OCEAN CITY – In a unanimous vote and without discussion, Ocean City Council approved a contract Sept. 26 to spend more than $1 million on a new city building at 11th Street and Haven Avenue.
The building will be used to store road salt for use in winter storms, and includes a fuel dispensing system.
The contract is with Fred Schiavone, Inc., of Malaga. The cost of the salt storage facility is $649,500, according to the resolution. The resolution shows an additional $266,800 for the fuel dispensing system, $122,900 for site remediation and a $50,000 contingency allowance.
In recent years, Ocean City has stored its road salt in neighboring Upper Township. In September 2018, the city rejected bids for a previous building plan, citing costs. Those bids ranged from $431,000 to $550,000.
That November, a resident raised the issue at a council meeting, alleging that the city was mandated to store its salt in a permanent structure.
The city budgets about $25,000 a year for salt for roads, but the amount used each year depends on how much snow the barrier island sees.
