ASSEMBLY, No. 2964

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

INTRODUCED MAY 12, 1997

 

 

By Assemblymen CONNORS and MORAN

 

 

An Act appropriating funds from the "1996 Economic Development Site Fund" for an economic development site project in Ocean County.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. There is appropriated to the Department of Environmental Protection from the "1996 Economic Development Site Fund" created by the "Port of New Jersey Revitalization, Dredging, Environmental Cleanup, Lake Restoration, and Delaware Bay Area Economic Development Bond Act of 1996," P.L.1996, c.70, the sum of $4,900,00 for the following project:

 

DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

 

    Barnegat Bay Decoy and

     Baymen's Museum/Tuckerton Seaport, Ocean County...$4,900,000

    Total Appropriation.....................................................$4,900,000

 

    2. The expenditure of the sum appropriated by this act is subject to the provisions and conditions of P.L.1996, c.70.

 

    3. This act shall take effect immediately.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill appropriates $4.9 million from the "1996 Economic Development Site Fund," created pursuant to the "Port of New Jersey Revitalization, Dredging, Environmental Cleanup, Lake Restoration, and Delaware Bay Area Economic Development Bond Act of 1996," (the act) P.L.1996, c.70, to the Department of Environmental Protection for the Barnegat Bay Decoy and Baymen's Museum/Tuckerton Seaport project in Ocean County. The act authorizes the issuance of bonds in an aggregate principal amount of $20 million for the purposes of financing the cost of the purchase of real property, equipment, and any building, construction, and miscellaneous site improvements associated with an economic development site in the Delaware River and Bay Region.

    The museum/seaport project is designed to preserve the cultural and maritime history of the Barnegat Bay and the maritime history of the Port of Tuckerton. It is also a designation on the Coastal Heritage Trail issued by the United States Parks Service. The project would feature an education center, with exhibits to preserve the historical significance of the Port of Tuckerton, rail transportation, memorabilia and artifacts of the Barnegat Baymen and their families, and the artisanship of world-renowned decoy carvers and shipbuilders. The museum/seaport project includes the reconstruction of docks, the rebuilding of a rail spur, workshops, duck hunter shanties, decoy carving shops, blacksmith shops, a sawmill, boat works, a shipyard and a fish processing plant, among other features.

    Completion of this museum/seaport project would significantly enhance the tourism industry in South Jersey by creating jobs and economic incentives for local businesses.

 

 

                             

 

Appropriates $4.9 million from "1996 Economic Development Site Fund" to DEP for Barnegat Bay Decoy and Baymen's Museum/Tuckerton Seaport project.