Mayor & Council to hold meeting to discuss Main Street streetscape plan and assessments

The Mayor and Council will be holding a special meeting on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 5:30 PM at the Municipal Building to discuss final plans for a Main Street streetscape improvement planned for 10th to 16th Avenues. This project, which is scheduled for the Spring of 2010, will mark the first phase of a multi-year capital plan to improve the appearance of Main Street.

This phase of the project will include new curbing, trees and attractive sidewalk lighting fixtures that will replace the existing “Cobra-head” street lamps, and provide brighter illumination of our sidewalks and Main Street. The project will also include installing conduit and related infrastructure that will be used during a future phase to eliminate the overhead secondary wires on Main Street. The County of Monmouth has agreed to repave this section of Main Street when the new curbing is installed.

In addition to these Main Street improvements planned for south of 10th Avenue, the Borough will be installing matching trash receptacles and benches throughout the downtown area.

The Mayor and Council propose to fund this phase of the project through $630,000 in Transit Village grants the Borough has received to date, with the balance to be financed through a combination of bond debt to be paid by Borough taxpayers and special assessments to be levied on Main Street property owners in the project area. The proposed special assessment will apply to all Main Street property owners from 10th to 16th Avenues and will finance the projected $266,000 cost of the lighting fixtures and foundations. This cost will be apportioned based on Main Street frontage, and can be repaid with interest over ten years. We project that the cost of the street lighting assessment for a Main Street property owner with 50 feet of frontage will be approximately $176 per quarter, which amounts to about $60 a month. Additionally, those property owners in the project area who have not already improved their sidewalks with pavers will also be assessed for the cost of installing brick sidewalks.

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