Politics & Government

Day 45 And Counting - Demolition Day Comes And Goes

No demolition action at the Beachwood Shopping Center


It was just another day at the site of the former Beachwood Shopping Center on Route 9 South in Bayville.

Shards of metal hung from the sunken roofs of many of the long-vanished stores. Shattered windows. Sinkholes and two-foot high weeds dot the parking lot that no one has used in years. Full-grown trees line the back of the bleached concrete strip mall.

Even the metal poles holding up the fencing that lines the rotting place have rusted since they were installed last November, after a section of the plaza burned at the height of Superstorm Sandy.

Today is Day 45. It's  the day owner Priscilla Oughton was supposed to start the demolition process for the shopping center her eccentric, but very wealthy father James E. "Jimmy" Johnson built decades ago.

It's 45 days from the day Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. signed the order giving Oughton a month and a half to tear down the dilapidated, dangerous shopping center.

Township officials said at the Aug. 26 meeting they would be back in court if Oughton failed to abide by the order and at least begin the demolition process.

Oughton would also face heavy fines, Township Council President James J. Byrnes said at the meeting.

So far - Oughton, who lives in Lauderdale by the Sea in Florida - has paid $65,000 in fines.

When asked on Thursday how hefty the fines would be, Byrnes replied, "A lot."

But today, it was just another day at the Beachwood Shopping Center.


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