Lavallette Looks for State Funding to Beautify Business District

Lavallette’s downtown business district. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

A project that allowed Lavallette to install brick pavers and aesthetically-pleasing, antique-style street lights in the downtown business district was never completed, and officials are hoping their latest request to the state will lead to a continuation of the effort.

The previous portion of the project, paid for by the state Department of Transportation’s roadway enhancement fund, runs for several blocks in the central portion of the business district. The borough was informed in 2016 that the state had begun accepting applications for the program after it had been suspended.

“We were told at the time that once you’re approved, you’ll continue to be approved, but we submitted the second part and never heard back,” said Mayor Walter LaCicero.

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The borough council this week authorized a new application that will ask the state to fund streetscape improvements from Reese Avenue to Camden Avenue. A concurrent resolution passed by the council promised the borough would maintain the improvements if they are built by the state.

Lavallette’s downtown business district. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

The application had input from both the Lavallette Beautification Committee as well as the Lavallette Business Association.

“It was so nice to read the letters from Beautification and the business association in support of this,” said Council President Anita Zalom. “They were very powerful letters.”