TOMS RIVER, NJ (OP-ED) – A wave of excitement is sweeping through Toms River as the town transforms into a burgeoning entertainment and outdoor dining hub, leaving behind its decades-old reputation as a sleepy bedroom community with a relatively mundane downtown district.
Long-time residents recall a childhood filled with trips to the mall, beach outings, and neighborhood bike rides, but as they reached adulthood, entertainment options were sparse, limited mostly to house parties and bars.
The other option for young adults and adults was to seek entertainment elsewhere because it didn’t exist within Toms River.
Today, under the leadership of newly elected Mayor Daniel Rodrick, Toms River is charting a new course he has been trying to push to the municipal government for years as a councilman. Those calls typically fell upon deaf ears.
The town now boasts a variety of attractions including outdoor dining events downtown, a concert series on the bay at Shelter Cove, and movie nights in Huddy Park.
The fireworks at Shelter Cove this week also kicked off a plan to have weekly fireworks downtown, although the fireworks after the concert were a huge hit for all residents. That could change.
New recreational facilities, such as kayak ramps, jet ski slips, and a splash park for children, enhance the town’s appeal. A public dock featuring a seasonal pop-up cantina adds to the vibrant summer atmosphere. The township is also planning to connect the two separated sections of the Ortley Beach Boardwalk, which was approved earlier this year.
Mayor Rodrick, who captured 70% of the vote, is steering Toms River away from the previous administration’s push to densify and commercialize the downtown area.
His administration has opposed plans such as a 10-story skyscraper, a vision of former Mayor Mo Hill, reflecting a significant shift in developmental philosophy. Additionally, Rodrick has resisted state-supported developments at the Cebagi site, joining a lawsuit to prevent the transformation of the former Superfund site into a mixed-use development.
Enhancing Toms River’s entertainment offerings, the town has introduced bayfront fireworks—a spectacle never before seen in Toms River or the previous Dover Township—and plans to continue expanding entertainment options each summer and even in the off-season.
Proposals for a Downtown winter village and ice skating rink have also been discussed to attract visitors year-round, signaling a future where Toms River could become a regional attraction for its festive environment and community-focused events.
For now, less than one year into his term, Rodrick is making good on promises to turn the page on the previous administration’s plan to build dozens of hi-rise apartment buildings, a hail mary plan that relied on higher density development to encourage a few more businesses to set up shop downtown.
Rodrick’s plan calls for making downtown Toms River and other parts of town a destination center, free of overdevelopment, apartments and megastructures, and has said private businesses and investors, if they see the opportunity, could follow suit, but opposed the notion that, “If you build bigger and higher, they will come.”
Instead of skyscrapers and apartments, Rodrick envisions a downtown with a huge waterfront dock, a spray park for families, riverside dining, romantic sunset walks along the docks, boat parking for local restaurants, entertainment events, and to preserve the natural beauty that originally drew settlers to the area in the 1700s and embracing the seaport lifestyle, rejecting urbanization.
