SEAN BRADY Brick’s 2004 Phase I Capital Budget calls for improvements to the Sawmill Tract Bicycle Trail. Officials hope to one day extend the trail to the Manasquan River.
BY KARL VILACOBA
Staff Writer
Perhaps most conspicuous about Brick’s 2004 Phase I Capital Budget is not what’s in it, but what’s not.
The overriding goal of this year’s Phase I was to reduce the almost $79 million debt accumulated from bonding for past projects, according to Councilwoman Ruth-anne Scaturro, chairwoman of the council’s Business and Finance Committee.
Broad strokes typical of past Phase I’s — such as last year’s $2.4 million investment in the Drum Point Sports Complex — were shelved in favor of a scaled-down plan that stresses only the essentials. This year’s Phase I will run $3.7 million, $2.5 million less than last year’s $6.2 million plan.
"I think it’s a good, solid first step towards getting to where we need to be," Scaturro said.
Following the blueprint of recent years, the township will split its capital projects into two phases. The first covers time-sensitive projects, such as road paving, while the second, to be released in a few months, deals with long-term investments like open space purchases. The council was expected to vote on three bonding ordinances to support the plan on Tuesday night.
Of its main components, road paving is the highest costing item included. But at $1.2 million, even those projects will run less than half of last year’s $2.5 million Phase I allocation.
Improvements are proposed for various roads in the Point Pleasant Manor, Laurelton Heights, Drum Point Village East and Millbrook Manor developments. Further improvements are proposed for Leanora Street, the Duquesne Boulevard/North Lake Shore Drive intersection and the Circle Drive area. Additionally, Brick and Ocean County are expected to complete a connector road between Cherry Quay Road and Hooper Avenue.
Although not in league with the Drum Point Sports Complex investment, the budget does include some recreational components.
The budget calls for a $50,000 investment in the Seawood Harbor Walkway and Bike Trail, a group of paths planned near the end of St. Lawrence Boulevard. Brick has applied for state aid for the project, but none has been received yet. The township would start engineering work this year and allocate construction costs at a later time.
With engineering complete in 2003, $50,000 is proposed for a new stone trail and bridges for the Sawmill Tract Bicycle Trail. Business Administrator Scott MacFadden said the township hopes to one day extend the trail system to the Manasquan River in the Beverly Beach area. The Beaton Property, located in that vicinity, is at the top of Brick’s open space priority list for that purpose, MacFadden said.
Scaturro said Brick’s open space wish list has been reprioritized due to the state’s plans to grant the Metedeconk River Category One protection status. Developments along Category One rivers are prohibited from yielding any measurable pollution, and must be constructed 300 feet from waterlines. Therefore, the lure of sites like the waterfront Lee, Hazelet and Ebon properties is now lower because its development poses a far less threat to Brick’s drinking water supply.
The Phase I $996,356 investment in public works equipment is an increase over last year, but is still "bare bones," Scaturro said. Some of the items included are waste disposal trucks, a street sweeper, and pick-up trucks equipped with snow-plowing gear.
The cost of monitoring groundwater movements around the Brick Township Landfill Superfund site increased to $450,000 from about $325,000 last year.