2 vacant lots on Main street in Belmar to be cleaned up

BELMAR — The two unkempt lots on the corner of Main Street and Eighth Avenue have irked residents and business owners since they became vacant in 2007.

The lots sit right in the heart of the town, as nearby business owner Anthony Caruso pointed out. And their chain link fences give the appearance of abandoned lots, reminiscent of certain areas of Newark, he said.

"People driving through might think of the town differently and drive on to the next town before they stop and do some shopping," said Caruso, who nine weeks ago opened an Italian deli bearing his last name on Main Street and Seventh Avenue.

So Caruso was pleased to hear the borough plans to lease one of the lots from its owner and turn it into a parking lot. A parking lot will look better than an empty parcel, and it will solve one of Main Street's biggest problems, the dearth of parking spots, he said.

The lot and the matching one across the street have been vacant since the car dealership that operated there moved out of the borough. The Church of St. Rose bought the matching lot in October and promised to spruce it up while it decides what to do with the land.

And now Belmar will lease the lot at 800 Main Street from Sea Coast Realty for use as a "temporary parking lot" until the landlord decides to develop the lot, under the terms of a lease agreement the Borough Council approved this week. The borough will pay $1 rent for the entire term of the lease, which will end 30 days after the property owner notifies Belmar that it plans to redevelop the property.

Sea Coast Realty in November agreed to pay Belmar $22,000 to beautify the vacant lot, and the borough will use that money to level the land, put down stone and plant a landscape buffer around it, Mayor Kenneth E. Pringle said.

The 37,500-square-foot parcel can accommodate between 80 and 90 parking spots, he said. The borough hopes to open the parking lot in a few weeks, weather permitting, and does not plan to charge drivers to park there, he said.

"So, it's an opportunity to create more parking for downtown and to improve the appearance of the property while we wait for it to be developed," Pringle said.

Samuel DiFeo, a partner of Sea Coast Realty, could not be reached for comment.

Rachel Rogers, president of the Belmar Chamber of Commerce, said she approves of the planned parking lot. The struggling economy has left too many Main Street storefronts empty, she said, and the appearance of the vacant property exacerbated the problem.

"We're all just trying to keep Main Street from falling apart," she said.