Linked History: Toms River Community Theatre Built by Beachwood Man

Today we spotlight the work of Beachwood man Joseph Jerue, who was a builder, World War II veteran (along with both of his sons – one of whom, John, was lost during battle) and mayor of the borough.

Joseph Jerue in his official World War II service photo. This photo originally hung along those of other Beachwood servicemen in the Beachwood Circle Shop during the war.

In 1937, Mayor Jerue, then 41 years old, was named the builder of a prominent cultural site on Washington Street in downtown Toms River, the Community Theatre. To our benefit, its construction and featured amenities were detailed in an issue of Box Office Magazine in August of that year. Below you’ll find that article in full. We hope you enjoy this look back to an era and its architecture that one particularly prolific Beachwood resident helped make possible.

Reprinted material courtesy Ken Bacon and Box Office Magazine.

A MODERN THEATRE IN THE COLONIAL MANNER

Toms River Community Theatre as it appeared after its construction, in 1937. Today it has been renovated into shops and eateries.

A new modern theatre with a seating capacity of 1,000 persons was recently erected on Washington Street in Toms River, New Jersey. Definitely out of the ordinary in design and decor, the new edifice reflects the most contemporary expressions of architectural composition.

It is operated by the American Community Theatres, Inc.

Unlike most modern theatres, with their brilliantly lighted marquees and  electric signs over the entrance, this theatre with its simple Colonial front presents a decidedly novel appearance. Its architectural simplicity is pronounced.

The theatre is set back 30 feet from the sidewalk and the intervening portion of the property in front of the theatre is beautifully landscaped and circumvented by a flagged walk of unique design which serves as a delightful approach to and departure from the theatre.

The Washington Street facade is of red facebrick with white joints, in front of which is a beautifully designed Colonial portico done in wood and painted white.

The ticket booth is situated in the center of the entrance screen of doors. Lattice work above the entrance doors and the circular windows above the lattice work are constructed of wood and glass. All portico in wood and painted white, against the masterly executed red and white masonry background presents a simple but beautiful facade.

In the evening this facade is illuminated by flood lights which increase the beauty and interest of the architectural simplicity to a spectacular degree. The same simplicity of design is followed throughout the interior of the auditorium.

The sidewalls are of acoustical plaster integrally colored to a neutral shade. Subtly concealed vertical lighting troughs along the sidewalks are provided with varied colored lamps, lending a beautiful and variable color scheme to the interior.

The foyer, promenade, ladies’ cosmetic room and the men’s room are also of simple modern design, the beauty of which is greatly enhanced by exquisite lighting fixtures, carpets and furnishings.

The auditorium is provided with exceptionally wide chairs spaced to provide the maximum comfort for the patrons. The floors are carpeted with rich, heavy, exquisite carpet which helps to promote finer acoustical treatment for sound reception.

Particular attention was given to the gradient of the auditorium floor to insure every patron a perfect view of the screen, no matter where he is seated.

A new modern ventilating system was installed to assure the occupants of a healthful and comfortable atmosphere while they are being entertained. The projection room and sound equipment in this theatre are of the finest known to modern science.

The Toms River Community Theatre is a delightful example of the modern functionally furnished theatre. It was designed and erected under the supervision of Thomas W. Lamb, Inc., architects. The builder was Joseph E. Jerue, of Beachwood, N. J.

The Community Theatre's billing was found in this photograph taken in Disbrow's Market, on Beachwood Boulevard, one year after the above article was written - August 1938.

Local Founders Profile: Edward and Annie Robinson

From the pages of his own 1924 Beachwood Directory and Who’s Who, here is what William Mill Butler wrote about original residents Dr. and Mrs. Edward Percy Robinson. Click on all the embedded links for a broader understanding of their lives and background:

Circa 1924.

Robinson, Edward Percy, M.D., west corner Beachwood and Barnegat Blvds., Block D-40. Other address, 420 Nuber Avenue, Mt. Vernon, N.Y.

Born in the parish of St. James, Island of Barbadoes, of English parents, his father being  planter. Educated in private schools there and in the Coleridge School, an academy. Heard much about the United States and at the age of seventeen came to this country, and became a drug clerk in Philadelphia. He had studied the British Pharmacopoea before leaving home and now applied himself also to the study of American Pharmacopoea. In 1892 he was registered as a pharmacist in New York City, where he remained several years and became chief apothecary of the Presbyterian Hospital before he had attained his majority, being technically put on “probation” a year on this account. About 1903 he entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College, graduating in 1897 [ 2009 BHA Ed. note: it can be assumed that these dates are reversed; Robinson likely entered in 1897 and graduated in 1903].

Robinson home, circa 1924.

Engaged in general practice for several years and then entered the New York Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital in New York, and studied diseases of the nose and throat. For a time he was assistant to the chief of clinic in rhinology and laryngology at this institution, and he also served as assistant in the genito-urinary clinic at the Presbyterian Hospital Dispensary. His practice having reached a point requiring all his time, he gave up hospital and dispensary work.

Robinson home, Winter 2009.

For the past eighteen years or more Dr. Robinson has devoted his studies to the nature of the cell, and from these researches he wrote the epoch-making hypothesis on the cause of cancer and his reasons for the use of potassium nitrate in its treatment. His contributions to medical publications include: Use of Paraffin in Surgery, New York State Journal of Surgery, May, 1902; Artificial Cell Proliferation with Horse Serum in the Treatment of Burns, Annals of Surgery, March, 1917; A Plea for Potassium Nitrate in Cancer, Medical Record, May 4, 1918; Does Analogy Exist Between Animal and Vegetable Tumor? Medical Times, August, 1918; Does the Cure of Cancer Depend Upon Oxidation of the Tissues? Medical Record, July 5, 1919; The Influence of Potassium Nitrate in Nephritis, Medical Council, May, 1919; Is the Endamoeba Buccalis the Real Cause of Pyorrhea? Dental Cosmos, October, 1919; Electrochemism in the Etiology and Therapeusis of Cancer, Medical Record, July 24, 1920. Other important contributions since.

Dr. Robinson was married to Miss Annie Reinacher in New York, 26 years ago. They have one son, Beverly Kerr Robinson, who served in the infantry overseas during the war, as a runner, carrying messages in the thickest of battles, without being harmed. Dr. Robinson is a member of the College of Pharmacy in New York. Is a charter member of the Polyhue Yacht Club, at present serving his second term as Commodore. Also a member of the Property Owners’ Assn. His son is also a charter member of the Polyhue Yacht Club.

Original Polyhue Yacht Clubhouse.

Case Study: Rite Aid Closings Sweeping Nation

Today we’re going to look at two news stories on the recent wave of Rite Aid closings currently rippling through the nation, and one news analysis on the overall state of the retail pharmacy chain. Many of the sites being closed are less than a few years old, and stand at what used to be downtown centers that once held locally important heritage structures.

As our own borough town center faces the continued threat of demolition for the self-interest of this corporation, we should ask ourselves as a community if we’re willing to trade our unique and irreplaceable past for a structure predesigned and built in repetition across America, by an irresponsible non-local company that is currently issuing waves of layoffs and closings that very directly impact the lives of local residents who depend on it.

It certainly appears that Rite Aid, which overextended itself by greedily grabbing up and demolishing culturally and historically significant sites across the nation during economic boom years, is turning into its own ugly moniker, Blight Aid, as many of these sites now go dark, leaving a wasteful legacy behind in local communities left holding undesirable and oversized chunks of abandoned commercial real estate where links to their past once stood.

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

Protecting the Heart of the Borough

In today’s post we’re going to take a look at an article written for Syracuse Then and Now, in 2000. Its content displays the ironic idea behind the ‘viral’ pharmacy chain trend that has been targeting the heart of communities across America. Its quoted comments from local politicians stating that such profit-driven proposals cannot be stopped are, however, incorrect.

Local officials and board members can easily halt such plans, particularly in Beachwood, by making their judgement based on pre-existing land development rules that have been on the books to protect our borough and its residents from such abusive site proposals for decades. These regulations have served our borough well, protecting our waterfront, our parks and our general business and residential districts.

It now appears they will have the opportunity to protect the very heart of our borough as well – our downtown.

The Drugstore Invasion

Chain pharmacies are returning to Downtown America. They’re also destroying it.

Grants Give Heritage Buildings Renewed Life

Today we’re going to take a look at a recent article published in The Hub, a Monmouth County newspaper, that takes a look at how our neighbors to the north are providing their communities with sustainable development by restoring and preserving locally unique heritage and culture sites.

While Ocean County does not do direct historic preservation grants, according to county heritage and culture commissioner Timothy Hart, there are grants available for qualifying historic projects. Additionally, owners of sites with potential local or state historic importance may seek to add their structures to the State of New Jersey Historic Preservation Office’s statewide registry for qualification of improvement and restoration loans, grants and other financial benefits.

With our downtown corridor currently threatened by a massive demolition and commercial redevelopment project at the hands of the Rite Aid Corporation, it is important borough residents continue to question that proposal’s irreversible impact on our community’s culture and heritage and work to create alternate plans and programs to benefit property owners within that project’s parameters and across the borough.

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Breathing New Life into Vintage Buildings

County preservation grants give local restorations a boost

Erin O. Stattel
Staff Writer
The News Transcript
Greater Media Newspapers

About two-dozen historic preservation projects, including the restoration of the Van- Mater Barn in Holmdel and the Little Red Schoolhouse in Middletown, will be able to move forward as a result of grants from the Monmouth County Historical Commission.

Church of the Presidents in Long Branch

The grants, totaling $42,500, were awarded to applicants based on the projects submitted.

According to the county, each grantee is required to submit interim and final reports of the project’s progress accompanied by photographs that detail the progress.

Most of the projects are “bricks and mortar” projects that address structural projects and costly maintenance to buildings that are generally more than 50 years old.

“We have a good mix of grantees, including a number with repeated grants as well as first-time applicants,” said Randall Gabrielan, executive director of the Monmouth County Historical Commission.

According to Holmdel Township’s Denise Fritz, work is being done to the structural elements of the VanMater Barn, located at the Cross Farm off Old Mill Road.

St. George’s-by-the-River Episcopal Church in Rumson

“The barn has been in numerous phases, and now the structural support in the lower portion is being addressed with this grant money,” Fritz explained.

The barn is in working condition and is used by Brookrest Sod Farm of Marlboro for storage and to house various farming supplies, Fritz said.

The Cross Farm is owned by Holmdel Township and was transferred to the town in 1979 by the Cross Family. Before the township owned the farm, Fritz said, Henry Cross purchased the property from Joseph Van- Mater in 1913. The change of title begins with VanMater in 1836.

In neighboring Middletown, Marlpit Hall, located on King’s Highway and owned by the Monmouth County Historical Association, received a grant for interior painting.

“Marlpit Hall was built circa 1756 by the Taylor family and it was the first house in our collection, acquired in 1936 from Mrs. J. Emory Haskell,” said Lee Ellen Griffith, director of the Monmouth County Historical Association. “The Taylor family were crown royalists and found themselves with a reversal of fortune during the RevolutionaryWar and in conflict with some of their neighbors.”

Christ Church in Shrewsbury

According to Griffith, the Taylor family retained ownership of the property despite the tough times.

“Later generations of the Taylor family made their fortune in the China trade in New York City and decided to come back to the grandfather’s farm,” Griffith explained. “They then built a large Victorian mansion next door, which we also own, called the Taylor- Butler House.”

Griffith said the association came into ownership of the Taylor-Butler home in 1999.

“We pick a project each year for the Monmouth County preservation grants,” Griffith said. “This year, it was Marlpit Hall’s turn.”

Marlpit Hall is furnished with both furniture the original Taylor family would have used and furniture that Mrs. J. Emory Haskell would have furnished a home with.

According to Griffith, Haskell was an avid collector of Americana-style objects.

Marlpit Hall in Middletown

Marlpit Hall, along with other Monmouth County Historical Association structures, is open May through September on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. Guided tours are available and admission is free, but donations are always gratefully accepted, Griffith said.

In Long Branch, the Church of the Presidents received a face-lift, courtesy of the grant money, with the Long Branch Historical Museum Association restoring the front masonry of the south-facing portico porch.

“This building is the only remaining site that served that many presidents here in Long Branch,” said Joan Schnorbus, a member of the Long Branch Historical Museum Association board of trustees. “This grant allows us to do work to the masonry on the front of the building.”

According to Schnorbus, the association also received funding from the N.J. Historical Trust that will allow for restoration of the rest of the building’s masonry.

“Basically, with these two grants, we can

Rite Aid = Blight Aid? Site Abandonment Photo Essay

Blight Aid: Coming soon to the heart of our borough?

Today we’ll be looking at a myriad of sites across the United States which had been recently built for Rite Aid and their design requirements but subsequently abandoned for various reasons, not least of which is ‘underperformance’.

Local Founders Profile: Frank O. and Mary F. Price

From the pages of his own 1924 Beachwood Directory and Who’s Who, here is what William Mill Butler wrote about original residents Mr. and Mrs. Frank O. Price. Click on all the embedded links for a broader understanding of their lives and background:

Circa 1924.

Price, Frank, west side Spar Ave., between Elm and Chestnut Sts., Beachwood Heights, Block C-29. Other address, 478 Washington Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Born in Kempt, Owens County, Nova Scotia; American citizen. Head of Architectural Engineering Department, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y.; consulting engineer for architectural firms of W.B. Tubby and J.V. Van Pelt, New York City. Wife, Mrs. Mary Florence Price; four daughters, Urania Roe, Elizabeth Florence, Ethel Frances and Marsia Anne Price.

Prof. Price is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was director of finance of the first board of commissioners of Beachwood. He is at present assessor of the borough. Also secretary of the Beachwood Property Owners’ Ass’n., and of the board of trustees, Beachwood Religious Association. Mrs. Price is also a member of the Property Owners’ Ass’n.

More Info: Hollow Tile Architecture

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.