By Allison Perrine
MONMOUTH BEACH – When beachgoers visit the Monmouth Beach Bathing Pavilion in the future, they will no longer need to worry about reverse-angle parking their vehicles in the lot.
After a unanimous decision at the Jan. 19 board of commissioners meeting, officials amended an ordinance that once required motorists to reverse their vehicles into one of the 48, 18-foot-long angled parking spaces in the Bathing Pavilion lot, citing its unpopularity as the reason that prompted the reversal. The amendment is effective immediately but the spots have not yet been restriped for head-in angled parking, which Mayor David Stickle said will likely happen in the early spring.
“I was always opposed to it. I was the only one who voted against it when it got approved,” said Stickle, who cast the sole “No” vote on the original amendment in June 2019. He added that commissioners Larry Bolsh and Timothy Somers “made it a point during their campaign” in November to say they would reverse the back-in parking decision.
The reverse-angle parking has been highly unpopular among many residents since the town first notified residents and pavilion visitors in May 2019 of its pending adoption. The goal was to improve safety at the site, but many saw it having the opposite effect. Roy Larsen of Wanamassa, for example, delivered an emotional plea in May 2019 before the board of commissioners urging that officials reconsider the idea.
“Right now, my wife and I are just about 70 years old and she came to me and said, ‘I can’t back up a car into one of those spots.’ She can’t physically do it. She said, ‘If you can’t drive me to the beach, I can’t go.’ This is an emotional thing for us because it’s a place she loves so much, and access is being restricted,” Larsen said.
Despite pushback, the commissioners moved forward with the plan for the rest of the summer season. At the time, officials said the change was made to protect the lives of children running through the lot unattended and unaware of their surroundings.
“Aside from seatbelts, another thing is, back in the ’90s, after the first school shooting occurred, the decision was made to lock the doors at Monmouth Beach School. People were livid. Now doors are locked and we have armed officers in our schools. You make changes when you have the opportunity to make them. They’re not always going to be popular at the time. But in retrospect, it’s the right thing to do,” then-mayor Sue Howard said at the time.
Resident Jack Flaherty told The Two River Times Tuesday that he backed in his vehicle in the lot twice and did not have a problem, but that “does not discount” the fact that others did have trouble.
“The odds were with me. Parking that way every day would most definitely increase the odds of my having difficulty. It did feel a bit unnatural. It’s unfamiliar. At no other point do you need to maneuver your car or SUV like that,” said Flaherty. “But then again, I drove fire trucks for many years. I have an unfair advantage.”
He added that he is happy for those who were overwhelmed by the parking change at the pavilion and believes Stickle, Bolsh and Somers “did the right thing” by amending the ordinance and listening to residents’ complaints. “More happy are the husbands who had to drop off and pick up their wives and children every day rather than their families driving and reverse-angle parking their cars themselves.”
Flaherty emphasized that he is “by no means an authority on the parking issue at the pavilion” and that he speaks only for himself. There were many “passionate” residents who have put time and energy into researching the topic, he said, and voiced their concerns to the commissioners. “It was an unfortunate situation that turned into a fiasco,” he said. “It’s behind us now.”
Resident Liz Sheehan called the parking experience “horrible” and said others were “really frightened” that they would hit another car. She had never parked that way before Monmouth Beach enacted the regulation in 2019.
“I didn’t go to the beach club last year between COVID and that because it didn’t seem worth it. I usually just go down for a little while and the aggravation of trying to park” was too much, said Sheehan. “The staff was ver y accommodating; they would even park it for me sometimes but I was used to just going in, parking the car, going and sitting on the beach or the pavilion and just being relaxed. It got to be unpleasant…it made a big deal out of going to the beach.”
Stickle said the angled parking – now head-in – will remain because it allows for more parking in the lot. He is happy that residents are pleased with the most recent amendment, he said. “I think it was the right thing to do.”
This article was originally published in the Jan. 28-Feb. 3, 2021 edition of The Two River Times.
