It’s the first small step after getting a $60,000 grant
PETERSBURG — Home and business owners in Marmora and Beesleys Point may get the opportunity to hook up to a sanitary sewer system instead of using septic.
Township Committee took a small first step toward that potential goal by approving a contract with its engineering firm to study the possibility of installing a sewer system in a 3-0 vote Aug. 26.
Deputy Mayor Kim Hayes and committeemen Curtis Corson and Victor Nappen voted to adopt a resolution authorizing the $80,000 contract with Consulting and Municipal Engineers (CME). Mayor Jay Newman and Committeeman Mark Pancoast were absent.
Three-quarters of the cost will be funded through a USDA Rural Development Sanitary Sewer Predevelopment Planning Grant, with township taxpayers picking up the remaining $20,000. Township Committee also approved a resolution adding the funds to its 2024 municipal budget.
Hayes called taking advantage of the federal grant to conduct the study “a no-brainer.”
Marmora includes the township’s gateway from the Garden State Parkway and Roosevelt Boulevard corridor from Ocean City, as well as business districts along Route 9.
Hayes said commercial development is necessary to generate ratables and keep property taxes from escalating, noting Township Committee designated the Roosevelt Boulevard corridor a redevelopment zone.
“One of the things hindering growth is the lack of a sewer system,” she said.
It’s not just preventing businesses from locating in the township, Hayes said, but preventing existing businesses from expanding because septic is expensive to maintain.
Beesleys Point, while partially commercial, is much more residential. However, the Beesley’s Point Development Group is planning a waterfront hotel, marina, retail shops and a housing complex on the 350-acre site of the former B.L. England Generating Station, which the group has demolished amid its environmental cleanup of the property.
Township officials have been working with the BPDG since 2021, when the group purchased the prime piece of waterfront real estate on which sat the coal-fired power plant for nearly 60 years.
Engineer Ryan MacNeill said the scope of the work includes professional services related to a feasibility study to determine the size of a system required to service the two most heavily populated sections of the township.
A letter from CME to Township Administrator Gary DeMarzo states the township is anticipating future development in the two areas and the study will investigate the cost and feasibility of installing a system that would convey wastewater to one of the five Cape May County Utilities Authority’s treatment centers.
The closest is the Ocean City Wastewater Treatment Facility at 45th Street and Simpson Avenue, but island officials have previously pushed back against accepting waste from the township.
Hayes could not say who decides whether the wastewater would be conveyed to Ocean City or elsewhere.
“My understanding is when they built the original plant, part of the agreement was that it would be only for Ocean City residents,” she said. “But it’s hard to believe a court would find residents of Upper Township are not entitled to the same quality of life as Ocean City residents.”
Another possibility is the Seven Mile Beach/Middle Wastewater Treatment Facility at 1306 Moore Road in Cape May Court House. There also is a wastewater transfer station at 98 Compost Road in the Crest Haven Complex. Two other facilities are located farther away in Rio Grande and Cape May Point.
The letter stated the contract will not include services related to property acquisition, design, permitting, construction administration, excavation of test pits or the determination of contaminants.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff