By Kenny Walter
Staff Writer
LONG BRANCH-In an effort to increase the availability of parking on the street, the city may drop some of the parking restrictions throughout the city.
Jason Roebuck, director of public safety, said during the Feb. 9 Workshop meeting, that the City Council should consider reducing the number of streets where parking is prohibited.
“We took a look at the parking ordinance for a few reasons,” Roebuck said. “It’s a good problem to have, but there is a lack of spaces, so we are trying to loosen up anywhere we possibly can.
“The second reason was this hasn’t been looked at in many, many years, some of the ordinances that we added conflicted with other ones. The third reason was we looked at some of the streets over by Monmouth University.”
Under the proposal, the city would lift parking restrictions on portions of Idyle Place, Lesli Court and Marvin Drive and remove all restrictions on portions of Abbottsford Avenue, Academy Street, Norgrove Place and Pullman Avenue.
The city would lift restrictions on parking on Breakwater Lane, Lincoln Avenue, Stuyvesant Place, Woolley Avenue, Berg Avenue, Clarence Avenue, Elinore Avenue, Highland Avenue, Hoey Avenue, Hollywood Avenue, Hollywood Terrace, Jersey Avenue, Kirby Avenue, Lennox Avenue, Oakley Avenue, Van Court Avenue and Woodgate Avenue.
“What we did was have the traffic department go out and look at what streets were wide enough for people to park there,” he said.
City attorney James Aaron suggested that the city reach out to residents before the ordinance is adopted.
“This is massive and it is going to effect properties pretty much throughout the entire city,” he said. “If we do this in one fell swoop, I think we are going to have people coming up here for the next six months.”
Roebuck said he will use traditional media and social media to try to inform residents of the proposed changes.
“We want to hear from some people whether they want it or not,” he said.
Roebuck said he expects most of the public complaints to be from the residents near Monmouth University.
Roebuck said one of the changes to the ordinance will be the elimination of permit parking requirements at every city street other than Arthur Avenue, a small side street that sits between Morris Avenue and Lowden Court.
Roebuck also said the city should examine adding streets to the ledger of streets where parking is prohibited when the street is covered in snow.
“The problem is we don’t have any place for the people to park if we say you can’t use the roads,” Roebuck said.
Roebuck said the city considered allowing people to park their vehicle in the city-owned Chandler and Maps lot at the foot of Broadway, but because it is a dirt lot, it leads to problems removing the cars when needed. Another option will be for residents to stash their cars at Monmouth Park in Oceanport during snow storms.