By KENNY WALTER
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT — With the summer season quickly approaching, the Borough Council continues an ongoing debate over charging for parking in the municipal lot.
During the April 14 Workshop meeting, the council discussed the parameters around the plan to charge for parking, with Councilman Charles Rooney III saying the borough charging for parking would open up the municipal lot strictly for beachgoers.
“We need to bring people into Sea Bright, people who bought beach badges, people who want to buy daily badges,” Rooney said. “They need places to park — our parking lots the last years have been filled up with people going to the beach clubs, employees that are going to beach clubs.
“I think that costs us around $50,000 just there. We get zero dollars from that.”
The council is considering implementing six parking kiosks at the borough’s beach lots in an effort to bring in additional revenues, possibly to offset the costs associated with superstorm Sandy.
Although no decision was made, the prominent thought during the meeting was that the borough would charge $1 an hour from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Also discussed was the possibility of continuing to charge for parking at night at a reduced rate.
However, Rooney said the borough does not need to charge for parking at night.
“The people who come at night to dinner, they don’t have to pay — they are supporting our business,” he said. “We want people in our town going to the beach and going across the street to our businesses.”
Rooney also said charging for parking will benefit the local businesses.
“We don’t want the parking spaces taken up by people who are going to the Chapel [Beach Club] or they’re working at [The Rum Runner] or they are going to Surfrider [Beach Club],” he said. “We want people in our parking lot for $1 an hour and they are going to go across the street and spend money in our businesses.
“It’s going to benefit the businesses — in the end they are going to see that they want it. We are going to have so many more people in our lot.”
Rooney said he has spoken with officials from other shore towns who charge for parking about how to best run the program.
“I’ve talked to people in Long Branch, I’ve talked to people in Asbury, the numbers don’t lie,” Rooney said. “I wish I could see how this is complicated, we need to make a commitment and figure it out.”
Mayor Dina Long said she would also like mapped out certain exceptions, which would include free parking for residents and an initial 30 minutes free from the charge in an effort to promote more turnover at businesses and allow for people to utilize pizza places and quicker eateries.
The council was expected to vote on the introduction of an ordinance outlining the parameters of the plan during the April 19 meeting. The borough has begun initial preparation for setting up the parking kiosks and numbering spaces.