Part of Point Beach Boardwalk May be Replaced with Wood

The "plaza" section of the boardwalk, from Arnold Avenue to might be rebuilt with wood, not with Trex.

There was discussion at Tuesday night's Point Beach Council meeting about rebuilding the plaza section with wood, not Trex, the plastic material that is being used to replace the sections of the boardwalk which were damaged by Tropical Storm Irene or Superstorm Sandy.

But there was a general consensus at the meeting at Borough Hall that that decision won't be made until council gets additional information from Borough Engineer Ray Savacool.

Based on information from Savacool so far, it appears that removing and replacing the boards in the plaza section with wood boards would cost about $280,000 and rebuilding with Trex would cost about $1,188,000, said Mayor Vincent Barrella.

Why the disparity? Trex usually costs somewhat more than wood. However, in this case, the primary reason for the price differential is that the pilings under the plaza section are too far apart for Trex to be installed as the boardwalk decking.

"The Trex can bow in," said Barrella. "The plan was always to replace the plaza boards with wood. If we use Trex, we have to take the whole thing apart."

So repairing the plaza section with Trex requires that the pilings be replaced, but repairing with wood means the existing pilings can stay in place.

At least that's the information that's been provided by Savacool so far, but a more in-depth look under the boardwalk is needed, said Councilmember William Mayer.

Mayer, chairperson of the council's finance committee, said that while he's concerned about the higher price for the Trex fix in what is playing out to be a tight budget year, he wants more information before making up his mind.

"We need a report on the condition of the pilings," Mayer said.

During the meeting, Councilmember Bret Gordon, hearing Barrella and Mayer express concern about ponying up $1.2 million to rebuild the plaza section with Trex, which typically lasts a lot longer, reiterated a concern he's expressed at past meetings about the town doing short-term planning instead of long-term planning and problem solving.

"We always put a band-aid on things, rather than fixing it to fix it," Gordon said. "This might be something we can do over two seasons, so we're paying part of it later."

"But if we can't afford it (using Trex), that becomes a luxury," Barrella said and Mayer agreed.

"There are stringers that have to be replaced now," said Councilmember Andy Cortes.

Resident Vince Castin said he prefers that the town opt for repairing with wood, since it will cost less.

Some residents have asked why the plaza section of the boardwalk was not included in the original project underway now.

"We decided that if we try to do the plaza too, we would be under even more pressure to have the entire boardwalk fixed by Memorial Day weekend," Barrella said. "With the way we're doing it now, we will have the entire boardwalk accessible end to end."

Also, Mayer said, after the meeting, Jenkinson's wanted to be open on Palm Sunday, for the traditional Easter Egg hunt.

FEMA will reimburse Point Beach for only part of the cost of repairing the plaza section because the agency has concluded part was not damaged by Irene or Sandy, Barrella said.

FEMA will reimburse the town for the boardwalk work from the police substation, at the base of Arnold Avenue, to Martell's, but not from Martell's and Jenkinson's to the aquarium, Barrella said.

"Martell's and Jenkinson's acted as a dune to protect that section of boardwalk," Barrella said, in response to a question from resident Ben DiSpoto.

Councilmember Stephen Reid said he has learned that FEMA will soon inform the towns that it will reimburse towns for 90 of the cost of projects like boardwalk rebuilding, rather than the 75 percent that had originally been announced.

When Barrella was asked what type of wood would be used, if that option is selected, he said, "Treated wood. And not ipe."

Ipe is a rain forest wood that environmentalists urge towns to not use for boardwalks or any other purpose. Savacool has told Patch that he doesn't favor use of ipe anyway because of its high cost, propensity to shed splinters and because he thinks other materials, including Trex, last longer and create a more aesthetically-pleasing boardwalk.