Marathon Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc. (Marathon) assisted Boardwalk Design & Development, Inc. in obtaining land use approvals to develop a 104-room hotel in the City of Somers Point, Atlantic County, New Jersey.
The project site is located within the two Commercial Zoning Districts and presented several difficulties in design due to its location bordering residential properties as well as its proximity to the culturally significant Somers Mansion. The building design firm, SOSH Architects of Atlantic City, took design cues from the historic resources adjacent to the site to propose a historically themed building that is cutting edge in its energy conservation and construction techniques. The finishes and amenities proposed with the hotel are among the finest available and not unlike those found in much larger luxury resorts.
The property was the site of a former gas station that was remediated. The site is very oddly shaped and with varying topography that allowed a one-of-a-kind building that was very attractive. It hid the loading and service area but required a height variance. The oddly shaped lot also did not lend itself to accommodating the parking required by local ordinance. Marathon, posed with this challenge, coordinated with the project traffic consultant to develop a realistic parking demand for the facility and negotiated with the neighboring land owner to secure parking area off-site that will be leased by the developer.
The remediation of the former gas station site left a large low area that accepted stormwater runoff from neighboring facilities beyond that typically encountered with infill development lots. The large amount of runoff that was left to infiltrate on site was diverted around it in the proposed condition. This served two purposes – to safely convey runoff from off-site sources to the downstream system, and to remove the large amount of runoff currently infiltrating through previously contaminated soil. The stormwater system is low impact in nature and sustainable in design. Low areas were created in landscape islands in and adjacent to the parking lot and filled with vegetation to provide water quality treatment of the runoff generated by the site. The majority of the parking lot is also proposed with permeable pavers.
One other design challenge was coordination with the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) for the reconstruction of MacArthur Boulevard (Route 52) running along the project frontage. Route 52 connects the Garden State Parkway to Ocean City via a Causeway with multiple bridges over Great Egg Harbor. The improvements proposed along the project frontage were modified through negotiation with the NJDOT designer and NJDOT staff to accommodate this project and changes to the project site layout were proposed to accommodate the NJDOT’s needs and proposed utility and driveway configurations. This project was a minor piece of their massive project (the largest ever undertaken by NJDOT), but Marathon negotiated everything that needed to be done to ensure this project’s construction would not disturb NJDOT’s work including coordination with the utility companies to get services installed prior to NJDOT work being completed.
Marathon performed site layout, grading, utility, landscaping, lighting, stormwater management and soil erosion and sediment control design during preparation of the Site Plans and Stormwater Management Report that accompanied permit and approval applications. We also performed field studies for developing a detailed environmental inventory of the property and the surrounding area and prepared a Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) Compliance Summary Statement addressing the Coastal Zone Management Rules and the Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act Rules as well as coordinated appearance of the project before the Somers Point Historic Preservation Commission to demonstrate no negative impacts to surrounding historic resources.
Marathon’s civil engineering and environmental departments obtained the following approvals and permits:
- Somers Point Zoning Board Height Variance and Preliminary and Final Site Plan
- CAFRA Permit from NJDEP
- Major Access Permit from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT)
- NJDEP TWA approval
- NJ American Water approval
- Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Plan Certification from Cape Atlantic Conservation District
- Request for Authorization (RFA) to discharge stormwater during construction from NJDEP
Client: Boardwalk Design & Development, Inc.
9615 Ventnor Avenue
Margate, New Jersey 08402
Anthony Cappuccio (609) 487-5959
Period of Performance:
2008 to present
Key Personnel:
Jason T. Sciullo, P.E.
Rick Ricciardi, AICP, PP
