Sea Isle City looks for better entrance
By Jacqueline Urgo
Inquirer Staff Writer
SEA ISLE CITY, N.J. – As you drive across the tall causeway bridge leading into this barrier island resort, the view of the town’s gateway, stretching from bay to ocean, is dramatic – perhaps the only one of its kind along the Jersey Shore.
Flags flap in the breeze, flower boxes festoon the median, and the sky meets the sea along the horizon stretched in front of you.
But the actual drive along John F. Kennedy Boulevard – a mélange of tired building facades and lackluster plantings along the median and narrow sidewalks of town – brings you back to earth.
“It’s an impressive view, but the way this area looks right now along JFK Boulevard is definitely not something that puts the best foot forward for the town,” said George Savastano, business administrator of the municipality, which is embarking on a $13.4 million project to revitalize the six-tenths-of-a-mile stretch.
Building booms occurred after severe storms battered much of the New Jersey coastline in 1944 and 1962. In Sea Isle, the 1962 nor’easter destroyed or significantly damaged nearly every beachfront structure.
That led to what some have criticized as “haphazard” planning and zoning policies over the ensuing years, which allowed duplexes and triplexes to be built on lots where single-family homes once stood.
Now, the current economic downturn has put the brakes on the last wave of unparalleled development, which began in the late 1980s.
Despite the faltering economy, Savastano said, the “Beach to Bay Corridor Project,” as it is formally known, is long overdue.
Ultimately, he said, it will help the municipality, which calls itself the “Sea and Sand Vacationland,” attract and keep returning visitors and vacationers.
“The idea is to essentially shrink the distance between the marina on the bay front and the beach,” Savastano said. “Those two anchors are our greatest asset, so what goes on aesthetically between those two points is very important.”
That “shrinking” will be accomplished by creating amenities and highlighting six sites within the project area, according to Stuart Wiser, regional director of planning and development for Remington, Vernick & Walberg Engineers.
Wiser presented a preliminary design last month to the Sea Isle City Council, including a newly landscaped park with a band shell and upgraded beachfront promenade.
Plans also call for the demolition of the library, which will be rebuilt on 48th Street between Central Avenue and Park Road. A beach-tag office now there will be relocated.
The parcel where the library stands will become a parking lot – part of a plan to bring an additional 160 parking spaces to the corridor – with a Smart Meter system.
