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Upgrades To Mantoloking Road Made Easier Thanks To State Grant
By Catherine Snipe
Upgrades will soon be coming to Mantoloking Road courtesy of a $125,000 state grant received by Brick, the township recently announced.
The grant, from the state Department of Community Affairs (DCA), is an At Home Down the Shore grant, with Brick being one of five municipalities to receive the grant which would allow homeowners on the Mantoloking Road corridor the ability to seek $1,000 grants from the pot in order to repair and rehabilitate some of the older homes and businesses in that area.
The $1,000 grant allotments will go for exterior improvements only. Larger grants, based on income eligibility, could go toward interior and exterior improvements. The program also allows for matching grants for businesses, matching up to $5,000 for exterior improvements.
Previous rounds of DCA funding allowed for grants specific to improvements in the Chambers Bridge Road corridor. Earning this grant may make the township eligible to receive up to $400,000 over the next four years.
At Home Down the Shore is part of the state's Neighborhood Preservation Program, but is specific to Jersey Shore communities. There are 48 municipalities with an ocean coastline eligible to apply; all of which are in Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties, some of the towns include Point Pleasant Beach, Ocean City, Lower Township and Keyport also received grants, and along with Brick are among 14 municipalities in the running for DCA "At Home Down the Shore" grants.
As part of the DCA, the Neighborhood Preservation Program provides technical and financial assistance to promote the restoration and revitalization of threatened, but viable neighborhoods. According to the state, the municipalities must meet certain criteria besides oceanfront geography: the towns must establish its neighborhood identity, such as having distinctive boundaries either actual or socially recognized, a shared sense of history and identity and social cohesiveness.
The neighborhood must then be viable, yet threatened, at the time of application and viable and stable after the proposed program is implemented.
The state awards the grants with the hopes that positive effects may be observed within three to five years.
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