By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City is looking to sell off the contents of the former public school before the building is demolished.
City Council voted 5-0 on Tuesday to dispose of the “tangible movable property” inside the old school through the online public auction platform GovDeals.com.
The city no longer considers the contents of the building valuable, so it will sell it or simply “get rid of it,” City Business Administrator George Savastano explained during the Council meeting.
Folding chairs, tables and file cabinets are the types of items that will be auctioned off. City spokeswoman Katherine Custer said the city will also sell the former school’s commercial kitchen equipment.
The city plans to demolish the 50-year-old former public school building at 4501 Park Road to make way for construction of a community recreation center. The school, which closed in 2012 due to Sea Isle’s declining student population, occupies the entire block bordered by Park Road, Central Avenue, 45th Street and 46th Street.
Plans continue to unfold for the development of the proposed $20 million community recreation center. An architect is working on the latest set of designs for a project that is expected to be one of the city’s centerpieces for decades to come.
“We’re trying to sharpen our pencils to make the building what it needs to be without overspending,” Custer said in an interview after the Council meeting.
At some point, Council will vote to approve the designs as well as the funding package to build the project. Custer indicated that Mayor Leonard Desiderio’s administration hopes to present the designs to Council and the public later this year.
Previously, Sea Isle officials had estimated the construction cost at $15 million, but now believe the price will be closer to $20 million. Custer said construction costs have risen dramatically during the pandemic.
The old school will be torn down to create room for the project. No date has been announced for the demolition. Custer indicated there are no plans to save any parts of the school building.
“Everything about the building is old,” she said. “There’s nothing remarkable about the features.”
Preliminary designs unveiled last April showed that the recreation center’s proposed appearance has been toned down somewhat to feature more reserved styling than the all-brick exterior and expansive glossy facade that dominated the first architectural renderings made public in 2020.
However, Custer emphasized that the recreation center will be “attractive and designed to complement the surrounding neighborhood, rather than be a bland, institutional looking building.”
Desiderio has pledged that the public will be involved in “every step along the way” as the project evolves through the different phases of planning, design and construction.
Far more than a recreation facility, the building will include meeting space and other amenities to serve its dual role as a community center, Desiderio pointed out.
According to preliminary plans, the new facility would include a large gymnasium featuring a regulation-size basketball court that could also be converted into pickleball courts and a volleyball court.
The gym would include retractable bleachers holding about 175 spectators. A retractable divider net would allow the gym to be sectioned off for other activities.
Overlooking the gym on the building’s second level would be a “skywalk” for walking and jogging.
The first floor would also have a workout room for such activities as yoga, Zumba and Pilates.
In addition to the recreation facilities, the building would also include a large community room capable of holding more than 140 people. Local community groups would be able to use the room for their meetings and other activities.
The community room would also have a 45-foot stage for such things as public presentations, summer theater camps and awards ceremonies. Above the stage would be a retractable screen for movies and other presentations in the community room.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, Council approved two bond ordinances totaling nearly $3 million to fund a series of road, drainage and utility projects throughout town.
Savastano said the bulk of the work will include road reconstruction and drainage improvements. New water and sewer lines will also be installed in some areas.
Road improvements are planned for Pleasure Avenue (from JFK Boulevard to 38th Street), 40th Street (from Central Avenue to Kneass Street), Kneass Street (from JFK to 38th), Sounds Avenue (from 56th to 59th streets), Central Avenue (from 56th to 69th streets), 75th Street at the west end and 89th Street at the east end.
