City Will Add Parking Meters This Summer, Locations Not Yet Set

The question now is not if Long Branch will utilize parking meters this summer; the question is where they will be located.

The Long Branch Council took its first step in adding parking meters throughout the oceanfront area of the city by introducing a bond ordinance to purchase meters.

The ordinance bonds $855,000 for the meters, which will be similar to those used in Asbury Park near the boardwalk and on Cookman Avenue.

Each space would be striped and numbered and people who wish to park in them would pay at a meter with either coins, dollars or a credit card. Motorists can even use their smart phone in order to add time.

Long Branch Business Administrator Howard Woolley has said the charge to park in each space would probably be $1 per hour on weekdays and $2 per hour on weekends from 9 a.m to midnight. Woolley has also said the meters would be in effect during the summer months only.

The bond ordinance should be adopted on at the next council meeting on April 24. The council will then have to introduce and adopt a second ordinance that will set the locations, prices and time the parking meters will be in effect.

The location of the meters has not been set in stone, but they would likely be located in West End, specifically Brighton Avenue and West End Avenue, and east of Ocean Boulevard. Places such as Beachfront North, Pier Village and the area around Seven Presidents Park would have hundreds of metered parking spaces.

Mayor Adam Schneider said the Pier Village is "definitely" going to get parking meters as well as several oceanfront areas.

"All the areas we are looking at are public streets that we, the city, maintain," Mayor Schneider said.

Several residents have spoken out about the meters and have said the they will adversely affect their lives if they are placed near their condos, apartments or homes.

Mayor said there will always be people who will not be in favor of parking meters, and that the city has resisted using them for years. However, he said financial times are not improving and that the city "needs another source of revenue."

"It doesn't seem to adversely affect Asbury Park, they are bringing in over $1 million in revenue (from their meters)," Mayor Schneider said.

The mayor said Long Branch's parking consultant Gerald Giosa said the meters should pay for themselves in the first year and bring in over $1 million in revenue if used for a full summer as they would be in 2013.

Mayor Schneider said if the city does not find another revenue source, there could be cuts in several key departments such as the police and DPW next year.

The city did not eliminate any positions this year, but did cut some positions in 2011.

"I probably have not replaced a DPW worker in two or three years," Mayor Schneider said. "We will get to a point where services will have to be cut."

He said the meters are the best chance the city has at adding revenue at this time and that he is willing to work with residents and compromise as to where they will be placed this summer.

"We are going to have meters, it's just a question about where they will be," Mayor Schneider said.