By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City plans to spend $20 million over the next five years for a series of stormwater pumping stations to protect the low-lying barrier island from chronic flooding.
Overall, the city’s newly unveiled five-year capital plan proposes total spending of $54 million from 2024 to 2028 for improvements to the beaches, bayfront, roads, Promenade and other parts of town.
The plan is dominated by funding for pumping stations that would be built along the Landis Avenue corridor from 30th Street to 57th Street.
Pumping stations intercept floodwater and channel it back into the bay much faster than it would normally take to drain off the streets after a coastal storm. They have proved effective in Ocean City, Avalon and other shore communities vulnerable to flooding.
Sea Isle built its first pumping station in 2019 in the flood-prone area at the bay end of 38th Street and Sounds Avenue and will next shift its focus on sections of Landis Avenue that are hit by stormwater.
City Business Administrator George Savastano said the first new pumping station is planned in the area of 46th Street and Landis Avenue to the bay at an estimated cost of $3 million.
The city also has plans for a pumping station at 43rd Street and Landis to the bay at an estimated cost of $2 million.
“These two, we’re looking to advance by the end of next year,” Savastano said of plans to begin construction on the pumping stations in 2024.
To help defray the cost of both of those pumping stations, the city is seeking grant money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Savastano, though, said Sea Isle plans to move forward with the projects even if it is unsuccessful in getting funding from FEMA.
The city's first stormwater pumping station, largely hidden underground, helps to protect a flood-prone area at the bay end of 38th Street.
Savastano also said that Sea Isle and Cape May County are discussing the possibility of building new pumping stations in a partnership to share the cost of the projects. Those pumping stations would be in drainage areas controlled by the county.
In the longer term, as many as eight pumping stations are being considered along the Landis Avenue artery from 30th Street to 57th Street, Savastano said.
According to the capital plan, the city would spend $5 million on pumping stations in 2024, $3.5 million in 2025, $5.5 million in 2026, $3.5 million in 2027 and $2.5 million in 2028 for a total of $20 million.
Combined with road and drainage improvements, pumping station projects are the centerpiece of Sea Isle’s long-term strategy to fight flooding in low-lying neighborhoods.
City Council would need to adopt funding ordinances in the future to finance the pumping stations and other individual projects in the capital plan. Council and Mayor Leonard Desiderio’s administration will work together on the capital plan moving forward.
Essentially, the capital plan is a sweeping blueprint for the next five years for citywide improvements, including upgrades to the water and sewer system.
In another major expense in the capital plan, there is a $2 million “contingency amount” in case extra money is needed to build the city’s proposed community recreation center. Construction is expected to begin on the community center in 2024 and take about two years to complete.
An artist's rendering depicts the community recreation center that will be built where the former school was located on Park Road. (Courtesy of Sea Isle City)
Construction bids will be opened for the community center on Dec. 21. Sea Isle officials previously estimated the cost at $20 million, but the city is also preparing for the possibility that the price tag could be higher when the bids are opened.
“I want to have a contingency amount if the bids come in higher,” Savastano said of the extra $2 million for the project in the capital plan.
Sea Isle approved a $20 million bond ordinance in 2022 to finance the community center. The city demolished the old public school on Park Road to make room for construction of the project.
Meanwhile, Sea Isle also plans to spruce up its beaches, bayfront and Promenade with new projects in the capital plan.
For 2024, the city would like to add decorative benches along the oceanfront Promenade.
Savastano noted that the existing memorial benches that have been lining the Promenade for years would be returned to their owners when the new benches are installed.
“We’re trying to be sensitive to people,” he said of the families that have placed memorial benches on the Promenade in remembrance of deceased loved ones.
Altogether, hundreds of memorial benches line the Promenade and can be found in other parts of Sea Isle.
The benches are remnants of a Sea Isle program started years ago that allowed families to pay for makeshift memorials that were placed on the Promenade. The program was stopped when space ran out for more benches.
Memorial benches dating back to years ago are a common sight on Sea Isle's Promenade.
The new decorative benches planned by the city would not be of the memorial style, Savastano said.
However, he emphasized that plans for decorative benches are only tentative at this point.
Also in the capital plan, the city is looking to do an extensive makeover of the Promenade that would include resurfacing the walkway, decorative lighting, new bulkheads and pavilions on the ocean side.
The capital plan includes $550,000 for new benches and other upgrades to the Promenade in 2024, $1.8 million in 2025 and $1.2 million in 2026.
Sea Isle hopes to secure funding from the state’s newly created $100 million Boardwalk Preservation Fund to help finance improvements to the Promenade. Savastano estimated that the total cost of the Promenade’s facelift would be around $10 million.
The Boardwalk Preservation Fund is for restoration and improvements to boardwalks and promenades in beach towns along the Jersey Shore. Although the fund was created by the state earlier this year, no announcements have been made yet by the state for specific projects in the shore communities.
