By DON STINE
Close to $3 million will be spent on township-wide Neptune improvements under three bond ordinances adopted by the Township Committee March 12.
Under a $360,000 bond ordinance, Neptune will have its first skateboard park, with $165,000 of the cost coming from a Monmouth County Open Space grant.
The skateboard park will be in the Sunshine Village Park Fields, off Asbury Park Boulevard and Pine Drive, adjacent to existing basketball courts and soccer fields. The 60- by 100-foot project, for a total of 6,000-square-feet, will include concrete skating bowls, railings, steps, benches, landscaping and buffers. The park will be designed for novice to intermediate skateboarders.
“It is an ideal place for this project with minimum maintenance but offering a lifetime of enjoyment,” Township Engineer LeAnne Hoffman said during a previous presentation on the project.
Jumping Brook Road will see major improvements under a $1.2 million project, with the cost being offset by a $887,000 state Department of Transportation grant.
Township Business Administrator Vito Gadaleta said that some of the road will be milled and repaved. Other improvements will include better pedestrian and handicapped access and crossings, some type of a bike lane, some areas getting new curbs and sidewalks, and installing traffic-calming improvements.
Another $1.4 million bond ordinance will fund utility improvements to the Heck Avenue sewer infrastructure, including installing new pipes. The Tremont Drive sewage pump station in Shark River Hills will also see improvements.
“We have no set date for the projects right now but we hope to get them done as soon as possible, within this calendar year” Gadaleta said.
