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Several Asbury Park business owners along with members of the city council and the Chamber of Commerce met last night to discuss a possible need to update the city’s downtown redevelopment zone.

The group will be “seeking to modernize the current Central Business District [CBD] redevelopment plan based on the evolution of business within Asbury Park,” said Jackie Pappas, executive director for the Chamber of Commerce.

Before discussion took place, redevelopment and planning director Donald Sammet gave a presentation on the background of the CBD plan, what it was meant to do, and permitted uses for businesses on Cookman Avenue outlined within it.

The CBD defines Cookman Avenue, between Grand Avenue and Main Street, as the “Cookman Avenue Retail Core.” Upper floors of stores that fall within the retail core area may be used for residential, office, service-based and other non-residential purposes. First floor space may only contain retail shops, eating and drinking establishments, art galleries, museums, theaters, banks and public parks.

The purpose of the section is to “create a continuous ‘window shopping’ streetscape,” the plan states.

“Sammet’s presentation outlined what was done and why it was done,” said Mike Sodano, owner of The Showroom, an independent movie theater located at 707 Cookman Ave. “It was all well-intentioned, but things change and businesses change,” he said. “We’re already a window shopping, walking place in the downtown. We need to make the downtown an even more business-friendly and shopping-friendly area.”

Currently, the CBD plan, adopted in 2003, does not permit offices and service-based businesses on the ground floor of any space that fronts Cookman Avenue. They are, however, allowed to operate on the upper floors.

“The nature of retailing has changed in the last 10 years,” said Ian Jackson of Marshall, Jackson & Partners advertising agency [pictured at right], “but the rules of trading [in the downtown] have not. Exclusive retail is outdated.”

“In my opinion, it means retailers have to evolve,” said Sammet.

In June, the ban on first floor offices forced Jackson’s advertising agency to vacate its Cookman Avenue space. The agency had shared the space at 716 Cookman Ave. with an art gallery and a photography studio but was given a verbal warning from the city’s zoning officer that the arrangement was not in compliance with the CBD plan.

Any changes to the CBD plan would have to be approved by both the City Council and the planning board.

A smaller working group will be formed out of the members that attended last night’s meeting to put together a set of recommendations that will ultimately be presented to the council, Sammett said.

“The majority opinion was we think we have to revisit the rules, the next step is finding potential solutions so we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water,” Jackson said.

The group will conduct research before it presents any proposal to City Council, where they will be seeking more of a “wholesale-type amendment” that includes changes to definitions included in the CBD as well as overall rules and regulations, Pappas said.

Proposed changes to the CBD have been brought before former council on two other occasions, but council members voted against the proposal, effectively killing the matter before it had a chance to go before the planning board for review, she said.

“It’s just a first step, but it’s a step towards change,” Jackson said.

“I thought it was a fantastic discussion on what is working downtown and what isn’t,” said Councilwoman Amy Quinn, who was present at the meeting with Councilman John Moor. Moor had brought the issue of the CBD plan’s possible need for review as it pertains to first floor office space at a July council meeting.

“I think the time has come to revisit the plan and see how to make it more contemporary,” Sodano said. “The plan was put in place over 10 years ago and any plan that is established 10 years ago  needs to be reviewed to see how the environment has changed — and in Asbury, it certainly has.”

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Photo at right: Ian Jackson of Marshall, Jackson & Partners removes his company’s sign on the building his advertising agency was forced to vacate due to its non-compliance with current zoning regulations in the downtown district.

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