BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer
OCEANPORT — The borough received a Monmouth County Open Space Trust Fund grant last week to fund renovations to its waterfront park, the centerpiece of the borough’s Village Center Zone.
The $59,000 matching grant, which means the borough has allocated the matching amount of $59,000 in its 2005 capital budget for park improvements, was presented by Freeholder William C. Barham at the March 17 council meeting.
The check represents the borough’s share of the $2 million in the trust fund for projects in Monmouth County that include both land acquisitions and development for parks, recreation and open space purposes.
“I am proud to present this check to help Oceanport officials complete their vision of making this waterfront park a pleasant place for residents to relax and enjoy,” Barham said in a prepared statement.
The total $118,000 grant will fund lighting, sidewalks, new park benches, game tables and a water fountain at the 3-acre park on East Main Street that borders the banks of Old Wharf Creek.
“We always wanted to update the park,” Mayor Maria Gatta said. “Through the years with all the wear and tear, it needs upgrading.”
The park, which Gatta refers to as a “passive park where people can come to relax,” will be the focal point of the borough’s new Village Center Zone.
The Village Center Zone extends down East Main Street from Oceanport to Port-au-Peck Avenues.
“Every six years the town has to look at its master plan, and in 1997 we realized Oceanport has no town center,” Kim Jungfer, borough clerk, said.
She added that many of the Oceanport retail outlets, such as Cumberland Farms, the Oceanport Village Pharmacy, the borough post office and the Village Plaza shopping center, are all located in one area, so the borough designated that area as the new Village Center zone.
In 1998, design regulations for the sidewalks, lighting fixtures and buildings were created for that zone to form an “architectural atmosphere that would make the zone appear more as a cohesive area,” Jungfer said.
In 2003, the designs were further specified in finer detail, which include buildings to be constructed of natural materials such as stone or brick, roof-lines to stagger, and the size and style of signage to be controlled by the borough, according to Jungfer.
The park will be the first area in the zone to undergo renovations that will come under the new guidelines.
“We still have a long way to go,” Jungfer said. “You cannot force the existing businesses to do this. Once [the existing businesses] want to renovate or sell their buildings, then they must comply with the borough guidelines.”
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority has also received approval for a project called the Village Center that will consist of retail and residential structures, to be constructed at the corner of Port-au-Peck Avenue and East Main Street.
Jungfer said the project will be auctioned off to a developer, and although the businesses that will operate at the site are not known, all construction designs will follow the Village Center zone guidelines.