstop, it’s wall-to-wall people and they are going in the water,” Schneider said. “I’m a little hesitant to not have supervision down there.
“The beaches get mobbed from West End all the way down.”
Schneider said a secondary benefit of the extended hours would be to help fund Oceanfest, which Finance Director Ron Mehlhorn Sr. said cost the city about $75,000 in 2011.
“We are going to look every year and say, ‘Can we afford the expenses of the Fourth of July celebration?’ ” Schneider said. “I will probably always be in favor of it, but I don’t want to pretend when we are spending six figures that it’s something automatic.
“Other towns have canceled [July Fourth celebrations] and we anticipate a significantly bigger crowd,” he added. “If I can share the cost by [charging] people who come down to our beaches, that we are providing services to, I think that is a valid user fee.”
Schneider explained that the extended hours, along with the city’s plan to install parking meters along the beachfront later this summer, could help defray the expenses of hosting Oceanfest.
“I am sort of interested considering the parking experiment, how we fund special events,” he said. “Every year is going to be more difficult; I think this is a valid way.
“More importantly, it is a valid way to keep people safe, and I think that’s the priority right now.”
Long Branch has 15 beaches: Seaview Avenue, Great Lawn, Madison Avenue, Laird Street, Chelsea Avenue, Melrose Terrace, Morris Avenue, Pavilion Avenue, North Bath Avenue, South Bath Avenue, Matilda Terrace, Cottage Place, West End, Brighton Avenue and New Court.
The beach season runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day.