It’s official: Loch Arbour supports Bradley Cove park
'County acquisition of this property is long overdue'
The board of commissioners unanimously approved a resolution on March 5 expressing support for county acquisition of a waterfront tract in Asbury Park known as Bradley Cove.
By a vote of 3-0, the commissioners passed a resolution in favor of preserving the property and establishing a county park on the site, according to Mayor Paul V. Fernicola. The land is just south of Loch Arbour’s border with Asbury Park.
“County acquisition of this property is long overdue,” Fernicola told the Sun. “There hasn’t been a new county park in the eastern end of Monmouth County since Seven Presidents Park in the 1980s, despite the tens of millions of dollars in open space tax paid by the coastal communities.”
“The lesson we learned from Hurricane Sandy is we don’t need more development along the coast,” said Fernicola [pictured above at left during a prior commissioners’ meeting].
Last month, two county board of recreation commissioners presented plans to the Deal Lake Commission for a county park at the site, which would stretch from the oceanfront to the shoreline at Deal Lake.
Waterfront redeveloper Asbury Partners has control of 1.2 acres of property in the area, with approvals to build 15 townhouses and a mid-rise residential tower. Under the proposal of the two county officials, the county would buy out the redeveloper’s interest in the land. The county would negotiate with Asbury Park for control of and access to the beach. The county would also seek control of land bordering Deal Lake.
The two county officials — board of recreation commissioners Mike Harmon and Kevin Mandeville — requested members of the Deal Lake Commission go back to their municipalities and ask them for their support for the park. There is currently a split of opinion on their proposal among the board of recreation commissioners and the elected Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, Harmon and Mandeville told the members of the Deal Lake Commission.
Loch Arbour is the first municipality to pass a resolution in support of county acquisition. Other member municipalities of the Deal Lake Commission are Asbury Park, Allenhurst, Interlaken, Ocean Township and Neptune.
