City plans renovations to boardwalk, elsewhere

By Neil Schulman
Long Branch — The city is planning major improvement projects along the boardwalk and in other parts of Long Branch.

The city plans to replace the boardwalk’s railings, many of which are in poor condition.

At the Dec. 12 City Council meeting, council introduced two bond ordinances. One calls for using approximately $950,000, mostly from Green Acres grants and loans to improve the oceanfront. Another calls for roughly $400,000 in paving, drainage and concrete improvements around the city.
Green Acres, the state open space preservation program, is providing a $421,000 grant to the city, as well as a $421,000 loan, payable over 20 years at no interest. The city is chipping in $107,000 to ensure that all the work on the oceanfront is covered.
City Administrator Howard Woolley said that the work included repaving the beachfront from South Bath Avenue to Brighton, redoing the collapsed comfort station at North Bath Avenue, and redoing curbing.
In addition, new railings will be put in from Morris Avenue, south to the end of the boardwalk. Woolley said that the railings will resemble the ones at Pier Village, except they will be stamped with “Long Branch” instead of “Pier Village.”
While the city tried replacing the railings about 12-14 years ago, the material did not prove durable enough to stand up to the elements.
The railings north of Morris Avenue will be replaced by the developers when work starts on the next phase of Pier Village, Woolley said.
Council will vote on the ordinance at the Dec. 27 meeting, and work on contract specifications is expected to start soon afterward. Bids could go out in March, to get a start on the work before the busy summer season.
“Hopefully, a lot of it we’ll be able to get done during the spring,” Woolley said.
The other bond, for $407,000 would be for city-wide paving and work. One of those improvements is for the trestle in Elberon. That’s been a frequent source of flooding when it rains.
Woolley said there are numerous reasons for the flooding, including the structure of the drainage pipes. The city believes they can improve the situation.
“It’s not a miracle cure. It’s not going to stop the flooding under the trestle. But it’s going to help it a lot,” he said.

Originally published Dec. 22, 2011