OCEAN COUNTY – County officials recently purchased properties throughout Ocean County to preserve them as open space.
The Natural Lands Trust Fund Advisory Committee makes recommendations to the Ocean County Commissioners, who then decide upon buying the land. They made the decision at a recent Commissioners meeting.
The largest plot of land was approximately 8.62 acres on Prospertown Road in Jackson in an amount not to exceed $70,000 plus up to $1,000 for property tax adjustments.
The second property is on Pancoast Road in Ocean Township and totals around 1.74 acres. The purchase cost will not exceed $10,000.
At the meeting where these decisions were made, Brick resident Sam Foster asked, “for all these purchases, there were will be public access for things like hiking and no building there?”
“It can’t be developed,” said Commissioner Virginia Haines, who oversees the county’s Parks and Recreation Office, noting the land is designated for preservation purposes.
Special Projects
Commissioners also voted to authorize engineering payments to contractors for various projects in the county. T. Slack Environmental Services, Inc. was authorized to remove a storage tank at the Ocean County Garage based in Jackson. The partial estimate cost is $61,906.60.
An agreement was made with CTX Infrastructure, LLC for construction of the Union Transportation Tail-Plumsted Township extension from Monmouth Road to New Egypt High School. A partial estimate came to $16,415.
Reconstruction and resurfacing of portions of several county roads was approved with Earle Asphalt Company with a final estimate of $61,037.87. The firm was also approved to perform reconstruction and resurfacing of portions of county roads with a partial estimate at $114,314.19.
A stormwater management contract with Lucas Construction Group, Inc. in the partial estimate amount of $69,740.08 was also approved by the Board.
An amendment to the 2021 County budget for the program entitled Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA) was also authorized in the amount of $332,071.
Another budget amendment in the amount of $125,000 for road work in Berkeley, Barnegat, Brick, Lakewood, Toms River, Beach Haven, Lavallette and Point Pleasant Beach was approved.
The Commissioners introduced ordinances authorizing reconstruction and resurfacing of county roads appropriating $12,621,255 and various engineering, road and bridge improvements in the amount of $3,500,000 and authorizing the issuance of $3,325,000 in bonds for bond anticipation notes appropriating $1,000 and authorizing the issuance of $950,000 for the realignment of Archertown Road – Colliers Mill Road in Plumsted Township.
Another ordinance authorized the reconstruction of Washington Street, Lexington Avenue to Route 37 in Toms River, appropriating $3,000,000 and the issuance of $2,850,000 in bonds or bond anticipation notes to finance the same.
Vaccination Update
Commissioner Gerry P. Little noted in his report as liaison to the county’s health department that vaccination clinics “have progressed all the way from doing 2-3,000 vaccinations per day, to a point where we are beginning to see a levelling off to a lower rate in Ocean County and a diminished demand for vaccine by our Ocean County Health Department.”
Little recalled a time a few months back where confirmed COVID-19 cases would number “3-400 overnight but today we have 27. In the last 21days we have only exceeded 100 cases, once.” He said the county’s coronavirus testing site based at the campus of Ocean County College administered 29,589 tests since March 2020 “and there were lines of people. This past Monday we had seven people.”
He also noted that while administering 100,000 vaccinations was the County Health Department’s goal it has gone beyond 106,077 vaccinations as of last month.
“We have about 607,000 people living in Ocean County and the Ocean County Health Department has administered over 106,000 vaccinations but 451,000 Ocean Countians have gotten the vaccine, the difference being that some have gotten it from the state’s mega site or their doctors or the hospitals. Now every pharmacy in the county is providing access to the vaccine,” Commissioner Little added.
The Commissioner said “we encourage people in Ocean County who feel they should be vaccinated to do so. They have access to it. There have been other projects that have been put on the back burner because we have focused on COVID for the last year and a half.”
Remembering Veterans
Little, who also serves as liaison to the county’s Veterans Affairs office noted that 23,000 American flags were placed on the graves of veterans in Ocean County in time for Memorial Day thanks to various veterans’ organizations and scout troops.
He also noted that September 11, 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on America and that it has been 10 years since former al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden, was killed in a raid in Pakistan by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs.
