City Council on Thursday unanimously approved the second and final reading of a bond ordinance that includes funding for the city’s portion of a beach replenishment project at the north end of the island this winter.
Bids for the project are expected to be opened this month, and a contract awarded within a few more weeks, according to Richard Pearsall, spokesman for the federal Army Corps of Engineers. The specifications call for the work to be complete by March 1, 2016.
With a major south end project now back underway and expected to be complete by the end of September, Ocean City could have more sand on its beaches than ever by the spring.
The work at the north end is part of a regular three-year cycle of maintenance projects for which the municipal government assumes 8.75 percent of the cost (with the federal government and state paying the rest). The south end also will be on a three-year cycle for renourishment projects (with the city paying a slightly higher portion of the costs).
Council authorized spending up to $1,350,000 for the yet-to-be-determined costs of the north end work. The remainder would be spent on bayfront and lagoon dredging.
The measure was part of a larger bond ordinance that passed unanimously and authorized spending $2,693,000 with $2,558,350 of that total borrowed.
The ordinance includes authorizations to spend:
- $1,350,000: For beach and bay improvements, including but not limited to the city’s portion of the Army Corps beach project. The appropriation also could include work on bayfront and lagoon dredging.
- $1,015,000: For the next phases of Ocean City’s ongoing program of road and drainage improvements.
- $328,000: For communications and technology equipment including public safety radio replacements and system upgrades.
