Cabana changes cancelled for the year
'We should all be much more mature about this process'
Only two weeks after alerting members of changes to the policy regarding cabana rentals at the Allenhurst Beach Club, Commissioner Terence Bolan announced at the June 11 commissioner’s meeting that no changes will be put into place this year.
The policy changes are being delayed because the town has been advised that such changes could make the borough subject to legal attack, Bolan said.
“Legal attack doesn’t mean that we’d lose in a court of law, but that we’d spend taxpayer money on defending the case. And we might lose, because some judge in Freehold might have no perspective on what it means to be a resident in Allenhurst. So we’re not going to make any decision this year,” Bolan said.
This isn’t a permanent victory for cabana renters objected to proposed changes since the issue was first raised before the borough in January. Bolan said the issue will be revisited next year.
“What we’re going to do now is, we have the gift of time. Because we’ve been busy with other things on our plate, and I apologize that we couldn’t get all the Ts crossed and Is dotted but I promise you that next year every cabana will be evaluated,” he said.
The proposed changes were meant to favor borough residents who haven’t been able to get a beach club cabana, some of whom have been on the waiting list for decades. Managing the waiting list was part of the proposed changes, as Mayor David McLaughlin said that over the years names have been deleted arbitrarily, with no way for residents to track their place on the list or determine why they were removed from it.
Non-resident cabana renters have objected at several town meetings, as some cabanas have been in the same family for over 50 years. A proposed rule not allowing cabanas to pass down from parent to child if that child was not a taxpaying resident of Allenhurst drew particular heat.
Some of that heat has taken the form of Facebook comments and other online attacks, Bolan said.
“I’m really disappointed by the name calling, and ascribing improper motives to this board. No one cares more about this town than Dave McLaughlin, and anyone who would say otherwise should be taken out and put in the stocks,” Bolan said.
“We should all be much more mature about this process. It’s a beach club. It’s a luxury, not a birthright.”
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