Convention Hall/Jack Fichter

CAPE MAY — Mayor Edward J. Mahaney Jr. told City Council Aug. 19 a leading marine engineering firm was willing to give the city a proposal to determine the structural integrity of Convention Hall but it told the mayor it would be wasting the city’s money.

The engineer, who Mahaney said he did not wish to identify, although he said the firm constructed docking facilities at Trump Marina in Atlantic City, walked through and climbed under Convention Hall Aug. 15, viewed photos of the hall from its construction until the present time including an era when the waves washed under the building and viewed all plans of the current hall and all improvements made to the infrastructure over its 46 year history.

Mahaney said the engineer told him the hall was not in any imminent danger of collapse but could no longer bear the weight of a crowd. The engineer said it would take at least $2 million to shore up the building to give the building another year or two of use, said the mayor.

Mahaney said the engineer told him the city has received the useful life of the building based on the materials and engineering used in the 1960s.
Before federal beach replenishment, waves broke under Convention Hall from the 1960s until about 1990, he said.

Mahaney said the current hall was built for about $265,000 by member of the city’s Public Works Department.

Interim City Manager Bruce MacLeod, who accompanied the mayor and engineer on the inspection, said Convention Hall had no real salvage value. He said the engineer told him the cost of testing each pier and piling would far exceed putting in a new ones.

“We will move forward with our plans to construct a new convention hall,” said Mahaney.
He said there was some skepticism in the city of an earlier engineering report that permanently closed the current Convention Hall shortly after the need for a new facility was announced.

A second marine engineer was scheduled to offer a proposal to determine the condition of the hall but the mayor said that was called off after the findings of the first firm. He said the two engineers knew each other.

Mahaney said it would a good plan to leave the current hall standing until all approvals are received from the state Department of Environmental Protection. He said that would prevent any problems with determining the footprint of the current facility.

Cape May Recreation Director Terry Brown will move his office from Convention Hall to the former Ricker’s store location on the Promenade, a long vacant city-owned property.
Mahaney said council would look into putting up a temporary facility while a new hall is under construction.

A third town meeting on Convention Hall will be held Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. at Cape May Elementary School. Council will hold a work session meeting beginning at 6 p.m.
Mahaney said he hoped to gain closure on the parameters of a new Convention Hall and have a consensus of residents. He said it would take some compromise.

Council approved a bond ordinance for $10.5 million at the Aug. 19 meeting to finance the construction of a new Convention Hall. Council also passed a resolution authorizing a ballot question in the Nov. 4 election to allow voters to approve or disapprove the bond ordinance.
The voter referendum is binding.