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Mantoloking Road Property Owners Can Get State-Funded Upgrades
By Catherine Galioto
The state will pump $550,000 in improvements to homes and businesses along Mantoloking Road over a five-year period, officials announced last week.
The state's Neighborhood Preservation Program will focus on an about three-mile span of the thoroughfare from Trader's Cove to Old Hooper Avenue, said township Councilman Michael Thulen.
Thulen outlined the project map and announced the state award, which is the second time the NPP comes to Brick. Previously, the state agency focused on improving section of Birchwood Park in another fiveyear project that just ended.
Many of the homes along Mantoloking Road are bungalows, built in the 1930s, Thulen said. The more than half-million dollars is divided up among the properties to improve roofs, storefronts and other elements, in an effort to "preserve the neighborhood." About 600 properties, whether residences or businesses, are in that neighborhood. Each owner would apply for the grant money over the five years of the project.
That could mean $15,000 per house, depending on the size of the home and number of people living there. This is form of aid to help those who might not otherwise afford to fix up their homes and properties. However, even those ineligible for the needs-based awards can receive a $1,000 reimbursement for materials, Thulen said.
"Everybody's in," he said. "Committees are starting up to see what they want to do."
Thulen said the success of the Birchwood-area NPP led to the state agreeing to come back to focus on another area of town.
Mayor Dan Kelly said he was overjoyed with the news that Mantoloking Road, what he called an important corridor to Brick, could get the attention it needs.
"Mantoloking Road is one of our gateways," Kelly said, "but it's one of the most terrible looking roads in the township."
Kelly said with a mult-million dollar project to renovate Trader's Cove, this section of town will stand out.
"Let's make it a great site to see," Kelly said. Plans for that site are to rebuild the marina, construct maritime museum and add park-like features.
Thulen said that at this stage, the township is forming subcommittees overseen by the township's NPP coordinator, Joe Corpina. The state Department of Community Affairs oversees the NPP, which is primarily a system of grants. Formed in 1975, the state Legislation established the program to encourage the economic strengthening and development of neighborhoods.
The state approves which neighborhoods meet criteria for the grant money. According to the state, neighborhoods that are "beginning to decline but can be rehabilitated and restored by cultivating existing social, economic, financial and technical resources toward the development and implementation of planned activities that sustain neighborhood vitality."
Issues the Brick neighborhood is dealing with, such as an ongoing drainage problem, might finally be solved via the NPP and related funds, Thulen said. But at this point, there is nothing yet decided. Now is the time to gather everyone's ideas, Thulen said.
"There is nothing set in concrete," Thulen said. "Let's get out there and figure out what we want to do."
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