Asbury improvements set for next week
Developer presents $50M waterfront plan at meeting: Developer presents $50M
waterfront plan at meeting
Published in the Asbury Park Press 02/18/05
By NANCY SHIELDS
COASTAL
MONMOUTH BUREAU
The
first work on the $50 million infrastructure improvements for the waterfront
could be visible as early as next week when contractors begin road work in the
Lake Avenue area next to Wesley Lake.
By summer, the Lake and Cookman
avenue area should be complete, and the focus will shift to the four blocks of
Ocean Avenue between Asbury and Fourth avenues, which are expected to be closed
by August.
Asbury Partners presented plans to the City Council Wednesday
night. Engineers, contractors and architects described the new roads, curbs and
sidewalks, electrical, cable and telephone lines, sanitary sewers and storm
drains to be installed over the next year and several years to come as the
developers build the 56 acres of residential and commercial
projects.
"Infrastructure â it needs to be done and it sounds like a good
time frame," said Second Avenue resident Mary McAllister during the public
portion of the meeting. "But we need to have access to the beach. We need to
have walkways."
"This is going to be an active construction site, and no
doubt there will be some inconvenience during the summertime," said City
Engineer Brian Grant.
City officials said access to the beach when Ocean
Avenue is closed will be essential. Pavilions will be open, and Asbury Partners
got the go-ahead from council members Wednesday to order new concrete and wood
benches for the boardwalk.
Robert Flock of J. Fletcher Creamer & Son,
the Hackensack company rebuilding the
roads, said existing buildings in the area will have access during the road
work.
"For the Stone Pony, when Ocean Avenue is closed, there will be
access on Second Avenue," he said.
The city will hold a meeting for the
public at 7 p.m. Thursday to hear about the first phase of the improvements.
City officials said they want residents and businesses to become familiar with
the planned improvements.
John Davies, manager of construction services
for Schoor DePalma, said the schedule on the roads will follow the projects now
under construction. Westminister Communities, which is building residences along
Wesley Lake, wants to be ready to get its first occupants in by late fall of
this year, Davies said.
Paramount Homes, which is building north on Ocean
Avenue between Sixth and Seventh avenues, told the infrastructure team it
expected to get its first occupants in by the spring of next year.
Grant
said the new storm drain system to be installed will have 2-inch openings that
will stop solids and floatables.
Eventually, all streets in the city
should have the new storm drains as required by the state Department of
Environmental Protection, Grant
said.
