By DON STINE
Ocean Township’s community pool facility, off West Park Avenue, will see a unique upgrade in the near future under a $200,000 matching grant from the Monmouth County Open Space program.
Under the project, the 25-foot-square kiddie wading pool will be replaced by a 40- by 70-foot pool with a depth of 2.5 to three feet. It will allow children, or adults, to walk in and out of the pool easily. It will also be handicapped accessible.
The total project will redo the wading pool and install about seven water activity features. The pool facility now has a main pool, a diving pool, a wading pool for young children, and tennis courts.
“I think this project is great. The kiddie pool needed an upgrade. These kiddie pools are a thing of the past and the activity pools are the future. This improvement will only bolster attendance and will pay for itself over time,” Mayor Christopher Siciliano said.
The council also awarded a contract not to exceed $523,895 to RJR Engineering Co., Inc., based in Springville, NY, to construct the new activity pool. The township will fund the cost above the $200,000 grant.
Siciliano said construction will likely begin this September and be completed by Memorial Day, 2018.
