Green space for Ortley Beach?

Some people might gaze upon the property off Fielder Avenue and see an old industrial site, covered with dirt, gravel and a few sparse sprouts of grass.

Superstorm Sandy monument unveiled in Toms River

But when Ortley Beach resident Michael Wymbs looks at the five acres of land owned by the Ocean County Utilities Authority, he imagines a sea of green parkland only blocks from the ocean.

"It always irked me when I looked at that property," said Washington Avenue resident Wymbs, 70, who has lived around the corner from the OCUA property for 30 years. "I thought, 'Why is that property just sitting there?' ''

At a recent meeting of the Ocean County Board of Freeholders, more than 30 Ortley Beach residents appeared to ask about the land, which decades ago housed the Toms River Sewerage Authority treatment plant. Today, most of the property is vacant, although a section that abuts Washington Avenue contains an OCUA pumping station.

Wymbs and other Ortley Beach residents would like the OCUA to set aside at least a portion of the land as a community park. Though five acres might seem like a small parcel in more rural parts of Ocean County, it's the largest plot of vacant land in densely developed Ortley Beach, located in the barrier peninsula section of Toms River.

When large-scale development came to Ortley in the 1940s and 1950s, there was no provision for parkland, Wymbs said.

"We're asking that the unused portion … be fenced off. We know some of it's in active use, but (we want) at least some of it be fenced off," said Paul D. Jeffrey, 61, president of the Ortley Beach Voters and Taxpayers Association at the Aug. 6 freeholders meeting. "Plant some grass. Give us some recreational equipment. We desperately need open space in Ortley Beach."

Ortley's only other open space, township-owned Bayside Park, has not been repaired since superstorm Sandy struck in October 2012, and has been fenced off to protect the public. The park, located along Barnegat Bay, is a shambles. A toppled light stanchion, chunks of concrete, and piles of dusty dune fencing sit on the park's basketball court.

That leaves Ortley residents with no recreational facilities in their 1-square-mile neighborhood. When this devastated section of Toms River finally was allowed to "repopulate" in the months after superstorm Sandy, a welcome-home party attended by about 300 residents had to be hosted in the parking lot of the local A&P.

"We pay close to $100 a year in county and local open-space tax," said Wymbs, who also is on the taxpayers' association board. "What are we getting back?"

Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr., chairman of parks and recreation for the five-member board, said that the ball is in the township's court.

Bartlett said he sent a letter to Toms River officials stating that the freeholders would be happy to approach the OCUA Chairman John C. Parker and ask whether a portion of the property could be set aside as a park, if that's what the township wants. Two years ago, Bartlett said, the township had asked if it could use the property for Toms River employee parking. Street parking in Ortley, where many houses have no driveways, often is at a premium in the summer months.

Bartlett said Toms River officials must determine whether they would prefer the property be used as a park or parking.

Ortley Beach Voters and Taxpayers Association President Paul Jeffrey said at the Aug. 6 freeholders' meeting that the Toms River Township Council adopted a resolution in May asking the freeholders to transfer the "excess" land on the OCUA property to the people of Ortley Beach in the form of parkland, a request Bartlett found odd.

"Well, the OCUA couldn't possibly do that," Bartlett said. "...That was bought with ratepayers' money — which also included, by the way, ratepayers in southern Monmouth County. So the request, as stated from the township, was not completely proper but I understand what they were getting at."

He pointed out that the property, though mostly vacant now, always has been an industrial facility. When the OCUA bought the parcel, it was site of a Toms River Sewerage Authority treatment plant, back when there was only minimal treatment of raw sewage effluent before it was discharged into the water.

The facility collects raw sewage from much of the Barnegat peninsula and pumps it across the bay to the OCUA's central treatment plant in Berkeley.

Bartlett said there are large pipes and an 880-volt electrical line beneath the property, and any park constructed on the site could not have an permanent fixtures. Any benches or other structures placed on the land would have to be removable, he said, because the property would be used as a staging area for emergency vehicles in the event of a storm or other emergency.

"That site now is vitally important to the whole operation of the OCUA," Bartlett said. "This is an industrial site and it always has been."

But he said there are areas that could be used for recreation, "if it could be converted at a moment's notice."

After Sandy, the land was used for many months as a storage facility for waterlogged white goods — refrigerators, washers and dryers and other appliances — that were pulled from damaged houses in the area.

"We understand that there's a portion of that property, which you clearly need for the pumping station," Jeffrey said. "It serves the barrier island well. It needs to be safe. It needs to be fenced off. We have no issue with that. We understand, as well, there are times where there is equipment stored there … that's fine. There's five and a half acres of land sitting there. The aerial photographs of Ortley Beach (show that) most of it sits empty, unused. No one can get to it. It's an absolute travesty."

Jean Mikle: 732-643-4050, jmikle@app.com