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City Council on Thursday gave final approval to spending $750,000 and borrowing $712,500 of it to build a skateboard park on city-owned land on the 500 block of Asbury Avenue.
Proposed skateboard park design in Ocean City, NJ.Ocean City will be reimbursed $500,000 from a Green Acres Cape May County Recreation Grant that was announced in September, and council had already approved a capital plan that calls for borrowing $250,000 for the project.
The vote ends a three-year quest to replace a skate park that was dismantled in 2011 and an eight-month debate on the proposed location of the park. The city will now seek bids for construction of what proponents envision as state-of-the-art concrete facility that will “stand the test of time.” The park possibly could be complete by summer 2015.
City Council approved the second reading of the bond ordinance on Thursday (Dec. 5) in a 5-0 vote. Council President Tony Wilson was not present for the meeting, and Fourth Ward Councilman Pete Guinosso recused himself from the vote.
Guinosso is co-president of the Ocean City Ecumenical Council, which runs the charitable Clothes Closet immediately adjacent to the proposed skate park site.
Guinosso had recused himself from an April vote to apply for the county Green Acres grant, but he cast the only dissenting vote on the first reading of the bond ordinance on Nov. 13. Guinosso said on Thursday night that council members had questioned his decision to vote, and he consulted attorneys who said it was a “borderline” decision. He said he further conferred with City Solicitor Dorothy McCrosson before deciding to recuse himself again.
“If I had my druthers, I would have voted,” he said.
The park will be constructed on city-owned land atop an existing parking lot adjacent to the Ocean City Fire Department and the Clothes Closet. The site is bounded on other sides by the Ocean City Primary School, the Ocean City Tabernacle and the Gabriel Building Group.
In public comment, Ocean City resident Suzanne Hornick said she supports the idea of building a skate park but opposes the location. She said it would affect parking in a busy part of town, potentially hurt the Clothes Closet and not be accessible by kids from the central and southern part of the island, where she lives.
Questions about the location and the process for including neighbors in the decision-making process were echoed in other public comments and in a letter to council members from Central Avenue resident Jeff Sutherland (read full text).
But at least one neighbor had a different view.
“I’m telling you to build it in my front yard,” said Mike Pinto, who lives at the corner of Fifth Street and Asbury Avenue, the closest residential property to the proposed site.
Pinto said the park would serve children, teenagers, parents, boys, girls, men and women.
“This is the best location,” he said.
Councilman Antwan McClellan, who like Pinto can see the proposed location from his front porch, said, “Regardless of where you put it, you’ll have neighbors.”
“It’s a corridor with a lot of action,” he said of the beach-to-bay strip between Fifth and Sixth streets that includes two schools, recreational fields, the Bayside Center, tennis courts and the Ocean CityTabernacle.
Councilman Keith Hartzell said his concerns about the price tag on the project were alleviated by the county grant. He said Ocean City taxpayers would contribute the same amount whether or not the county returned $500,000 of it for the park.
“Every other municipality would have been through the roof to get this money,” he said.
Councilman Mike DeVlieger, who led a group of skaters, city officials and community members in planning the park, said the city will make every effort to make sure the park is an asset to the community.
“If we have challenges with after-hour use, we will lock it,” he said.
He said a camera will be installed, so the park can be monitored around the clock, and perhaps the city could find a sponsor to make the video stream public.
DeVlieger said the city has taken in $290,000 in additional revenue from the additional parking spots added to a municipal lot where the former skateboard park was located — more than making up for the $250,000 the city will spend to build the park.
The next steps will be procedural — Council would approve specifications for bids from contractors and later approve a contract. The park possibly could be in place as early as spring 2015, according to DeVlieger.
READ MORE
- Ocean City Skateboard Park: Latest Design and Site
- Crowd Turns Out for Skateboard Park Meeting
- Ocean City Gets $500,000 Grant for Skateboard Park
- NIMPS, not NIMBYs, in Ocean City Skate Park Debate
- Group Zeroes in on Skate Park Site for Ocean City
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