Community Center

Stone Harbor Council approves concept of community center
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Updated: Wednesday, June 21, 2006

STONE HARBOR — Borough Council on Tuesday backed the concept of a 12,000 square-foot community center.

The vote does not approve a community center or authorize funding, said Councilwoman Anne Wannen, chair of the Beach and Recreation Committee.

Wannen said the committee wanted to know whether council wanted it to proceed with the work.

“This is moving forward with just the concept,” Wannen said before Tuesday's meeting. “A recreation center or community center has been talked about and talked about to death. We either move forward or we don't.”

The borough's Recreation Advisory Committee provided preliminary renderings of a community center and estimated how much it would cost to build and maintain. It also listed activities from basketball to bingo and possible revenue the center could raise.

Wannen said there are several borough-owned properties being eyed for possible sale that would finance the $2.4 million center on 80th Street.

A new community center has remained a hot topic in Stone Harbor.

Last year, talk of a new recreation center sparked two petitions: One supported selling borough-owned land to buy a building, and the other petition opposed that.

Last year, Stone Harbor considered selling an L-shaped parcel with a $3 million starting price to buy land to expand its public works yard, but later quashed the idea.

One petition from last year asked Borough Council to sell that land for the recreation center.

The 12,000-foot recreation center preliminary plan includes an indoor basketball court, fitness center, space for billiards and Ping Pong tables, a kitchen, game room and an arts and crafts room.

To e-mail Brian Ianieri at The Press:
BIanieri@pressofac.com

Peter Maxx

Stone Harbor approves Peter Max mural for water tower
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Updated: Wednesday, June 21, 2006

STONE HARBOR — Peter Max is back.

With a tie-breaking vote needed, Borough Council on Tuesday approved the pop artist's temporary mural atop the water tower for about three months.

Supporters of the public artwork — 30 feet tall and 160 feet around — said it would attract vacationers and the curious alike to this shore town, which competes for summer visitors.

Stone Harbor could garner publicity without having to pay for it, supporters said. The art is donated, with the vinyl sheets and installation paid for by businesses.

But others said the exhibit is using borough property to advertise the artist and the Stone Harbor gallery where his artwork is being sold.

“It's an advertisement for Ocean Galleries (where Max is selling artwork), and borough property is not to be used for advertising,” Borough Councilwoman Anne Wannen said prior to Tuesday's meeting.

Borough Council split 3-3 in a vote on the mural. Mayor Suzanne Walters cast the deciding vote.

“I think it's truly in the best interest of the town,” Walters said.

This is the second year of an attempt to get the pop artist's mural on the baby-blue water tower, which dwarfs every structure around it.

Last year, insurance concerns regarding possible damage to the tower scrapped the plan.

This year, the insurance was worked out, and the project is ready to proceed, Walters said.

Ocean Galleries owner Josh Miller said Max, who has been the official artist for Super Bowls, the World Cup USA and an NHL All-Star Game, loves Stone Harbor. Max hatched the idea last year as a way to raise money for tsunami victims and the Wetlands Institute in Middle Township.

Max donated his work, and seven local businesses donated $35,000 for the installation and expenses, said Miller, who has represented Max for about six years.

Miller told Borough Council he persevered with the project even after it didn't take place last year.

“If I could have distanced myself from it, and Ocean Galleries, I would have distanced myself,” he said.

At a public comment session Tuesday, most spoke in support of the mural, even if they didn't particularly like Max's art.

“Let's not lose this opportunity,” said Buzz McCafferty, a local store owner. “We need to expose more people to the gem we have here. I'm not a Peter Max fan, but I love this project.”

Others hoped it would perhaps gain Stone Harbor national exposure and help raise money for the nonprofit Wetlands Institute.

But opinions about the mural were divided.

Former Councilman James Kilsdonk restated his opinion that the mural would look silly in Stone Harbor.

The mural includes seven images, including angels with doves and a man wearing bell-bottom pants.

Councilman Karl Giulian voted against the mural being displayed from June until September.

“There are too many people in town who do not want it all,” Giulian said.

However, Giulian said he was willing to vote in favor of the mural if the borough would compromise on the amount of time it was displayed.

But the resolution passed on the first attempt.

Miller said he expects the mural may go up as early as Thursday, wind and weather conditions permitting.

To e-mail Brian Ianieri at The Press:BIanieri@pressofac.com

Avalon Mansion

Avalon group to rally against building of Dune Drive mansion

By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Friday, June 16, 2006
Updated: Friday, June 16, 2006

AVALON — A newly formed group called Save Avalon's Dunes is planning a rally today to protest a beachfront mansion that will become the island's largest.

Construction on the nine-bedroom mansion — complete with maid's quarters — started along Dune Drive several months ago on an upscale block in a town of millionaires.

Save Avalon's Dunes member Elaine E. Scattergood said the construction at 5299 Dune Drive cuts through the high dunes and should not have been developed in an environmentally sensitive area.

“We're going to try to fight any more desecration of the dunes,” Scattergood said Thursday. “If you've been an old-timer down here, it's discouraging. I've seen little by little things that are done wrong.”

Avalon officials said the building site has all the proper state and environmental permits. Officials, however, did not want the construction to take place and opposed plans as early as 1999.

“It is a very difficult problem, one in which the borough has very little control. We've exercised every piece of control we have,” said Neil Hensel, chairman of the borough's Planning and Zoning boards.

Schematics of the mansion indicate it will be a sight to see, even by Avalon's standards of luxurious, spacious homes with views of the ocean and bay.

Besides bedrooms and bathrooms, it will have an elevator, media room, game room and servants' quarters.

Its 15,000 square feet would make it almost one-third larger than Avalon's largest current residence — a 10,576-square-foot structure on the bay in Avalon's northern end, said Jeffrey Hesley, the borough's tax assessor.

The land is valued at $7.36 million. And that's without a house on it.

With its wooded surroundings east of Dune Drive, the property offers a glimpse of peace and isolation hard to come by in resort towns where sometimes people opt for rocks instead of grass on lawns.

According to property records, the owner is Michael W. Rice, the president of Utz Quality Foods Inc. in Hanover, Pa.

Rice could not be reached at his office Thursday afternoon.

Brian Reynolds, chairman of Avalon's environmental commission, said the commission held a public hearing in January 1999 relating to the construction there. The commission objected to the size of the project, as well as its effect on the dunes, plants and wildlife, Reynolds said.

Reynolds said the state Department of Environmental Protection initially rejected the property owner's plan. The property owner took the matter to court, where it was mediated, and both sides negotiated a settlement, Reynolds said.

But Avalon officials said they knew nothing of these negotiations until several years ago.

“I think that if people want to change the regulations, then they need to change them in Trenton and not by protesting here,” Reynolds said.

Scattergood plastered posters around Avalon advertising a protest to the construction this morning.

This protest is meant to be a message.

“What the townspeople want is no development at all in the area, but the problem is these people own an acre of ground in the high dunes, which they paid dearly for,” Hensel said. “If we tried to tell them not to build, I don't know how we would do, we'd probably lose a lot of money. But we can't. What they've done is legal in respect to what they're building.”

Lighthouse

Sea Isle City lighthouse might be on the move
Press of Atlantic Press
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Thursday, June 15, 2006
Updated: Thursday, June 15, 2006

SEA ISLE CITY — To survive, the city's almost forgotten lighthouse may take a journey on a sandy road it has been down before: It will have to move.

The Friends of the Ludlum Beach Lighthouse have asked the city to find them a place to temporarily store the 1885 lighthouse, which literally lost its light in 1924 and has been a residence since.

City officials said they are helping find a spot for a possible move.

But moving is what the old lighthouse is good at: It was moved twice in the 20th century.

The house's owner planned to demolish the building at 3414 Landis Ave. to make room for more modern accommodations, but said he will donate it if someone
will transplant it.

Bob Uhrmann, founder of the Friends, said the group is looking for possible lots to store the building.

But the lighthouse more resembles an old-fashioned shore rental than picturesque lighthouse images on postal stamps and framed paintings.

Charles Adams, a Philadelphia schoolteacher who owned the residence since 1993, said the building no longer looks like a lighthouse. He wants to build a rental on the half-million dollar land that currently brings in a fraction of what it could.

Adams said he would be willing to donate the building if the group will have it moved, preferably within a year, he said.

“The city is seeing it as something they recognize it's something they don't want in a landfill now. They see a need for it for the health of the city and the community and the tourists,” Adams said.

Uhrmann said the lighthouse needs a temporary home to get it out of Adams' way. They can convert it into a museum while searching for a permanent location and seeking grant funds to restore it.

City Commissioner Angela Dalrymple was appointed as liaison to the lighthouse group.

“The city hasn't really signed off on what they're going to do, but certainly it's a step in the right direction,” Uhrmann said.

In 1924, the Ludlum Beach Lighthouse was stripped of its Fresnel Lens, sold to the highest bidder, moved off the beach and converted into a private residence.

In 1924, a local newspaper — acknowledging the lighthouse's apparent demise — recognized it as one of the oldest buildings on the island.

The lighthouse was built in 1885 as a guide for mariners upon the requests of city founder Charles K. Landis, according to documents at the city's Historical Museum.

Eighteen years before its construction, a French ship carrying 150 passengers wrecked in a storm and killed three people, according to a letter written by historian Jim Trainor, citing an old Philadelphia Ledger newspaper. Another wreck unloaded a cargo of citrus fruits and nuts, which washed up in bushels on the beach.

The former lighthouse was never really forgotten, but few knew about it. Each year, some lighthouse buffs visit the residence and snap photos. Last weekend, visitors stopped by from San Diego, Adams said.

Phillip W. Bur III, a historian from Pennsylvania, wrote an account of the lighthouse in 1999.

Uhrmann has seen the lighthouse's abiding presence in Sea Isle City as fate.

The lighthouse was moved twice since 1924. If it were in its original oceanfront location on 31st Street during the March 1962 storm, it may have been lost, he has said.

Lighthouses play a unique role in New Jersey's history, said Yvonne Miller, first vice president of the New Jersey Lighthouse Society.

“Our children will never ever see these used again because of the electronics used in shipping today. Europe saves its castles, we want to save our lighthouses,” Miller said.

“People travel the world to see lighthouses and photograph them.”

Uhrmann said the group's goal is to move the building and then open it as a museum while it seeks grants and funding. Eventually, the group would like to reaffix the tower and light to make it resemble its previous self.

“I think Sea Isle is starving for its history, and this is part of it. All we need to do is find a suitable location. In my point of view, the expense is not as much as the heritage it's going to leave for the children,” City Commissioner James Iannone said. “I've watched a lot of old properties go down with a lot of character, and Sea Isle really needs some local point in terms of its history. We really have a flavorful, colorful history, and to preserve it is important.”

Whether the city plans to contribute any money to the efforts — or even how much the whole thing may cost — is another story.

Iannone said, “It's obviously going to cost the city some money. That on top of grants or matching funds from preservations groups.

Mayor Leonard Desiderio said, “we'll lend any assistance we can, but we're not going to be putting any money into this.”

Uhrmann said there was no way to know how much it would cost — or how long it would take — to move it, fund it, repair it and restore it.

It could take a decade or two, he said

To e-mail Brian Ianieri at The Press:BIanieri@pressofac.com

Strathmere Storm Plan

Upper Twp. makes Strathmere storm plan
By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6712
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, June 13, 2006

UPPER TOWNSHIP — As the first tropical storm of the season approached Florida on Monday, the Township Committee about 900 miles away made its own storm contingencies for Strathmere.

This narrow island is especially susceptible to flood problems this season as the ocean tides from Corsons Inlet erode the county road linking Strathmere to Ocean City. Adding to the island's transportation woes, the Cape May County Bridge Commission last month reduced the weight allowed on the Corsons Inlet toll bridge from 9 to 3 tons.

This effectively restricts anything larger than a pickup truck from using one of three exits off the island.

On Monday, the Township Committee drafted a resolution urging Cape May County freeholders to provide two satellite telephones and station a heavy Army-surplus truck at the Strathmere Volunteer Fire Company to evacuate people during a coastal storm.

During past storms, Strathmere has been cut off from its southern egress through Sea Isle City after tidal surges pushed sand onto Commonwealth Avenue, the only road through town. But sand would not be an obstacle to these heavy trucks.

“If there's a storm, Whale Beach could be washed out,” Mayor Richard Palombo said.

The committee also formally approved the assignment of emergency-medical technicians from the Upper Township Rescue Squad to Strathmere's Beach Patrol headquarters this summer. The technicians, who are already on duty daily in Strathmere from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., will be able to respond quickly to any emergency on or off the beach, the mayor said.

Palombo said the township plans to ask the county to contribute money to pay for these workers. The township also donated $10,000 from its budget to the Sea Isle Ambulance Corps for providing mutual aid to Strathmere residents while the weight limit is in place on the bridge.

The committee wants the county or the Bridge Commission to place better signs at both ends of the narrow bridge to give truck drivers advance warning of the weight limit.

Finally, the committee wants the county to enforce the weight restriction. Residents in Strathmere recently counted contracting, delivery and privately owned Humvees that crossed the bridge heedless of the weight limit.

“It's not being enforced. I don't even know why they have a restriction,” Palombo said.

Meanwhile, the township's fire and rescue trucks are expressly forbidden from using the bridge even during an emergency.

The Bridge Commission plans to reinforce the bridge and lift the weight restriction by September, Palombo said.

Committeeman Curtis Corson Jr. said the township should lobby to get one of its residents appointed to the Bridge Commission, a quasi-governmental agency that oversees five toll bridges in Cape May County.

Palombo said the township will urge early evacuations in Strathmere as a precaution if a hurricane threatens southern New Jersey this year.

“We're taking this very seriously,” he said.

To e-mail Michael Miller at The Press:MMiller@pressofac.com

Live Radio Costs

Live radio in Sea Isle will cost $25
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, June 13, 2006

SEA ISLE CITY — City Commission has introduced an ordinance that would require permits for live radio broadcasts held outdoors on the island.

City officials said the ordinance stems from complaints on Memorial Day weekend at the Ocean Drive Bar & Restaurant, where an outdoor morning radio broadcast upset some residents.

But the ordinance does not attempt to address the content of such shows, including an outdoor broadcast of a Philadelphia-based show featuring the topic “shore whores.” City officials said they don't want to know what the topic of a show is beforehand.

Live radio broadcasts would require a $25 permit through the city clerk's office. It would inform police that the event was taking place, while restating an existing noise ordinance in the city, Solicitor Paul Baldini said. It would also state that sidewalks need to be kept clear.

If it were in effect several weeks ago, the law could have addressed noise complaints beforehand, Baldini said.

“It would not address the concerns that people have in regard to content,” Baldini said. He said it's not a permit issued based on anyone's discretion or beliefs about decency.

The radio station that broadcast the May 26th show cannot be picked up on local airwaves but was heard from the street, local officials said.

“Radio broadcasts have been happening for years and years and years in Sea Isle City and through the country,” said Ralph Pasceri, co-owner of the Ocean Drive establishment. “It does seem a little out of hand to try and regulate those, but if the city chooses to do that, we'd be happy to comply.

“We take our neighbors and the town very seriously. We like to be good neighbors and good citizens. We regret off-color commentary was made,” he said.

Mayor Leonard Desiderio said the law is not attempting to regulate freedom of speech, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Desiderio said several residents called police May 26 about a broadcast by WYSP-FM 94.1 in Philadelphia.

A representative from the radio station could not be reached Monday.

Responding to the complaints, Sea Isle City police arrived and the bar owners moved the broadcast inside, Desiderio said.

Baldini said the ordinance will be up for a public hearing at 10 a.m. July 18 at the Townsends Inlet Civic Center.

The issue of outdoor broadcasting has been taken up by Town Watch/Town Pride, a local watchdog group that had pressed the city before on events it claims tarnished Sea Isle's reputation. In 2002, the group opposed an annual morning bar event — dubbed Kegs and Eggs — and the event was later voluntarily discontinued.

“We were just concerned about the general image of the city as the content reflecting not being a family resort,” said Gerry Faiss, of Town Watch/Town Pride

To e-mail Brian Ianieri at The Press:BIanieri@pressofac.com

Excavator Freed

After 2 months, workers dig out excavator stuck on Avalon beach
By JOHN CURRAN
Associated Press Writer
June 12, 2006, 6:25 PM EDT
AVALON, N.J. -- A 150-ton excavator that got stuck on a beach while working on a seawall project was finally freed Monday after work crews removed parts to lighten it.

Just after 5 p.m., a giant construction crane lifted the excavator up and out of the place it sat for more than two months. Onlookers cheered and workmen at the site were seen hugging each other.

The excavator, operated by a contractor working on an Army Corps of Engineers beach project, became mired on the seashore along Townsends Inlet on March 28 and was subsequently buried in sand as the seawater from succeeding tides inundated it.

For weeks, all that was visible was an exhaust pipe and the arm of the excavator.

Previous attempts to remove it have been thwarted, turning the site into a sort of accidental tourist attraction with locals and shore visitors alike lining Ocean Drive to watch the progress of the work _ or lack thereof.

"You have to see it to believe it," said Dennis Maguire, 54, of neighboring Sea Isle City, watching from his parked van Monday afternoon. "It's very interesting."

The Corps project, to build a seawall protecting the northern end of Avalon from the eroding effects of the ocean, was nearing completion when the excavator got stuck.

"It's a mess," said Mike Johnson, 66, of Ocean City, standing on a seawall with his wife to watch. "It's like when you stand in the sand and your feet keep sinking."

Residents of Avalon, a tony summer resort south of Atlantic City, and neighboring Sea Isle City turned excavator-watching into a spectator sport. They showed up with cameras in hand, some bringing small children to watch the work. Many returned day after day.

"I want to get a closer look," said Gus Schrevelius, 5, holding the hand of his mother, Liz Schrevelius, as they stood on the seawall watching Monday

Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary

Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary may get grants, if not birds
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Saturday, June 10, 2006
Updated: Saturday, June 10, 2006

STONE HARBOR — A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program will help find grants to help the 21-acre Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary pump life into the wooded preserve situated amid a sea of concrete.

Robert Bartke, chairman of the sanctuary's advisory committee, said he hopes the borough's partnership with the federal Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program will make the sanctuary more hospitable to herons and egrets.

With enough money, Bartke said work would include fixing or replacing a pipe that brings tidal water into the marsh.

It could also involve removing invasive species and phragmites — where potential bird eaters may lurk — and planting more trees for migrating birds.

Bartke said he hopes for a three- to five-year project that will eventually include observation stations for visitors to peer into the sanctuary, which is offlimits to pedestrians.

“We want to get the sanctuary to where it was many years ago. Make it so we hope the birds will return,” he said.

In September, Stone Harbor Borough Council approved a $50,000 study, one in a long line of speculations and attempted solutions.

At the time, borough officials estimated making the sanctuary more hospitable might cost several million dollars.

For more than a decade, Stone Harbor officials have tried ways to bring more birds to the sanctuary. Herons and egrets abandoned breeding at the site more than a decade ago.

There are a total of 1.3 million birders in New Jersey, 15 percent of whom are nonresidents, said Lillian Armstrong, director of birding and wildlife trails for the state Audubon Society, citing a federal study from 2001.

David Mizrahi, vice president of research at the New Jersey Audubon Society, said the issue of herons may likely be a simple one: predators. Raccoons, possums, feral cats.

“That's likely what drove the birds out. It's hard to know exactly what a bird sees when it looks at a patch of habit, but from our perspective, I don't think there's anything wrong with the habitat per se,” Mizrahi said.

“I'd like to think, if you build it, they'll come, but I don't know if that's the case.”

Mizrahi said there are many things that can be done to improve the habitat and make it a nice place for migrating songbirds. They can remove invasive plants and replace them with fruit bearing shrubs, he said.

As the barrier islands were built out with development, patches of good habitat diminished. The Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary remained and is one of the few shows around on the barrier islands.

With a habitat the circumference of three-quarters of a mile, the sanctuary stands out. In 1965, it became a registered National Landmark.

“When they can find a patch in our world of nearly complete build-out on barrier islands, when they find a patch it can be important, even if it's just a place to rest,” Mizrahi said.

To e-mail Brian Ianieri at The Press:BIanieri@pressofac.com