“In response to people’s requests that the BPA provide more opportunities for in-person discussion of parking challenges in Ocean Grove, we’re offering the following Open Forums for discussion.
We’ll start each session with a review of the BPA’s proposed pilot program designed to alleviate growing congestion on the north side of town. We’ll then transition to exploring group ideas to improve parking for all who live, work, and visit Ocean Grove. We invite you to help us find viable solutions to this growing problem.The Forums start Saturday, March 7. Details follow, and you can sign up at BetterParkingAlliance.EventBrite.com.
Thank you again for your interest in improving parking in Ocean Grove. We hope you’ll be able to join us at one of the sessions on March 7, April 4, or June 6.
On December 23, the OGCMA expressed its official opinions in the local news (Asbury Park Press) about parking in the Grove. We responded that day on Blogfinger (scroll down)
So what started out as a project by the Better Parking Alliance (BPA) has evolved into a free-for-all after the Township Committee hacked it to death and now, after the CMA, uncharacteristically, went public in the paper with their self-indulgent parking opinions.
So, once you have stuck your heads out the window to yell, you may comment here about the CMA’s opinions and/or about anything parking related. That topic is the gift that keeps on giving, even after Christmas.
And since everybody’s talking again about parking, here is Harry Nilsson from Midnight Cowboy:
In 1878, there were no parking problems, but after the automobile arrived, Neptune removed the stables but did not provide parking garages. There are photos of parking gridlock in OG after the Model T came off the assembly lines.
By Jack Bredin, Blogfinger reporter and researcher and a resident of Ocean Grove with one car.
August 29, 2019.
This post is in response to the BF post on 8/28/19: “When you don’t know what to do, form a committee.” (just scroll down)
New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the United States, and this fact causes known problems:
a. Traffic congestion costs millions in wasted fuel, lost time, wages, and air pollution.
b. And we should not have to drive in circles when we reach our destination.
So, the NJ State Legislature put two “Planning Rules” in place over 40 years ago:
Rule 1: A municipality cannot approve a site plan application for development that creates traffic congestion or adds to any existing traffic congestion.
Rule 2: Every site plan application must provide all the parking spaces required by State parking standards, including handicapped parking. The basic idea is that any site plan must provide enough parking.
To insure that these two basic traffic and parking rules are followed:
1. A licensed professional must prepare a site plan for the applicant (developer) pursuant to State Law, and the plan must include a plan for parking. The site plan is signed, sealed and dated by the professional, certifying that the plan provides adequate parking.
2. When the plan is filed with the town, a copy is sent to both the town’s planning consultant and engineer, and they will also determine, on behalf of the town, that the plan provides adequate parking.
Their written reports are made part of the application, and under oath the professionals present the plan, which could be bogus, to the members of the boards (zoning and/or planning.)
After approval, board members can say, “We rely on our experts.” But those experts may not be in compliance with State laws.
So, to correct the “culture of corruption” which exists in Neptune Township, the Ocean Grove Home Owners Association is acting as a traffic engineer as they pursue a parking solution, but they don’t have a clue about New Jersey Land Use procedures.
They did the “Parking Study” that led to a “Parking Task Force” that recommended a few dozen diagonal spaces in the Grove, making the Town of Ocean Grove more dangerous to drive in.
From day one, Neptune did not enforce New Jersey Land Use laws in OG until the Court ordered them “to obey the Law” in 1980.
After 1980, the Township has disregarded the Court order and continues to violate Land Use Law in OG.
The Township has been consistent in ignoring the minimum amount of parking that the State requires, and State Law supersedes local Municipal Law. As a result, hundreds of projects have been approved by the Township Committee without providing enough parking, either off street or on street.
So all those approvals have been illegal, and that failure to enforce the laws is the main cause of our parking problems today.
Kevin Chambers has been telling us that for years, and I agree with Kevin. And Blogfinger is the only media outlet reporting this nonsense.
Does the Neptune Twp. governance fit Lincoln’s* description “of the people, for the people and by the people?” Are they what the Continental Army fought for? There’s Jack, standing guard in the rear.
* From Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:…. “...this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
And for a musical metaphor, let’s hope the townsfolk keep trying to solve the parking problems—–a new group has formed and will continue the effort. To them we say, “Keep on dancing.”
