The ramp and observation platform are planned over the dunes at Fourth Street and Landis Avenue in the north end of town.
Sea Isle City is moving ahead with plans for a handicap-accessible ramp and an observation platform rising above a wall of dunes in the north end of town.
The ramp would cross over the dunes at Fourth Street, while the observation platform would allow beachgoers to enjoy picturesque views of the bay and the ocean.
“We expect it to be a nice feature for people with physical challenges to enjoy views of the bay and ocean from the top of the structure,” Sea Isle spokeswoman Katherine Custer said in an interview Wednesday. “Overall, it will be a very nice project for Sea Isle’s beachgoers.”
Sea Isle officials made a presentation Monday to the Cape May County Open Space Board as part of the city’s application for funding for the project.
City Business Administrator George Savastano said in an October interview that the approximately $700,000 in funding the city is seeking from the county would be enough to cover the entire cost of the project.
There are no architectural renderings of the project yet or a firm timetable for building it. Savastano said the city would like to start construction in 2025 after the summer tourism season is over and finish the project by early 2026.
Custer explained that the city is working with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for the permits to build the project.
A steep stairway leads to and from the beach at Fifth Street.The Fourth Street beach is currently accessible either by a steep stairway leading from Landis Avenue at Fifth Street or a long sandy pathway at Third Street that winds its way over the dunes. Neither the stairway nor pathway provides easy access to the beach for people with disabilities.
The new ramp at Fourth Street, though, would be compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, as would the observation platform.
Custer said the project would also include two shade pavilions to give beachgoers shelter from the blazing summer sun. Another amenity would be an outdoor foot and body rinse station for beachgoers to wash off the sand.
Across from the Fourth Street beach is a free parking lot on Landis Avenue between Fourth and Sixth streets. Next to the parking lot is Sea Isle’s dog park, which opened in 2023 along Landis Avenue at Seventh Street.
The ramp and observation platform were originally supposed to be part of the dog park, but are now considered a separate project. Both the dog park and observation tower are expected to complement each other by giving visitors to the northern end of Sea Isle new attractions to enjoy.
The nearly $1 million dog park was largely funded by an $850,000 grant from the Cape May County Open Space Board.
Sea Isle is now going back to the board in hopes of securing funding for the handicap-accessible ramp, the observation platform and the other amenities that are part of the Fourth Street project.
“The Open Space Board is familiar with the project, because technically it’s phase two of the dog park project,” Custer said.
The Fourth Street beach is quiet in the fall.
