Lakewood and Ocean County engineers and other land use professionals got together in Lakewood on Monday.

The networking event allowed the group to get to know faces behind the names, discuss the explosive Lakewood growth, and how to keep improving infrastructure and traffic to meet demand.

Among the attendees were Ocean County Engineer John Ernst, County Administrator Carl Bloc, and Planning Director for Ocean County David McKeon, local engineers, attorneys, and Township officials from the engineering and planning departments.

The meeting was coordinated two Lakewood-based companies, New Lines New Jersey Engineering & Survey, and Regency Development.

Joshua Schmuckler, Chief Operating Officer of New Lines NJ Engineering & Survey, opened the event and spoke about some of the obvious challenges Lakewood faces by the explosive growth over the past 10 years, and what lies ahead. He also thanked the crowd for coming together, giving all a chance to understand the various needs and challenges, and the ability to improve communication and interaction, while working together on solutions.

John Ernst, the County Engineer, pointed out that the County recognizes the volume of projects coming out of Lakewood. Out of 425 projects this year, 200 were from Lakewood. Toms River who was the closest 2nd, had submitted only about 50. He stated he looks forward to stronger communication and interaction with Lakewood’s professionals.

Carl Block, the County Administrator, brought out some very valid points regarding the regional view that the county takes into consideration and how they have expanded the view on a per-project basis. He also stated how they are looking to expand it even further to accommodate the Lakewood growth and focus on the impacts to road access, storm water as well as traffic impact.

Ed Seeger Jr, Lakewood’s Tax Assessor, brought to light the necessity to check with the Tax Office prior to submitting final plans for sign-off and to make sure the taxes of the master lots are up to date with tax payment. He also spoke about the coordination of naming streets between the Township and the County.

“All in all, it was a great opportunity to network and share some time outside the office and get to know the people that sign, seal, approve or reject the many sets of plans that travel to and from the town and county offices and the local professionals,” said one attendee. “Everyone felt very comfortable schmoozing with each other, and were happy to be introduced to the professionals they deal with regularly through submissions, letters and emails.”

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