MANSFIELD: Township seeking to tackle cost of renovations

By Charley Falkenburg, Special Writer
   MANSFIELD — The pricey renovations for the new municipal complex on Route 206 are well under way, and the town is continuing to pursue all avenues to help cover expenses.
   Just last week, the Township Committee approved applying for a $76,000 Community Development Block Grant at its Dec. 12 meeting. This money mainly would go toward making handicap accessibility improvements around the 60,000- square-foot Millennium Building.
   The submission piggybacks on a trust fund application the town recently filed to the Department of Transportation, which targets work on the building’s access road.
   ”Those two grants together are intended to help offset costs of the site work at the Millennium Building over the course of next year,” Len Faiola said, who serves as township engineer.
   Since the town bought the building in 2005, it has approved about $10 million in bond ordinances to revamp and improve the facility. The plan is to unite the municipal, fire and police headquarters from their separate bases on Main Street to the two-story Millennium Building on Route 206, between Columbus-Hedding Road and Mansfield Road by next spring.
   At that same meeting, the township held a public hearing on an ordinance seeking to establish size restrictions on private garages. With no members of the public wanting to speak, the committee unanimously adopted the code, which limits the size of attached and detached garages to 1,000 square feet per house.
   In his engineering report, Mr. Faiola informed the committee Mansfield has a few extra weeks to add more expenses if needed to its Federal Emergency Management Association public assistance grant.
   The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently extended the grant application deadline from Nov. 28 to Dec. 30, mainly for the convenience of Monmouth and Ocean counties, which were hit the hardest during Hurricane Sandy.
   ”It was intended for them, but it’s a little bit of a reprieve time wise for Mansfield,” Mr. Faiola said. “So there’s still an opportunity to amend an earlier application if the township already made one up.”
   Mr. Faiola also reported the Department of Environmental Protection has approved Mansfield’s Water Quality Management Plan, which seeks to provide sewers for Columbus Village. The publication of the official plan is scheduled for Dec. 19 in the New Jersey Register of Historic Places.
   ”At that point, the clock begins ticking on administrative consent,” he added. “We will be moving forward with that with your direction and approval.”
   The town is also in the midst of executing a bond call to make improvements in the Legends subdivision off of Mansfield Road and has completed repairs and construction to the median island and asphalt surface in the Meadows at Mansfield residential development.
   Before the meeting came to end, the committee wished everyone to have a happy holiday.
   ”Thanks for coming, and I hope everyone has a merry Christmas,” Committeewoman Janice DiGiuseppe said.
   Mayor Arthur Puglia echoed Ms. DiGiuseppe.
   ”We wish you all a merry Christmas, and we’ll be here between Christmas and New Year’s so we will wish you a happy New Year’s then,” the mayor added.
   The next committee meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Dec. 27 at the municipal complex.