By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
It may not be a climb up Mount Everest, but steep steps leading to Sea Isle City’s oceanfront Promenade can pose a challenge for senior citizens, people with disabilities or families with small children.
However, the city has been replacing some of the steps with handicap-accessible ramps to make trips to the Promenade much easier.
In 2023, Sea Isle will continue with the construction program by building new ramps to the Promenade at 51st Street and 53rd Street at an estimated cost of $150,000.
“We want to do this in 2023 and do even more in the future,” city spokeswoman Katherine Custer said of plans to continue building the ramps.
The Promenade stretches for 1.5 miles between 29th and 57th streets and is a haven for pedestrians, joggers and bicyclists. It is often crowded with people heading to the beaches in the bustling summer tourism season.
The “gently sloping ramps,” as Custer described them, are another way to make the popular walkway more inviting to the pedestrians and bikers who enjoy its oceanfront location.
Because they will be ADA-compliant and will be gently sloping, it will make it easier for everyone to use them,” she said in an interview Friday.
Sea Isle already has ramps that comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act at a number of locations on the Promenade. They include where the Promenade starts at 29th Street and ends at 57th Street. They can also be found at John F. Kennedy Boulevard, 44th Street, 49th Street and other locations, Custer said.
Before the city builds the new ramps at 51st Street and 53rd Street, it must secure an important regulatory permit from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
A Coastal Area Facility Review Act permit is needed because the ramps will be built next to the environmentally sensitive sand dunes. CAFRA includes basic rules for protecting the shore’s fragile ecosystem by regulating the types of development and activities that are allowed there.
“Even if it touches the dunes, you need a permit to do it, is the way I understand it,” Custer said of the CAFRA permit for the Promenade ramps.
The proposed ramps at 51st and 53rd streets are included in Sea Isle’s newly unveiled capital plan, a broad blueprint for construction projects throughout town in the next five years. The capital plan proposes spending $150,000 in 2023 for the two ramps.
Separately, the city is also planning to build a handicap-access ramp and platform over the dunes at Fifth Street to create easier access to the beach as well as views of the ocean and bay.
The project at Fifth Street will also need approval of a CAFRA permit before construction may begin.
The ramp and platform will be built close to Sea Isle’s proposed dog park at Seventh Street and Landis Avenue. The city plans to build the dog park in 2023.
