Cape Mall Recontruction May Begin Oct. 29

CAPE MAY — Reconstruction of Washington Street Mall may begin as early as Oct. 29 with removal of trees and planter boxes followed by benches and monuments.
The city held a mall preconstruction meeting Oct. 24 with contractors that will be handling construction from paving, plumbing to electrical work.
City Manager Luciano V. Corea Jr., City Engineer Ray Roberts, City Water and Sewer Superintendent David Carrick and Terry McLaughlin, of Remington Vernick, mall project engineer, covered a checklist of items to be completed.
A priority: to let mall business owners know what disruptions they may expected from trenches dug to remove water and sewer pipes. The plan was to reconstruct the mall in phases.
“The mall is to remain open at all times throughout construction and we will be required to maintain safe, temporary access…” said McLaughlin.
Concrete will be torn up and replaced in 100-foot sections. A 10-foot wide lane from the front of mall buildings will remain open on the mall.
A trench will be dug along the center of the mall to allow replacement of water, sanitary sewer and storm water pipes. A plastic safety fence will be placed along the trench.
Temporary wood bridges will be constructed to cross trenches.
Pipes cannot be removed one block at a time since the entire water main must be pressure tested before any users may tie into the pipe. The entire middle of the mall must be opened from one end to the other.
Carrick said water and sewer pipes were located more than 10 feet apart.
A small construction staging area will be set up in the city’s Bank Street parking lot as well as in Rotary Park.
“We’re willing to work as best we can to get this thing done,” said Corea, noting the city would do what it could to make the contractor’s job easier as long as safety was not compromised.
Roberts expressed concerns that sidewalks would not be broken or trees knocked down in Rotary Park if is used to store construction materials.
He said he did not want to see six-foot high stacks of pipes or dirt piles blocking access to mall stores.
The Chamber of Commerce’s Town Crier and Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts ticket booth will be moved. The booth will be relocated so ticket sales are not disturbed by construction.
Some restaurant owners have requested to keep canopies set up during construction. Roberts said contractors are not being paid to remove and set up canopies.
He said store canopies that extend into the mall need to be removed or retracted.
Temporary lighting will be installed on the mall to avoid the use of generators.
A meeting will be held with mall merchants Nov. 7 at 9 a.m. at city hall where a schedule of work will be presented and questions will be answered.
“We’ll give the public a general idea of what we are going to do and how it is going to impact their business,” said Roberts.
A mall business owner said she “could deal with the truth even if it’s not what we want to hear.”
She said merchants wanted to hear the truth so they could plan properly for delays