The Atlantic City Council, Wednesday, rejected an offer from a local couple to purchase an abandoned house at 203 Locust Street. The City had earlier been awarded title to the property, and was prepared to sell it to Rob and Marlo Stamp, until some last minute offers were received. A public hearing was held, during which City Attorney Dave Wiederstein said he had received word another party was interested in the property. That being the case, the Council decided to request sealed bids for the property, but no deadline was set for the receipt of bids. A condition of the bids is that the prospective buyer must agree to demolish the current structure in a timely manner.

In other business, the Council received a report from Snyder and Associates Engineer Dave Sturm, with regard to the Street Maintenance Study. The Study, which was commissioned in 2010, indicated street repairs are the highest priority of the community’s citizens. Sturm said there are just under 50-miles of streets in Atlantic, of which 12.5-miles are comprised of concrete, 26.5 are asphalt, seven are seal coated and 2.5-miles are gravel. Sturm went on to describe the types of problems each road-style can expect to have over the course of its lifespan.

The streets are rated on a score from zero to 100, with 100 being the score needed for an entirely new street. The options given for any given condition include reconstruction, rehabilitation, deferred action, preventative maintenance and routine maintenance. Sturm said the study shows the City has made substantial progress over the past eight-years, having completed the repair or replacement of half of its streets.

He said it should continue with efforts to catch-up with backlogged projects….but it won’t come cheap. He says the City needs to spend anywhere from 750-thousand to One-million dollars per year in order to continue playing catch-up to get to the rest of the streets.

Sturm said once the City is caught-up on its street projects, it could expect to spend 400-to 500-thousand dollars per year just to maintain a high level of service on them. A copy of the report is available for viewing in the City Clerk’s office.