Asbury Park's Vision For City of 2027 Unveiled

ASBURY PARK, NJ -A long-anticipated Master Plan Re-examination study was released this week that calls for a city with improved housing, employment opportunities, community and recreational facilities, better transportation and other improvements designed to enhance quality of life here.

The study by Clarke Caton Hintz architectural firm was compiled over the last year from recommendations from five stakeholder meetings, two public input session and the results of an on-line survey completed by 660 people. It also examined each master plan beginning with the 1948 version. It noted some work already is done, including designating the city's 11 redevelopment areas and writing accompanying plans for each.

If city officials like what they read in the 151-page report, they could adopt it as an amendment to the existing master plan, which serves as a plan for redevelopment, development, conservation and preservation in the city and functions as the legal foundation for the city zoning ordinance and accompanying zoning map.

It includes vision and recommendations for land use, urban design, mobility, housing, economic development, historic preservation, sustainability, open space with regard to lakes, parks and recreation, community facilities and redevelopment.

"The city's mission for the year 2027 is of a safe and vibrant community with a balance of land uses, diverse housing options, a thriving arts community, a diversified and expanding year-round economy, modern and well maintained infrastructure, expanded community facilities and an outstanding quality of life," the report states.

It will not be an easy thing to walk back from the city's past of segregation and unequal access to services so the report says that Asbury's historic and socio-economic divisions that continue through policy and regulations of the "built community" which can increase and maintain social divisons be alleviated although few specifics for addressing long-standing racism is provided.

At the very least, the city facilities should be renovated and modernized, with emphasis on the police and fire departments and on community meeting spaces, the report says.

To enhance its economic base, the city should encourage start-ups, entrepreneurship for arts and culture, healthcare, tourism, retail, light manufacturing and technology. The report also recommends that the city Transportation Center be renovated to better integrate with the city, be more user-friendly and expand mass transit. Further, a year-round public jitney or trolley service be implemented that will link the transportation center with the waterfront, central business district and other key locations.

In this new green environment, officials will have to deal with climate change but also make it a goal to improve water quality, air quality, the appearance of sites and districts and access to the natural environment.

Some specific zone recommendations include provisions for eliminating the professional office district, which largely now is residential; reduce the light industry zone to exclude residential uses which are non-conforming in that zone; the lots near the Division of Motor Vehicle Services building - Comstock Street, Third Avenue, Langford Street and Second Avenue - should be rezoned for multi-family homes of medium density; three- and for-family homes should not be approved; bars without restaurants should be reserved for retail and entertainment zones such as the waterfront and central business district and breweries should be added as permitted uses in the downtown retail zone which also should permit urgent care centers. Building heights in that zone should be increased from three stories to four stories.

For a full version of the report, visit the city's website.

A view of the swan boats on Wesley Lake, part of increased recreational opportunities on the waterfront. Photograph by Mel Evans/Associated Press.