Boardwalk Repairs Dominate Sea Girt’s Proposed $92K Beach Spending Plan

With as many as 13 pilings deteriorating under a stretch of the Sea Girt boardwalk, the town leaders are expediting a $75,000 emergency repair project.

That amount is the lion’s share of a total $92,000 bond ordinance that the Sea Girt Borough Council plans to apply to a beachfront improvement package.

A public hearing and the final council vote on the package, which calls for the town to bond for $87,400, is scheduled for the council’s April 13 meeting.

Broken down, the $92,000 bond ordinance, as introduced at the council’s March 23 meeting, includes the estimated $65,000 in repairs to be completed by Bird Construction of Bayville. The borough’s contracted engineering firm, Leon S. Avakian, Inc., will be paid $10,000 to oversee the project. The remaining $17,000 is for the projected cost of an all-weather terrain utility vehicle to serve the beachfront. 

About 10 to 13 pilings under the boards, several stair railings and the wooden decking between Beacon and Brooklyn boulevards have been badly damaged by this winter’s harsh weather, according to Al Bunting, the borough's business administrator.

“It’s a potential public safety hazard,” Bunting said, citing the findings of a report presented to officials by Avakian's engineers. “Some of the stairs are not safe.”

While acknowledging the sticker shock of the estimated price for repairs, Bunting said the projected costs are on target.

 “It is absolutely the right cost,” Bunting said.

Under the state’s Local Public Contract Law, governing bodies can award contracts without open and competitive bidding whenever an emergency arises that threatens public safety. Based upon the findings of Avakian’s engineering report, the council adopted a resolution to forgo the competitive bidding process as an emergency move.

Subsequently, the council unanimously voted to hire Bird Construction as the builder working under Avakian’s supervision.

Of the $87,400 that the council will bond for, $71,250 will go toward the boardwalk repairs and the remaining $16,150 in bonds will be applied to purchase of the vehicle. The boardwalk repairs are expected to last 15 years and the vehicle’s useful life is estimated at five years, according to a copy of the bond ordinance.

The $87,400 in expected bonding will later be added to the borough’s existing debt service of $4,231,971, said Councilman Ken Farrell.

“We need (the repairs) done,” said Farrell who heads the governing body’s finance committee.

Once the bond ordinance is authorized by the council, the boardwalk repairs will ultimately be added to the borough’s 2011 Capital Projects Program.  At that point, the line item for capital projects in the 2011 proposed budget will be revised to include the bonded amount in the town’s debt service obligation, Farrell explained.

The approved bond ordinance would take effect about 20 days after it is first published in local print newspapers. Repairs could begin shortly after that point.