Aerial Snapshots of the Past: Beachwood, 1939

Today we’re going to take a quick look at two aerial views of the borough, taken on July 3, 1939 by the Dallin Aerial Survey Company and courtesy the Hagley Digital Archives.

Looking east from above Toms River/South Toms River. Beachwood is on the middle right of the frame; Pine Beach and its gridded pine lots follows in the distance.

Looking west from above the Central Railroad of New Jersey line. For location reference, this shot was taken from above the New Jersey Pulverizing Pit/Beachwood Plaza area.

High resolution copies and enlargements can be purchased from the Hagley Digital Archives. More photos from the Ocean County and Jersey Shore area can be found by searching their site.

Berkeley/Beachwood Border Development Plan Public Hearing Thursday

As previously mentioned here, Berkeley Township is forming plans to develop the open land that borders Beachwood to the southeast, including redeveloping the dilapidated Route 9 Beachwood Plaza [note: the Beachwood Plaza is actually in Berkeley Township, but according to an archival news article, Jimmy Johnson, who built the plaza in 1959, named it for our borough as a way to spite Berkeley Township officials at the time due to ongoing conflicts he had with them].

Interest in these plans here and through other organizations and individuals have caused the state’s Office of Smart Growth to conduct a public hearing on Berkeley Township’s petition for a state plan endorsement of this site. This specific area can be seen to the right in the 2002 aerial photograph of the Beachwood/Berkeley border. Here you can see the area commonly known in the borough as “Johnson’s Pit” to the south, the location of the original Central Railroad of New Jersey line that will be developed as a portion of the Barnegat to Toms River Rail Trail, and the Beachwood Plaza area to the north of that.

Beachwood Borough officials and residents should take interest in Berkeley Township’s upcoming plans and attend this meeting given the proximity of the site to our border and questions we may have regarding it.

Meeting specifics are as follows:

WHAT: Berkeley Township Plan Endorsement Public Hearing

WHEN: Thursday, May 21, 2009

TIME: 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Berkeley Township Municipal Building

Township Committee Meeting Room

Pinewald-Keswick Road

1st Floor

Bayville, New Jersey 08721

Map showing the current hydrologic features of the area along the Beachwood/Berkeley border.

The public may comment orally, and in written form, at the hearing or may submit written comments to the Office of Smart Growth via email to osgmail@dca.state.nj.us, or to Benjamin L. Spinelli, Executive Director, NJDCA Office of Smart Growth, P.O. Box 204, Trenton, NJ 08625-0204, up to 30 days after the public hearing.  Public comments may also be directed via email to the Executive Director at bspinelli@dca.state.nj.us up to the time the Commission takes action on the petition for Plan Endorsement.

If you would like to register with the Office of Smart Growth to receive notifications of State Planning Commission meetings or hearings regarding plan endorsement petitions, provide your contact information, including your name, organization, address and email address to osgmail@dca.state.nj.us.  For more information about the Office of Smart Growth and the Plan Endorsement process, log-on to: www.njsmartgrowth.com.

Small Scale New Urbanism – The Future of Beachwood?

In today’s entry we’re going to begin to examine the concept of New Urbanism and how it can relate to the future of our borough. This will be the first part in a series studying how, with Beachwood nearly 100 percent built out to its borders, our borough officials and property owners can begin focusing their energy to meet the needs and goals of the coming years.

A.D. Nickerson home, today.

PART I: BACKGROUND

What is New Urbanism?

“New Urbanism is an urban design movement that arose in the United States in the early 1980s. Its goal is to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban planning, from urban retrofits to suburban infill. New urbanist neighborhoods are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs, and to be walkable.

New Urbanism can include (neo)traditional neighborhood design, transit-oriented development, and New Pedestrianism. New Urbanism is the re-invention of the old urbanism, commonly seen before the advent of the automobile age, while New Pedestrianism is a further elaboration of less common, pedestrian-oriented, urban design experiments that date to the early 20th century.”*

As New Urbanists can trace the history of this contemporary movement back to early 20th Century development, so can we in our own borough.

Beachwood 1930.

Beachwood, begun in 1914 as a newspaper subscription promotion, was cut from a tract originally part of Berkeley Township and focused almost entirely on our waterfront, criss-crossing train lines and their station point, with a downtown constructed connecting the two. Starting out as a resort community for the upper working class of New York City, its early homes consisted largely of summer bungalows and evolving to more year-round cape-style homes through World War II. Original residents relied mainly on the trains to take them to and from their regular neighborhoods in the New York City area, and the waterfront for recreation and the nautical access of the bustling county seat, Toms River. Cars, while prevalent in some of the more well off family homes, were largely absent or left behind at home in the bedroom communities of northern New Jersey, New York State and Long Island.

Beachwood’s population in those early years hovered well under one thousand, and the southern ‘heights’ portion of the borough was an undeveloped pine forest. Boy Scout troops, including Beachwood’s own Pack 14 (now 114), would camp out where today there are many modern homes and paved streets.

Our center of town handled much of early pedestrian residents’ needs: an A&P, American Store and Disbrow’s Market for groceries; an independent butcher shop and a butcher counter in Disbrow’s for meats; Greene’s Economy Store for hardware, gifts and sundries; the Beachwood Library for borrowing reading material; and the Beachwood Circle Shop, for socializing, dancing and fast dining that catered to residents not just of Beachwood but also the greater Toms River and Berkeley Township area.

All of this changed with the advent of World War II and the coming of both the baby boom and automobile age. The latter cut a physical presence in the borough, as the Garden State Parkway, built in the early 1950s, sliced off the tail end of Beachwood from the rest. The combination of Americans living high on one income through the post-war economic boom with the advent of a clean, fast highway linking northern New Jersey to south drove families by the thousands down to Ocean County and Beachwood.

The borough population and the number of homes built near-doubled every decade from 1940 to 1980. This booming growth quickly usurped the previous small sleepy shore town atmosphere and replaced it with a thriving community sprawling out from the old town center before encroaching the parkway boundary itself, once thought a feat unimaginable. With Americans’ new thirst for the convenience of the automobile over what they perceived to be the slow, turgid crawl of a train, passenger service through the borough quickly ended and residents had no other choice but to fill their streets, side yards, front yards and newly built detached garages with cars of their own. While one car was at first considered the norm, multiple cars soon appeared on the curbs and drives around the borough as children became teenagers and multiple incomes became necessary, and garages and carports developed into a regular sight incorporated in the postwar ranch-style home designs.

As the borough grew, so did residents’ accessibility to resources beyond its borders. Grocery stores, general stores, butchers and consumer-friendly luxury goods retail establishments began filling strip malls, such as the Beachwood Plaza, built in 1959 (it resides in Berkeley Township; period newspapers reported owner Jimmy Johnson named it after our borough to spite Berkeley officials whom he said were giving him headaches over his various projects).

Beachwood 2002.

The past thirty years only increased the desirability of our area, a result of both buildable open space having become near non-existent in communities to the north, and the growing faction of amenity-driven building and location seekers, peaking with the advent of the “McMansion” over the past dozen or so years. Developers snapped up many of the remaining lots in the borough and filled them with large-style homes maxing out almost to the property line on most sides, pushing trees and green space out while adding more cars to the tinier front and side setbacks and streets. Similarly, our town center transformed from the actual center of residents’ activity to that of a periphery entity often viewed from the safety of a car with curiosity or disdain at its fraying, old-style buildings and general lack of sprawling parking. Beachwood residents no longer had the train-downtown-waterfront connection their predecessors enjoyed; the very concept which united the borough and fostered its community spirit blurred into the background. As if symbolizing the final pullout from our downtown area after years of diminishing pedestrian traffic, the original borough hall/firehouse, located right at the heart of town, was demolished and its property sold for the construction of a new, larger borough hall at the southernmost – and almost exclusively automobile accessible – parkway end of town, in the mid to late 1990s.

“Although conventional suburban development has been popular, it carries a significant price. Lacking a town center or pedestrian scale, conventional suburban development spreads out to consume large areas of countryside even as population grows relatively slowly. Automobile use per capita has soared, because a motor vehicle is required for the great majority of household and commuter trips.

Those who cannot drive are significantly restricted in their mobility. The working poor living in suburbia spend a large portion of their incomes on cars. Meanwhile, the American landscape where most people live and work is dominated by strip malls, auto-oriented civic and commercial buildings, and subdivisions without much individuality or character.”**

Utilizing the New Urbanism approach by latching onto the approaching county rail trail connection as a downtown and waterfront stimulus project, the Borough of Beachwood could become both a thriving auto-accessed suburb and pedestrian-friendly economic attraction, restoring its founders’ downtown structures, raising borough revenue through increased sales in beach access badges and general heightened property value and prosperity via regular downtown solicitation, enticing the proliferation of health-conscious activities among residents, and overall improving life in the borough through sustainable development:

“There are some common elements of new urbanist design. New urbanist neighborhoods are walkable, and are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs. New urbanists support regional planning for open space, appropriate architecture and planning, and the balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe these strategies are the best way to reduce the time people spend in traffic, to increase the supply of affordable housing, and to rein in urban sprawl. Many other issues, such as historic preservation, safe streets, green building, and the renovation of brownfield land are also covered in the Charter of the New Urbanism, the movement’s seminal document. Because new urbanist designs include many of the features (like mixed use and emphasis on walkability) which characterized urban areas in the pre-automobile age, the movement is sometimes known as Traditional neighborhood design.”**

NEXT IN THE SERIES: TRENDS & DEFINING ELEMENTS

* = Taken from Wikipedia entry on New Urbanism

** – Courtesy the New Urban Trust

Downtown Beachwood Rite Aid Proposal: Site Plan Maps

Posted below are the twenty-one pages of site plans and maps submitted to the borough by the developers of the downtown Rite Aid proposal. They have been posted here to enlighten borough residents and enhance their visual understanding of the size and scope of this proposal.

Beachwood Borough Master Plan, Part VI

Portion of the original map survey by A.D. Nickerson.

LAND USE PLAN ELEMENT

The Land Use Plan Element of the Master Plan has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-28 et seq. It is based upon existing land development patterns and types; natural resources and sensitive environmental features including stream corridors, floodplains, freshwater wetlands, vegetation, and subsurface hydrology; existing roadways; existing and proposed utilities; historical subdivision plats; and conformance with the Pineland Comprehensive Management Plan. Future development within Beachwood Borough will be affected by regulations on land development imposed by the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan within the Pinelands area of the borough west of the Garden State Parkway, and by the policies and regulations of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Coastal Management Program within the portion of the borough under the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) jurisdiction east of the parkway. The Land Use Plan Element of the Master Plan Map has been prepared in recognition of the development and environmental regulations of the New Jersey Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan and the Coastal Area Facilities Review Act. The Master Plan will be submitted to the Pinelands Commission for certification for the area west of the Garden State Parkway in accordance with the New Jersey Pinelands Act, 12:18A-1, and the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, N.J.A.C. 7:50-1 et seq.

OVERALL DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS

Development in Beachwood Borough is predominately single family homes. Approximately 58.1 percent of the 1,207 acres of developed land in Beachwood Borough is residential. Most of the residential structures in Beachwood were constructed during the period 1950 – 1990.

In the central portion of the borough, Atlantic City Boulevard (N.J. Route 166 and N.J. Route 9) serves as the commercial “Main Street” of Beachwood. This area includes retail, service and wholesale commercial establishments. At the northern border of the borough are the Toms River shoreline, a marina, and 3.5 acres of parkland and shoreline access points. Both east and west of Atlantic City Boulevard are residential neighborhoods laid out in a gridiron pattern. At the southern end of the borough, along Pinewald Road, is a small area of commercial, office and industrial development. No large single private ownership parcels of developable vacant land exist in Beachwood Borough. Undeveloped tracts with multiple owners occur along Pinewald Road between Chestnut and Poplar Streets. This area is planned for non-residential development and public and school uses. Future residential development will occur through infill of scattered lots, most of which are non-conforming, undersized lots of 4,000 to 6,000 square feet.

PROPOSED LAND USE

Land development in Beachwood can be categorized into three groups: residential development, non-residential development, and recreation/conservation. The proposed Land Use Plan Element for Beachwood Borough reflects zone districts from the current and previous land development ordinances, existing and planned borough facilities, and the Ocean County active and passive recreation and open space at Beachwood West.

The Land Use Plan proposes two residential districts, the R-B Single Family Residential and R-D Single Family Residential. The former R-A Single Family Residential and R-M Medium Density Residential areas are not included in this Land Use Plan. The R-A Single Family Residential zone was eliminated from the borough zoning ordinance in 1997 and replaced with AR Active Recreation to reflect the borough and county plans to develop the area west of the parkway for active and passive recreation and open space. The R-M Multi-Family Residential area is deleted from the previous Master Plan since the area has been developed for a construction company office and equipment storage facility for more than five years. The boundaries of non-residential development reflect existing land use patterns and the active and passive recreation and open space area acquired by Ocean County at Beachwood West. Proposed land use development areas are shown on Figure 8-1, Master Plan.

RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT

The Master Plan identifies existing and proposed residential development areas. These residential areas are designed to reflect the prevailing housing development patterns within the borough.

R-B Single Family Residential – The R-B single family residential areas comprise a total of 1003.8 acres. These areas encompass the two largest existing residential areas in the borough east and west of Atlantic City Boulevard. Residential R-B areas are planned and zoned to have a minimum lot size of 8,000 square feet, the size of four of the original 20 x 100 foot lots as platted in 1914 prior to the formation of the borough in 1917. The R-B areas have been developed through the years except for scattered individual lots. Permitted accessory uses in the R-B areas as zoned include a garage space for the storage of a motor vehicle, fences, recreational facilities such as pools, and structures not used for profit such as storage sheds.

R-D Single Family Residential – The R-D single family residential areas comprises a total of 3.5 acres. This small area encompass a strip of land along the southeastern Beachwood border with Berkeley Township, east of Berkeley Avenue, where lots are only 60 feet deep. The planned and zoned minimum lot size is 8,000 feet. Permitted accessory uses can include a garage space for storage of a motor vehicle, fences, recreational facilities such as pools, and structures not used for profit such as storage sheds.

NON-RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT

Commercial development in Beachwood Borough is presently located in two main areas. Property along Atlantic City Boulevard contains the majority of the commercial development in the borough. The second general area is at the northern end of Pinewald Road in the west central portion of the borough east of the parkway. Varieties of retail, wholesale, service, and manufacturing commercial uses currently exist in the borough. The Land Use Plan provides for a new, small B-1 Planned Commercial Area on the east side of Double Trouble Road south of Birch Street west of the Garden State Parkway. This area was designated for business use in previous Master Plans.

B-1 – General Business – The B-1 General Business area along both sides of Atlantic City Boulevard is planned and zoned to allow general business uses oriented toward consumers and small business users. The existing B-1 General Business area located along Atlantic City Boulevard is nearly fully developed. The proposed B-1 area on Double Trouble Road south of Birch Street is owned by the borough. It is undeveloped and consists of approximately 4.2 acres. The area has 1,000 feet of frontage and is 50 to 200 feet in depth. This area can provide for limited neighborhood commercial uses across from Beachwood West on Double Trouble Road at Birch Street.

B-2 Planned Commercial – Two B-2 Planned Commercial areas contain 34.6 acres and are intended for planned business and commercial development. The B-2 areas consist of portions of nine tax blocks between Walnut Street and Pine Street on the west side of Pinewald Road and portions of eight tax blocks between Hickory Street and the southern municipal boundary east of Pinewald Road. Planned commercial developments can include a variety of commercial developments, with less emphasis on development based on traffic volume. Provisions are in place for regulating access to the developments. The B-2 Zoning District regulations currently require a minimum lot size of 220,000 square feet. Consideration should be given to reducing the minimum lot size to 120,000 square feet.

The B-2 areas are also suitable for public uses including schools, vocational facilities, park and recreation facilities and quasi-public uses such as churches and other houses of worship.

B-3 Neighborhood Business – The B-3 Neighborhood Business area is a 33.3 acre area consisting portions of five tax blocks along the east side of Pinewald Road between Chestnut Street and Walnut Street, 15 tax blocks along the west side of Pinewald Road between Pine Street and Hickory Street, and two tax blocks between Hickory Street and Cherry Street along the east side of Pinewald Road. The area is intended for offices and warehouses for contractors as well as other manufacturing uses. These areas are located along Pinewald Road.

The B-3 areas are also suitable for public uses including schools, vocational facilities, park, and recreational facilities and quasi-public uses such as churches and other houses of worship.

B-3A – Neighborhood Business – The B-3A Neighborhood Business area is a 6.6 acre area consisting of portions of five tax blocks located along the western side of Pinewald Road between Walnut Street and Chestnut Street. The area allows the same businesses as the B-3 Neighborhood Business area in addition to many of the same businesses allowed in the B-1 General Business area. The B-3A areas are also suitable for public uses including schools, vocational facilities, park and recreation facilities and quasi-public uses such as churches and other houses of worship.

RECREATION/CONSERVATION

RC – Recreation/Conservation – RC Recreation/Conservation was created for passive and active recreation, and conservation of sensitive lands. These areas, totaling 81.2 acres, are located in the eastern portion of the borough, east of the Garden State Parkway. Major recreation areas are located along the Toms River at the borough beach and Mayo Park, in the southern portion of the borough at the Berkeley Street Soccer Fields, and at Birch and Surf Park in the west central area of the borough at Birch Street and Surf Street. The plan also designates the former borough landfill west of Pinewald Road between Hickory Street and the southern municipal boundary for future recreation/conservation following formal closure by the NJDEP. Uses include athletic fields, parks and recreation sites, small open space areas, and conservation areas, and the continuing operation of an existing composting facility on a limited portion of the zone.

AR – Active Recreation – The AR Active Recreation area is an approximately 395 acre area created to provide for large-scale active recreation use in the Beachwood West area west of the Garden State Parkway. The permitted use on this parcel are golf courses and athletic fields. A permitted accessory use is parking. A canoe rental facility and one residence are also located in the AR area of the borough.

PINELANDS

In December 1978, Section 502 of the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978, (P.L. 95-625) was signed into law by President Carter creating the nation’s first National Reserve area in New Jersey. The creation of this National Reserve designated approximately 1.1 million acres of southern New Jersey as the “Pinelands National Reserve”. This area, which constitutes 23.17 percent of the state, extends west from Brigantine City in Atlantic County, to the Township of Medford in Burlington County, and from Dennisville in Cape May County in the southern portion of the state north to Route 527 in Jackson Township in Ocean County. In February 1980, Governor Brendan Byrne signed into law the Pinelands Protection Act, which created the New Jersey Pinelands Commission and established regulatory control over the New Jersey Pinelands Area. The New Jersey Pinelands Area is located within the Pinelands National Reserve but does not include all of the reserve area. The portions of the Pinelands National Reserve that are not in the Pinelands Area are regulated by the New Jersey Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) which was established in 1973.

Within the New Jersey Pinelands Area, development is regulated by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) which divides the Pinelands into two broad categories: the Pinelands Preservation Area and the Pinelands Protection Area. The Pinelands Preservation Area is the core of the Pinelands. The preservation area provides for stringent development and ownership of new residential development controls, the bulk of the cranberry operations within the state and vast tracts of state-owned forest and wildlife management areas. The Pinelands Protection Area provides for various categories of development, including Pinelands Forest Area, Regional Growth Areas, Agricultural Production Areas, Rural Development Areas, and Pinelands Towns and Villages.

In Beachwood Borough, approximately 414 acres are located within the Pinelands National Reserve Area and the New Jersey Pinelands Area, constituting approximately 23 percent of the borough land area. The entire 414 acres contained within the Pinelands is classified as a “Regional Growth Area” by the Pinelands Commission Comprehensive Management Plan.

The goals and objectives of the Regional Growth Areas, as defined in the CMP at N.J.A.C. 7:50-5.13(g), are:

“Regional Growth Areas are areas of existing growth or lands immediately adjacent thereto which are capable of accomodating regional growth influences while protecting the essential character and environment of the Pinelands provided that the environmental objectives of Subchapter 6 [Management Programs and Minimum Standards] are implemented through Municipal Master Plans and land use ordinances.”

Regional Growth Areas are designed to attract a greater proportion of the development within the Pinelands Area, albeit with conditions and restrictions. Allowable development includes residential development; “…any other development not otherwise limited pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:50-6 may be permitted in a Regional Growth Area…”

The Pinelands Area of the borough encompasses the Beachwood West area west of the Garden State Parkway and the small commercial area on Double Trouble Road at Birch Street. The area west of the Garden State Parkway is subject to Pinelands Commission regulations for protection of wetlands, floodplains, threatened and endangered species and other environmental standards. The freshwater wetlands and 150-foot wide wetlands transition areas required by the Pinelands Commission in Beachwood West restrict the amount of land that can be used for active recreation. The freshwater wetlands and associated transition areas will remain as permanent open space areas. A canoe rental facility that existed before Beachwood West was fully acquired by Beachwood Borough remains on the southern end of Beachwood West.

The Land Use Plan Element conforms with the New Jersey State Development and Redevelopment Plan (SDRP) adopted on June 16, 1992. The SDRP incorporates the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan by Interagency Agreement. The proposed Ocean County park, recreation and open space area at Beachwood West conforms with the SDRP.

Berkeley Development Plans Will Affect Beachwood

Today we’re passing along a piece of information sent to us by Helen Henderson, Atlantic Coast Project Manager for the American Littoral Society and the current chair of the Lacey Rail Trail Environmental Committee. This press release regards Berkeley Township’s plans for developing the open land that borders Beachwood to the southeast, including redeveloping the dilapidated Route 9 Beachwood Plaza [note: the Beachwood Plaza is actually in Berkeley Township, but according to an archival news article, Jimmy Johnson, who built the plaza in 1959, named it for our borough as a way to spite Berkeley Township officials at the time due to ongoing conflicts he had with them].

To the left we have posted a 2002 aerial photograph of the Beachwood/Berkeley border. Here you can see the area commonly known in the borough as “Johnson’s Pit” to the south, the location of the original Central Railroad of New Jersey line that will be developed as a portion of the Barnegat to Toms River Rail Trail, and the Beachwood Plaza area to the north of that.

Beachwood Borough officials and residents should take interest in Berkeley Township’s upcoming plans, given the proximity of the site to our border and questions we may have regarding it.

---

Friends in Ocean County,

The State Plan Endorsement (Township-wide development plans) of Berkeley Township will undoubtedly have a direct impact on the surrounding municipalities of Beachwood and Lacey.  In addition, the health of our waterways, especially Barnegat Bay, has declined because of years of unchecked, inappropriate coastal development.  This vital resource is at further risk due to continuing development proposals throughout the watershed.  We must be vigilant in our efforts to bring this issue to the forefront.

Map showing the current hydrologic features of the area along the Beachwood/Berkeley border.

Please join the American Littoral Society and Lacey Rail-Trail Environmental Committee in requesting a public hearing on Berkeley’s proposed development plans so that the public’s concerns can be heard!

Requests should be sent to:

Lorissa.Whitaker@dca.state.nj.us

NO LATER THAN MONDAY, MARCH 30TH.

In addition to new areas proposed for dense development, other issues will be open for discussion and comment such as: newly proposed preservation and development areas (TDR sending and receiving zones/Town Centers); the Barnegat Branch rail-trail and extended trail network in the community; Route 9 improvements and new road circulation elements; and most importantly the impacts that further development will have on Barnegat Bay.

For those of you that have previously followed Berkeley’s development plans, please be advised the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program has changed the sending and receiving areas.  A public hearing specifically on this issue is forthcoming.

Should you have any questions or require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Helen Henderson

Atlantic Coast Project Manager
American Littoral Society
732.575.5701
helen@littoralsociety.org
www.littoralsociety.org

Chair
Lacey Rail-Trail Environmental Committee
hhlaceyrailtrail@msn.com
www.laceyrailtrail.org

Please feel free to forward this message to others who may be interested.  Thank you.

Beachwood Borough Master Plan, Part IV

Natural Features

Development of the borough has been affected by its natural features. Natural resources and environmental characteristics information provides a basis for evaluating the suitability for land for development and overall planning of a community as well as a guide for conservation of sensitive environmental resources through development regulations and/or acquisition.

Geology

There are five physiographic or geological provinces in New Jersey; each characterized by a similar sequence of rock types, geologic history and geologic structures. Beachwood Borough lies in the Outer Coastal Plain, the largest geological province in New Jersey. The Outer Coastal Plain was formed over the last 170-200 million years as a result of deposition and erosion and is characterized by gently rolling terrain with sandy, droughty soils with no rock outcrops and few steep slopes. In general, it is comprised of a wedged-shaped series of unconsolidated layers of sands, clays and marls on a gently, southeastward dipping bedrock (80 to 100 feet per mile) which is 1,300 to 6,000 feet below the surface. These layers extend seaward into the submerged Continental Shelf and are overlain by deposits of both Continental and Marine origins (Upper Cretaceous Age) dating from 135-65 million years before the present.

Hydrogeology

Water is perhaps the most important natural resource affecting the development of Beachwood. Understanding how water flows in and out of Beachwood is crucial to its preservation. Hydrogeology, the study and description of the geology of surface and subsurface water flow, is how to understand these flows. The borough originally developed along the Toms River and the entire borough is part of the New Jersey Pine Barrens ecosystem. The most important non-living element of the Pine Barrens ecosystem is water, considering its availability and characteristic chemistry. Water is stored in the extensive sand aquifers below the surface. Groundwater supports 89 percent of the flow in the Pinelands streams, discharging primarily through the swamps and marshes. It is replenished solely by precipitation, of which about 44 percent of the annual total percolates through the sandy soil surface. Although highly permeable, the uppermost soils tend to be chemically inert with a low absorptive capacity to filter out wastes. In addition, the waters are susceptible to various forms of pollution because they are weakly buffered against chemical change. Protection of groundwater resources was one of the primary reasons that the Federal and State governments created the Pinelands Commission in 1980.

Numerous aquifer systems, aquifers, and sub-aquifers occur throughout the Coastal Plain. Only the following five, however, can be considered regional in nature and capable of producing substantial quantities of water:

Potomac-Raritan-Magothy Aquifer System

Englishtown Formation

Wenonah Formation and Mount Laurel Sand

Kirkwood Formation

Cohansey Sand

Hydrologic Features

The most significant water feature in Beachwood is the Toms River extending along the northern border of the borough. The Toms River tributaries originate in parts of Millstone and Freehold Townships in Monmouth County and Jackson, Manchester, Dover and Berkeley Township in Ocean County. It drains into Barnegat Bay and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean. The other significant water feature in Beachwood Borough is the Jake’s Branch, a tributary of the Toms River that borders Beachwood along a portion of the northwestern corner of the borough. In addition, a small tributary of the Jake’s Branch crosses the southwestern portion of Beachwood West. Associated with the Toms River and Jake’s Branch and its tributaries are floodplains and wetlands. These features are shown on Figure 6-1 Hydrologic Features and include the Toms River and Jake’s Branch.

Floodplains

The 100 year floodplains are delineated by the Federal Emergency Management Act on Floodplain Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM). The 100-year floodplains cover approximately 160 acres in Beachwood Borough, over 80 percent of them west of the parkway. Most of the remaining floodplains exist along the southwestern portion of the borough, just east of the parkway along the Toms River at the eastern end of the borough.

Permits for stream encroachment are required for any activity in stream channels within the 100 year floodplain under the Flood Hazard Control Act (N.J.S.A. 58:16A-50 et seq.). This program is administered by the NJDEP, Division of Water Resources, Bureau of Floodplain Management. The dredging or filling of navigable waters, as well as the floodplains and tributaries of navigable waterways, is regulated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District, under the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344).

In addition, most residential and commercial mortgage holders require insurance coverage for structures built within a 100 year flood zone, as shown on the FIRM maps.

Coastal Wetlands

Coastal or tidal wetlands are regulated by the Wetlands Act of 1970, N.J.S.A. 13:9A-1, which became effective on November 5, 1970. This act provides for regulations of the estuarine lands between the land and ocean. The only area affected by the Coastal Wetlands regulations is the fringe are of the Toms River in the northeastern section of the borough. Since this area is developed, the regulations will only affect expansion of riverfront properties.

The riverfront area is also regulated by state laws pertaining to riparian rights within the Toms River, tidelands, and waterfront development regulations for riverfront development and development east of the Garden State Parkway regulated by the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA). (N.J.S.A. 13:19-1 et seq. and N.J.A.C. 7:7E-1 et seq.).

Hydrologic Features Map, Beachwood West and Jakes Branch Park focus.

Hydrologic Features Map, Berkeley Pulverizing Pit and Pinewald focus.

Hydrologic Features Map, Jakes Branch.

Freshwater Wetlands

Over 90 percent of the approximately 170 acres of wetlands in the borough are west of the parkway, mostly in the southern portion of Beachwood West. Most of the existing wetlands are freshwater, coniferous scrub/shrub wetlands, with small palustrine forested wetland complexes as well as Atlantic White Cedar wetland complexes.

Wetlands are regulated by the NJDEP outside of the Pinelands Regulatory Area and by the Pinelands Commission within the Pinelands Regulatory Area. In Beachwood, wetlands are regulated by the NJDEP east of the Garden State Parkway and by the Pinelands Commission west of the parkway.

Activities within wetlands east of the parkway are regulated by NJDEP under the Freshwater Wetlands Act of 1987, N.J.S.A. 13:9B-1. Statewide General Permits or Individual Permits may be required depending on the amount of disturbance. The NJDEP must be requested to field verify the extent of any wetland acreage found on-site. In accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:7E et sq., up to one acre of disturbance is permitted under the various Statewide General Permits. If one acre of fill is exceeded, an Individual Permit will be required.

Wetland classification is solely determined by the NJDEP. If a wetland area is less than 5,000 square feet it is classified as an ordinary value wetland. If the wetland exceeds 5,000 square feet, it is classified as an intermediate value wetland, requiring a 50-foot transition from the wetland to the closest activity. If threatened or endangered species are present, the wetland is classified as an exceptional value wetland and warrants a 150-foot transition area from the wetland to the closest activity.

State Open Waters (SOW) are areas lacking the required wetland criteria and require no buffer area. When building a bridge over a SOW, a disturbance of up to 0.25 acres of wetlands for the footings will require a Statewide General Permit. If the disturbance is greater than 0.25 acres of wetlands or the bridge requires a span greater than 100 feet, an Individual Permit is required.

Wetlands west of the parkway are regulated by the Pinelands Commission through the Comprehensive Management Plan in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:50-6. The Pinelands regulations require a 300 foot transition area from any delineated wetland in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:50-6.14.

Soils Map, Legend.

Soils Map, Northern Beachwood focus.

Soils Map, Middle Beachwood focus.

Soils Map, Beachwood West and Jakes Branch focus.

Soils

The United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service (SCS), has delineated soil types on a county basis in New Jersey. The 1980 Ocean County Soil Survey identifies 13 soil types found in 11 general soil associations in Beachwood which include: Atsion, Berryland, Downer, Fripp, Lakehurst, Lakewood, Manhawkin, Psamments, Pits, Urban Land, and Woodmansie. Soils are identified on Figure 6-3, Soils.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service regulates the disturbance of soil exceeding 5,000 square feet of surface area for a variety of purposes. There are 17 soil conservation districts in New Jersey which administer the Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Act (N.J.S.A. 4:24-1 et seq.) through the review and certification of subdivision site plans that result in the disturbance of 5,000 square feet or more of land area. Beachwood is under the jurisdiction of the Ocean Soil Conservation District located on Lacey Road in Forked River, New Jersey.

Hydric Soils

Hydric soils, as identified in the Ocean County Soil Survey, are typically divided into three groups according to their degree of association with wetlands. The National Wetlands Inventory, issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, has classified the Hydric Soils of New Jersey as follows:

Group 1 Hydric Soils are those soils that nearly always display consistent hydric conditions. Berryland sand, frequently flooded (BF) and Manahawkin muck (Ma) are Group 1 Hydric Soils, of which there are approximately 15 acres in the western portion of the borough known as Beachwood West. This is less than 0.1 percent of the borough and 8.6 percent of the hydric soils in the borough.

Group 2 Hydric Soils are soils displaying consistent hydric conditions in most places, but additional verification is necessary. Atsion sand (At) is a Group 2 Hydric Soil, which overlays a total of approximately 160 acres representing 8.9 percent of the total area or 91.4 percent of the hydric soils in the borough.

There are no identified Group 3 Hydric Soils within the borough.

Hydric soils are regulated by the NJDEP through the Freshwater Wetlands Act, and by CAFRA and the Pinelands Commission through development regulations within the Pineslands Comprehensive Management Plan and the CAFRA Regulations.

Hydric soils in the eastern portion of the borough will have little impact on the future development of the borough since freshwater wetlands only affect small isolated wetlands in low spots where water has been trapped over time. Most of the land east of the parkway has already been developed and is serviced by public water and sanitary sewer systems. Hydric soils occur in wide bands along the streams in Beachwood West. Freshwater wetlands have been delineated and have been reviewed and verified by the Pinelands Commission in 1999 in conjunction with the Ocean County application for development of a proposed golf course.

Septic Suitability

Soil characteristics, including permeability, percolation rates, slope, texture and depth to water table affect the ability of the land to operate as a septic absorption field. In Beachwood Borough, the area east of the parkway has been almost entirely developed, with all existing development on a public wastewater system. The Beachwood area west of the parkway is not curerntly served by the Beachwood Borough Utilities Authority sewer system. The area is serviced by the Ocean County Utilities Authority Central Regional Treatment Plan and regional collection system. Septic systems are regulated by the NJDEP, the Ocean County Health Department, and the Ocean County Water Quality Management Program. Strict regulations are applied to septic systems in the Pinelands Area by the Pinelands Commission.

Vegetation

Beachwood is located in the northeastern area of the Pine Barrens, a unique natural system that includes over one million acres in southern and central New Jersey. Identified primarily by pine and oak classifications, the vegetation can be divided into upland and lowland forest complexes.

Upland forests occupy areas in which the winter water table generally remains at least 1.5 feet below the ground surfact and are distinguished by oak and pine vegetation. Most of the borough and nearly the entire borough east of the parkway has a water table, which supports upland forest vegetation.

In contrast, lowland forests occur in areas that are flooded or in which the water table rises to less than 18 inches of soil surface during the year. Lowland forests are comprised principally of Atlantic white cedar, red maple, black gum, sweetbay magnolia and lowland pitch pine. West of the parkway, approximately 170 acres coinciding with the extent of hydric soils can be considered lowland forest based on depth to seasonal high water table.

The upland forest complex is composed of two generalized types, the oak-pine forest and pine-oak forest. The lowland forest complex includes three generalized types: cedar swamp forest, hardwood swamp forest and pitch pine lowland or pine swamp forest. Cedar swamp forests are perhaps one of the most unique and environmentally critical features of the lowland and wetlands Pine Barrens vegetation. Approximately fifteen acres of Atlantic white cedar exist in Beachwood Borough occur along Jakes Branch and its tributaries. (The lower portion of Jakes Branch in South Toms River, east of the parkway, is classified as Hardwood Swamp Forest). The remainder of the lowland forest complex is pitch pine lowland forest.

Beachwood Borough Master Plan, Part III

Collins' Home, photo circa 1924.

Existing Land Use

Land within Beachwood Borough can be broadly categorized as “developed” or “vacant”. Developed lands can be further broken down to include residential, commercial, quasi-public and borough parks and recreation areas. These uses account for approximately 1,208 acres or 67.4 percent of the 1,792 acre total land area of the borough. Vacant lands account for 584 acres or approximately 32.6 percent of the borough. These broad categories are shown on Figure 5-1, Existing Land Use, and tabulated on Table 5-1, Land Use By Type.

Developed Land

Residential

Residential development in Beachwood Borough is comprised almost exclusively of single family detached homes. Residential development accounts for 702 acres or 39.2 percent of the total area of the borough and 58.1 percent of the developed land. The types of residential development are listed below.

Single Family Detached housing covers approximately 701 acres of land representing approximately 58.0 percent of developed land area. Residential development occurs entirely east of the Garden State Parkway (other than one dwelling in 1999).

Apartment buildings in Beachwood Borough account for five buildings with approximately 20 apartments. The five apartment buildings total approximately one acre.

Commercial

Commercial development in Beachwood is comprised of retail establishments; services including information, professional, and medical services; manufacturing; and wholesale establishments. Overall, commercial development accounts for 23 acres of land in the borough, accounting for 1.9 percent of the developed land and 1.3 percent of the total land area. The types of commercial uses are described below.

Retail commercial development exists almost exclusively in the eastern portion of the borough, mostly along Atlantic City Boulevard. Retail establishments account for approximately nine acres of development in Beachwood. A variety of retail uses exist in Beachwood, including two pharmacies, two gasoline service stations, a bakery, a discount store, two video rental shops, two convenience stores, a bedding store, a monument company, a carpet store, a glass company, a flag and flagpole company, a bicycle shop, a coin shop, and an antiques store. The greatest number of retail establishments are six gift and flower shops.

Services in Beachwood can be categorized into information, medical, professional, personal, and other services. Most service development occurs along Atlantic City Boulevard, with the remainder existing along and adjacent to Pinewald Road. Service establishments account for approximately eight acres of land in Beachwood.

The two information services in Beachwood are an internet service provider and a pager sales and service store.

Medical service providers in Beachwood include optometrist, medical; dentistry, chiropractic, optician offices, and a walk-up medical care facility.

Professional services include an engineering and survey company, a testing laboratory, accounting, income tax, insurance and financial planning offices.

Food services include restaurants, sandwich shops, and an ice cream shop.

Other services include a cabinet maker, elevator, elevator repair, computer, computer repair, auto repair establishments, marine and machine repair, video rental, and a cabinet maker. A canoe rental company, Triple T Canoe Rentals, off Double Trouble Road is the only commercial establishment west of the Garden State Parkway.

Personal services establishments in Beachwood include a barber shop, hairdressers, nail and tanning salons.

Manufacturers account for approximately five acres of land in Beachwood and include a candle factory and a marine antennae manufacturer.

Wholesalers in Beachwood include a surgical supply store and a medical clothing store. Wholesalers and Information Services establishments account for less than one acre each.

Quasi-Public

Houses of Worship in Beachwood include Saint Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Community Bible Fellowship. Saint Paul’s is located along Route 9 between Anchor and Cable Avenues. The Community Bible Fellowship is located near the corner of Compass and Spring Avenues.

The Beachwood Yacht Club is built on approximately 1.6 acres on the northern corner of Brigantine Street and Compass Avenue. The structure was rebuilt on its current site after a fire in 1978 destroyed the original structure. The original club was created prior to the incorporation of the borough as part of a plan to draw prospective landowners to purchase property.

Beachwood Public and Public Service

The Beachwood Municipal Complex is a 15,400 square foot building constructed on a 17.2 acre parcel. Government functions are consolidated within the complex and include municipal courts, borough administrative offices and the borough police department.

Beachwood Borough Public Works accounts for approximately three acres of land located on the block where Ship Avenue and Walnut Street intersect Pinewald Road. The area is used for a potable water treatment plant, water tower, and the storage of maintenance equipment used in the borough.

Beachwood Borough Sewage Authority accounts for approximately one and a half acres that contains the offices, maintenance facilities, pump stations, and storage facilities for the authority.

The Beachwood Elementary School, part of the Toms River Regional School System, totals approximately 16.5 acres along the eastern edge of the borough on Berkeley Avenue.

The Beachwood First Aid Squad is on the southeastern corner of Beachwood Boulevard and Capstan Avenue and is on a lot less than one acre.

Presentation of the first fire engine to Beachwood, early 1920s.

The Beachwood Volunteer Fire Company is located in the center of the borough at the northeastern corner of Beachwood Boulevard and Maple Street. The site occupies slightly more than one acre.

The closed Beachwood Landfill is located at the southern end of the borough south of the municipal complex on Sycamore and Hickory Streets between Pinewald Road and the Garden State Parkway. The former landfill contains approximately 20 acres. The borough is in the process of obtaining an official closure certification from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Borough Parks and Recreation sites accounts for 65 acres. Three large parks account for over 30 acres of the total. Mayo Park, located along Clubhouse Way on the northeast border of Beachwood, consists of approximately 17 acres of land and 17 acres of water. The Berkeley Avenue Soccer Fields, located at the southeastern corner of the borough at the corner of Osprey Street and Berkeley Avenue, is 6.24 acres in size. The Birch & Surf Recreational Complex, located at the southeastern corner of Birch Street and Surf Avenue in the center of the borough, is 5.96 acres. The remaining 34 acres of borough park and open space consists of beach and marina areas along the Toms River and 10 “pocket” parks.

Ocean County acquired the 395-acre Beachwood West area of the Garden State Parkway for active and passive recreation in March 2000. Hundreds of parcels of tax lien and scattered ownership parcels were purchased by the borough and Beachwood West was sold to the county in March 2000 pursuant to an agreement approved in 1998.

Roadways

Roadways and their accompanying right-of-ways account for 381 acres, or 21.2 percent of the borough. Roadways can be classified into three categories: Borough, County, and State. These categories are described below.

Borough roadways account for 250 acres, or 13.9 percent of the total land area.

County roadways account for approximately 34 acres or 1.9 percent of the land area. There are portions of 14 streets in Beachwood that comprise county roadways. The major county roads being Routes 617, 619 and 621. Route 617 begins in northeastern Beachwood at the intersection of Starboard Street and Compass Avenue along the Toms River and extends southeast along the northern edge of the borough along Compass Avenue to Clubhouse Road to Bayside Avenue and exits the borough at the most easterly point in the borough. Route 619, also known as Double Trouble Road, is a north/south road that parallels the western side of the Garden State Parkway through the western portion of the borough. Route 621 begins at the northeastern corner of the borough at the corner of Starboard Street and Compass Avenue and extends southwest along Admiral Avenue and Surf Avenue. As the county route nears the eastern edge of the parkway, it continues in a more southerly direction along Pinewald Road.

State roads occupy approximately 97 acres or 5.4 percent of the borough. Route 9, which passes through the northeastern portion of the borough, extending in a northwest/southeast direction until it intersects Atlantic City Boulevard, where it extends in a more southerly direction along Atlantic City Boulevard to the southern edge of the borough. The Beachwood section of State Route 9, originally Route 4 built in 1920, was added to the State Road Highway System in 1925, according to the 1998 New Jersey Department of Transportation highway data.

The northern portion of Atlantic City Boulevard is designated as State Route 166. This roadway was designated Route 166 in 1976.

The third state highway in Beachwood Borough is the Garden State Parkway, an expressway which extends north/south through the western portion of the borough. Although there is no Garden State Parkway exit in Beachwood, Interchange 80 is less than half a mile from the borough border in South Toms River. The Garden State Parkway was started in 1951 and completed in 1954. The Garden State Parkway is operated by the New Jersey Highway Authority. The portion of the parkway extending north of Beachwood from Interchange 80 north to Interchange 83 in Dover Township is toll free and is part of U.S. Route 9.

Vacant Land

Undeveloped lands account for 584 acres or 32.6 percent of the borough. Vacant land includes publicly owned land including parks as well as private vacant land. They are described below.

Vacant – Public

Vacant publicly owned land account for 468 acres or 26.1 percent of the total borough area. This includes 395 acres of borough owned land that has been acquired by Ocean County for active and passive recreation, the 20-acre former Beachwood Landfill, and scattered parcels of borough owned property totaling 53 acres. Some of the borough vacant property is currently being used for the borough leaf recycling program.

Vacant – Private

There are approximately 116 acres of private land in the borough accounting for 6.5 percent of the borough land area. Private vacant land includes additional lots associated with residential properties throughout the borough. Most of vacant land, however, is comprised of scattered parcels located west of Pinewald Road, along Double Trouble Road and Cherry Street at the South Toms River border. The larger vacant land areas in the borough include borough owned parcels that have reverted to the borough due to non-payment of tax liens.

Existing Land Use, Beachwood Town Center/Circle.

Existing Land Use, Northeastern focus.

Existing Land Use, Southwestern focus.

Existing Land Use, Legend.

Beachwood Borough Master Plan, Part II

Population

Until the 1990s, the population of Beachwood had been growing rapidly, along with many other municipalities in Ocean County. Ocean County has been the fastest growing county in New Jersey over the past 40 years. Over time, development within Ocean County has extended inland to areas where large tracts of vacant land are still available. Ocean County is expected to grow but the population of Beachwood Borough is projected at a much lower rate than the county. Even over the past decade, Beachwood has experienced a slowdown of the rapid population increases experienced during the post-World War II period. With little vacant land remaining for new residential buildings, the Borough population will peak within the coming decade.

Analyzing changes in and composition of the population of Beachwood Borough will allow decision makers in the Borough to plan and provide for the appropriate level of government services. “Will the school population rise or fall over the next few years?” “Will we need to provide for a growing senior population?” and “What safety services do we need to provide over the next decade?” are questions that can be answered by population and demographic analyses.

Beachwood Train Station, early 1920s.

Population trends within Beachwood Borough are influenced by a variety of factors including national, state and regional economic conditions; social changes; government policy; employment trends; consumer preferences; and environmental and land use regulations by State and Federal agencies. As the year 2000 Census data for population and housing becomes available, the Planning Board can monitor population growth and composition and review its planning program to determine how the needs and desires of present and future residents of Beachwood Borough may be changing.

Population Trends: 1920-1998

Beachwood Borough experienced its first Federal Census in 1920 with a recorded total of 40 permanent residents on March 10, 1920. The Borough population increased rapidly in the 1920s and reached a recorded total of 394 persons in 1930. The population increased moderately to 650 in 1940. However, during the decade between 1940 and 1950, Beachwood Borough’s population increased at a significantly faster rate than Ocean County and the State of New Jersey. The Borough population increased from 650 in 1940 to 1,251 in 1950, a 92.5 percent increase compared to 50.2 percent increase for the county and 16.2 percent increase for the state. These increases reflect post-war building and the baby boom.

In the 1950s, Beachwood Borough more than doubled (a 121 percent increase) from 1,251 persons in 1950 to 2,765 by 1960. In comparison, Ocean County population increased by 91.2 percent. In the 1950s, a nationwide trend towards suburbanization occurred as people moved outward from the metropolitan centers to less developed commuter suburbs. In addition, the popularity of the coastal and bay areas of the state as resort retreats contributed to development in Beachwood. The opening of the Garden State Parkway in 1954, however, spurred suburbanization of interior areas of the primarily undeveloped Ocean County.

The population of Beachwood continued to increase between 1960 and 1970 from 2,765 to 4,390 persons. During the decade of 1970 to 1980, the state, and to a lesser extent county, population growth rates began to stabilize. In contrast, Beachwood Borough had its largest numerical increase of 3,297, a 75.1 percent increase between 1970 and 1980.

During the decade, 1980 to 1990, the Borough population increased 21.3 percent, the county population increased 25.2 percent and the state population increased by 5.0 percent. The slowing growth rate in population in Beachwood Borough over the last decade was due to the diminishing availability of land.

Population estimates by the New Jersey Department of Labor indicate that the Borough population reached 10,000 between July 1, 1996 and July 1, 1997. On July 1, 1998, the population of Beachwood was estimated at 10,130. The 806 increase in estimated population from 1990 to the 1998 from 9,324 to 10,130, reflects a continuation of the slowing growth rate, due largely to the developed nature of Beachwood and decreasing developable land. Table 4-1 “Population: 1920 – 1998 for Beachwood, Ocean County and New Jersey”, summarizes the borough, county and state population trends from 1920 to 1998.

Population Characteristics

The general characteristics of the Borough population can be obtained from the 1990 U.S. Census of Population. These characteristics include age, sex, race, employment and income.

Age – The 1990 Census recorded the median age of Beachwood Borough residents as 31.3 years. This is the fourth youngest municipal population in Ocean County.

Sex – The Beachwood Borough population in 1990 was 51.7 percent female and 48.3 percent male, the same ratio of the state in 1990. Ocean County’s population had a ratio of slightly more females, 52.9 percent, than males, 47.1 percent.

Race – The 1990 Census recorded the population of Beachwood Borough as 98 percent white and two percent Asian, black, Native American and other races not listed. These figures compare with the county percentage of 95.3 percent white and 2.8 percent black. All other races accounted for 1.9 percent of the county.

Employment – An estimated total of 5,408 persons were part of the labor force for Beachwood Borough in 1997. Of the labor force, 5,080 were employed while 328 persons were unemployed. This resulted in an unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. This matches the 1997 county unemployment rate.

Income – Median household income for Beachwood Borough in 1989 was $40,584. In comparison, the Ocean County median was $33,110 and the New Jersey median was $40,927.

Per capita income for Beachwood Borough in 1989 was $14,510, lower than the county level of $15,598 and state level of $18,714. Per capita income is the calculated average amount of income available per person.

Income levels are affected by educational attainment, occupation and age. Education and occupation are related to earning potential and higher incomes for workers while income generally declines after retirement.

Beachwood 1930.

Development Patterns

Development trends can be tracked through the number of building permits issued annually for new residential housing units. New residential building permit data is maintained on a state-wide basis by the New Jersey Department of Labor. This data indicates that from 1980 – 1989, 553 new residential building permits and 11 demolition permits were issued for a net gain of 542 new residences. From 1990 – 1999, 215 new residential building permits were issued. A review of building permits from 1980 to 1999 indicates that construction of new residential units peaked in 1985 and 1986 and then rapidly declined. Table 9-2, Residential Construction and Demolition Permits, documents building permits issued during the past two decades. Residential building in Beachwood over the past 19 years has been single family housing units. An average of 54 new housing units were constructed [per year] between 1980 and 1989. During the 1990 to 1999 period, an average of 22 new units a year have been constructed.

Beachwood 2002.

Population Projections

Several population projection models are presented for the Borough of Beachwood for the years 2000, 2010 and 2020. While population projection models can produce a broad range of results, it is expected that the Borough population will increase from the 1990 population of 9,324 to approximately 10,300 to 10,700 in 2020 based on analyses of existing demographic data and the limited number of buildable lots remaining in the borough. A “projection” is defined “as the measurement of a future condition that would exist if the assumptions and procedures of the method prove to be empirically valid in the future.” Projections are based on one or more assumptions including a continuation of past conditions, present conditions, or trended changes in historical conditions. Projections can also be based on entirely new translation rates.

In order to develop reasonable population projectionsfor Beachwood Borough, a variety of population projection models were evaluated including linear regression, geometric, parabolic, modified exponential, Gompertz and logistic models. Several calculations for each model were produced using different starting point years to assess the applicability and functionality of the models. It should be noted as indicated in the above definition of a projection that an infinite number of projections can be calculated using different models with different starting years and other variables. Therefore, in preparing meaningful population projections for the borough, other factors about the borough must be considered to limit the number of possible outcomes that models can produce. Such factors include availability of vacant land for construction, changing household size, composition of age groups, birth and death rates, in- and out-migration of residents, and the annual number of residential building permits. Although projections are based on past demographic trends they are not a forecast and are not intended to be official. They are for reference purposes only. Dramatic changes or disruptions in the economic and demographic conditions in the future can impact and could invalidate the projections. Presented in Table 4-2 Population Projections 2000-2020 are population projections for Beachwood Borough using three of the most common projection models. As can be seen the results of these models produce projected populations for the year 2020 ranging from 9,963 to 10,741.

The Modified Exponential, Gompertz and Logistic Models assume that growth will move toward, or from, an asymptotic upper or lower growth limit. The projections will take the form of an S-shaped curve in which growth begins slowly, increases rapidly for a while then slows as it approaches a fixed upper growth limit. These models produced nearly identical projections to the year 2020, between 9,963 and 10,741. These projections appear to be the most reasonable of the models reviewed in light of the fact that the population growth in Beachwood Borough is following an S-curve. The borough population approximately doubled every ten years from 1930 through 1980, but sustained slower growth through the 1980s, indicating the borough had begun to reach the upper limit of growth. The slowdown in growth was primarily due to the unavailability of vacant land.

Parabolic, linear, and geometric models were also reviewed. The Parabolic Model is a model that assumes growth increases or decreases by a constant amount in the future. This model produced very low projections for the borough by the year 2020, more than halving the population by 2020. The Linear Model assumes that the dependent variable (population) will always increase or decrease by equal amounts for equal time periods. The linear model produced a population projection that almost doubled by 2020. This is due to the fact that the population increased every decade since 1930 and this trend was projected into the future. The geometric curve assumes that growth will correspond to a constant growth rate or decline. The geometric curve produced even higher results, projecting a tripling of the population by 2020. The parabolic, linear and geometric do not appear to be as reasonable as the other statistical models reviewed.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Population projections based on past trends assume population change will continue into the future based on historical trends. In Beachwood, the historical trend already show the borough population leveling off and three of the population models performed well in extending this moderating trend into the future. The largest parcels of vacant land in the borough are located west of the Garden State Parkway (Beachwood West) and along Pinewald Road east of the parkway. Beachwood West was acquired by Ocean County in March 2000 for park, recreation and open space. Tracts of vacant developable private land between Pinewald Road and the parkway are located in the Business B-2 and B-3A areas of the Master Plan. These areas have not developed to date due to diverse ownership including scattered vacant parcels owned by the borough and the lack of utilities and improved roadways. New residential development in the borough, therefore, is expected to be “infill development” on the remaining scattered vacant lots located in the borough east of Pinewald Road and the Garden State Parkway. Family size and composition will be the main factors affecting the total borough population in the future.

It is recommended that population projections be utilized only as general guides and that actual growth be monitored periodically to determine the rate of change within the borough. Various indices can be monitored including birth and death records; building and demolition permits; school enrollments; and county, state and federal population estimates. The latter estimates are developed cooperatively based on a variety of component data, including birth and death records, institutional residents, sample surveys, vehicle registrations, building permit data and others. Close coordination with county, state and federal agencies can provide updated data to determine population trends in the borough prior to the year 2000 U.S. Census.

Alert: Downtown Beachwood Rite-Aid Proposal

Beachwood Circle Inn/Circle Shop and now Carpetland.

Attention Beachwood Residents:

I am bringing to your attention that a proposal has been submitted to the borough to build a Rite Aid Pharmacy over the Beachwood Circle Shop/Carpetland site and surrounding area.