Long-overdue repairs to the Red Bank are now “hitting the express track” with the installation of a slate roof, the Asbury Park Press reports Tuesday.
From the Press:

NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said the new roof is the first of several improvements to come this year at the old station.

In the first phase, budgeted at $800,000, the entire roof will be replaced – work expected to be complete by mid-May, Snyder said. The existing “gingerbread” trim will also be replaced during this phase, she said.

NJ Transit officials are putting out a request for proposals this summer for the second phase, expected to start in mid- to late fall, Snyder said. That work will consist of restoring the remainder of the station, including stripping old paint, painting the building and improving the waiting room.

The circa-1876 station, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was renamed in honor of the late Red Bank mayor and state Supreme Court Justice Daniel O’Hern last August.

Guests explored the second-floor New Jersey Room, above, where uniforms produced by the Eisner factory were on display.  (Photos by Stephanie Schroepfer. Click to enlarge)

By STEPHANIE SCHROEPFER

Seventy-five years after moving into his former digs, the Red Bank Public Library honored Sigmund Eisner with a house party Saturday.

Light guitar music and tables laden with food for 200 guests set a festive mood as guests meandered through onetime parlors, checking out vintage Army and Boy Scout uniforms produced by Eisner’s Red Bank factories,.

“When the Eisner’s lived here, it was a home. Now its a home for people of all ages and backgrounds,” said Mayor Pasquale Menna.

Menna said he found the history valuable, but not as valuable as the home this library now provides for the community.

Whether they come to do job-hunting research online, to socialize or even just to snooze in a comfy chair overlooking the Navesink River, “it’s all valid,” he said.

“It’s a home for people who live in the neighborhood. No one knows what the role of the library will be years from now, but everyone needs a home and this is one.”

Terry McCue, a 45-year borough resident whose drawings of the Eisner manse and other old homes are featured on notecards sold by the library, said visiting regularly “keeps me handy. Gives me a night” out.

Eisner great-granddaughter Deborah Rutter was among six descendants of the industrialist and philanthropist on hand, and said she learned a lot about family to make her trip down from Connecticut worth the effort.

“I’m overwhelmed by the history, photos and memorabilia,” said Rutter.

“My great-grandfather Sigmund thanks you; my grandfather Monroe thanks you; my father Robert thanks you; and I most certainly thank you,” said Sigmund’s granddaughter Jan Eisner.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony opened the New Jersey History Room, with its special collections of Red Bank, Monmouth County and state history.

With new addition to the collections and the historical tradition of the home, library director Mary Faith Chmiel said she hopes for “another 75 years here, at least.”

“There’s no money for business interruption,” says Red Bank Marina owner Steve Remaley, below, who also stands to lose land on both sides of the bridge. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Steve Remaley is about to get it from all sides.

As Monmouth County nears its long-overdue replacement of Hubbard’s Bridge between Red Bank and Middletown starting early next year, the owner of Red Bank Marina is facing:

• the loss of a large parcel of land, opposite his shop on West Front Street, where many of his customers park their vehicles and boat trailers

• the loss of a strip of land on the marina’s main property for the creation of a new pedestrian and bike path to Shrewsbury Avenue

• up to two years of diminished business, including a stretch of at least three months during which bridge traffic will be shut down entirely.

And that’s the best-case scenario.

“I have no idea what I’m in for,” Remaley tells redbankgreen, leaning on a boat being readied for spring and summer use. “This could be the best thing to ever happen to me, or the worst.”

A 2008 plan showing the new bridge, in red. (Click to enlarge)

The new, permanent bridge is expected to cost $12 million and will replace the “temporary” steel span in place since 2004. But unlike the straight path followed by the existing bridge, the replacement will take an arcing sweep toward the north, anchoring at the same points on either side of the Navesink River where it becomes the Swimming River.

The new alignment improves sightlines and safety for motorists, said county Engineer Joe Ettore. It also, coincidentally, allows for construction of most of the new structure without impacting traffic, except for the anticipated three to four months that will be needed to tie the bridge into the landing points, Ettore has said at two presentations on the project.

But it also means that Remaley will lose some 17,000 square feet of land, 12,000 of it underwater, on the north side of West Front Street. What’s not taken by the bridge will, along with a house acquired by the county at Rector Place and West Front, be deeded over to Red Bank for recreational use.

Remaley, who bought the marina in 2007 after years of running one in Oceanport, uses the parcel for boat storage, but the riparian rights he has there allow for the potential expansion of his operation, including the installation of a dock. In compensation, he’s getting a small amount of land on the south side.

“It’s not a fair exchange,” he said. “Everything I can do on this piece of property I can do over there. I can’t stop them from putting in a bridge, but marina properties are very valuable,” and he’s concerned he won’t get a fair price for the balance.

Remaley is also concerned, he said, about the sidewalk that will be built on the southern edge of the bridge. The county plans to acquire a strip of his property adjoining the New Jersey Transit railroad for the construction of a path to connect the bridge to Shrewsbury Avenue, south of the railroad grade crossing.

The existing bridge has a sidewalk only on the north side, and Remaley questions the logic of building one on the new structure, noting that the western terminus of it, near Chris’ Landing, does not meet a sidewalk, so pedestrians will be forced to cross to the north side anyway.

But Ettore said the new sidewalk, in addition to giving Middletown residents more direct access to the Red Bank train station, enhances safety for the marina’s customers.

Without the sidewalk on the south side of the bridge, “there’s no convenient place for someone to get access to the marina” from the northern side, said Ettore. “This way, there is complete access, safe access.”

Ettore said the southern sidewalk, estimated to cost about $750,000, “absolutely has a major functional purpose, which is to avoid a mid-block crossing, where there’s limited sight distance. And quite frankly, the old bifurcation of the marina property, almost necessitated that marina patrons who chose to park on the north side would have to cross mid-block.”

Remayel is worried, though, that the additional sidewalk there will now be more people crabbing from the bridge, and leaving trash behind. And while the bridge is under construction, he’s hoping that the boating channel to the broader Navesink remains open, or his business will suffer yet more.

“There’s no money for business interruption” in the sums that the county is offering in ongoing negotiations, he said.

Despite his many worries, though, Remayel said he’s not dead-set against the bridge.

“Maybe I won’t be affected that much,” he said, acknowledging the county’s goal of limiting the traffic shutdown to winter months, when his business is slow anyway.

And the new bridge will mean no more of the constant clanking of metal parts on the existing structure, he said.

“I’ll be glad because it won’t be so noisy,” he said.

By JOHN T. WARD

After nearly a year of controversy, a 100-foot tulip poplar that rallied both supporters and detractors of Fair Haven’s tree preservation law is coming down.

With members saying they were swayed by the “compelling” testimony of an arborist last week, the borough planning board reversed itself Thursday night, giving builder Bob Susser of Rumson an OK to remove the tree on the site of a three-home development on Woodland Drive.

The law, written to prevent clear-cutting, prompted gnashing of teeth even among officials who relied on it to repeatedly deny Susser of Buttonwood Investors, a permit to take down the tree. They said the law was poorly written, giving them little or no guidance on how to handle appeals. One board member called it “spongey.”

Over the course of the last ten months, Susser had a permit granted; rescinded over concerns about a conflict of interest involving the borough code enforcement officer; denied by the borough administrator; and rejected on appeal of that denial by the planning board. The board also shot down Susser’s request for a re-hearing of the appeal.

Last week, however, Susser was back before the board, again asking to remove the tree or, in the alternate, to amend a site plan than the board had previously approved, before the board was drawn into the tree issue.

At the March 14 hearing, Michale LaMana, an arborist hired by Susser testified that the tree, while healthy, was at risk of “catastrophic failure” because of its bifurcated trunk, size and brittleness.

LaMana’s conclusions matched those of two other tree experts, including Bill Brooks of Red Bank, Fair Haven’s contractual tree enforcement officer. But because of the substantive similarity in testimony of the arborists, board members faced the question of whether they had the right to vote again on the matter or were barred from doing so, as several neighbors argued they were, by the legal principle of res judicata, which says, in essence: the matter has been decided and may not be voted on again.

The case was carried until a special meeting Thursday so three members who were absent from the March 14 session could listen to a recording of the hearing in order to vote. And when the matter resumed, a 4-2 majority of board members concluded that LaMana’s testimony had been so “compelling” as to merit a reopening of the matter.

In a unanimous vote, Susser finally won approval.

“They got me with ‘catastrophic failure,’” said Chairwoman Joan Jay. “It’s time to put this to bed.”

Two other board members said they had been anguished by thoughts of a tree limb falling on someone.

“I couldn’t live with myself if a large branch fell down and hit somebody in the head and killed them,” said Alison Dale.

Afterward, a neighbor asked if the borough would alert neighbors before the tree came down and have an official on site when it does.

Susser tells redbankgreen the tree will be cut down as early as next week.

He said he agreed with councilman and planning board member Bob Marchese, who contends the law is unconstitutional as it applies to property rights. Additionally, Susser said the law is flawed in that it was used to force him before a planning board, which deals with land-use matters and is not equipped to interpret or apply the tree law.

“Thank god that reasonable minds prevailed,” he said.

The tree had previously been described by experts as 60 feet or so tall, but LaMana testified that laser measurements put it at 100 feet. He also estimated that it had put down roots as early as 1930.

State Senator Jennifer Beck with the offending gas pressure valve on Broad Street Wednesday. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

[SEE UPDATE TO THIS STORY AT THE BOTTOM]

Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna and 11th-District state Senator Jennifer Beck teed up New Jersey Natural Gas Wednesday for a plan to install emergency venting devices in front of downtown storefronts.

Labeling them “Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Vandals,” the historically inclined mayor blasted unnamed NJNG officials for a “tyrannical decision to put in these horse hitches,” he said at a midday press conference outside Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash on Broad Street, where one of the offending valves was installed a year ago.

The devices, now located beneath the sidewalks in access holes covered with steel plates, are used to prevent surges in gas pressure into stores, restaurants and apartments by venting excess pressure through small, unobtrusive pipes located against storefonts, said borough Administrator Stanley Sickels.

The gas company, officials said, insists that the devices must now be brought above ground for safety reasons, saying that they’re prone to deterioration from salt and other ice-melting products.

But local officials said that over a year of conversations with NJNG, company officials have refused to provide any inspection data demonstrating that the underground devices are a problem. The only instance of a leak in the past 20 years occurred outside the former home of David Levine Salon, and was addressed by creating a new and better-sealed access hole, Sickels said.

Town officials object to the plan to replace 88 such valves in the business district with above-ground devices, 82 of which they said would abut storefronts. They cited both aesthetic and safety concerns.

“This solution is frankly an intrusion to the downtown that we’ve spent millions to upgrade,” said Beck, a former borough council member who maintains a legislative office on Monmouth Street. The exposed valves could also be damaged by skateboards, snow shovels and accidents involving cars that jump curbs, officials said.

Beck said NJNG “would not share any information about other options, but my instinct is that there are plenty of other options.”

Calling the company’s approach “heavy-handed,” she said, “I don’t understand the need for secrecy when they are talking about invading our public space.”

“We have a genuine concern for the aesthetic value of the downtown as well as the safety issue,” said Councilman Ed Zipprich.

Beck said she plans to introduce legislation Thursday to force the utility to install new underground enclosures with tight-fitting covers.

Officials said they did not know of other towns that had dealt with the issue.

[UPDATE: Mike Kinney, a spokesman for NJNG parent New Jersey Resources who was not available for comment when the original version of this article was published, said NJNG filed suit Wednesday in state Superior Court in Freehold against the borough and Red Bank RiverCenter seeking to force the borough to issue permits for the valve replacement work. The town refused to issue the permits in late February, said Kinney.

The denial of the permits was not mentioned by town officials during Wednesday's press conference.

Kinney said the issue is one of safety raised by corrosion of below-ground valves. In its court filings, the company maintains that "accelerated atmospheric corrosion" of the underground valves "creates a significant risk of a catastrophic gas leak" and that the borough's objection to the work is "for purely aesthetic reasons."

In its coverage area of Monmouth, Ocean and Morris counties, NJNG had 280 underground valves in 17 towns to replace, Kinney said. So far, 144 have been replaced in Asbury Park, Atlantic Highlands, Freehold and elsewhere he said, without any other towns refusing to issue permits. Of the 136 remaining valves designated for replacement, 88 are in Red Bank, he said.

Kinney tells redbankgreen that the company is sensitive to the look of the downtown streetscape, and has worked with the business community in Asbury Park to obscure the valves with planters and other measures. "But when it comes to well-being and aesthetics, we're going to choose safety every time," he said.

Here's a copy of each of the two court filings: Verified Complaint 03-14-12 and Memorandum of Law in 03-14-12.

Here's a FAQ prepared by the company, complete with photos showing corrosion to underground valves: NJNG FAQ 031412]

“I’d almost rather be incinerated than have to live down here,” says Suellen Sims, below inspecting her new home’s fallout shelter, built beneath an earthen berm alongside Harris Park. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

It survived the Cold War without so much as a scratch, but a Red Bank fallout shelter is about to prove no match for the great wave of American home renovation.

Sometime in the next few weeks, a backhoe is expected to demolish the underground bunker beside a River Road house recently acquired by Suellen and Jamie Sims, who plan an addition to accommodate her mother.

Suellen Sims in her soon to be demolished bunker. (Click to enlarge)

The Cold War was raging in 1959 or 1960 when Dr. James Clark, a Red Bank eye surgeon, decided like many other Americans that he needed a fallout shelter to protect his family from radiation in the event of a nuclear attack.

But when a manufacturer of mail-order shelters told him there was a two-year backlog, Clark decided to build his own on the Harris Park side of the house, said his son, David Clark.

“He drew it up on paper, dug the hole, designed the hand-cranked air-filtration system,” said Clark, of Fair Haven. “He built wooden platform beds, and loaded it with canned goods.”

The result, on the outside, was a handsome berm of soil, grass and pine trees trimmed with a low brick wall. Inside, about a dozen feet below the surface, was a room off about 12 by 12, set off to the right of the stairwell, because, said Clark, “radiation can’t turn corners.”

Clark, who was about 10 or 12 when the bunker was built, said his father gave him the chore of emptying water containers and refilling them each month, adding three drops of chlorine to each. The elder Clark died suddenly in 1962 of a heart attack, and in the ensuing years, the son and his pals used to occasionally hang out in the bunker.

“They’d ask if they could come down here if the Russians attacked,” he said. “I’d say, ‘sure, you and the 5,000 other people who have asked.’”

The new owners, who have never met Clark, referred to the bunker at a recent planning board hearing as a “bomb shelter,” but Clark says it wasn’t built for that kind of shock. “A bomb hits the top, everybody’s dead,” he said.

Suellen Sims said that when a real estate agent first showed her and her husband the house, the bunker wasn’t included in the listing information. “We said, ‘What are all those pipes sticking up out of the ground?’”

Turns out they’re part of the air filtering system, equipped originally with automotive air filters.

Sims, who said she had to duck under her desk and participate in air raid drills as a schoolgirl and recalls having been “terrified” during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, still finds it “weird that you would build this just for yourself and your family.”

And the shelter itself she finds “dystopian. I’d almost rather be incinerated than have to live down here the rest of my life,” she said.

With the bunker’s days now numbered, Sims says her daughter has suggested a sendoff party, complete with t-shirts bearing the message: “I got bombed in the bomb shelter.”

Local-history librarian Elizabeth McDermott, below, with a custom-branded Eisner lightbulb in the second-floor New Jersey Room of the Red Bank Public Library, once the home of industrialist Sigmund Eisner. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

On April 15, 1937, the Red Bank Public Library – for decades an itinerant but growing collection of books and archival material – finally found a permanent home, relocating from a downtown storefront to a mansion at 84 West Front Street.

Three months earlier, the heirs of Sigmund Eisner – mass-manufacturer of uniforms for the Army, the Boy Scouts and other organizations  – had donated their late father’s mansion overlooking the Navesink River to the library.

The shared hope of H. Raymond, Monroe and J. Lester Eisner was that the house would provide a warm and dry place for reading, but also that it would function “as a bit of a museum, too,” says local-history librarian Elizabeth McDermott.

Next month, the library will celebrate its 75th anniversary in the house with museum-like displays that highlight Eisner and his transformative impact on Red Bank as an industrialist and philanthropist.

The event, says McDermott, “is completely about” Eisner.

The ornate first-floor parlor of the Eisner mansion, above, and an undated photo of Sigmund Eisner, below. (Click to enlarge)

Valued at $25,000 at the time, the house was donated partly furnished, according to a Red Bank Register account of the opening. Wicker chairs provided welcome indoor seating overlooking the river.

The house had been home to Eisner and his wife, Bertha Weis, a member of a well-established Red Bank family. An Eastern European immigrant who “came to Red Bank as a peddler,” Eisner set up a sewing machine in a rented house near Broad Street and eventually built an manufacturing empire that employed 5,000 people at its peak during the first World War, said McDermott.

Eisner’s complex of factory buildings at the West Front Street and Bridge Avenue was reported to be the largest uniform factory in the world, she said.

Some of that property is now the home to the Galleria at Red Bank, a collection of restaurants, shops and offices. Another portion, on the northeast corner of that intersection, is home to the Antique Center of Red Bank.

Antique Center owner Guy Johnson is lending some of his collection of Eisner and old Red Bank memorabilia to the library display, including uniforms and a lightbulb branded with the Eisner name, probably for use in the factory, McDermott said.

The event will also highlight the reopening of the library’s New Jersey History Room. For many years, an ornate front room trimmed in ornate Gothic woodwork served as the repository for reference and archival materials about Red Bank, Monmouth County and the state. But the rarity and delicate condition of some of the materials, including one-of-a-kind atlases and directories, called out for a dedicated, controlled-access space, said McDermott.

That space is now a second-floor room of several hundred square feet that is open to the public from 2 to 4 p.m. each Tuesday afternoon, and by appointment at other times. McDermott said it is available to anyone, and is particularly helpful to people interested in researching family and property histories.

McDermott herself has been immersed in the materials as she assembles the exhibit, she said. And one regular visitor, a volunteer in the effort to put together the exhibit, has been known to exclaim, while going through old photos, “Oh my god, that’s my great-grandfather,” McDermott said with a laugh.

The goal of the exhibit is to create “a kind of timeline” about Eisner, a philanthropist who left money in his will to his factory workers, as well as to a host of churches of various persuasions, said McDermott.

“He didn’t have any barriers,” she said.

The building got a $1.6 million renovation in 2007, reopening after a problematic 15-month closure in January, 2008. In the interim, the library operated out of retail space donated by Hovnanian Enterprises.

Here’s an article from the January 6, 1937 edition of the New York Times announcing the donation of the house to the borough: Eisners deed house to library

And here’s the announcement about next month’s event:

On Saturday, April 14, 2012, from 2 – 4 PM, the Red Bank Public Library will celebrate 75 years as the Eisner Memorial Library with a Ribbon Cutting and Reception in our newly restructured New Jersey History Room.

Our New Jersey Collection contains many unique and valuable items pertaining to the Library, the Borough of Red Bank, and Monmouth County. The Library building itself is a special place, having been previously the home of Sigmund Eisner, businessman, civic leader and philanthropist, and his wife Bertha, an influential businesswoman and civic organizer. Presented to the Borough of Red Bank in January 1937, the former mansion was opened as a Public Library on April 15, 1937, thanks to the generosity of the Eisner sons, Raymond, J. Lester, and Monroe Eisner.

Please join us on April 14, as we celebrate this historic anniversary in our beautiful building on the Navesink River. For more information, please feel free to contact the library at 732-842-0690.

The Woman’s Club of Red Bank and three historic structures in Shrewsbury are among the local nonprofits set to share in $71,200 in grants awarded by the Monmouth County Historical Commission, the county government announced Friday.

From the announcement:

“These grants support the great work being done by preservationists in the community,” said Freeholder Lillian G. Burry, liaison to the county Historical Commission. “These structures tie us to previous generations and help remind us that we must treasure and remember our roots and the people who built our communities. I take pride in the opportunity to give my support and the support of the entire Board of Chosen Freeholders as partners in preservation.”

 The Historical Commission is dedicated to preserving the past and creating a living history. Projects eligible for funding are preservation, restoration or rehabilitation of historic structures – usually 50 years or older – that are accessible to the public. The program covers essentially structural work for projects commonly known as “bricks and mortar” undertakings.

 “The preservation and restoration of historic structures make history real and present in our lives,” Burry said. “These grants are an essential part of what the county does. It is important to maintain and restore these landmarks to their glory and interpret their importance for generations to come.”

 The Monmouth County Historical Commission was created by the Board of Chosen Freeholders for the preservation and conservation of Monmouth County history. Established in August 1988, its principal program is the preservation grants, an undertaking that recognizes the acute need for funds to preserve Monmouth County’s rich and diverse historic legacy. The commission grants matching funds on a competitive basis to municipalities and nonprofit organizations needing financial help in the preservation or restoration of historic structures.

 “Recipients will receive a check for their projects upon completion of the work and the submission of the required paperwork,” said Randall Gabrielan, executive director of the Historical Commission.

 Each grant application must include a description of the project, its meaning to history and the significance and the audience it serves. It must also include a detailed budget, a source of funding available for the applicant’s dollar-for-dollar contribution, detailed quotations for the work, the materials to be used and a time frame for completion.

 There is a $500 minimum request per applicant in any year. The program is competitive and the commission requires proof of the availability of matching funds.

Each grantee is required to submit interim and final reports. The documents are to be accompanied by three photographs that detail project progress. The interim report is due when 50 percent of the work is completed. The final report, due at completion, must show evidence of completion and a canceled check to document payment to the contractor.

The deadline for applying for the preservation grants is Nov. 1 of every year. Information about the Historical Commission grant program can be found at www.visitmonmouth.com

For information about the county’s Historical Commission, email Gabrielan at monmouthhistory@comcast.net or by calling 732-431-7413. Additional information can be found on the county’s Web site at www.visitmonmouth.com.

 The public can visit many of these sites during the Weekend in Old Monmouth tour May 5 and 6.

The 2011 Preservation Grant recipients are:

• Atlantic Highlands
  Atlantic Highlands Historical Society – Porch Restoration, Phase 6 – Roof            $ 6,000
• Avon
  Borough of Avon By The Sea – Pavilion – Phase V Restoration            $ 4,000
• Belmar
  Belmar Historical Council – Union Firehouse – Phase 2            $ 5,000
• Eatontown
  Mt. Zion AME Zion Church – Window Restoration            $ 4,000
• Holmdel
  Holmdel Historical Society – Dr. Cooke Office, Chimney Repair & Painting             $ 1,500
• Long Branch
  Long Branch Historical Museum Assn. – Church of Presidents, North Wall Siding $ 7,400
• Middletown
  Old First Church – Façade Restoration            $ 5,000
• Middletown
  All Saints Memorial Church – Exterior Minor Repairs and Painting            $ 6,500
• Millstone
  Township of Millstone – Structural Repairs to Former Church            $ 6,000
• Neptune
  Historical Society of Ocean Grove – Restoration of Memorial Vase Structure            $   800
• Neptune
  Ocean Grove Historic Preservation Society Inc. – Basement Windows            $ 4,000
• Red Bank
  Woman’s Club of Red Bank – Exterior Restoration of South Elevation            $ 6,500
• Shrewsbury
  Shrewsbury Monthly Meeting – Phase VII: Second Floor Windows (4)            $ 5,000
• Shrewsbury
  Christ Church – Exterior Painting            $ 4,000
• Shrewsbury
  Monmouth County Historical Association – Smokehouse Restoration            $ 3,000
• Tinton Falls
  Borough of Tinton Falls – Second Story Ceiling Repairs            $ 2,000

Does a particular location spring to mind at the sight of the above? Please send us an email if you think you know where it is.

Last week’s photo was a low-angle shot of a decorative lamp on the facade of a yellow-brick building, which a number of readers recognized as 32 Monmouth Street in Red Bank, a three-story structure that was most recently home to Stokaboka, though the ground-floor space is now vacant.

And a number of those readers were familiar with the building’s background.

Historian Randall Gabrielan of Middletown, in his photo history book “Red Bank, Volume 3,” says the borough government, after having spent its first half-century housed across the street at the red brick 51 Monmouth, moved into this structure, a former New York Telephone Company office, in 1958. The building dates to 1912.

Borough hall was relocated to 90 Monmouth, at the corner of Maple Avenue, in 1997. Upstairs tenants at 32 Monmouth now include the 11th District legislative office of state Senator Jennifer Beck and 13th District Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon.

Thanks to all who wrote in: Jacqueline Francisco Sapienza, Mike Simpson, Trish DePonti, Scott Howard, Tracy McMahon, Les Hathaway and Jenn Woods.

By STACIE FANELLI

Sixty years old, the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge over the Shrewsbury River is rapidly corroding, inadequate for today’s traffic loads and behind the times on accident safety. Its electrical system is the same one installed in 1952. It’s not up to snuff in terms of earthquake resistance, either.

In a word, Monmouth County engineering officials say, the bridge’s condition is “serious.”

Whether to spend an estimated $10 million to rehabilitate the bridge or some $50 million to replace it was the core question at a pair of public hearings held Monday in Sea Bright and Rumson. More than a dozen county officials and consultants were present at each to kick off a series of discussions aimed, they said, at “building consensus” on a solution.

But some residents of the two towns voiced skepticism that their concerns – which include the impacts of a new span on property values on the Rumson side and on the business district in Sea Bright – would be given much weight in the process.

“They seem to have it in mind to build a new bridge, and I just don’t want it destroying the neighborhood in the process,” said Tom Calvanico, who lives near the Rumson anchorage.

The bridge, designated S-32, was the focus of an open-house style meeting in Rumson Monday night, as well as at a separate meeting in Sea Bright earlier in the day. Thirteen members of the project team were on hand to answer questions about traffic, design, engineering and the environmental impact of several courses of action.

On the table are replacing the low drawbridge or building a high fixed bridge, which would mean road realignment and a possible loss of private property, officials acknowledged.

“Doing nothing is not an option. At some point, something has to be done,” Martine Culbertson, a community involvement facilitator hired by the county, told the Rumson audience.

But as in Sea Bright earlier, the Rumson Q&A session elicited concern over whether the community’s voices would actually matter in the final decision of the preferred alternative that will be presented to the federal government.

“This just reminds me of Sandy Hook,” said Rumson resident Phil Wagner, referring to the replacement of the Route 36 Highlands Bridge with the new Joe Azzolina Bridge. “Everybody was listened to and all of a sudden, hocus pocus, a decision was made.”

Jon Moren, the county’s principal engineer for bridges, repeatedly assured the audiences that no decision has been made regarding any aspect of the bridge’s construction, including whether construction will ever occur. And team members stressed that in order for the project to qualify for federal funding, Uncle Sam requires them to weigh all options. He encouraged residents to comment in writing with their objections to a fixed bridge.

While a drawbridge would allow for the structure to stay where it is, an issue of funding concerned the crowd. Glen Schetelich, project manager from the engineering firm Hardesty and Hanover, refuted the rumor that the federal government is not interested in funding movable bridges because of maintenance.

“It’s project by project,” he said. “I’ve worked on drawbridges that were replaced with drawbridges.”

The estimate is $10 million to repair only what has been damaged up until now. That does not include preventative construction or replacement, which could come with a budget of over $50 million, said Moren, who added that the county typically spends only $10 million per year on bridges altogether.

All funding is expected to come from the federal government, through the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, but only if the project team follows the procedures outlined by the National Environmental Policy Administration (NEPA), which include holding Monday’s public informational meetings.

The meeting “is one of the early litmus tests the Federal Highway Administration will take a look at,” Culbertson told the Rumson crowd.

A traffic survey will be conducted during the summer, the peak of bridge use, to address concerns about congestion.

Moren, who is also the project manager of the Oceanic Bridge project, said construction would not happen on both bridges at once. He confirmed that the current closure of the Oceanic is on schedule to end before next Memorial Day, which is when only the first phase of the Rumson-Sea Bright bridge would be completed.

If Rumson, Sea Bright and the county cannot reach a consensus, though, the team will have to go off course from the schedule put in place by NEPA and will lose its federal funding. The first phase of planning, “local concept development” is 18 months long and should end by April 2013. If everyone agrees on the type of bridge to build and how to do it, they will then go into the engineering, design and construction phases.

Members of the team could not comment on how long construction might last or when it would begin because no one has agreed that it will be built yet. But there seemed to be a consensus opposition to a completely new span.

“That bridge would have to be so huge that it would have to start at Holy Cross and end in the ocean. You would have to build a monstrosity,” said Rumson resident Ingeborg Perndorfer.

“Stakeholders,” which the officials said includes fire and police departments from both municipalities, Holy Cross School, the two hospitals, marinas, bordering towns and local business owners, already met with the project team earlier this month to discuss their apprehension. The most notable bullet was keeping the bridge open during construction.

The bridge is a vital part of the evacuation on Route 520, but community members cited the last time it underwent repairs as a main concern. It was the early 90s and the bridge was shut down entirely for about three months.

“Business in Sea Bright practically died,” said Rumson resident Jude Skowron.

The next public information meeting will be held in October, when the data collection is finished and the preferred alternative for the bridge will be presented, officials said.

Stacie Fanelli, a sophomore at Syracuse University, is a reporting and photography intern at redbankgreen