By KENNY WALTER
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT — The borough has opted to remove several parking spaces previously designated to be paid spots for the duration of the summer.
During the July 5 meeting, the council voted to remove 88 spaces previously designated as paid parking spots. The borough will now have free parking with a two-hour time limit on East Ocean Avenue, the Borough Hall lot and Wayne Street in an effort to help and attract volleyball players, fishermen and surfers.
During the first 34 days of the paid parking program, the borough took in $50,996 in revenues. Councilman Charles Rooney III said both seasonal and daily beach badges are up this year as opposed to last year despite the paid parking.
“Paid parking has been a success — we knew going in we would have to make some adjustments, and all the other towns that have been doing it for years, are still making adjustments,” he said.
Chris Wood, owner of Woody’s Ocean Grille, said prior to the vote, that the paid parking program has ultimately hurt borough businesses.
“I think the paid parking is killing the business district,” he said. “I think the 9 p.m. timeframe is ludicrous.
“We’ve got tons of people complaining. They are coming every day, they can’t find the kiosks.”
Wood said the worst part of the parking program is charging for parking until 9 p.m.
“It doesn’t make sense why it goes to 9 o’clock — you are here to basically charge the beachgoers,” he said. “Why would you charge people who come to this town to basically spend their money in this town?
“It’s call the path of least resistance — they will go somewhere else.”
Councilwoman Peggy Bills opposed the amendment and said the council should stick with a plan for this summer and then review it in the offseason.
“Let’s see what works, let’s see what doesn’t work and then take a look at it,” she said. “We are just making our decisions as we go along, and it’s not good.”
Parking has been a frequent discussion in recent months with the council split on plans to charge for parking while many in the business community also expressed concern.
The borough has charged $1 per hour from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. since the Friday before Memorial Day and will continue until Labor Day. However, during storm events, borough officials do have the power to suspend paid parking.
During the meeting it was also announced that a petition was submitted for a referendum that would be put on the November ballot that would invalidate three recently adopted bond ordinances that would fund the construction of a new municipal building and beach pavilion.
Councilman Brian Kelly said the work is necessary since superstorm Sandy and paid parking was intended to be used to help offset any tax impacts on residents.
“One of the reasons we have paid parking is it will help if any debt service kicks in for taxpayers,” he said. “It was over $12 million in bonds, but we also have about $7 million coming back to us.”
The first bond authorized the issuance of $332,500 for the community center, with $1.4 million coming from other funding sources. The second bond authorized $3.9 million in bonding for the municipal complex, with a total of $7.9 million being appropriated for the project. The third ordinance authorized $1.5 million for the beach pavilion, with $3.6 million being appropriated.
The community center plan is for a two-story, 8,609-square-foot building that will also include storage space and the beach pavilion. It will be funded using $2.5 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), $1.8 million from the beach utility fund and the remainder from insurance.
FEMA will also kick in $2.75 million, and insurance will fund $1.32 million for the municipal complex, with the remaining $3.9 million coming from the taxpayers. The bond will result in an extra $250 per year on the average taxpayer.