Roadwork, curbs come with three new homes

SPOTSWOOD –– Improvements to Outcalt Avenue will be made with borough funds as well as by a developer building homes there.

The Borough Council recently approved a resolution authorizing the award of a $24,762 contract to Mario’s Concrete and Paving Co. Inc. for curb work on the road, which runs south from Main Street to the Manalapan Brook.

The curbs will be installed in conjunction with repaving and sidewalks being put in by the developer, Brothers Investment, which plans to build three homes there, council President Curtis Stollen said.

Stollen said Brothers Investment entered into a developer’s agreement with Spotswood to accommodate the improvements.

“The borough assumed responsibility for the curbing while the developer will do repaving and drainage,” he said.

While the road only has a handful of homes, Stollen said it is in woeful shape.

“The street is barely paved at all, and there are manhole covers sticking up,” he said.

Getting a grant to make the improvements would be difficult, because the road does not have high-traffic volume and is not used as a route to a school, he said.

The developer would normally have to put in curbs and sidewalks only on the property it owns, but Stollen said Brothers Investment agreed to repave the entire road and install drainage.

The result will be a completely reconstructed street.

During the Planning Board process, residents came forward with complaints about the drainage situation on Outcalt Avenue, Stollen said.

The curbing will be installed along the entirety of the road. While the repaving could be done without curbing, the borough feels new curbing should be installed at the same time in order to prevent drainage and breakage problems.

The project will likely be done during the warmer months of 2007.