Dear Friends,
First, I want to remind you all that a Coastal Flood Watch will be in effect for Ocean City Saturday morning. Monitor conditions and be prepared to move vehicles in advance of the storm. High tide at the Ninth Street Bridge is at 10:33 a.m., and streets could flood in the hours before and after that time. We’re also expecting heavy rain and high winds. Please check on your properties and on your neighbors. Be safe, limit travel and look for updates at www.ocnj.us/oem.
Representatives of the local Fairness in Taxes group submitted an amended petition to the city clerk on Monday seeking a public vote on the funding ordinance for the proposed purchase of the car dealership lot adjacent to the Ocean City Community Center. City Council had approved the purchase to protect the large parcel from residential development.
The city clerk has certified the petition, and notified FIT that it includes a sufficient number of signatures. Our sales agreement with the Klause family expires Oct. 31. This petition prevents the city from completing the purchase before then.
Because buying the property is no longer an option, there will be no need for a public vote, and I have recommended that City Council repeal the funding ordinance at the next public meeting.
City Council on Tuesday approved the first reading of an ordinance that accepts $650,000 from the Cape May County Open Space and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund for the acquisition of the former Getty Station at the foot of the Ninth Street Bridge, and establishes an agreement for the city to maintain it as open space. This grant and a similar one for $475,000 brought more than $1.1 million to the city to turn two abandoned gas stations into a small park at the gateway to the city. Though opportunities to preserve or restore open space are rare, we will continue to pursue them when they arise.
I also want to provide updates on a number of capital projects:
· Fourth Ward Neighborhood Drainage Project: The pumping station near the Ocean City Municipal Airport is active. A second pumping station at the end of 28th Street is expected to be completed during the week of Nov. 12. The two other stations are expected to be finished in the weeks of Nov. 19 and Nov. 26. We now anticipate that all four pumping stations will be operational by Dec. 1.
· North End Neighborhood Drainage Project: Drainage pipe crews are finishing work on Pleasure Avenue and will move to the final stage along Bay Avenue. Concrete crews next week will continue work on Seventh Street. Asphalt crews next week will pave Sixth Street and the 600 blocks of Haven Avenue and Simpson Avenue.
· 2018 South End Roads and Drainage: The gas and water companies are making upgrades in advance of a road and drainage project from 55th Street to the southern end of the island.
· Eighth Street: Final paving will start next week for the area between Bay Avenue and Central Avenue.
· North Street to Third Street: Final paving will start next week for North Street, First Street, Second Street and Third Street within the blocks from West Avenue to Wesley Avenue.
I hope you all have a great weekend.
Warm regards,
Mayor Jay A. Gillian
