STONE HARBOR – The potential cost of a new beach patrol building, in Stone Harbor, continues to generate debate among Stone Harbor Borough Council members.
The council saw a conceptual design, in August 2019, for a replacement beach patrol headquarters building to be placed on the site of the current building at 95th Street and the beach.
The design included a custom-built building, replacement public restrooms across from the beach tag office, along with street and landscape work. The price tag was $4 million, $2.4 million of which would go to the design and construction of the building.
Since that meeting, the outside landscaping has been reduced and the plan for the public restrooms was changed from new construction to a modular building. Now, attention has been focused on the Beach Patrol Headquarters and ways to reduce the expense for a building where the borough owns the land.
Design changes have brought the estimated costs down to $2.1 million, but several members of the council want to explore the use of a modular building. The hope is that having the building built in a factory, out of state, would reduce the borough’s exposure to the prevailing wage statute, saving on the expense of the building.
Council President Joselyn Rich and Councilmen Ray Parzych and Frank Dallahan expressed willingness to proceed with the current estimates. Other members of the council, including Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour, said they felt another round of “due diligence” was needed to further investigate the modular construction option.
The discussion identified three priorities for the new building: it needs to meet the functional requirements of the Beach Patrol, it needs to fit the aesthetics of the borough, and the cost needs to be the result of a comprehensive effort of due diligence.
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