Politics & Government

Point Beach Votes for Boardwalk Repairs

Unanimous vote at Tuesday night meeting

The Point Beach Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to repair 400 feet of the boardwalk north of the southerly intersection of Trenton Avenue and the boardwalk.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will reimburse the town for 75 percent of the $565,000 price tag because the section of the boardwalk was damaged in Tropical Storm Irene last August.

The 16 foot wide section to be fixed is from Lucky's North to Trenton Avenue.

Find out what's happening in Point Pleasantwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The vote was for second reading and adoption of the ordinance to authorize taking out bond anticipation notes worth a maximum of $536,750 and making a down payment of $28,250 for the project. There was no public comment at the meeting.

The repair work must be completed 18 months after Irene, which hit in August 2011, according to FEMA guidelines which stipulate that any repair work done to fix damage by Mother Nature, and paid for FEMA, must be completed 18 months after the damage occurred, said Councilman William Mayer. That 18 months expires in February 2013.

Find out what's happening in Point Pleasantwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The ordinance says the "useful life" of the boardwalk improvement is expected to be 10 years, which means it's expected that section of boardwalk will need to get fixed again in 10 years, said Municipal Clerk Maryann Ellsworth after the meeting.

Moreover, many of the council members, including William Mayer, Kristine Tooker, Bret Gordon and Stephen Reid, have said at prior meetings that they have to develop a long-range maintenance and improvement plan for the boardwalk, much of which is sorely in need of repair now.

However, the 3 to 3 tie vote was not enough to pass the required two-thirds vote needed for a bond ordinance, so the money is coming solely from the town and FEMA.


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