Less than a week after its last overnight closing, the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge will again be closed overnight tonight from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Thursday, according to signage posted this morning. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
Monmouth County Bridge S-32, better known as a the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge, will be closed overnight from 8 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday for regular maintenance to the center bascule, Monmouth County officials announced Wednesday.
Detours will be posted, as the span will be closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
Monmouth County Bridge S-32, better known as a the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge, is slated for replacement, and the county’s engineering department plans to hold two informational sessions on the Shrewsbury River span’s design next week. More →
What should become of Anchorage Park, the 1.2-acre sliver of riverside land at the foot of the Route 520 bridge in Sea Bright?
Acquired by the borough after Hurricane Sandy left the Anchorage Apartments uninhabitable in 2012, the now-vacant site may be eligible for grant money. But first, borough officials are asking for public input: should it be developed, along the lines of the concept shown above? Planted with grass and left at that?
A public discussion of the matter has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 15 at 6 p.m. at borough hall. The regular council meeting will follow at 7 p.m. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Sea Bright’s Anchorage Apartments, left uninhabitable by the converging waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Shrewsbury River in Hurricane Sandy, were demolished Saturday. Using Green Acres funding, the state plans to buy the complex, at the anchorage of the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge, and turn it into a 1.2-acre park. At right: during the October, 2012 hurricane, a utility pole became lodged in one of the first-floor units. (Photo above by Kenny Katzgrau. Click to enlarge)
A four-stall restroom with a ramp over the seawall is expected to be completed by Memorial Day, officials say. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
To those in the know, it’s Sea Bright’s “free beach,” and free it shall remain for the foreseeable future, town officials say.
But one of the tradeoffs in visiting the Anchorage Beach – reliance on porta-potties for bathroom service – is finally about to end, at a steep cost.
The Anchorage Apartments, overlooking the Shrewsbury River, would be razed for a park under a DEP plan. (Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
Sea Bright’s borough council voted Thursday night to work with the state Department of Environmental Protection on turning the Anchorage Apartments into open space after a group volunteered to make up for the town’s lost tax revenue.
The council made clear, though, that it would not support any parking on the property, which is located across Ocean Avenue from an ocean beach owned by the state and maintained by the borough. The governing body also insisted local control in its resolution of support, which is non-binding on the state.
The Anchorage Apartments on the Shrewsbury River remain vacant eight months after Hurricane Sandy. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
Sea Bright officials last week shot down a proposal to level a hurricane-ravaged apartment complex for a park after borough residents objected.
At issue was a resolution that that would give the state Department of Environmental Protection the boroughs support in its proposal to acquire the property at 960 Ocean Avenue the Anchorage Apartment building under the Green Acres program for an area of “high-public use” most likely, a park.
But despite the promise of greener pastures replacing an uninhabitable structure, residents turned out at last Tuesday night’s council meeting to blast the idea.
The Anchorage Apartments were left uninhabitable by Hurricane Sandy, which deposited a utility pole in the living room of one unit, below. (Click to enlarge)
The storm-wracked Anchorage Apartments complex in Sea Bright would become a beach parking lot under a plan being considered by state officials, the Star-Ledger reported Tuesday morning.
Located on Ocean Avenue at the foot of the Route 520 Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge and mere feet from the Shrewsbury River, the single-building complex is seen as a partial solution to a parking shortage that has vexed efforts to open up North Beach oceanfront to visitors.
Razing the property would come at a tradeoff for the town: the loss of a $45,000-a-year tax ratable. But Mayor Dina Long tells the Sledger that’s alright.
With temperatures zooming into the high 70s for the first time in 2013, a dozen or so sunbathers were out on the sand at Anchorage Beach in storm-recovering Sea Bright Tuesday. Among them: Patti Hensler of Greensboro, North Carolina, and her sister, Maryjane Cuje, foreground, of Rumson, who declared the day “perfect.” (Click to enlarge)
Borough officials said they would prefer that the new bridge be north of the existing span instead of south. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
Sea Bright approved a preliminary design for a new Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge over the Shrewsbury River Tuesday night, even though it’s not one some of them would have preferred.
The proposed span, a drawbridge like the existing 62-year-old structure, would follow a path about 30 feet south of the current bridge, resulting in the demolition of a building that’s home to a Dunkin’ Donuts and a vacant filling station on Ocean Avenue.
4:31 p.m.: Amelia Liberatore, Sarah Pyne and Vanessa Romano, all of Middletown, head home after six hours at the Anchorage beach in Sea Bright. They stayed in the water most of that time after finding tanning in the mid-90-degree heat uncomfortable to the point of pain.
“It’s annoying once you stay too long,” Romano said. “But I thought it was a good beach day because the water was warm. It was so refreshing, but without the water, it would’ve been bad.” (Photo by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)