Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

SEA BRIGHT MULLS MORE BACK-IN PARKING

xv63se-6177985A motorist attempts to park in a reverse-angle space in Sea Bright last June. Mike Dannemiller, below left, addresses the council Thursday morning. (Photos by John T. Ward)

By JOHN T. WARD

sb-council-011515-220x165-2012981Hoping to piggyback on a plan by the state to repave the town’s main drag in coming weeks, Sea Bright officials gave informal approval Thursday to the creation of bike lanes on Ocean Avenue.

They stopped just short, however, of doing the same for a proposal to expand the new-to-Monmouth County use of reverse-angle parking.

Last June, Sea Bright became the first town in the county to give reverse-angle parking a try. Also known as back-in and head-out parking, the method requires a motorist to back into a slot at a 45-degree angle to the curb.

Reverse-angle parking has been adopted in numerous cities because, advocates say, it’s safer than parallel parking both for motorists and pedestrians.

Sea Bright eased into the concept with a pilot program consisting of eight curbside spaces in front of the Ocean Avenue supermarket. The idea at the time, baked into the town’s “20/20” plan, was to later expand the concept elsewhere in the borough.

At a workshop meeting of the council Thursday morning, town officials hoped to accelerate the program by having the state Department of Transportation create additional angled spaces when it re-stripes most of Route 36 – Ocean Avenue – following a repaving project.

Mike Dannemiller, a biking and pedestrian safety consultant to the DOT, said the time was right for both back-in parking and the bike lanes, as the Ocean Avenue is about to become “a clean canvas.” And the agency is on board with the borough’s request, he said.

Following the installation of a new water main, the DOT plans to repave Ocean Avenue from the Monmouth Beach border to the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge, officials said. The bike lanes, however, would extend to the town’s northern end, at Sandy Hook.

On the southbound side of the highway, where most of the town’s businesses are located, back-in parking would yield 41 spaces where there are now 34, Dannemiller said. Overall, however, the number of spaces outside the municipal lot would be reduced slightly, he said.

Linda Richter, a borough resident and trauma nurse who spearheaded the change as a safety measure both for motorists and pedestrians, told redbankgreen she has about 100 signatures, including many from business owners, on a petition in support of the parking plan.

There is some opposition, she acknowledged, over the reduction in parking spaces. “Also, some people think they can’t do it,” she said, though advocates maintain it’s easier and safer than parallel parking.

Mayor Dina Long and members of the borough council appeared largely supportive, though Long said she wanted to be sure there was buy-in from the business community. She asked that Businesses of Sea Bright and other interested groups discuss the matter and bring their concerns and questions to the February 3 council meeting before the town gives the DOT a green light.

Councilman Jack Keeler, however, voiced concern that the back-in system would aggravate motorists commuting through town.

“Commuters want to get through,” he said.

Dannemiller, however, said the change would have no impact on roadway capacity, and slowing down traffic is one of the aims of the project.

Less controversial was the plan to stripe the roadway for bike lanes, though questions arose about the width of the lanes on Ocean Avenue north of the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge. Dannemiller said that while the optimum width of a bike lane was five feet or greater, that stretch of roadway could only accommodate four feet in each direction.

“There’s a slight narrowing” of the lanes north of the bridge, he said. “You make things a little tighter, people will drive a little more slowly. We’re working with the existing infrastructure.”

Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli, who has been lobbying for uninterrupted bike lanes from the Red Bank train station to the oceanfront community, was in the audience to show his support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
Partyline
CREATIVE COVER UP
The windows of Pearl Street Consignment on Monmouth Street were smashed when a driver crashed their car through them injuring an employee la ...
THEY’RE BACK!
Ospreys returned to the skies over Red Bank this week for the first time since they migrated to warmer climes in late fall. With temperature ...
SPRING IS SPRUNG
RED BANK: Spring 2024 arrives on the Greater Red Bank Green with the vernal equinox at 11:06 p.m. Tuesday.
RED BANK’S FINEST – AND NEWEST
Red Bank Police Officer Eliot Ramos was sworn in as the force’s newest patrolman Thursday, and if you’re doing a double take thinkin ...
EASTER EGG MAYHEM AT THE PARK
An errant whistle spurred an unexpectedly early start to the Spring Egg Hunt on Sunday, which had been scheduled to begin at eggsactly 11am ...
PRESEASON DOCKWORK
RED BANK: With winter winding down, marina gets ready for boating season with some dockwork on our beautiful Navesink River.
CORNED BEEF AND DISCO FRIES?
It’s Friday, and smart Lent-observing Leprechauns know the pot of gold at the end of Red Bank’s rainbow is actually the deliciou ...
SURFBOARD DITCHED
It’s a violation of etiquette in surfing to ditch your board.  (it could hit another surfer and hurt them). But someone appears to ha ...
ELSIE, TAKE ME WITH YOU!
Soaked by pouring rain with the temperature hovering in the low 40’s, this sign in the window of Elsie’s Subs on Monmouth Street ...
WALK THIS WAY
PARTYLINE: Before-and-afters of a sidewalk cleanup on West Street.
SOGGY NOTION
RED BANK: Breezeway sculpture captured the mood downtown as heavy rains fell Saturday morning.
HOME DELIVERY
RED BANK: After a subdivision, an instant house rises on a new Catherine Street lot.
COMMUNITY PROFILES
For Black History Month, Red Bank's Community Engagement and Equity Advisory Committee has been running a series of local profiles on Facebo ...
HEARTY FAREWELL FOR HARDY
RED BANK: Council to honor DPU supervisor Rich Hardy, who retired recently after almost 39 years of keeping things running.
HOMEBOUND? READ ON…
RED BANK: Can't get to the public library? It's now offering free delivery and pickups for homebound borough residents.
TAMING A BEAST OF A WEEK
RED BANK: After the second snowfall of the week, a borough family finds the perfect use for it – a Godzilla snow sculpture.
RED BANK: LIBRARY CLOSED, BUT THE HILL’S OPEN
RED BANK: Though the library was closed by a snowstorm, kids got to enjoy the riverfront property's steep slope Tuesday.
LIGHT(HOUSE) MAKEOVER
This year, getting ready for spring means a midwinter makeover for Strollo's Lighthouse in Red Bank.
TODAY: LOCAL PUPPY COMPETES ON ANIMAL PLANET’S “PUPPY BOWL”
Red Bank’s very own rescue puppy, Biscuit, is set to compete in Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl this Sunday, February 11, at 2 PM. Th ...
WHAT? NO redbankgreen NEWSLETTER?
Apologies to redbankgreen newsletter subscribers: the daily email hasn’t gone out for two days because of technical issues.