BERKELEY – Officials asked the county for help with parking issues on a road in South Seaside Park.
Some roads are county roads so the county government are the only ones who can make changes to it.
Berkeley Business Administrator John Camera said that the parking on 14th Avenue in South Seaside Park is residents only. The Township Council asked the county to enforce the residents-only designation as well.
The area has a lot of parking issues, especially in the summer, he said. Residents who live there find that they have nowhere to park.
Some of the homes only have stones in their yard, and there’s no specific driveway. That causes drivers to park along the entire length of the property. Sometimes this blocks them in, sometimes this blocks them out.
The South Seaside Park section of the town gets its name because it’s literally south of Seaside Park. There are a lot of restaurants in the area, plus beaches and a marina. It’s also north of Island Beach State Park, and when that spot has its fill of cars for the day, the gates are closed and people wind up finding places to park in front of houses.
People tend to leave the beaches (either White Sands or Island Beach State Park) in the late afternoon, but then that’s also when people start coming to the half dozen bars and restaurants in that small area.
Parking in that area has become a regular issue. One suggestion was building curbs and charging residents for their cost. One suggestion was enforcing the parking for residents only. One suggestion was making the roads one-way only, and striping the sides with diagonal parking spaces.
A resident recently asked if the town evaluates parking before letting a company like a bar operate there. Officials responded that the business owner pays for the traffic study, but the town is not responsible for doing their own study. The onus is on the developer. Also, when approving a business, the town can’t judge it based on what other businesses are in the area. They have to judge it based on the merits of the business alone.
In related news, the township will be receiving bids from companies looking to reconstruct the 21st and 22nd Avenue beach walkways.
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