VILLAS — Mayor Frank Sippel inquired about the timeline of several ongoing, seemingly slow-moving capital projects.
“The Stormwater GIS mapping services started in 2023. What was the date it should have been completed by?” Sippel asked during the June 15 Township Council meeting.
Engineer Andrew McTague said the project was supposed to be completed by the end of 2025, with a Jan. 1, 2026, deadline.
“The amount of data that needed to be collected resulted in some additional [behind-the-scenes] data collection, out of the field,” McTague said. “Our office is going through that and finalizing before we submit to the [Department of Environmental Protection].”
McTague added that all the data has been collected and needs to be put into the Environmental Systems Research Institute format required by the DEP before submission.
Sippel asked about the lease agreement for the ongoing David Douglass Senior Memorial Park project.
The park has been used as a recreational space since the construction of the Cape May Canal, with pavilions built in the early 1970s. The site honors local fallen police officer David Douglass Sr. and includes a memorial that would be upgraded as part of the $4.6 million project.
Solicitor Robert Belasco said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sent a sample lease to the township, which he revised with McTague to make consistent with the project and New Jersey laws. He returned it to the Army Corps and did not hear back for over a month.
“They finally responded and said, ‘We’re drafting a lease and we’ll get it over to you for comments,’” Belasco said, adding that the work they had done to revise the lease was moot.
Belasco added that they are at a standstill until they receive a land lease.
“The Army Corps, unlike the NJDEP, does not have timelines for their review,” McTague said. “The best thing to do is just keep following up and I try to do on a biweekly basis, and every time I’m met with a prompt response that says [they’re] working on it.”
Township Manager Mike Laffey said there has been email correspondence with the Army Corps regarding the permit/lease.
“They wanted to see, in fact, if we had any violations in that area recently,” Laffey said. “I reached out to two or three different entities and so far, we have not. I will respond to Monica from the Army Corps and that may help expedite the permit that we need to get moving on that project.”
Sippel added that the township has received more than $2 million from the Cape May County Open Space Board and that the project will be nice once complete.
“If it’s taken five months to get a revision to a lease, it’s going to be pushing the rent a little bit,” Sippel said.
High school awards
In other business, Township Council awarded certificates to two Lower Cape May Regional Students for creating a handwashing station for the underserved in the community.
Laffey said Grace DeMatteis and Nouran Moustafa received a grant from the Kiwanis Club and reached out to the Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority, which contacted the township and got the project moving.
“I think this is a good project because the young ladies probably saw all of the red tape that we have to deal with when it comes to doing business in government,” Laffey said. “It takes a bit longer to get things done, it’s expensive to get things done because of the parameters we have to follow.”
The township, MUA and high school created a shared service agreement to place the handwashing station on township-owned property in Erma, behind the Pantry One store.
“They worked it out with the high school Key Club to man it in the future and the MUA will fill that water occasionally, on a weekly basis,” Laffey said, adding that it was non-potable water and signed appropriately.
Laffey thanked DeMatteis and Moustafa for their patience and perseverance on the project.
“They did a great job that’s well received, and I’m sure going to be used not only by the underserved, but anyone who walks along that bike path and area,” Laffey said.
Lower Cape May Regional School District Superintendent Greg Lasher thanked council for its support of the project.
“When we initially talked about location, we talked about a couple of different locations,” Lasher said. “These girls jumped up with advocacy about where it really needed to be to best serve this population. To advocate about the location really shows their maturity.”
By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special to the Star and Wave
