Politics & Government
New Community Center Work Should Start Next Month
Demolition at the site on East Bay Avenue for the FEMA funded center should begin after Township Council approves bid at the next meeting.
Stafford Township Administrator James Moran announced the tentative timeline for the construction of the new community center at the May 19 Township Council meeting.
Bids for the demolition of the old township hall and school district building will be opened later this month. If the bids are awarded this month, the work could begin on or around June 15, Moran said.
A second round of bids for the actual construction will be opened later in that month. If a bid is accepted and approved by the council at a subsequent meeting, the work would began in July.
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The new Bay Avenue Community Center will be located at 775 East Bay Avenue in Manahawkin.
The township had been negotiating with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) since Superstorm Sandy to fund the project, based on the damage sustained to the old community center on Mill Creek Road during Superstorm Sandy.
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Last month FEMA finally agreed to fund most of the new $2.5 million community center project, following more than two years of trying to prove that Sandy caused the damage, Moran said earlier.
“It’s been a battle,” he said. ”We went back to them five times with engineers and architects before they (FEMA) agreed it was 50 percent damaged, and qualified for funding.”
The township had continually asked FEMA to cover 90 percent of the rebuilding costs to replace the center. The facility was flooded with more than two feet of water and its entire foundation undermined when Sandy struck. It was recently torn down.
In 2013, the council decided to build the new center on East Bay Avenue. They also approved building a smaller pavilion at the old Mill Creek Road location.
The decision to move the location “was made for access, safety and the fact the center was less likely to ever be flooded”, Moran said earlier.
In January, the township filed an “alternate location” request for the community center project. The request has been approved by the state and now by FEMA, Moran said.
The township has also received $140,000 from their flood insurance for the Mill Creek Center and $250,000 donated by The Alec Baldwin Foundation, which will be used toward the pavilion project.
