Toms River, NJ Council introduces ordinance to permanently preserve downtown park as Open Space

The park space at the corner of Robbins Street and Washington Street in downtown Toms River will remain unchanged in terms of any possible development there.

On Wednesday evening, the Toms River Township Council introduced an ordinance to permanently preserve this section of land as Open Space and keep it as a park effectively putting an end to the proposed possibility by a developer to build a six-story apartment complex there.

If the ordinance makes final passage at a meeting on December 28, the township of Toms River will acquire the property 27 Washington Street.

It's something that the council and mayor have been looking to do for some time as it would also be apart of the continued stated goal of preserving more Open Space across the township as well as promoting recreation and conservation and preventing over development.

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They hope to acquire this piece of land via purchase, gift, or eminent domain.

As it stands currently, there is a park in this lot of land developed by the Downtown Toms River Improvement District.

The park that you see on the corner of Washington Street and Robbins Street now features plants, tables and chairs to eat at or sit down, relax, and enjoy the view.

Prior to this land being what it is was a large building with multiple businesses including Capone's Gourmet Pizza & Pasta and East Coast Gamers that lost everything following a fire in the early morning hours of May 16, 2014.

You can learn more about what's going on in in downtown Toms River by going to the Downtown Toms River Business Improvement District website.