City Council approved a resolution on Thursday that could help the state move forward with a plan to build a 300-foot raised boardwalk over the marshes in Corson's Inlet State Park — connecting Ocean City streets (West Avenue at 59th Street) with an existing rail trail in the park.
The resolution is relatively minor — it authorizes Ocean City to co-sign an application for permits to build the narrow boardwalk. The measure is necessary because Ocean City has rights to "paper streets" that were never constructed — an extension of West Avenue into the park and an extension of 59th Street toward the mainland.
The gravel trail through Corson's Inlet State Park is largely overgrown.
The measure passed in a 6-1 vote with Fourth Ward Councilman Pete Guinosso dissenting.
"It doesn't make sense to me when we already have an entrance to the park at 59th Street and Central Avenue," Guinosso said. "We're spending taxpayers' money on something that's not needed."
Guinosso argued that the cost and potential environmental damage would outweigh any benefits of the project.
But other council members noted that the cost is entirely the state's, and that if the allocated money is not spent on Corson's Inlet State Park, it would go to a different project and not be returned to taxpayers.
The proposed new boardwalk would be located on state park land. Representatives of the state Division of Parks and Forestry visited City Council last year to ask the city "in essence to partner with us."
The existing rail trail starts at the Corson's Inlet State Park parking lot on the causeway to Strathmere and travels about one-third of a mile to a dead end less than 100 yards from Ocean City streets.
"We'd like to connect our park to the local community," John Trontis, assistant director of the state Division of Parks and Forestry, said last year. "That's our goal statewide."
Trontis showed plans for a disabled-accessible boardwalk that would enter the marshes at 59th Street in a line with the east sidewalk of West Avenue. The boardwalk would turn toward the west to meet the rail trail. Two ramps would bring pedestrians up to the level of the raised rail bed.
Because of the switchbacks and the gravel trail, the new boardwalk is anticipated to be more suited to pedestrians than bicycles, council members said Thursday.
Instead of traditional pilings, the boardwalk would be supported by helical piers — screw-like piles that would anchor stringers and decking. Water and wildlife would be able to travel under the boardwalk, according to Trontis.
The proposed project would be subject to the "land management review" phase of permitting and would continue with all required Department of Environmental Protection reviews.
"I can't guarantee there will be no wetland or permit problems," Trontis said last year of a process that is still in the early stages.
The state Department of Environmental Protection, in a December 2011 news release, announced $5,850 in federal funding for a "59th Street Ocean City Boardwalk." The state would match a portion of that funding.
Trontis said the grant money would be used to buy material and the project could be completed — as have all Parks and Forestry projects since October 2010 — with in-house labor.
The red line shows the existing Corson's Inlet State Park Rail Trail.
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