By: Joseph L. Kuchie

SOUTH AMBOY – The city of South Amboy is considering adding open and closing times to their beaches after the council received several complaints from residents about issues after hours.

According to the council, residents have brought to their attention that people have been using the beach late at night for bonfires, drinking, and late-night fishing. The Fisherman’s Lot near the beach closes at sunset, which has led to people parking on local streets and taking up additional residential parking spaces.

“Frankly the way the ordinance is currently written there’s a lack of controls down there for the police to reliably go down there and do enforcement,” Business Administrator Glen Skarzynski said. “After collectively talking with the people from the neighborhood and the police, it’s to basically make the beach open from sunrise to sunset, which is kind of what it’s designed for. It’s not lit at night, there’s no way for us to reliably get police in there regularly to patrol.”

Skarzynski mentioned that a complication rises with the waterfront walkway, which cuts through the beach area and is used early in the morning by residents to exercise. He said that the city is proposing to set the walkway hours to match the city’s parks hours and keep the beach separate.

“From May to September the walkway would be sunrise to 11 PM, and from September to May it would be sunrise to 10 PM, which mirrors exactly what we have in the ordnance governing the parks,” he added.

“My concern is for the guy that’s working second shift, the fish are running the tide is running right, he gets out at 11 o’clock and wants to go out in fish, and now he’s not able to do that,” Councilman Tom Reilly said. “There’s guys that fit that criteria in town.”

“I understand where Tom is coming from, [but] I do think the gates should be opened and closed at some point,” Councilwoman Christine Noble said. “I see the mess that’s there, it’s not the guys fishing there, it’s unfortunate, I think we need to put a time frame on there.”

“I can’t begin tell you enough how many complaints we’ve been getting, and it’s not been one or two people, it’s been multiple people and it’s persistent, it’s been going on for months,” Skarzynski said. We’ve been trying to come up with the best solution we can, and this is what we came up with.”

If the proposal is approved, signage will be posted near the beach entry points with the new beach hours, and a police phone number to report suspicious activity.

Brian McLaughlin was the only council member who was unable to attend the business meeting. The next city council meeting will be held on February 19th at 7:00 p.m.