Middletown Lays Groundwork for New Beach Building

Middletown officials are laying the initial groundwork to ask 2012 voters to approve the construction for a new pavilion at .

At two separate municipal meetings this week, town officials took the first steps in setting the planning and design processes in motion. A general consensus was reached among the at Monday's budget workshop for Town Administrator Shawn Brown to budget for the early conceptual designs and drawings that are typical before undertaking any municipal building project that voters are asked to approve. That new budget line item is expected to be presented at one of the next town budget meetings.

The first public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for Wednesday, May 18, at 6 p.m at the Cafeteria.

Earlier this week on Tuesday, Town Councilor Christopher Semonelli and Department of Public Works Director Tom O’Loughlin also met with Beach Commission members at the advisory board’s regularly scheduled meeting to discuss the general concept, 18-month time frame and planning strategy for putting a bond referendum before voters in 2012. Town officials' early cost estimates have ranged between $5 million to $9 million for such a project.

“It’s time. The beach deserves something better,” Semonelli said as he spoke with Beach Commission members this week.

Semonelli didn’t have to go into much detail about “why” town officials were pushing to move the project forward.

The Beach Commission members, chaired by Rian Wilkinson, received the news with much enthusiasm, citing numerous ways in which Second Beach crowds and lifeguard staff had “outgrown” the current building and snack bar.

“With a crowd of 6,000 people there on any given weekend and only six toilets, to me that’s just unacceptable,” member Bill Seiple said, referring to the men’s room, which has three toilets and three urinals. The ladies’ room is comparable and it’s not uncommon to see long lines of women and children waiting their turn. The commission members also spoke of not having enough changing rooms and showers.

The staff of 36 full- and part-time lifeguards share one bathroom and a small handful of lockers, while their break area doubles as the first aid office and treatment center, according to commission members.

The current single-story building, approximately 30 years old, has been maintained each year with regular annual upkeep and preventive maintenance such as repainting, as well as some simple upgrades along the way. For example, the coming beach season will see paper towels replaced by hand dryers, according to Parks and Recreation Director Tim Shaw.

Also this year, outdoor showers will be added to the Surfers’ End parking lot about a quarter-mile from the current beach building.

Members agreed that something larger is needed to accommodate the big crowds each summer and that it could be a great opportunity for the town to potentially expand annual revenues from the beach, especially if it's designed for multi-purpose and year-round community functions, such as awards banquets, weddings, big meetings and proms. Last summer the beach generated about $1 million in revenue.

Other commission members noted how the current snack bar also likely loses potential customers due to its limited capacity to serve food through only one window, which results in long wait times to be served.

According to O'Loughlin, any new facility constructed on Second Beach would have to maintain the similar footprint in size on the ground, which also would take into account the several trailers located next to the current beach building to store beach and maintenance equipment.

"There's only one way to build and that's up," O'Loughlin said, noting that coastal regulations would require the base floor to be about 12 to 14 feet above the current ground level.

Town officials have indicated they hope to begin capturing public feedback from the beach crowds this summer, while also utilizing the services of consultants who already are working with the town on other simultaneous long-term economic development projects and are familiar with the town's needs. The town currently is engaged in planning the redevelopment of the west side to capitalize off the acquisition of Navy surplus lands on Middletown's western shoreline, as well as at the corner of Coddington Highway and West Main Road.

At Monday's meeting, Brown noted that it made sense to dovetail the project with work consultants are already doing as they look at the town as a whole in terms of redevelopment and economic development. The consultants would assess the greatest potential for a new beach pavilion, which has the potential to be developed for year-round uses. He cautioned that the town would not want to design a facility that would draw business away from other area establishments.