Township set to buy Ocean Ice Palace

The Brick Township Council was slated to introduce a $9.9 million bond ordinance to purchase the Ocean Ice Palace property on Tuesday.

The price tag includes $5.2 million for the 13.34-acre site, which includes the ice rink, a separate building that was used for visiting hockey teams, and a 25-yard outdoor pool.

The new ordinance is $4.7 million more than the original $5.2 million ordinance the council introduced last summer, then tabled.

The new bond ordinance includes funds for a new parking lot, roof repairs, streetscaping and landscaping, Township Administrator Scott M. Pezarras said Monday.

"Now we are incorporating the first phase of design and site work," he said.

Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis, who has been the driving force behind the Ice Palace purchase, was expected to be out of town all week and could not be reached for comment for this story.

"I think it will end up being a good thing for everybody in Brick Township," Township Council President Ruthanne Scaturro said. "I think it will generate revenue."

The township will finance the purchase through improvement bonds issued by the Morris County Improvement Authority, which has a TripleAbond rating, Pezarras said.

That will save the township the cost of buying bond insurance and putting aside money for a down payment, he said.

"You get a better rate," Pezarras said. "We don't have to buy insurance. We [Brick Township] are not a Triple A rating.

Brick's credit rating is A1, he said.

"It's a good credit rating," he said. "It's just not as good as a Triple A rating. We are piggybacking off their credit rating. We'll save $500,000. We're not going to have to raise the down payment."

The purchase price of the Ocean Ice Palace property remains unchanged at $5.2 million. The township has been quietly negotiating with owner Joan Dwulet all year, Pezarras said.

"We have agreed on a number," he said. "We're just trying to agree on the language in the contract."

The ordinance has to be introduced at the April 22 caucus meeting in order to meet a deadline set by the state Local Finance Board, which must approve the financing arrangement, Pezarras said.

The township plans to eventually use the site for a long-awaited community center, where recreation and senior services will be consolidated in one place. The township currently pays $45,000 a year to rent the Veterans of Foreign Wars building on Adamston Road for senior programs.

The township recreation offices are currently located across the street from the rink, in the Civic Plaza that Brick purchased in 2000 for $1.2 million.

Both the Civic Plaza property and the old township-owned Foodtown site have been for sale for almost a year. Township officials plan to put the proceeds toward the Dwulet property purchase. The recreation offices would be moved into the Ice Palace building, Acropolis has said.

The Ocean Ice Palace purchase was a campaign issue in the last year's mayoral election. Former Democratic Mayor Daniel J. Kelly said the purchase should have been on the November ballot as a referendum question. Acropolis, who defeated Kelly in the election, said the mayoral election would serve as a referendum on the issue.