By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City will spend $9.5 million to rebuild roads, improve the drainage system and dredge the shallow lagoons – along with a series of other capital projects throughout the beach resort.
One major project includes a new paint job for the municipal water tower on 80th Street that has been a landmark in the Townsends Inlet section since the 1960s.
In a 5-0 vote, City Council approved two bond ordinances Tuesday to finance the projects. The Council meeting was held by teleconference to comply with social distancing requirements during the coronavirus pandemic.
City spokeswoman Katherine Custer explained that a list of individual projects and a construction timetable for each one will be developed later.
The first bond ordinance includes nearly $6.5 million in funding for a citywide road construction program, drainage upgrades to reduce flooding and dredging projects to clear out sediment from shallow lagoons and the municipal marina.
The city will also use the bonds to make improvements to municipal buildings and facilities. New equipment and vehicles will be purchased, including a trash truck and parking kiosks.
City Business Administrator George Savastano said the funding includes engineering work for the city’s proposed community recreation center in place of the old public school at 4501 Park Road.
For more than two years, Sea Isle officials have been discussing the redevelopment of the old school into a recreation facility. 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. The school building will be demolished to make room for the new project.
The city estimates that the recreation center will cost between $10 million and $15 million. Sea Isle’s capital plan proposes spending $12 million in 2021 to build the facility, although that is an early estimate.
Barring any major delays or problems, construction on the recreation center is expected to get underway in the second half of 2021 and would take about 18 months to complete, putting the grand opening in early 2023, according to Savastano.
The second bond ordinance approved Tuesday by Council is for nearly $3 million in capital improvements to the city’s public water and sewer system.
The single-most expensive project in the funding plan is the proposed $1 million replacement of the water well at the 80th Street water and distribution facility.
Sea Isle also plans to spend $520,000 to repaint and rehabilitate the 130-foot-high water tower that stands at 80th Street and Central Avenue. The timetable for the project has not yet been determined.
