DOT grant will pave 5 streets in Plumsted Township

PLUMSTED - State Commissioner of Transportation Kris Kolluri has notified the Township Committee that Plumsted's grant application requesting state funds to pave additional streets off Lakeview Drive was approved.

Mayor Ron Dancer said the township will receive $95,000 from the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund to pave the following streets: BrazilDrive, CrystalAvenue, Terrace Avenue, Chestnut Avenue and Twin Drive. The paving will most likely begin in the summer.

Dancer said the townshipmay be able to obtain discretionary grant funds from the Department of Transportation to pave OakfordAvenue and Locust Lane to complete paving all the streets in this neighborhood. Recently completed paving and drainage improvements on Lakeview Drive was also paid for with grant funding from the DOT Trust Fund in the amount of $140,000, he said.

In other news, theNewJerseyHistoric Trust's executive director, Barbara Irvine, informed the committee that its grant application requesting funds on behalf of the New Egypt Historical Society's museum building on Evergreen Road was approved in the amount of $16,920.

The committee awarded a contract to the historical architectural firmofWatson and Henry in the amount of $20,510 to provide the historical society with the services of professional historic architects. The local match for the grant, in the amount of $5,641, came from Plumsted's Historic, Recreation, Farmland and Open Space Trust Fund.

And, the Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Commission's arts services coordinator, Lindsay Dandeo, informed the committee that its grant application for the Plumsted Council for theArts was approved in the amount of $3,000.

In 2007, the arts council presented YouthArtMonth at the library inMarch; sponsored the high school scholarship program; organized and staffed the Independence Day fireworks, concert and arts festival that attracted more than 5,000 people; and presented the A Capella music festival in November.

Anyone who is interested in serving on the Plumsted arts council is asked to contact the mayor's office at (609) 758-2241, ext. 102.

The Township Committee also awarded a contract to the lowest bidder, Dave Larkin Builders Inc., for more improvements at Oakford Lake Park. The bid was in the amount of $80,210.

According to the mayor, the improvements will include structural repairs to the Oakford Lake dam as well as to the embankment walls, resurfacing and new railing on the easterly Brindletown Road side, next to the Masonic Hall.