By GARRETT STASSE
The future of Asbury Parks Main Street will become clearer in coming months as planners digest what business owners and residents want.
The list, as given Monday night, was short: more parking, better signage, trash collection, traffic controls and more security, attractive facades and gateways. But taken together, residents say, the list could transform the thoroughfare into an alluring collection of properties that would draw customers from the city and elsewhere.
Urban Partners, hired by the city to consult on the project, held the session to hear suggestions. About 30 people attended.
Main Street was divided into three roughly equal sections, with property and business owners in each formed into focus groups. The 45-minute discussions produced similar results, with each independently arriving at the same conclusions. There was little talk of eminent domain, and much detail on trash and traffic.
Caroline Curtin, a long-time city resident and volunteer, said, Main Street should be turned into a destination with a butcher shop, a baker a cleaners and a locksmith. If there could be two-hour parking and people could go to five places theyd be more likely to come to town because they could find a place to park.
She suggested a series of small lots scattered along the street where there are now used car lots and a fenced-in former gas station at the Asbury Avenue intersection. That would improve appearances, rid the district of less desirable businesses and give shoppers convenient places to park, she said.
Coaster Photo
Asbury Park officials are considering a new look for the citys Main Street.
She added that a main drawback is tenants and others putting garbage on the street for collection because they might not have another place to put it for collection.
Lester Rief, who owns Corbos restaurant supply on Main and Lake Drive, was sharply critical of the lack of parking.
He also dismissed the small park in front of the transportation center as a ditch that could be used for parking and warned that the citys demand for a $300,000 contribution toward a parking garage would land in court.
He has plans to build condominiums above his store and expressed displeasure at the citys demand that he provide one and one-half spaces for each unit.
We need more parking than this (the citys redevelopment plans) provide, he said.
Locksmith Ed Simon said people need to find where theyre going. There arent enough signs, and the ones there are nearly impossible to read, he said, referring to those street signs the state Transportation Department hung about 10 years ago and are now faded into illegibility.
At night you cannot recognize those signs, he said. We need signs that tell people where to park, how to get to the beach.
James Hartling of Urban Partners said Main Street presents particular opportunities and issues that need more study and planning. Redevelopment sites most notably City Hall have to be identified for reuse, especially for parking. Main Street is what many motorists see first, and it has to be improved to refurbish the citys image, he said.
We really want to use Main Street as a connector. We want to make sure we get energetic businesses to make life better for (businesses) and residents, he said.
Urban Partners will take the next few months to review the comments, organize suggestions and complete marketing research, do a physical environment study and draft some plans. That could be done by summer, Hartling said.
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