Avalon Council Likely to Award Beach Fill Contract April 8

AVALON – The Avalon Borough Council will discuss a resolution that may result in the award of a contract to provide one of the largest beach fill projects in the Borough’s recent history. Action is expected to be taken on this initiative during the April 8 meeting of Borough Council to be held at 7:00 p.m. inside Borough Hall.
Avalon conducted a formal bid opening for the spring beach fill initiative April 1. Two bids were received and are currently being reviewed by Avalon Municipal Engineer Thomas Thornton of Hatch Mott MacDonald and by Stephen Barse, Avalon Municipal Solicitor. Borough Council is expected to receive an official recommendation to authorize a contract to the successful bidder during a discussion of the bids that were received.
“Thanks to the due diligence by Borough Council and Avalon’s administration, the Borough will consider a contract that will fall several million dollars below the bond ordinance that was approved by Council earlier this year”, said Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi. “We worked collectively to ensure that the project would be done at the best possible time for our community in advance of the majority of our tourism season, and the Atlantic hurricane season. This effort will pay off huge dividends for the Borough of Avalon”.
Avalon has not conducted a hydraulic beach fill project since March, 2013 which followed Hurricane Sandy. The Borough has conducted a maintenance back passing beach fill project in the interim to provide a protective beach for the north end. This contract, if awarded, could include a total of approximately 700,000 cubic yards of sand to be placed on north end beaches from 8th Street south to 26th Street in Avalon.
“I want to compliment Council Vice President Dick Dean for his guidance on the structure of the bid that includes three optional items that the Borough intends to pursue”, Pagliughi said. “Dick has worked on beach fill projects for many years in our community and by structuring the bid with optional items we were able to receive bids that were significantly below the $12,000,000 bond ordinance adopted by Council. The bottom line is we anticipate receiving a necessary beach fill project well under the engineer’s estimate”.
The contract calls for the construction of the north end beach in Avalon to conclude before July 4th weekend.
For more, please visit www.avalonboro.net.