MARGATE – The city will hold a public hearing 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3 at Historic City Hall, 1 S. Washington Ave., on its plan to install a stormwater pump station at the park in front of the Washington Avenue municipal pier.
The public hearing is a requirement for the NJ Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres program to permit the diversion of the .04-acre park to allow the pump station to be built. The pump station will be constructed below the existing parking area of the park. Parking will be off-limits during construction, but the area will be restored to its present configuration when the project is completed. The only thing that will be visible will be a control panel on the right-hand side of the park near an existing electrical box.
The project includes installation of the underground pump and replacement of a section of boardwalk, along with underground drainage pipes that will move stormwater through the bulkhead into the bay. The pump station is expected to help alleviate nuisance flooding in the neighborhood along Washington and Amherst avenues.
The pump station will push water under pressure into the bay even when there is a high tide, city engineer Ed Dennis Jr. of Reminton & Vernick said.
The parkland diversion is required because the city used Green Acres funding to purchase the land and construct the park and pier. In exchange for the diversion, the city will set aside $19,177.01 in a dedicated account for various parkland improvements.
“Actually, the money can be used to fund a portion of the cost to replace part of the bulkhead in front of the park because it will improve the park,” Dennis said.
The city conducted a drainage study in 2019 in preparation for applying for grants to fund the project.
The city received a $1,876,896 grant from FEMA to construct the pump station and has $446,880 in funding from Orsted’s Ocean Wind Trust awarded in December 2022. The Ocean Wind funding was part of $3.9 million awarded to several South Jersey towns for resiliency projects when Orsted was pursuing permits to build a wind farm off the NJ coast.
Originally, the city wanted to construct the pump station in a different location along Amherst Avenue but that location was later deemed unacceptable.
Switching the project to the Washington Avenue location required the city to pursue the Green Acres diversion starting in fall 2024.
The Green Acres diversion application is available for review at the Clerk’s Office at the Margate Municipal Building, 9001 Winchester Ave., or call 609-822-2605.
Written comments may also be sent to Municipal Clerk Johanna Casey at [email protected], or dropped off at her office. Anyone sending written comments is asked to copy the NJDEP Office of Transactions and Public Land Administration, Public Land Compliance Section, 401 E. State St., 7th Floor, Mail Code 401-07, PO Box 420, Trenton, NJ 08625-0420, or by email to [email protected]. Please include SHC0116002 in the subject line. For more information, call 609-940-4400.
The deadline to submit written comments is Friday, Oct. 17.
Copyright Access Network 2025
