City Planning For Future Boardwalk Improvements

By Christopher Sheldon

The Long Branch Council adopted an $800,000 bond ordinance during its Tuesday night meeting for improvements to the boardwalk area between Morris Avenue and Brighton Avenue.

These funds will be combined with a $950,000 bond ordinance adopted by the council in 2011 and was slated to begin in 2012 but never came to fruition because of Hurricane Sandy.

The proposed improvements include railing and decking replacement, repairs to paved areas, the installation of playground equipment on the beach at North Bath Avenue, the rehabilitation of the comfort station at North Bath Avenue and landscaping.  

A $329,348 bid was awarded to Fiore Paving Company for street improvements near the boardwalk and a $471,785 bid was awarded to Maturano Recreation Company Inc. to replace the boardwalk railings in 2011. Those improvements did not begin before Hurricane Sandy.

The new bond ordinance's appropriations include a $440,000 grant and $160,000 loan from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection through Green Acres.

The 2011 bond ordinance included a $421,000 grant from Green Acres for the project and a $421,000 loan from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP loan is zero interest and is repayable over 20 year according to Long Branch Chief Financial Officer Ron Mehlhorn.

The money bonded through the two ordinances will be combined to help fund the improvements, but the city will have to pay the remaining $307,000 for the project.

The improvements will likely come after the city chooses a design and builds a new boardwalk in the area; something that will not likely happen until next year.

The city is waiting to see how much money FEMA will reimburse it to build a new boardwalk and a bluff to support it on the southern stretch closer to West End. Long Branch's city-owned beaches are also expected to be replenished by that time.

Mehlhorn said last month that the proposed improvements that have been bonded could be changed depending on what type of design is chosen for the boardwalk.