SEA ISLE CITY – Council met for its regularly scheduled meeting April 14. The meeting kicked off with a briefing on the latest status on the Sea Isle Boulevard project.
Cape May County Engineer Dale Foster attended the meeting to brief council members and the public about current and future phases of this project. “We are in Phase 2B moving into Phase 2C which includes removing material off the top of the lane improvement. We are working closely with the various utilities – and this is the beauty of this project in that upgrades in gas lines, electric poles, new underground culvert pipes and timber poles are part of the deal per the utilities’ resiliency protection program,” explained Foster.
According to Foster, the project is taking into serious account environmental protection and project mitigation such as for the adjacent wetlands, terrapins and nesting ospreys with appropriate fencing. “We are hoping for rapid settlement of the surface which takes at least one year, so we are looking at next spring 2016, possibly fall 2016 for completion of this stage and then we can move on to the other side, this is all according to our preliminary plans and estimates that were made public at project inception,” Foster commented. Ultimate finalization for the entire project is 2019, which also is per project time lines.
Beach Replenishment
Business Administrator George Savastano updated meeting attendees on beach replenishment noting that at the next council meeting, April 28, there will be a briefing by representatives of the three prime implementers of the projects: the Army Corps of Engineers, the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection and the contractor, Great Lakes Dredging.
“There have been two new developments since I last briefed council,” said Savastano. “The first is that Strathmere requires a lot more sand than anticipated and more work and time to fix the erosion that has occurred, this is more than first estimates. The second is that Avalon has now contracted with Great Lakes Dredging, the same company we are using and their contract states work must be done by July 1, ours says by 2015.”
He went on to note that Avalon’s newly approved beach replenishment could work in Sea Isle’s favor in that dredging now might not occur over the summer. “We are definitely assured of getting the sand we need to protect the three communities on our island and we are working to minimize disruption to Sea Isle City, especially over the summer. The Dredge Illinois will finally be here next week, it was delayed a week or two because of compliance paperwork. Since Avalon will be using the same Dredge Illinois we have notified federal and state authorities that we will consider it a breach of contract if it moves on to Avalon to complete their project without our consent.”
Savastano further commented that the time frame was not as restrictive as Avalon’s to hold down costs since mobilization of the dredge runs about $12 million (out of a total project cost for Sea Isle City’s beaches of $57 million). On the other hand, Avalon has been able to take advantage of the Dredge Illinois’ presence in the area and is only paying minimal charges to get it to move to that island.
2015 Budget
Council unanimously passed the city’s budget for 2015 in an amount of $15.87 million. Council had introduced the budget at its meeting March 10 and it was published in the local press March 25. While there is no new tax levy associated with this budget, the city has made provisions for what Council President John Divney termed “stipends” to its volunteer fire department of $26,000 and its round-the-clock ambulance volunteers of $225,000.
“We are still maintaining our same tax rate but decided this stipend program will allow Sea Isle City to continue to benefit from the stellar service we enjoy from these hardworking volunteers and allow them to participate in training, drills and other support,” said Divney. He also mentioned that Sea Isle City has registered a “favorable surplus for its water and sewer account” that council will examine as how best to deploy in the July-August period when use is high.
N.J. Excellence for Tourism
Savstano announced that Sea Isle City received the state’s tourism award for its digital outreach out of a field of 20 nominees. “Specifically, we were commended for our website, apps and social media. Our Facebook page now has 8,500 ‘likes’ under the rubric ‘Forecast for Fun’ – that’s a countdown to summer, and our website now has 225,000 visits up from 185,000 visits just a year ago,” he said.
Divney added, “This is great news, and indicates how hard we are all working together with business as well as to attract people to come to Sea Isle, tourism is our number one business and our bread and butter.”
FEMA Reimbursements
Savastano said that Sea Isle City is still waiting for complete Sandy-related reimbursements from FEMA. “We have already been reimbursed $600,000 for funds we put out related to Sandy damage but still outstanding is $1.2 to $1.3 million in purchase orders, invoices and other receipts we’ve provided to FEMA. Once we receive these monies they will go into our general expense fund and also serve to pay down some of our capital debt.
“FEMA is still working on this, we’re always following up but they have so many staff change-overs, at least half a dozen during this period, that it makes the process very time-consuming. We also are hopeful that FEMA sometime this year will cover at least $700,000 up to $3 million of the cost of our new City Hall which by the way is right on schedule for substantial completion by June. It’s arduous dealing with FEMA but we are staying on top of them,” said Savastano.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
