By Donald Wittkowski
City Council is expected Thursday to approve a nearly $19 million bond ordinance to finance a series of major road and drainage projects in two flood-prone neighborhoods of Ocean City.
Separately, Council is also scheduled to vote at its 7 p.m. meeting Thursday on a $7 million contract that is a key part of the city's proposed $20 million dredging program for clogged lagoons along the back bays.
In another matter, Council will consider giving final approval to a zoning ordinance that would make it easier for residents to repair or rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy.
The $19 million bond ordinance includes $8.9 million for a new stormwater pumping station in the north end of town, as well as road and drainage improvements to help alleviate flooding from coastal storms.
The boundaries of the project are roughly from First Street to Eighth Street and from Haven Avenue to Bay Avenue. The pumping station and a new outfall pipe are planned for Sixth Street and the bay
The city will receive a $5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help pay for the north end project. It is the city's largest grant ever.
The proposed bond ordinance also includes $8 million worth of road and drainage improvements and new pumping stations roughly between 26th and 34th streets, another area vulnerable to tidal flooding.
Construction on the north end project as well as the improvements between 26th and 34th streets is scheduled to begin in the fall, city spokesman Doug Bergen said.
"They're essential for the quality of life in two neighborhoods," Bergen said of the benefits of both projects.
Other smaller projects will be funded by the remaining money in the bond ordinance. They include streetscaping in the downtown business district, resurfacing of the racquet courts on 18th Street and improvements to the 34th Street Recreation Building.
While the bond ordinance will focus mainly on street and drainage improvements, Council is also scheduled to vote on a $7 million contract that will help speed up the dredging of the city's shallow lagoons.
Under the proposed contract, Mount Construction Co. Inc., of Berlin, N.J., will haul away muddy silt that is stored at a temporary disposal site after it is dredged from the lagoons and channels along the back bays.
A new temporary roadway has been built through the marshlands to allow more trucks to remove the dredge spoils from Site 83, as it is known. The disposal site, located off Roosevelt Boulevard near the 34th Street Bridge, holds 300,000 cubic yards of dredge material.
Mayor Jay Gillian has proposed spending a total of $20 million on dredging projects along the bayfront. Boats often are stuck in the clogged lagoons during low tide, forcing their owners to keep them at the docks.
The contract with Mount Construction will help create enough space in Site 83 to keep the dredging projects moving along smoothly.
Also at Thursday's meeting, Council has scheduled a public hearing and final vote on a proposed zoning ordinance that will regulate the hours for pile-driving machinery at construction sites.
When the ordinance was introduced by Council earlier this month, Gillian stressed that it would help property owners who are struggling to rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
"It's the homeowners who are coming to us and asking for help," Gillian said.
The measure would expand the operating hours for the quieter and less disruptive pile drivers that use a boring or auger method.
However, the noisy, old-fashioned pile hammers that are infamous for their groundshaking vibrations would continue to face the same restrictions as they do now.
Currently, all pile driving, no matter what the method, is limited to 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday from July 1 to Aug. 31, City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson said.
Under the proposed ordinance, the operating hours for pile drivers using the boring or auger method would be expanded to 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday year-round.
There would continue to be a ban on all pile driving, no matter what type, on weekend days, according to McCrosson.
Contractors who use the boring or auger machines would have to notify surrounding property owners within 100 feet of the construction site at least 10 days in advance of starting work.
If they planned to use the hammer-type pile drivers, they would have to notify property owners within 200 feet and at least 14 days in advance.
McCrosson explained that the proposed ordinance reflects changes in the pile-driving industry. The hammer-type pile drivers are becoming less common, while the quieter boring and auger equipment is now used more often, she said.
