By DON STINE
The municipal parking lot next to the Asbury Park City Hall will be closed for milling and repaving from Wednesday, May 13 through Wednesday, May 20.
“This will be a logistical nightmare but the more we prepare the less of a nightmare it will be- but we will get through it,” Mayor John Moor said at Monday’s City Council workshop.
Moor said the work, however, is extremely important yet people still need to be able to conduct their business at City Hall, which includes holding municipal court.
Entrance doors on the northern end of the municipal building, across from the post office on Bangs Avenue, will be open for entry into the building as will doorways on the western side of the building. Signs will be posted and police provided to help direct pedestrian traffic into the building.
City employees will use a parking lot west of the nearby railroad tracks and parking will also be provided in areas near the adjacent transportation center.
Moor suggested people also use the Bangs Avenue parking garage and walk the two blocks to City Hall.
The city is repaving and metering the parking lot to provide more downtown parking. New concrete curbs and sidewalks were recently installed as part of the project and the lot will now be milled, repaved, and striped.
Under the project, the 125–space municipal parking lot, from Bangs Avenue to the nearby police department parking lot, will be expanded and have metered parking stations, similar to ones already installed in the city.
The existing parking spaces will be widened, resulting in a loss of 14 spaces. However, the new curb and sidewalk were recently moved about eight feet closer to the municipal building, which also allows for 14 parallel-parking spaces along the western side of the parking lot.
City fire officials said they have no objection to any of the proposals as long as the project does not block ingress or egress from the parking lot for emergency vehicles.
This is one of several steps the City Council is taking to provide more parking for the public.
