City offers free parking in Bangs Avenue garage Saturdays
288 available spaces are located one block from downtown Cookman Ave
[UPDATE: A previous version of this article listed the hours of operation as 5 p.m. to 2:30 am. The hours have since been changed. They are now 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. This article has been updated to reflect that change.]
Free parking on Wednesdays has come to an end, but weekend visitors to downtown Asbury Park are in luck.
The city is offering free parking in the Bangs Avenue parking garage [shown above] on Saturday nights, according to City Manager John “Jack” Kelly.
Hours of operation will be 4 p.m. to 1 a.m.
The garage is located just one block from downtown Cookman Avenue on Bangs Avenue, between the old gas building at 601 Bangs Ave. and the location slated for an e-cigarette lounge at 611 Bangs Ave.
There are 288 available spaces in the garage, he said.
A class one Asbury Park police officer will man the location, Kelly said. Class one officers are paid hourly wages and are not eligible for benefits, he said.
Employees of the state office building across the street use the garage during business hours, as the state owns the location, he said. The state charges the city just $1 to lease the location on the weekends and holidays. Leases generally last five years with the option to renew, but the previous lease had expired without renewal. Kelly is in the midst of negotiating lease renewal under the 5-year option, he said.
Once that is done, the city will be allowed to operate the garage on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and state holidays, Kelly said. The officer stationed at the site will keep a count and, based on demand, the garage will be open accordingly.
At that time the city will begin a “modest fee schedule to offset its cost of operation, which should be no greater that the hourly rates charged for on-street parking,” Kelly said.
Current hourly rates are $1.00 per hour on all spaces in the city with the exception of spots along Ocean Avenue, which are $2.00 per hour.
The garage will be open for free use during the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce’s Restaurant Tour on Sunday, April 27. Click here for restaurant tour ticket information.
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