As Expected, Marine Park Back To the Drawing Board

RED BANK – It’s back to the drawing board for the Borough Council’s efforts to restore the area of Marine Park where the clay tennis courts are located. Supporters of the courts won a battle this week in their years-long fight to preserve them when Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer announced at Monday’s Borough Council meeting that they would reject all three proposals for projects in the area of Marine Park where the storm-damaged courts are located.
The three members of the council’s parks and recreation committee – Schwabenbauer, Kathy Horgan and Edward Zipprich – reviewed three proposals, and the plan that scored the highest was the one least favored by residents.
“The Jetsun proposal came out on top numerically,” Schwabenbauer said, “but the preponderance of public opinion was not in favor.”
The committee’s only option, she said is to reject all three proposals. A formal resolution will be on the agenda for the Nov. 23 meeting.
The proposal submitted by Jetsun Enterprises, a group of private investors, was the most ambitious of the three submitted to the council’s request for proposals (RFP) back in April.
That plan called for the construction of an 18-hole miniature golf course, synthetic, year-round ice rink, a food concession stand, a boathouse offering canoe and kayak rentals; there would also be driven golf carts to take patrons to and from offsite parking.
The other plans call for rebuilding the tennis courts and operating them independently from the borough, providing the borough with a portion of the proceeds; and a boathouse and catering hall that would offer boat rentals and recreational and educational program sponsored by the Navesink River Rowing Club and Navesink Maritime Heritage Association.
When evaluating the three plans the parks and rec committee relied on quantifiable criteria in making its determination. Using that matrix, the Jetsun proposal was the clear winner, “by a head and shoulders,” Schwabenbauer told the Two River Times last week.
 Mayor Pasquale Menna said Monday that it would be “back to the drawing board” in the borough’s efforts to restore the area of the park surrounding the courts. The red clay tennis courts, constructed in the 1930s, were severely damaged in Super Storm Sandy in 2012 and have been unusable for the past three years.
In response to a question from Councilwoman Cindy Burnham, Schwabenbauer the council’s “hands were tied” and could not select the second best proposal.
“We’re just following the law and public opinion. Now we’re going to start over from scratch,” said Horgan.
Burnham stressed that “RFPs cost money,” and said that state law allows municipalities to lease municipal property to a nonprofit if they meet certain criteria. “Which, I do believe the tennis courts meet. So you could accept a nonprofit without going out to an RFP.”
To Burnham’s charges that the RFP process was “not transparent” and that residents “did not know what was going on,” Schwabenbauer responded, “I think 83 people knew the process well enough to send some letters. The committee received 83 letters, 12 emails and “lots of phone calls” from residents, she reported.
Supporters of the courts formed a non-profit organization, Red Bank Clay Tennis Courts Association, represented by attorney Donald Pepe.
“We don’t need another RFP,” Pepe told the council. The group recommends a public-private partnership to repair and maintain the courts. “The money is there to fix these courts.”
More than a dozen people in attendance held up “Save the Courts” signs at one point in the discussion.
“If the borough doesn’t have the funding, there is private money available,” Pepe later told The Two River Times.
John Burton contributed to this story.