CAPE MAY – While residents and city officials continue to wrangle over what to build to replace Convention Hall and when to build it, city manager Luciano Corea on Friday, April 4 closed the building to the public, citing structural concerns.
According to an announcement from Corea’s office, a just-completed analysis from the engineering firm Pennoni Associates of Bethlehem, Pa., found serious structural deficiencies throughout the building, which the report states have worsened in the past year.
“After reviewing this assessment, and considering the recommendations of our professionals, the city, in the interest of public safety, will no longer make the building available to the general public effective immediately,” reads the written statement from Corea released April 4. “Were the city to allow the operation of the building to continue, in light of the information provided to us, it would be a significant liability and we will not jeopardize public safety.”
The announcement sent the sponsors of several events scrambling for alternative venues. For the Cape May Jazz Festival, which takes place April 18.19 and 20, shows had to be moved. The Friday performance by The Rippingtons will go to the auditorium at the Lower Cape May Regional High School in Lower Township, while a Latin dance party featuring the band Cintron planned for Saturday night will move to the gym at Our Lady, Star of the Sea.
According to Corea, the city is working with groups with events planned to find alternative locations, and is looking at what can be done to make the existing building usable over the summer.
“We are also reviewing a number of potential short-term fixes,” Corea said. “It is our intention to determine if any economically feasible solution to the problem exists, as soon as possible, so as to be able to advise all scheduled users of the building as to the viability of having it available for their planned use.”
Plans had called for the 40-year-old building to be demolished at the end of this year, to make way for a new larger building expected to cost more than $10 million.
But earlier this year, City Council decided to delay the work for a year, stating that this would allow more public input on the plans. According to Mayor Jerome Inderwies, it would also mean the city would not have to come up with the down payment for the work, which would mean a greater tax increase this year.
This week, Skip Loughlin, the chairman of a committee looking at plans for the building, called on City Council to accelerate planning for the project, and return to the original schedule.