Woodbine Awards Second Contract For Open Space Park Project

WOODBINE — The Woodbine Borough Council, at its Feb. 15 meeting, awarded the contract for construction of a pedestrian and bikeway project to Charles Marandino, LLC. There were a total of nine bidders with base bids ranging from $214,728 to $397,331.
The Borough of Woodbine received grant funding in the amount of $240,000 in discretionary funding from the New Jersey Department of Transportations’ Safe Routes to Schools Program for this project.
This project is for the Extension of the Woodbine Bikeway System along Webster and Monroe Avenues beginning at Heilprin Avenue extending north to the Borough-owned property behind the Elementary School. This extension would lead into and connect with the planned 25-acre wooded tract which is presently about to start construction as an Open Space recreational area and environmental educational park as well as to the Community School site which includes a branch of the Cape May County Library. This is the first of a multi-phase project that will ultimately total $2 million.
This new bikeway is also part of an overall plan to interconnect publically-owned sites within the Borough to New Jersey’s High Point to Cape May bikeway system and is part of the proposed County-long bikeways systems, which would ultimately go from Belleplain State Forest to the County Park and Zoo. The Borough’s bikepath system is used extensively by residents and visitors alike through organized walking groups. This current phase would extend the bikeway system along Webster Avenue which is currently heavily travelled by bicyclists.
Woodbine is one of a select number of communities identified by Pinelands as suited for development and redevelopment within the Pinelands preserve and the only municipality within Atlantic and Cape May Counties recommended for a managed development program as a means of curbing indiscriminate development in environmentally sensitive areas elsewhere in the Pinelands. It has been designated a Pinelands Town, the equivalent to a Town Center under the State Plan.
The NJ Economic Development Authority classified Woodbine as a “priority location.” It is also classified as eligible to receive project assistance from the US Economic Development Administration.
“This extension will become a part of our Open Space Eco-Park,” noted Mayor Pikolycky. “The first phase of this multi-phase EcoPark project is about to begin construction.”