By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
City Council on Tuesday approved Sea Isle City’s new five-year capital plan, a sweeping blueprint for an array of public improvements and construction projects that will include a new community recreation center costing an estimated $15 million.
Altogether, the plan proposes spending a total of $43 million from 2021 to 2025 for road construction, drainage improvements and flood-mitigation projects as well as upgrades to the beaches, bayfront, Promenade and other parts of the city’s public infrastructure.
City officials are mainly concentrating on the projects proposed in 2021 because of the need to get them underway in the months ahead. Total capital spending for 2021 is proposed at $19.3 million, including improvements to the municipal water and sewer system.
The capital plan is essentially a guide for the projects the city hopes to undertake in the next five years, but does not represent a guarantee they will all be built within that timeframe. Funding for each project would have to be approved later by City Council.
“It’s a plan and a guide to reach out for the next five years. It’s a planning and guiding tool that keeps us thinking,” Council President William Kehner said in an interview after the governing body approved the capital plan during a meeting Tuesday conducted by teleconference.
The biggest, most expensive project is the city’s proposed redevelopment of the former public school site into a community recreation center. The capital plan estimates the price tag at $15 million, but a more detailed architectural analysis is expected to be submitted this month to pin down the cost.
Kehner noted that the architect’s report will also give a cost breakdown of the recreation and community amenities proposed for the project. The city must decide whether all of those amenities will be included as it moves forward with the final design for the building.
The building would double as a recreation facility and community center. Kehner said the building’s multipurpose function should save the city money in the long run because all of the community and recreation activities can be combined into one site already under Sea Isle’s control.
“We are living on limited space. Ground value is expensive in town. If we can make a dual purpose or a tri-purpose for a building, I think we’re better off,” he said.
Kehner said the same strategy worked when the city decided to include the police station at the new City Hall when it was built in 2015.
“With other things we’ve done, like with City Hall and the police station, it’s been a big savior there by combining all of the services,” he said.
Although construction is expected to begin in 2021, the community recreation center isn’t scheduled to open until spring 2023, barring any delays with the project as it moves through different phases from the drawing board to groundbreaking.
The city is planning to demolish the old public school at 4501 Park Road to make way for the community 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.
Amenities are expected to include a full-size gymnasium, basketball court, an elevated walking track, pickleball courts and workout rooms.
Far more than a recreation facility, the building would also include a proposed cafeteria, catering kitchen, meeting space and a 140-seat auditorium for plays and other cultural events as part of its dual role as a community center.
Other big-ticket items in the capital plan include a series of drainage and road projects scattered across town to reduce flooding on the low-lying barrier island. Overall, the city plans to spend $2.3 million on road and drainage construction in 2021.
City Business Administrator George Savastano said the flood-mitigation projects may also include a $1.5 million stormwater pumping station for the area from Landis Avenue to the bay, from 44th to 47th streets. Pumping stations are able to remove stormwater off the streets faster once flooding occurs.
Also proposed in the capital plan for 2021 is a new dog park costing an estimated $200,000. The city is considering the possibility of building the dog park in the north end of town between Fifth and Eighth streets, an area now used as a parking lot. Construction would be in 2021 or 2022, Savastano said.
New pickleball courts costing an estimated $350,000 are another major project proposed for 2021. The paved courts will be built next to the city’s municipal marina on 42nd Place in an area known as the “clam shell parking lot.” The parking lot is so named because of the crushed white clam shells that make up the surface.
