No Decision on Talmudic Academy in Ocean
By DON STINE A decision on creating a 96-student residential Talmudic Academy on Logan Road in the Wanamassa section of Ocean Township was not reached at a special meeting Tuesday night so the case is being carried to another hearing. About 150 to 200 people attended the special three-hour Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting on the application held at the Ocean Township High School where further testimony was given by Rabbi Shlomo Lesin, head of the academy; traffic engineer Maurice Rached; and architect Stephen J. Carlidge. A date has not been set for the next hearing on the application…
Interlaken Plans Feasibility Study on Proposed Merger
By DON STINE Interlaken will receive requests for proposals to get prices from various companies on what it will cost to do a feasibility study on the proposed merger between the borough and neighboring Loch Arbour. At last week’s Borough Council meeting, the council approved the final wording on the RFP and authorized Borough Administrator Lori Reibrich to advertise it. She said the proposals would probably be sent out and advertised within one week and there is a 30-day deadline to submit a proposal. The council unanimously authorized the RFP last month but wanted to proof the text before…
Ballots in Question Reduced During Trial
By DON STINE The number of vote-by-mail ballots in question in the November Asbury Park election has been reduced to 246, from 355, during a trial this week in Freehold Superior Court. The attorney for the plaintiffs, Remond Palmer, a candidate for mayor, and Arva Council, a school board candidate, threw out 106 ballots of the 355 in question for not having matching signatures. The trial, which began Feb. 23, will determine if there should be a runoff election in Asbury Park for the mayoral position and a new winner for a school board seat. The county Board of…
Asbury Park Election Trial to Begin
By DON STINE Despite a request by the plaintiffs to postpone a trial over controversial vote-by-mail ballots in last November’s Asbury Park City Council election, a Superior Court judge has ruled that the trial will proceed as scheduled, beginning Mon., Feb. 23. Asbury Park Mayor John Moor, one of the defendants, said that a conference call on the trial was held with all parties Feb. 17 and that the judge has decided the case will move on. “I am looking forward to the judicial process moving forward,” Moor said. “The residents deserve finality and there is a reason this…
City Seeks Funds to Repave Fourth Avenue
By DON STINE Asbury Park’s Fourth Avenue has been notorious for sometime now for its poor condition but, with increased bus and truck traffic from a detour route to replace the Sunset Avenue Bridge, matters are only getting worse. “The buses and trucks only result in making the road deteriorate faster,” Mayor John Moor said at the last City Council meeting. And while city public works crews have been out filling potholes in the harsh winter weather, things are not looking too much better. As a possible solution Asbury Park is petitioning Monmouth County officials to aid in repaving…
Rude Awakening Program in Ocean Details Dangers of Drinking and Driving
By DON STINE Ocean Township High School and Hillel Yeshiva students will have a rude awakening soon about the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The Rude Awakening Program is a nationally-recognized drunk-driving awareness program geared toward junior and senior high school students. The program is scheduled to be presented to students of the Ocean Township High School and Hillel Yeshiva High School in the spring. “It will be given to every junior and senior in the schools. It’s an in-your-face program about fatal automobile accidents,” said Police Administrative Lieutenant Timothy R. Torchia, who is…
City Rooftop Bandshell Will Be Refurbished
By DON STINE The 200-seat rooftop concert area on top of the Fifth Avenue Pavilion is Asbury Park will be refurbished soon and the hope is that when completed it can be used more often. Boardwalk redeveloper Madison Marquette was supposed to refurbish the area by 2010 and city officials called company representatives to this week’s workshop meeting to explain why they are in default on this and some other projects at the boardwalk. “We have had fits and starts (on this project) over the years and we have never found the right team (of architects, engineers and a…
Fire Destroys Businesses, But Not Spirits
By DON STINE A spectacular daytime fire on Main Avenue in historic Ocean Grove Fri., Feb. 6 right in the center of its small business district, resulted in the destruction of four street-level businesses and seven apartments. The four-alarm fire, that had flames shooting through the roof of the three-story building, was at 50 Main Avenue. The fire was reported about 3:30 p.m. Firefighters got additional water to fight the flames by running extra hoses to Fletcher Lake, eight blocks away. Businesses destroyed in the fire include Fusion Jewelry, Village Kloset, Smuggler’s Cove, and Yvonne’s Cafe, along with the…
Asbury Park Footbridge Will Be Repaired
By DON STINE The historic wooden footbridge over Sunset Lake in Asbury Park, once a trolley bridge, is scheduled to be repaired soon after it was seriously damaged during Superstorn Sandy. City Engineer Joseph Cunha said last week that the city received almost $626,000 in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding to repair the bridge, which has been closed to pedestrian traffic since the storm. The bridge, which dates back to the Victorian era, had its pilings up-heaved and planking destroyed during Sandy. The only way for pedestrians to cross Sunset Lake now is to walk around its perimeter…
Neptune Introduces Measures to Better Regulate Density
By DON STINE Two ordinances have been introduced in Neptune that will help regulate density on large residential development projects and better define what is considered an impervious surface. “I urge you to pass these ordinances,” resident Chris Schuetz said at this week’s Township Committee meeting. Schuetz, who has been spearheading a fight against overdevelopment particularly in the Jumping Brook Road area, said that the revised ordinances will better protect the township’s natural resources and provide construction that is more compatible with surrounding neighborhoods. “We are too densely packed,” she said. Other residents said they do not want to…
