Opponents pack hearing on open space proposal

Source: Asbury Park Press, N.倉J.Jan. 01--RED BANK -- Nearly 80 people filled a municipal courtroom to overwhelmingly oppose a borough proposal to remove four pieces of land from a state open space list.Critics, including environmental advocates the Sierra Club and Clean Ocean Action, said keeping the bulk of the properties on the list would better protect them from development and improve public access to the Navesink.But supporters said the tracts, which include a library parking lot and a waterfront tract at Maple Cove, never should have been preserved as open space in the first place.The parking spots, if not restricted, also could provide parking for others in the borough.After reviewing transcripts of the Monday meeting and the borough's arguments, state Department of Environmental Protection officials will render a decision. Borough officials said any action after that would be taken by the council at a public meeting.Mike Harmon, Monmouth County Park Commissioner and former Atlantic Highlands mayor, said the borough should keep Maple Cove's waterfront access and an adjacent parking lot on the list, known as the Recreation andOpen Space Inventory, to formally protect it from future development."Your master plan is great. Your intent is great. But whatever you're doing now can change in two to five years or (be changed) by a new governing body. That's why it (Maple Cove) should remain on the ROSI," Harmon said.Borough officials contend that the Maple Cove land and adjoining parking were put on the list by mistake, in addition to the library parking lot and behind that, a tract on West Front Street.DEP officials sent a letter Nov. 25 warning the borough that the parking lots could only be used by park patrons because they were on the list.In effect, the restriction would prevent library patrons from parking at the library.Atlantic Highlands faced similar issues with developing a ferry terminal, a senior citizen complex, parking and parks because "our entire harbor is on the ROSI.," Harmon said."We hired an engineer, went to Trenton, met with the assistant commissioner and DEP commissioner and ironed it out," Harmon said."In our town, all our lots are shared (between park patrons and other users)."He suggested allocating three of the 10 spaces in the Maple Cove lot for public use and the remaining seven for park users.Representatives from the Sierra Club, Clean Ocean Action and the American Littoral Society all voiced opposition to taking the open space off the DEP list.They said they supported keeping the Maple Cove p24小時迷你倉rking lot on the list for use by park users because public river access depends on the availability of parking.The most passionate support was voiced for keeping the Maple Cove waterfront access to the Navesink River on the list."I can't imagine that a diversion of 10 (parking) spaces has any effect on downtown businesses," said Kathleen Gasienica of Red Bank, president of the American Littoral Society board of trustees."If the town supports open space, it must support dedicated parking for open space."Several speakers cited benefits of keeping the Maple Cove access and parking lot on the ROSI, from providing a place for the Navesink Marine Heritage Association to launch its summer programs to being another attraction to draw out-of-towners who will patronize downtown businesses."I'm a regular user of Maple Cove, I bring kayakers there and we patronize local businesses," said PaulEidmann of Tinton Falls. "I'm surprised Red Bank doesn't own it and take pride in it. I implore the DEP to preserve it."Most agreed the library parking lot's open space designation should be eliminated.Borough Administrator Stanley Sickels said the land at 94 West Front St. next to the library was specifically acquired for use as a library parking lot. Prior to that, library patrons parked on the street, he said.Councilwoman-elect Cindy Burnham reiterated her concern that removing Maple Cove and its parking lot and land behind the library parking lot from the list could lead to its sale for development in the future.Burnham is credited with rallying support to convince the council not to put Maple Cove up for sale in 2008 and improving the ramshackle lot into a park-like setting.Sickels reiterated borough officials' position that the land isn't for sale."River access is not in jeopardy," Sickels said.Sickels said the borough and the DEP have informally discussed the idea of subdividing some of the tracts that make up Maple Cove so that the parcel providing waterfront access could remain on the list while the parking area and a buffer are taken off.But some opponents of removing the land from the ROSI voiced concerns that doing so could make it easy for a future council to sell the land to alleviate a cash crunch."People really turned out because there is not a lot of waterfront access in Red Bank. I ask the mayor and council to find an alternate way," Dave Schmetterer of Red Bank said.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 Asbury Park Press (Neptune, N.J.) Visit the Asbury Park Press (Neptune, N.J.) at .app.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉旺角