$650,000 Upgrade for Ocean Pool
By DON STINE Ocean Township’s community pool facility, off West Park Avenue, will see a unique upgrade in the near future. Recreation Director Kathy Reiser said at the last Township Council meeting that the township is applying for $250,000, the maximum amount allowed, from the Monmouth County Open Space program, to create a water activity pool at the facility. “We are making this move to bring our facility up to the next level. Built in the 19870s, the pool facility has served us well but the wading pool can be improved to accommodate younger children and people of all…
Ocean Township Care Facility Hosting for Mary’s Place
By DON STINE Onora, a family-owned business in Ocean Township, provides nursing support and care for people with early stages of memory loss in an intimate home setting for its senior residents. “We are driven by our personal experiences and embrace the practice of heart-centered care. Onora team members understand the importance of integrating life enrichment care to give your loved one a truly individualized experience,” Director of Community Outreach Tara Cadet said. “Our innovative residential, daycare, and respite enrichment programs focus on each resident’s needs to optimize brain function, foster confidence and increase happiness. Caring for our residents…
Body Found in Ocean Grove Dunes
By DON STINE Neptune police and EMTs responded to a report of a dead body found in the sand dunes on the Ocean Grove beach Wed., Sept. 14 at approximately 10 a.m. Police Capt. Michael McGhee did confirm that a call came in to police at 10:18 a.m. and that dead body was found in the dunes at the beach. He said that police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office are investigating the incident. Unconfirmed sources said the body was a male and was found in a decomposed condition near Atlantic Avenue. Information from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office…
Parking Committee Meets, But No Recommendations Yet
By DON STINE The special ad hoc Ocean Grove parking committee gave its first official report to the Neptune Township Committee on Monday but presented no concrete proposals yet to alleviate the historic district’s chronic summertime parking problem. Richard Williams, vice president of the Ocean Grove Homeowners Association and a parking committee member, said the committee met twice and that the meetings “were very, very constructive.” “We looked at all aspects of the parking problem. We met and talked and talked and talked but have no official recommendations at this time,” he said. Township Committeeman Nick Williams, a liaison…
Ocean to Create Zone for Residential Religious Facilities
By DON STINE Ocean Township is proposing a land use ordinance that will allow religious and other parochial education facilities that house students be placed in the township’s industrial/office park area at the western end of Sunset Avenue without the need for a use variance. “It will not zone these uses out but allows us to be better prepared in the future. I think it is a step in the right direction to help keep our residential neighborhoods strictly residential,” Mayor Christopher Siciliano said earlier this week. The ordinance was introduced at the last Township Council meeting and a…
Remember the Freedom Train? Bradley Beach Does
By DON STINE A long-forgotten artifact celebrating the 200th anniversary of our nation has been retrieved from near the NJ Transit railroad tracks in the Bradley Beach/Neptune area and will eventually be taken to Riley Park in Bradley Beach for public display. A large boulder with a commemorative bronze plaque was placed near the railroad tracks in 1976 to mark the site where the American Freedom Train was stationed on a side track in September 1976. “The boulder marks an important part of our country’s history and the local histories of both Neptune and Bradley Beach,” Bradley Beach historian…
Give a Book, Take a Book at Deal Little Free Library
By DON STINE People going to the beach or park in Deal should not have any problem finding reading material thanks to three Little Free Library stations recently installed there. “We are excited for beach and park patrons to start using them, borrowing books that they love, and donating those that they would like to pass on,” said Amy Brenner, the Deal Casino’s Aquatics Director who began the new program in the borough. Last month Deal officially opened its three Little Free Libraries located on beaches outside of the Conover Pavilion and the Deal Casino and at Harry Franco…
Ocean Twp. Class of ’80 rocks it out!
By DON STINE The 1980 graduating class of Ocean Township High School had a rockin’ good time in Asbury Park last Friday night. The high school class’s popular band, Nightfall, hit the stage at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park and played before its fellow classmates for the first time in 36 years. “It went very well and it was awesome. It was a good evening with lots of music and memories to share,” band spokesman Jim Finn said. About 150 to 200 Ocean Township alum, mostly from the class of 1980, showed up for the special gig. Nightfall…
$25,000 Repair Project for Ocean Water Tower
By DON STINE A three-story, historic water tower near the Ocean Township library will see renovations under a $25,000 improvement project funded partially with a $12,500 grant. “This grant will go a long way to preserve the water tower- it has been an eyesore for years,” Township of Ocean Historical Museum President Paul Edelson said. The $12,500 grant comes from the 1772 Foundation and it has to be matched by the museum, for a total of $25,000. “A local contractor is going to scrap, repair and paint the tower and we expect to begin in the near future. We…
Court OKs Dorm in Wanamassa; Ocean Will Not Appeal
By DON STINE A federal judge last week approved the creation of a Talmudic Academy to house college-age students at an existing school on Logan Road Ocean Township’s Wanamassa section. U.S. District Court Judge Freda L. Wolfson ruled that the township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment violated federal law when it unanimously voted on April 26 to deny a use variance to Yeshiva Gedola Na’os Yaakov to provide housing for up to 96 college-age students The judge did, however, limit the number of students to a maximum of 80. Mayor Christopher Siciliano said he knows the judge’s decision is a…
