47th Place - Almost End of Story

47th Place bill in home stretch
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Friday, December 16, 2005

Updated: Friday, December 16, 2005SEA ISLE CITY-Homeowners on 47th Place are one step away from officially owning the land they had thought they always owned.On Thursday, the state Senate passed a bill authorizing a land swap between Sea Isle City and the state Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP. The bill, which passed the Assembly earlier this week, now needs acting Gov. Richard J. Codey's signature.Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, said he spoke with Codey, and he is expected to sign the bill into law. The governor has until Jan. 10, when a new administration takes over."I think we're going to be there," Van Drew said. "I think we got it done."The bill would clear the titles of nine homeowners caught in a bizarre land dispute.In the past two weeks, the bill moved through the Legislature.State and city officials learned in November that a law was needed to authorize the land swap. The city will give the state two city-owned parcels on 29th Street. That land will be preserved for open space.In May, the DEP informed 47th Place property owners that the state has owned their land for the past 63-years. In 1942, the city sold for $1 the land to the state to dredge the area. But the state never returned the land, which Sea Isle sold in 1966.