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The owner of a successful Emory Street hair salon has found himself locked out of Cookman Avenue, with a lack of client parking to boot.

Steven Statland, owner of Chop Chop Bang Bang, recently sought a move to Cookman, but zoning rules allow only retail, theaters, bars and eateries on that busy main drag.

The planning board handles requests for exceptions on a case-by-case basis, so Statland was instructed to write a formal letter requesting the change. But by the time all of his ducks were in a row, the property he wanted was no longer available.

If Statland finds another property on Cookman, he will have to start the process again and ask his prospective landlord to hold the property for as long as it takes to have his use approved — which could take months.

Statland has campaigned at several recent planning board and council meetings for a change to the central business district’s zoning rules. The city has been weighing a zone change to allow service businesses like salons on Cookman Avenue, or to continue granting exceptions on a case-by-case basis. The planning board formally made a recommendation on Monday night that the city continue with the case-by-case option.

“I think it’s great that they’re willing to do that [make case-by-case exceptions] but I think they need to change the zoning completely,” Statland said yesterday.

At meetings, he has cited several reasons why he thinks Chop Chop Bang Bang should be permitted to move to Cookman Avenue. For example, his business is open 70 hours a week while some of the Cookman shops are only open for 30 hours, he said. And his clients often shop or eat around town before or after their hair appointments, bringing more business to the area, he said.

Statland also has encountered parking issues in his current location on Emory Street near the edge of the business district. Those with resident or employee parking permits are instructed to park on his street or Lake Avenue. Thus, the parking spots previously open to his clients near his salon are now taken up for hours or even days at a time by residents or employees.

Statland said he understands the rationale behind the zoning rule.

“They don’t want [other service businesses like] doctors’ offices, lawyers and real estate offices up and down Cookman Avenue,” he said.

City Redevelopment & Planning Director Donald Sammet said this week reinforcing the zoning regulations keeps the vision for Asbury Park’s downtown intact.

“We have this vision for downtown for the ground floor of Cookman Avenue, and we don’t feel that vision should be modified at this point,” Sammet said. “Cookman should remain a core of retail activity and restaurant activity downtown.”

This could pose a problem for non-retail and non-restaurant business owners who rent on Cookman, Sammet said, because the quickest he has ever seen a request such as Statland’s go through is six weeks. Such a change in zoning requires an amendment to the central business district redevelopment plan, which must go through both the city council and the planning board.

“When you’ve got a space that could be potentially rented, you could lose that opportunity,” Sammet said.

But Cookman Avenue is not completely free of service businesses. For example, Hot Mess Studio, at 651 Cookman Ave., functions as both a retail space and a salon, with a zoning permit for retail.

“There’s no objective line” as to whether or not a business focuses enough on retail to be included in the zone, Sammet said. “Every salon nowadays … sells a product, whether that’s shampoos and hair mousse or scarves and necklaces and things.”

The city’s parking committee also may look at a way to help Statland with his parking issue, Sammet said.

“The parking committee the council has set up has been very responsive to businesses and residents’ concerns and they’ve done quite a lot of tweaking to on-street regulations,” Sammet said. “If there are businesses being negatively impacted, they’d look to change those regs.”

Statland plans to stay on Emory for now and wait out the issues. If the space he wanted downtown becomes vacant again, he may go for it once more, he said.

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