By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Ocean City Housing Authority officials Wednesday unveiled architectural renderings for a proposed 60-unit affordable housing complex that is expected to blend in with the surrounding neighborhoods in the north end of town.
The design of the estimated $22 million to $23 million project will feature 15 duplex-style buildings containing four units each for the families living there, according to a presentation made before the Ocean City Planning Board.
Representatives of the housing authority repeatedly stressed during their presentation that the development reflects the agency’s philosophy to build new projects that are compatible with the surrounding neighborhoods.
“We’re going to make it feel like the rest of the city and the rest of the community,” said Rick Ginnetti, owner of the Brooke Group, a consulting firm assisting the authority with the project.
The planning board gave its approval for the project after the presentation, representing a crucial step as the housing authority moves ahead in phases that will include lining up the financing, awarding the construction contract and breaking ground in coming months.
“It’s a big step forward from where we are today,” said John Loeper, the planning board chairman.
The project is proposed on Fourth Street and will replace the existing Pecks Beach Village housing complex dating to the 1960s.
The Pecks Beach Village complex formerly consisted of two parts – a 20-unit enclave of cottage-style housing for senior citizens and 40 units of affordable housing for families along Fourth Street.
The 20 units of senior housing on the north side of Fourth Street were torn down last year to create room for the proposed project consisting of 60 units of affordable housing for families.
The senior citizens who lived in the flood-prone, 20-unit complex were moved into the housing authority’s newly built $7 million, 32-unit Speitel Commons housing development at Sixth Street and West Avenue.
Meanwhile, the existing 40 units of family housing at Pecks Beach Village on the south side of Fourth Street will remain until the authority builds the new 60 units. The 40-unit complex will likely be demolished in stages as residents move into the new development.
The housing authority is touting the new project as a modern, far more attractive upgrade in the city’s affordable housing inventory compared to the aging version of Pecks Beach Village that exists now.
“It’s going to be a well-constructed, durable, built-to-last project,” said Michael Donovan, the architect who designed the complex.
Excitement is already building among the residents of the existing Pecks Beach Village units who will move into the new project, said Jacqueline Jones, the housing authority’s executive director.
“The tenants are really happy,” Jones said.
Construction is expected to begin about a year from now and take an estimated 18 months to complete, which would put the grand opening in late 2025 or early 2026, Ginnetti said.
The housing authority hopes to go out to bid for the construction contract this summer, he noted.
Altogether, the 60-unit project will include four units that have one bedroom, 32 units with two bedrooms, 22 units with three bedrooms and two units with four bedrooms.
A total of 40 units will be subsidized housing, while the remaining 20 units will be considered affordable, unsubsidized units commonly known as “workforce housing.” There will be income limits to ensure the complex is occupied by residents having low and moderate incomes, according to the housing authority officials.
“We’re replacing affordable housing with affordable housing,” Donovan told the planning board.
The project will help Ocean City meet its state-mandated obligation to provide its “fair share” of affordable housing under a court settlement in 2018.
The city is expected to contribute $5.8 million in financing for the project. A combination of loans from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency and tax credits given to private investors in the project will also be part of the funding, Ginnetti explained.
He also said the housing authority will apply for financing from New Jersey’s Affordable Housing Production Fund.
In other business Wednesday, the planning board tabled an application by Verizon Wireless to install new cellphone antennas on the roof of a commercial building at the corner of 34th Street and Haven Avenue.
The cellphone antennas are opposed by some homeowners in the adjacent neighborhood of 33rd Street and 34th Street along Haven and Simpson avenues.
During two City Council meetings in March, some of the homeowners expressed concerns that the closeness of the antennas to their neighborhood could expose them to potentially harmful levels of radio frequency waves emitted by the antennas.
The planning board is awaiting a report from an independent engineer who is looking into the possible health impacts of the antennas. The board tabled Verizon’s application because the report is not yet finished.
A special meeting may be scheduled in April to allow the planning board to consider Verizon’s application. Another possibility is for Verizon to wait for the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on May 3.
