CAPE MAY — The long-anticipated new police station in Cape May could be open as soon as spring 2027.
City Manager Paul Dietrich provided City Council with an update May 6 on the various capital projects in the works.
He said the police building is important to get moving from a bond perspective.
“We wanted to start our capital budget process because there is one specific project that we need to move forward with in our planning process,” Dietrich said.
The anticipation is the city would seeks bid in June and award a contract in August.
“We could break ground in September, which then would put us on a timeline to have a constructed police station in the early spring of 2027,” he said.
Dietrich added that the engineer and architect are moving forward with the final plans, which will be presented in June.
“It’s an additional $2.643 million on the police station headquarters, and then for site work and outfitting of the computer network, furniture and other site purchases like a generator,” Dietrich said.
He noted the city is in the middle of its regular budget process.
Discussion of the budget timeline included the introduction of the bond ordinance June 3, introduction June 17 and a public hearing and possible adoption July 1. The funds would become available 20 days after approval.
The general capital bond is just over $9.6 million, with spending including $500,000 in capital, $2.3 million in water and sewer capital bonds and $2 million for beach capital.
The projects included in general capital are the police headquarters and subsequent site work, holiday decorations, Harborview Park, First Avenue pedestrian bridge, police body cameras, police public safety equipment, Office of Emergency Management automated weather warning system, public safety equipment for the fire department, lighting at Convention Hall, rehabilitation at City Hall, equipment and vehicles, Jackson Street restroom and road paving projects.
The water and sewer capital includes the refurbishment of the Madison Avenue water tower, improvements to the water sewer system and equipment and parts.
The beach capital projects include promenade rehabilitation phase one, renovation of the Cape May Beach Patrol headquarters and improvement to the building and grounds.
Decorations, lighting, self-cleaning restroom
Other projects the city is considering within the capital bond include holiday decorations and installing several poles and lighting along Washington, Lafayette and Ocean streets.
“They put wreaths on the side of the poles and wreaths and other decorations on City Hall and the community center,” Dietrich said, adding the poles could be done in phases.
Deputy Mayor Maureen McDade said she would like to have further conversations about the options for holiday decorations.
Another project the city has started working on and needs to fund is concert lighting at Convention Hall. Dietrich said council had rejected one bid and is seeking new bids to get a better fine tuning of lighting needs for concerts.
“There’s also been some discussions about possibly adding a bathroom along the mall on Jackson Street to provide more comfort stations to the public,” Dietrich said. “The model we looked at is a self-cleaning restroom.”
He explained that the concept is like an automatic car wash, in which the bathroom internally washes and cleans itself between uses.
Equipment purchases
Dietrich said the city is looking to consolidate its leases into a bond to better capitalize on the lease purchases, which are reducing operating expenses in the budget.
“We’re going to put in another ambulance, and we still have not received the ambulance that was bonded in 2023,” Dietrich said. “It’s still another eight months or a year out. They’re telling us it’s now a 900-day lead time for an ambulance.”
Another piece of equipment that needs to be purchased is a smaller beachfront and mall recycling truck that needs to be replaced, as well as a chipper and other shop equipment.
Mayor Zack Mullock asked Dietrich if the beachfront recycling truck would be covered by the beach utility bond. Dietrich said it could be discussed with the bond council if the utilities could handle that cost.
Dietrich said public safety equipment purchases encompass security cameras, police body cameras and both police and fire safety equipment.
The Office of Emergency Management is looking into an automated weather warning system. Currently, the flood sirens are manually operated, and someone has to drive out to the siren to turn it on. The automated system would work based on tide gauges and weather forecasting.
“It would be able to not only alert from an audible sound point, but also do an email or text alert to people that would register and sign up for that service,” Dietrich said.
McDade said the system would be useful for both residents and visitors to be aware of potential storms.
Councilman Shaine Meier asked if there were a subscription associated with the system. Dietrich said it would be similar to the Nixle system, and it may be able to be tied into the backbone of pushing out notifications. There is a physical purchase involved with the tidal gauges.
Beach capital
The city is in the process of rehabilitating the promenade, and Dietrich said he asked the contractor to provide pricing for running city electrical services through conduits previously installed by the county.
Another project is renovating CMBP headquarters. Dietrich said that would cost about $1.5 million. Proposed work includes expanding locker rooms and bathroom facilities.
“If you’ve ever visited the facilities, the men’s facilities are two to three times the size as the women, and that was OK 25 years ago when the lifeguard population was 75 to 80 percent male,” Dietrich said. “It’s now about 50-50, give or take, so it’s only appropriate we upgrade those facilities to make them equal size.”
Dietrich said the architect did a good job using the space, and depending on when the bonding is funded, the renovations can be done in one off-season.
McDade said it was a positive message to send to the female lifeguards.
By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special for the Star and Wave
