By Dan Moffett
After months of false starts and frustration, work has begun on the Audubon Causeway bridge project.
Manalapan Mayor Pro Tem Peter Isaac said Drawdy Construction of Lake Worth is on the job, horse apple trees have been transplanted off-site, motion-activated traffic lights are in place and he expects the aging bridge to be replaced within the nine-month contractual deadline.
“The south side is to be completed by the end of February,” Isaac said, “and the north side by July.”
He said Drawdy “is looking to accelerate” the pace of work as much as possible, though there are “a lot of unknowns, such as depth of pilings” that could stall progress.
Work will be suspended during the holiday weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas, Isaac said, and demolition of the old structure will move forward in stages beginning in November.
“It’s not going to be done by dynamite. It’s not going to be done by wrecking ball,” he said. “They’re actually going to saw pieces out of it and then take them away.”
The new span will be one foot higher than the old one and is expected to last for about 50 years. The town is hoping to keep the cost of the project under $1 million.
In other business:
• Town Hall has a new $20,000 phone system up and running to improve communication with officials, residents, police, fire-rescue services and also the larger world.
“The other one was 15 years old and needed to be replaced,” said Town Clerk Lisa Petersen. “The new one is much more advanced. The phones are integrated with the computer system.”
The new system enables the town to keep logs of incoming and outgoing phone calls.
• Chauncey Johnstone is representing the Town Commission in talks with La Coquille Club and the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. Some club members have complained about billing practices that require them to use personal credit cards to back up their membership cards when paying for services. Club and hotel employees say they’ve had problems with unpaid bills run up on the membership cards. Johnstone said he hopes to have possible solutions for the commission to consider at the Nov. 17 town meeting.
• During the Oct. 27 meeting, commissioners gave unanimous final approval to a new noise ordinance that sets a 65-decibel limit for residents during the daytime and a 55-decibel limit at night. The commission also gave unanimous preliminary approval to an ordinance that allows construction of flat roofs in the town.
Commissioners also passed a resolution that gives residents who wish to put landscaping on their swales a list of plants the town suggests.
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