Coastal Monmouth Plan outlines blueprint for region's future

Coastal Monmouth Plan outlines blueprint for region’s future
Plan topics: Transit, housing, economy and environment
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
The Monmouth County Planning Board’s Coastal Monmouth Plan looks to create a year-round focus for the coastal region.

“The vision is to revitalize communities and focus on year-round activity for the Shore,” said Marcia Shiffman, of Maser Consulting, who delivered a presentation on the plan at a special meeting of the county Planning Board in Freehold on July 19. The objective is to look at and promote “the unique cultural resources of the region,” she said.

“Really the goal was to look beyond seasonal businesses and look to attract quality businesses that can operate beyond the summer season,” she added.

While a vote was scheduled on the agenda, the Planning Board tabled the vote until the August meeting because not all members felt they were able to properly review the document, which is an element of the Monmouth County Growth Management Guide.

After a brief presentation and a public hearing, the board decided to hold off on the vote on the plan that will affect 30 of the county’s 53 municipalities.

According to Shiffman, the plan would impact 40 percent of the county population and 25 percent of its land area. The municipalities within the scope of the plan include Eatontown, Little Silver, Long Branch, Monmouth Beach, Ocean, Oceanport, Red Bank, Rumson, Sea Bright and West Long Branch.

The plan has a list of objectives, including to preserve and enhance the character and quality of life for coastal Monmouth; to identify and assess future land use; to identify development and revitalization opportunities; to identify and address strategies to aid preservation of land; to identify transportation strategies; and to identify and assess public infrastructure.

Shiffman said the four major topics within the plan are transportation, housing, the economy and the environment.

She also explained the goal of the plan.

“The goal of the plan was to create a strategy for the region while being aware of unique characteristics of the region,” she said. “These visions are really what the plan is focused on.”

The county website also discusses the project.

“Each municipality has its own distinct community character,” the site states. “Many are long-established ‘Shore’ towns, historically associated with summer tourism, which are now being developed and redeveloped to accommodate thousands of new, permanent residents. Other communities, which are more inland, are also engaged in redevelopment and revitalization.

“The challenge for these communities and for the state: create a plan for development and renewal of all municipalities, both affluent and less affluent, to meet market demands while directing growth in a sustainable manner that considers environmental resources and community character.”

Shiffman said it would be important that after the plan is adopted, the regions create their own subcommittees.

“One of the important implementation strategies is to create the coastal Monmouth region subcommittees,” she said. “This will help address the issues identified in the plan.

“The plan tries to provide model ordinances, model outlines, model regulations that can be used in the future.”

Planning Board member Vincent Domidion criticized the plan for not addressing the fact that some of the smaller municipalities do not wish to have a lot of development.

“A very large number of these towns really want to stay exactly as they are,” he said. “They don’t want to be revitalized into anything.

“It is hard to imagine an Interlaken being turned into anything other than what it is,” he added.

Domidion said that the large-scale developments provide entertainment for the smaller residential communities.

“The reason this is problematic to me is we do have communities like Long Branch and Asbury Park that are legitimate centers, but you can’t have 30 towns as all centers,” he said. “Most of these towns provide the market that these centers are going to market to.

“Ultimately the municipalities are going to decide through their zoning. We can’t do everything everywhere, especially with these little towns that are already fully developed.”

The plan makes suggestions to enhance arts around the county, including fostering community arts development, increasing arts education opportunities, and creating local arts councils.

Shiffman said the plan also includes environmental suggestions for coastal communities.

“There are recommendations in the plan on how to improve water quality and the sedimentation of lakes and rivers,” she said.

The local impacted and impaired waterways listed include Franklin Lake in West Long Branch, the Shrewsbury River, and Whale Pond Brook in Ocean Township.

The plan also labels 11 municipalities as being deficient in open space, including Red Bank, Rumson and Sea Bright.

The plan identifies flood-prone areas and stresses the importance of beach replenishment after storms.

It also stresses the importance of public transportation such as bus, train and ferry services, as well as pedestrian and bike routes within coastal communities.

Shiffman explained what will happen, moving forward.

“Our next steps are to approve the plan, to distribute a newsletter, to finalize the plan and publish the plan,” she said.

The next Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Aug. 16. The Coastal Monmouth Plan can be viewed at http://co.monmouth. nj.us/page.aspx?Id=3163.

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.







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