BRICK – Trader’s Cove Marina & Park could now become a destination for boaters traveling up and down the coast since a new building that has showers, laundry facilities and a lounge has been completed.
Mayor John G. Ducey and township department heads attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 23 for the new Resource Building, which was a requirement of an $807,051 National Boating Infrastructure Grant, used to partly fund the building, the transient slips and a floating dock.
The $1.396 million building completes the marina and park, located at the end of Mantoloking Road at the foot of the Mantoloking Bridge. The balance for the building was funded in the 2013 capital budget.
The Resource Building was built to “V-zone” standards, which are stringent building codes for areas in a high risk of flooding, so the first floor is elevated to 10.5 feet above grade (or 17.8 feet above sea level), with the ground floor containing no usable space. An elevator leads to the second floor where there are public bathrooms.
The second floor also has showers for the customers who rent boat slips at the marina. A code is required for access to the showers.
The third floor has laundry facilities, a lounge, bathrooms and showers for the use of transient boaters only. When transient boaters pay for their overnight slip, they would be given a code for access to the third floor.
“This is a momentous occasion,” said Ducey during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This [marina and park] is a big change. Everyone remembers driving past here when it was an abandoned boat yard, and now it’s a beautiful, welcoming entryway into Brick Township.”
Ducey has been a long-time critic of the cost associated with the marina and park, which began in 2003.
At the time, high density condominiums were planned for the 11-acre site, but public outcry resulted in a battle to save the property as a park.
“This building was the last thing that the taxpayers are responsible for at Traders Cove, so the spending required by actions of the previous administration has come to an end,” Ducey said after the ribbon-cutting.
“I have no idea how much this building will be used, but I am sure it will be a long time before we get $1.3 million of use out of it,” he added.
After the public outcry about the potential development of the site, in 2005 the developer, Paramount Homes, agreed to sell the land to the township for $8 million, but that number was offset by a total of $4,907,412 in grants and by selling 2.2 acres of the parcel to Ocean County for the construction of the Mantoloking Bridge County Park.
The development cost was offset by an additional $3,830,585 in various grants, for a total of $8,737,997 in grant money, said Tara Paxton, who is the township grant writer and Assistant Municipal Planner.
For Traders Cove Marina & Park to move forward, a dredging plan was submitted to CAFRA and the Army Corps of Engineers to increase the water depth from two feet to four feet where boat slips were planned, and by May 2008 the approvals were in place.
CAFRA and DEP permits were required for the development of the park, too, and those came in August 2010.
Phase one of the marina and park development began in 2011 with the construction of bulkheading, railings, the boardwalk, filler and grading.
Phase two included all the site work, utilities, the construction of a maintenance building, paving, clamshell ground cover, and stormwater management.
Phase three included landscaping, the playground installation, and now, finally the Resource Building. Traders Cove Marina & Park was officially opened in 2013.
John Tulko, 47, has kept his boat at Traders Cove Marina since it opened, and he was one of the few boaters in attendance at ribbon-cutting ceremony. Afterwards, he toured the new Resource Building.
“It’s a wonderful addition to the facility, I absolutely will use it,” he said. “There should be more facilities like this up and down the east coast,” Tulko said.
