Brick Enacts Parking Restrictions at Traders Cove Playground Lot

A sign showing parking regulations at Traders Cove Marina and Park. (Credit: Jim Fozman)

Brick officials have set a two-hour time limit on parking in the lot closest to the playground area at Traders Cove Marina, despite the protest of one member of the township council.

An ordinance passed last week 6-1, with Councilman Jim Fozman voting in opposition, permanently sets the two-hour limit between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. from May 15 to Sept. 15. The ordinance must be published in the newspaper, so it will not take effect immediately this season, however within a few weeks plastic covering the signs will be removed and the restrictions will be in place. Officials said the restriction would prevent people from parking in the lot after being picked up on boats (often traveling to nearby F-Cove), however Fozman termed the ordinance a “money grab” and said he’s never heard any complaints about a lack of parking at the lot.

“This is unenforceable,” he said. “What are the police going to do? Go out there and chalk the tires and then ride back in two hours and check? I don’t see any use for this at all. I just think this is a money grab.”

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Joanne Bergin, the township administrator, said marina workers told her the ordinance was “helpful.”

“There were a number of people coming on the weekends that were parking right in front of the playground because that’s also where you can get to the transient slips,” said Bergin. “The goal of the ordinance was simply to have a mechanism in place to ensure that people who wanted to use the playground have a spot nearby.”

“There are 70 parking spaces,” Fozman replied. “There’s plenty of parking for everybody.”

The marina property has several parking areas, from the paved playground lot to spaces for boaters, to a separate lot on the county-owned portion of the park near the fishing pier closest to the neighboring Mantoloking Bridge.

Brick officials put the same restrictions in place last season, but faced controversy when signs with the regulations were being displayed before the initial ordinance was passed.