Squan Plaza Plan Approved

The Manasquan Borough Council on Monday finally approved a plan for the renovation of Squan Plaza. 

The council voted 3-1 to pass a resolution accepting the latest design — roughly $700,000 cheaper than the plan presented last month — and authorizing the borough to begin accepting bids for the estimated $1.28 million renovation.

Patricia Connolly cast the only vote against the measure. Joe Bossone and Marilyn Jacobson were not present for the vote. 

Mayor George Dempsey said the approved design was changed "drastically" from last month after the Department of Public Works Committee made several suggestions including turning the two main driving lanes that run east-to-west (Abe Vorhees Drive) into one-way streets.

Traffic would flow west on the north side of the plaza and east on the south side, according to the concept sketch. Parking spaces would be scattered throughout the center of the plaza between both lanes. 

The plan also keeps the traffic circle around the fountain at the center of plaza. The previous plan would have turned the area into a pedestrian walkway with low curbs for fire trucks to drive over during emergencies. 

Borough Administrator Joe DeIorio called the latest and final version "the people's plan" since, he said, it was a synthesis of several other plans and suggestions from the public and business community.  

Councilman Owen McCarthy said members of the public had suffered from "sticker shock" after the previous plan's $2 million price tag was revealed last month. 

Still, some residents were not happy with the new design and continued to push for an alternative plan that proposed more green space. 

"Some people in the audience won't be happy with any plan we choose," Councilman Mike Mangan said. 

Since the main driving lanes at the north and south ends of the plaza will be one-way streets, the lanes can be narrowed from the previous plan, opening more area for green space, Mangan said. 

Borough Engineer Charlie Rooney, of T&M Associates, said the plan called for roughly 60 trees in the plaza. Rooney said his firm finished and rendered a sketch of the new plan Monday afternoon. 

Connolly had developed a revised plan to the main alternative plan, known as the "Levitsky Plan," but the rest of the council, while publicly appreciative of her work, backed the revised plan from the borough's engineering firm. 

Manasquan's business community also seems behind the plan.

Borough Attorney Mark Kittrick on Monday read a letter from the Chamber of Commerce which stated its support for the proposed project. 

According to official estimates, just paving the plaza would cost about the same as the plan approved Monday. 

Rooney said he estimated the "just pave it" approach would cost roughly $1.24 million, or $40,000 less than the T&M plan. 

The governing body has already allocated  to finance the project, and a  from the state Department of Transportation will help pick up some of that cost.