N. Wildwood Seeks to Acquire Lots Near NJ Avenue Firehouse

NORTH WILDWOOD – North Wildwood City Council plans to acquire two lots adjacent to the city’s firehouse, located between Fourth and Fifth avenues, on New Jersey Avenue. 
An ordinance to acquire the land from Atlantic City Electric, for $440,000, was unanimously approved on first reading Jan. 19. It will go before the council for second reading and a public hearing in February.
“We don’t have any immediate plans for a firehouse extension,” North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said. “In the near future, we are most likely going to end up doing some expansion of that firehouse, and we wanted to have the land available to do it.”
North Wildwood is home to three functional firehouses: Anglesea and North Wildwood volunteer companies, and the paid company, which occupies the building adjacent to the recently purchased land.
Having three firehouses for less than two square miles of land is a result of the city’s history, Rosenello said. The volunteer firehouse, at 15th and Central avenues, is the oldest in the county, built in 1927, according to City Clerk Scott Jett. 
The Anglesea Company, formed in 1897, is in its third location, at Second and New Jersey avenues, where it’s been since 1971, according to Jett.
Rosenello said it made sense to have both companies at the time because there was undeveloped land between the communities of Anglesea and North Wildwood. 
Last year, the council asked for bids for a renovation project for the firehouse on New Jersey Avenue (http://bit.ly/3sLvlcw), which would’ve resulted in the volunteer firehouse, at 15th and Central avenues, being demolished and sold, and its volunteers and equipment moved to the New Jersey Avenue location, which was built in 1999, according to Jett. The volunteer firehouse in Anglesea would not have been affected.
Rosenello said that was tabled for multiple reasons, including a lack of capital due to beach replenishment spending and the uncertainty of the island’s future; a study is being conducted to investigate the feasibility of North Wildwood, Wildwood, and Wildwood Crest sharing paid fire and emergency medical services (EMS) (http://bit.ly/39W6ycS). 
“A lot of things really got pushed to the back burner because of the finances with the beach,” said Rosenello. 
Short-term plans may include reconfiguring the bays or other renovations, but not the expansion of the firehouse, on New Jersey Avenue, or combining the paid and North Wildwood volunteer companies.
“We’re going to go back to the drawing board, take our time and figure it out now that we have that land,” said Rosenello.
To contact Shay Roddy, email sroddy@cmcherald.com.