By: Andrew Coen
Members of the village Board of Trustees approved a resolution at their Sept. 13 meeting to consult with village attorneys about how to go about borrowing money for a massive road-improvement project, and how much money they would need to complete the job.
According to Atlantic Beach Buildings Superintendent Steve Cherson, the roads that are deemed by the village's engineering firm, RNW Engineering, of Bayshore, to be in greatest need of repair will be rehabilitated during the fall, and the rest will have work done starting in the spring. "Some will be totally reconstructed and some will be resurfaced," said Cherson.
Village officials said that the list of roads that will have work done in the fall is still being finalized. Various intersections along Ocean Boulevard would likely have immediate work done as a result of the punishment the main road took during the busy summer months, village officials said.
"We're going to try to do the streets that are determined to be the most needy, and the others will be done in the spring," said Atlantic Beach Mayor Stephen Mahler. "We owe very little money, so this is not going to be a great hardship for our village to borrow."
According to Mahler, most of the village's estimated $700,000 surplus is used for daily expenditures, but some of it will be used for the road project. The road construction will not have an impact on village taxpayers, according to village officials.
The cost of the project is not known, but Cherson said that if the entire village's roads were to be redone, it would cost about $5 million. According to Cherson, the village will direct about $500,000 to the road project, and the rest will be borrowed in a bond or covered by a state grant.
The road work is expected to take about two years, and none of it will take place in the winter, when weather prohibits construction, or in the summer, when the village has the heaviest traffic, according to Cherson. As a way of saving money, he said, some roads will be redone with asphalt rather than concrete, since concrete is twice as expensive.
According to Cherson, road work has been done in the village over the past seven years with the help of the Capital Highway Improvement Project, and with the state chipping in about $30,000, an amount that has been matched by the village. The money was not enough to substantially improve the roads, however, he said.
The Village of Atlantic Beach, incorporated in 1962, has a population of 1,986, according to the latest census figures. The adjoining unincorporated communities of East Atlantic Beach and Atlantic Beach Estates are governed by the Town of Hempstead and, therefore, would not be included in the Atlantic Beach project.
The next Atlantic Beach village Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 18, at 7:45 p.m., at Atlantic Beach Village Hall, 65 The Plaza.
