for when construction
might take place
No timetable yet
for when construction
might take place
BY CHRISTINEVARNO
Staff Writer
OCEANPORT — Borough hall will be undergoing renovations in the near future, but exactly what work will be done is still up in the air, Mayor Maria Gatta said.
"The building was built in 1965 and nothing has been done to upgrade it since then," Gatta said. "We want to construct a building that will accommodate the needs of the future, not just our present needs."
The 900,000-square-foot building is located on the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Monmouth Boulevard and houses the municipal court room, municipal offices, the borough police department and the main public library.
"There has been feedback over the past five years and obvious evidence that there are cramped corners [at borough hall]," said Councilman Michael Mahon, the co-chairman of the Building and Grounds Committee.
Gatta said over the years the borough has outgrown the building and when she took office at the beginning of this year she assigned a committee to address the need for more space in the building.
The committee, headed by Mahon and Councilwoman Ellynn Kahle as co-chair, is made up of borough employees and volunteers from the community and has been researching the space needs in the building since January.
Gatta is a Democrat while Mahon and Kahle are both Republicans.
The other four council members — Robert Holden, Lucille A. Chaump, Linda Johnson and Gerald Briscione — are Democrats.
Mahon said the committee is made up of department heads, including; Borough Clerk Patricia L. Varca; Borough Deputy Clerk Kim Jungfer; Police Chief Clifford K. Bebout; Detective Sgt. Mauro V. Baldanza; Sgt. Jarod Murphy; construction official Walter Joyce; a member of the construction department, Wes Whalen; Tom Crochet of public works; Linda Risden from the library; and former Councilman Joseph Lyons.
"We rent space in a facility on East Main Street," Mahon said. "We want a one-stop-shop for our residents."
The borough’s building department, where residents go to acquire a permit to build or add on to their homes, is located on East Main Street in the Oceanport Plaza.
"We are looking to move [the building department] to borough hall," Kahle said. "Years ago it was located in borough hall, and now we have to pay rental space. We do not want to have to pay an outside source."
He said the committee has done its homework and went through the building, corner to corner, and addressed the areas where problems exist.
"We are using [the current building] knowing full well that it can be better," Mahon said.
The borough’s engineering firm, Birdsall Engineers, has conducted a foundation survey to see if the structure would be able to support a second-floor addition and results showed that building a second level would not be possible because of the current conditions of the structure, according to Mahon.
A wetlands survey was then conducted to see how far the building could potentially be expanded outward, but the results from that have not been received as of yet, Mahon said.
Mahon said the results from the surveys along with renovation recommendations from Birdsall, were scheduled to be presented at the council workshop meeting Aug. 23. He said if a report is not prepared by then, it will be provided at the first workshop meeting in September, he said.
"We still do not have the cost for the project or a payment plan," Mahon said, but "we are putting everything on the table."
"Before we move forward, we have to know first what we are dealing with," Gatta said. "This preliminary work will give us a clear picture.
"Are there going to be renovations? Yes." Gatta said. "Is there a timetable? No."