Stone Harbor, Avalon and Sea Isle Happenings

Kayaks

2008-02-11T09:41:00.000-05:00

Avalon considers fee for seasonal storage of kayaks
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, 609-463-6713
Published: Saturday, February 9, 2008

AVALON - The borough is considering charging $25 to store kayaks through the summer near a public access spot to the bay near 57th Street.
Avalon is building storage racks for kayaks, as well as Sunfish and Sailfish boats.

Borough officials said previous storage of private kayaks there cluttered the area and could make them more susceptible to theft.

The area had been used for years for people to keep their kayaks for a season, sometimes chaining them to a nearby fence and leaving them there, said Council President Joe Tipping.

"People would chain these kayaks to the split-rail fence," Tipping said. 'But all you have to do with a split-rail fence is you can drop it away and take it. And those things are expensive," he said.

The area is a popular entranceway for recreational kayakers to the bay.
"It was getting a bit messy looking," said Borough Councilman Charles Covington. "It'll be a little more organized."

Covington said the fee applies only to those who will store kayaks at the site.

"The history of the thing is residents have been using that area for quite a number of years and just randomly putting their kayaks in there," Covington said.

Avalon will limit the permits for kayaks to 90 in the area and 20 for the Sunfish and Sailfish.

Permit holders must also sign a waiver and indemnification form for damage claims to the watercraft.

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

Shore Home Prices Holding

2008-01-19T09:11:00.000-05:00

Shore home prices, sales escape brunt of market downturn

Saturday, January 19, 2008
By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC
Courier-Post Staff

AVALON
Chip Moran just put the family vacation house up for sale.

His father died in July and his mother is in an assisted living facility. Selling the house would help offset the costs for his mother's arrangement, said the Westmont resident.

Moran and his two brothers are asking $2.1 million for the five-bedroom, beach block house on 20th Street. His parents paid about $350,000 for it in the early 1980s.

"If it sells for the price we're looking for, that's the best. But there's no rush on our part. If it doesn't sell and we end up keeping the house, great," Moran said.

The Moran situation typifies the real estate market at the Jersey Shore as the new year unfolds.

While the home-sale market nationwide has gotten hammered since the real estate bubble burst in 2005, the shore has weathered the downturn better than much of the country, said Drew Fishman, president of the New Jersey Association of Realtors.

As a corollary, the repossession market has not hit the shore area, said Lester Argus, president of the Atlantic City & County Board of Realtors. Because so much of the market consists of second homes, neither sellers nor buyers are pressed to transact a sale.

"The shore does better because buying and selling are discretionary," said Richard Perniciaro, director of the Center for Regional and Business Research at Atlantic Cape Community College.

"People are not moving in or out for jobs. Most are in a position to wait a year or two to sell," said Matthew Iannone, president of Freda Real Estate in Sea Isle City.

Yet, real estate experts say the time is better than ever to buy. Prices have come down from the bloated figures of a few years ago. Interest rates are favorable, dipping below 6 percent.

And inventory is high.

"There's more inventory than buyers by a 4-1 margin," said Alex Linsk, a Realtor with Farley & Ferry Realty Inc. in Margate. "Lenders are anxious to get the market started and lend, but they will look a little closer into the buyer's credit history. Still, it doesn't cost anything to make an offer."

Back in 2005, there was a dramatic increase in the number of homes on the market at the same time buyers throttled back, said Randy Leiser, a Realtor with Avalon Real Estate Agency.

"Demand decreased, supply increased, and there were more on the market ever since."

The ups and downs are a cyclical thing, Linsk said. "It happens every seven or eight years. I've seen it three times since the early 1980s."

A lot of professionals, steeped with cash in 2002 and 2003, were sold on real estate.

"They didn't think there would be an end to the boom. Now they're paying the price. They can't sell their properties. Those who spent $500,000 to $1.5 million and thought they can flip with a 20 percent increase, they got hurt," Linsk said.

In 2005, the last strong year at the shore, some 435 units sold in Avalon and Stone Harbor.

Last year, the figures were around 300, Leiser said. But the turnaround began this past year.

"We had a good run in 2007, much better than 2006," Iannone said.

The market experienced a 13 percent drop in the volume of sales in the last year. But prices have not taken the hit other areas did, Argus said.

In Ocean City, the number of sales was up compared to 2006. November and December numbers picked up over the previous year by as much as 25 percent, Fishman said.

"It's not 2005, but it's not bad, and the dollar amounts are well ahead," Fishman said.

Said Iannone, "The asking and selling prices are not far off nowadays. We haven't had a distress sale to any great extent." Certainly, sellers are not going below what they paid for the property, Leiser said.

"One unit came on the market at $740,000 two years ago. It came off for a while, then went back on for $649,000. However, the folks paid $200,000 10 years ago. What has happened, sellers have gotten the message and depending on the situation, are reducing asking prices."

The average sales price has declined from $1.7 million in 2006 to $1.57 in 2007 in Avalon and Stone Harbor.

"The market is not as strong as we'd like it to be," Argus said. "But indicators for 2008 are looking pretty good. Mortgage companies are getting a lot more activity. We hope that translates into sales."

"We believe barring any major economic disaster, there's no cause for a further decline in values during the next 12 months," said Ian Lazarus, president of the Cape May County Association of Realtors.

Moreover, interest rates tend to ease in a presidential election year, he said. Outside of some high-end properties, Realtors aren't seeing bidding wars anymore.

"Buyers can take their time for inspections and due diligence. I think lots of buyers are on the fence figuring when they can get a good buy. Sellers are willing to negotiate," Leiser said.

Not Moran and his brothers. Then again, they don't really have to. Properties over $1.5 million sold even when the market turned, Linsk said.

Shore home buyers come in with their own financing, and larger down payments. They come in with more income. In Ocean City, there was a bidding war for a million dollar home that sold for over the asking price, Fishman said.

So the prospects look good for Moran, a 47-year-old facility manager.

If the house sells, he has a condo on 78th Street in Avalon he'll use more often. Or he and his brothers will get together and buy something else a little less expensive.

"The Jersey Shore is great. I've been all over the country. I'll put Jersey beaches against anybody," he said.

Reach William H. Sokolic at (609) 823-9159 or bsokolic@camden.gannett.com

Library

2007-10-27T15:14:00.000-04:00

Sea Isle City picks site for new library
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, 609-463-6713
Published: Saturday, October 27, 2007

SEA ISLE CITY - Officials picked a site for a $4.5 million library this week, choosing an empty lot on 48th Street instead of the site of an existing library downtown.

A lack of available parking downtown in the summer months prompted City Council's decision, Council President Michael McHale said.

Finding a location for a new county library branch has been a matter of some contention after county library officials announced earlier this year they would build new branches for the city and Stone Harbor.

Because library funding is based on ratables, the two shore communities are the biggest contributors, each paying about $1.4 million annually.

City Council formed three committees to address location, content and whether the city was interested in the county's offer or should consider funding their own library outside the county system.

Although council has not voted on the question about pulling out of the county library system, the committee recommended the city stay in the system, McHale said.
City Council passed a resolution this week to use city-owned land on 48th Street, which was the site of a former sewer plant, for the library.

The city's branch library is now located in downtown Sea Isle City on John F. Kennedy Boulevard. Mayor Leonard Desiderio first championed the site for a new building, citing its central location.

He said Friday that he backs City Council's choice.

"If this is the location council feels it should go with, and as long as we get a new library and stay in the system, I'm happy," he said.

"We're a three-months community, and in the summer months there's no parking in the area," McHale said of the downtown location. "Between people going to the beach and the Promenade, the parking is just not there."

"Our idea is we'd like to see it as a cultural center for the town," he said.

The city also considered a location near the Sea Isle City Elementary School.

New buildings in Sea Isle City and Stone Harbor are expected to cost the county library system about $8.5 million.

Strathmere

2007-10-08T22:58:00.000-04:00

Strathmere wants out of township
By Jacqueline L. Urgo
Posted on Mon, Oct. 8, 2007
Inquirer Staff Writer

STRATHMERE, N.J. - This is a place like no other at the Jersey Shore. Its appeal may be that it's just like everywhere else used to be.
It's a place that still has a collection of ramshackle summer cottages without screens in the windows, the kind of little places where the whole house seems to inhale and exhale when the ocean breezes blow the curtains in, and then back out again.

About a mile-and-a-half long and two blocks wide, nestled on the same barrier island as Sea Isle City and across an inlet bridge from the southern tip of Ocean City, this is a town where the asphalt paving runs only so far down the street leading to the ocean before the sand and the beach grass take over.

There are no traffic lights, no boardwalk, only a couple of seafood restaurants and one motel. And the people who live here year-round seem to like things the way they are.

Except for one thing: Their tiny Cape May County town is part of a sprawling 65-square-mile, mainland municipality that some residents contend doesn't provide adequate services to their beach community.

A group called Citizens for Strathmere and Whale Beach collected signatures from 115 residents - or 83 percent of the registered voters in the town - and last week presented to officials a petition to secede from Upper Township.

The group contends that as a beach town, Strathmere would be a better fit with its neighbor, Sea Isle City, because issues such as beach replenishment, police protection, and concerns about public water and sewers often overlap.

Without a full-time police force in Upper Township, when officers are needed in Strathmere - say, to deal with a rowdy group of out-of-town surfers - they are summoned from a state police station some 20 miles away instead of neighboring Sea Isle.

When Sea Isle put in new lines to provide clean drinking water and state-of-the-art sewers a decade ago, the project was halted at the Whale Beach section of Strathmere bordering Sea Isle. Strathmere remains one of the few Jersey Shore towns with antiquated septic systems.

And while Strathmere's high-school-age students have attended Ocean City High School for decades, elementary students are required to take a 30-minute-plus bus ride to attend classes on the mainland. Proponents of the secession say Strathmere's handful of students would be better served next door in Sea Isle.

But Upper Township officials are not ready for a divorce.

Township committee members rejected the petition, saying it was not explicit enough because it failed to map exactly what lands would be de-annexed from the municipality.

"We're going to act in the best interest of the township," Mayor Richard Palombo said during the meeting last Monday night.

Strathmere accounts for some $390 million, or about 18 percent, of Upper Township's $2.2 billion in property values, contributing a large amount to school and county taxes.

Now members of the petition group must decide whether they will pursue the matter in court. Mary D'Arcy Bittner, the group's lawyer, said the law requires that 60 percent of the voters there need to agree to the secession for it to become law.

After originally stating he would welcome Strathmere residents, Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio has been more reserved in recent comments, saying he would stay out of the Strathmere controversy as it played out.

Some Strathmere residents clearly are ready for a change.

"We're basically second-class citizens to Upper Township," said Delores Reynolds, 78, whose family has owned property in Strathmere since the early 1900s, when the town was known as Corson's Inlet.

"Whenever we ask them for some help with an issue, whether it's police protection or fixing the beach, whatever it is, they act like we're bothering them. We're sick of it," said Reynolds.

Reynolds and others insist the township over the years has consistently failed to provide basic services to Strathmere.

"They have a whole mainland township to worry about, so it's rare that any attention at all is ever given to the beaches and the needs of a beach community," said Strathmere resident Frank Zimmer.

Zimmer said that three years ago, residents expressed surprise when the township embarked on a $20,000 plan to upgrade Strathmere's beach patrol headquarters.

For years, the beach patrol had to make do with a tiny shack and a couple of storage sheds to hold its equipment for the five lifeguard stands it stations on the beachfront each summer.

"That was really the first time in a long time that the township seemed to take any notice of the beach at all," Zimmer said.

Palombo, however, said officials recognize what an important part of the township Strathmere is and that some improvements have been made, including the new lifeguard station, because "we have to realize that Strathmere is a true asset to Upper Township."

Palombo calls Strathmere's apparent desire to secede from Upper Township "unfortunate" and counters the group's claim that the township has not properly responded to the town's needs as a beach community.

"Whenever they've presented us with needs or requests, we've done out best to accommodate any lists of concerns they've given us," Palombo said.

Palombo said that at Strathmere residents' request, the township has provided a full-time EMT on the beach in the summer, speed bumps in certain areas, and an agreement with the Ocean City Fire Department to assist with fire if necessary.

Palombo acknowledged that the residents have a right to sue the township to secede. He also said they are welcome to refile a petition and, if it meets all state law requirements, the township committee would "most certainly pass it on to the Planning Board."

Contact staff writer Jacqueline L. Urgo at 609-823-9629 or jurgo@phillynews.com.

Summer 2007 Almost Over

2007-08-30T23:23:00.001-04:00

Almost Over
By JEREMY W. PETERS
New York Times
Published: August 31, 2007

"EVERYTHING must go!” shouted the clerk manning a T-shirt rack outside Hoy’s Five & Ten, a purveyor of the kinds of trinkets and knickknacks that you would only entertain buying while on vacation.

Stone Harbor, N.J. Dave Hoy, the store’s owner, stood on the sidewalk trying to keep up with the swarm of customers who were snatching up the last of his snow globes, glass animal figurines and shirts advertising where their owners spent the summer.

“My whole thing is to get rid of everything while we can,” Mr. Hoy said, wiping the sweat off his brow as he faced the hot morning sun. In a little more than week, he said, “it’s going to be very quiet.”

As a year-round denizen of Stone Harbor, N.J., for the last three decades, Mr. Hoy knows what happens — or, more accurately, doesn’t happen — in this South Jersey shore town when the summer crowds vanish. Like countless other summer destinations across the country after Labor Day each year, Stone Harbor goes into hibernation. It will be a sedate, even desolate, place where it’s easy to find a parking spot, but not so easy to get a pizza delivered. Most of the million-dollar homes will sit dark, and drivers will be permitted to make right turns at red lights again.

But on a late-August weekend, the town was anything but sedate. Mobs of Stone Harbor’s summer dwellers were squeezing all they could out of their last days of summer freedom: one last round of rooftop miniature golf, one last dinner under the stars — probably something with crab in it — and one last header into the breaking waves. They were all trying not to think about the regimented lives awaiting them on the other side of the waterway.

Chris Hartzell, the 22-year-old manager of Shades of Stone Harbor, a sunglasses boutique, said leaving town never gets any easier. “It’s probably the worst feeling, driving out on Avalon Boulevard across the bridge,” he said. “Because you know your summer is gone.” He was planning to make that drive last Sunday so he could head back to school.

For the last 15 years, Mr. Hartzell, a student at East Stroudsburg University in eastern Pennsylvania, has spent each summer at his parents’ house in Avalon, the “other” town on a seven-mile spit of sand that sits just off Cape May on New Jersey’s southernmost shore, about 150 miles from New York City.

When he gets back to school, where he still has to write a term paper he didn’t finish before bolting for the shore at the end of May, he said he will do what he does at the beginning of every new school year: regale his friends with stories of his summer. “That’s all I talk about,” he said proudly. “I just tell them it’s the best place. Ever.”

Even at its busiest, Stone Harbor has an unruffled feel to it. Its 1,200 year-round residents watch their town’s population mushroom to more than 20,000 in the summer. But even in high season, it’s easy to lose yourself on a stroll down the beach or a bike ride down Second Avenue, the main drag. The island is only about two or three city blocks wide at most points, so the beach is never far.

It lacks the commercial feel of other Jersey Shore towns like Ocean City, about a 25-mile drive to the north, or Wildwood, a 15-minute drive south. There is no boardwalk. No roller coaster.

“There isn’t a bad time to be down here,” said Mary Ann Lafferty, 60, a first-grade teacher visiting from Williamstown, N.J. Like many of the town’s seasonal visitors, she has been vacationing in Stone Harbor since she was young, and couldn’t shake the sand out of her shoes. “It’s been my place as long as I can remember,” she said wistfully. “You know what they say, a bad day at the shore is better than a good day at work anytime.”

THE preferred style for beach houses, which are densely packed onto a Manhattan-esque street grid, is Cape Cod with a distinctive New Jersey accent — the more windows, balconies and gables, the better. It’s not uncommon for homes to sell for well over $1 million, yet the area is decidedly unpretentious. Flip-flops are never frowned upon, and restaurants won’t scoff if their patrons bring a cooler of beer to drink with dinner.

While many of the hotels are resort-motel hybrids, they charge resort prices — between $200 and $250 a night for a room during peak season.

Staffing the town’s hotels, restaurants and shops gets difficult after Labor Day. Stone Harbor’s businesses rely heavily on college students, many of whom are enjoying all the carefree time they can before the real world beckons.

Chloe Obando, 21, a University of Delaware senior, was working her last shift on Saturday night as a waitress at Solé, an Italian restaurant in downtown Stone Harbor. Once the last plate of crabmeat ravioli had been served, she and her roommate were planning to make the two-hour drive back to school in Newark, Del. They spent all summer working at Solé and living in nearby Sea Isle City. But this season was most likely their last together on the shore.

“I’ll probably have to find a real job,” Ms. Obando said, looking sunburned and sounding a bit forlorn during a brief break from hustling between tables. “You can’t live on the beach forever.”

She said she would miss watching lifeguard races on Friday nights and evenings out at the Princeton, Avalon’s hot spot for 20-something night life. Downtown Stone Harbor is lacking as far as night life is concerned, she noted dryly.

But leaving Stone Harbor will also be a release, in a way. The town may be a summer getaway, but many people like Ms. Obando, who uses her summer job to pay for tuition, find that Stone Harbor can be a grind. When asked the emotion she felt most strongly on her last night at Solé, she responded without having to think, “relief.”

Stone Harbor, N.J. Tom Gilardi, a 20-year-old junior member of the town’s police force, was counting the days until Labor Day, when he will head back to school. In Stone Harbor, even the law enforcement is seasonal.

Mr. Gilardi, a student at Burlington County College in Burlington, N.J., said he was tiring of the job’s mundane tasks like foot patrol, writing parking tickets and opening car doors for people who locked their keys inside. Besides, he still has another round of academy training to go before he can carry a pistol. The only weapons on his belt were a baton and pepper spray.

“It’s repetitive,” he said. “You go out, walk around, talk to business owners, check your meters and wait for something to happen. I won’t mind getting back to class.”

Most of his friends are already gone, and he said there were little ways that made it seem like summer was over in Stone Harbor. “You can already tell the seasons are changing,” he said. “The sun doesn’t set on 96th Street anymore.”

LAST Sunday, Charles and Doris Mapes sat in the sand, their chairs facing the ocean so they could catch the last bit of sun before driving back home to Lawrence Township, N.J. While most of Stone Harbor may be packing up, the Mapeses are not letting summer slip away without a fight. They plan to return to their house on 98th Street a few more times before the weather turns cold.

“Why would you want to leave this?” Ms. Mapes, 70, asked, her arms outstretched toward the open ocean. “It’s hard to go home to the normal routine of life. You can get very lazy down here.”

But the Mapeses know they can’t stall winter forever.

“It’s sad to see summer come to an end — always,” she said. “It happens every year, and it always comes too soon.”

Money Surplus

2007-08-19T22:29:00.001-04:00

High property values equal unwieldy surpluses for some libraries
8/19/2007, 5:02 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press

AVALON, N.J. (AP) — Far from crying poverty, public libraries in some well-to-do New Jersey shore towns may be getting too much of a good thing.

The booming shore real-estate market combined with a 120-year-old state law that allocates a fixed percentage of local taxes to libraries has created a surplus that has reached in the millions in some cases.

In Avalon, where taxable real estate has tripled since 2004, $2.3 million will go the town's library this year. In Ocean City, officials expect a library surplus of more than $4 million.

Now, town officials want legislators to modify the law so they can transfer some of the surplus to addressing other municipal expenses. The New Jersey State League of Municipalities plans to continue pushing for a change.

"Some of these towns, their library systems cannot possibly spend the amount of money they're collecting," William Dressel Jr., the league's executive director, told the Philadelphia Inquirer for Sunday newspapers.

But library advocates warn that the law is a necessary fail-safe because it stops politicians from cutting library budgets.

The real-estate slowdown may act as a natural regulator. And some local officials point out that library revenues fall under a state cap on how much property taxes can be raised, currently at four percent. The more towns raise for libraries, the less wiggle room they could have under the cap.

___

Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.philly.com

Turtles

2007-07-29T09:19:00.000-04:00

Dredge spoils could become terrapin nursery in Cape May County
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Sunday, July 29, 2007

AVALON — Researchers are experimenting with sand dredged from the ocean floor to determine whether diamondback terrapins will use it to lay eggs.
Their aim is to find places for turtles to nest other than road embankments — with their four-wheel hazards. But the idea has sparked interest in more than turtle researchers. Another use for the materials may prove fruitful when officials search for places to stock the spoils after dredging waterways.

The Wetlands Institute in Middle Township, Cape May County, received a $100,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation’s I BOAT NJ program. The Richard Stockton College Coastal Research Center is also involved.

Wood said the research involves looking at potential dredge materials for nesting as well as potential sites for it to be placed to draw turtles away from the highways.

“This is really early preliminary stuff. Who knows what’s going to happen?” said Roger Wood, director of research at the Wetlands Institute and a zoology professor at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in Galloway Township

Over the years, development on barrier islands and construction of roads through salt marshes changed the habits of diamondback terrapins. As humans developed the land over the past century, terrapins developed different nesting habitats: seeking road embankments to lay their eggs above the high-water line.

The Wetlands Institute is close to documenting its 7,000th confirmed road kill in almost 20 years of recordkeeping, Wood said.

Their efforts also include extracting eggs from crushed turtles and incubating them, as well as erecting mesh fencing along some roads to keep the turtles from crossing during nesting season.

But the experiments with alternate nesting habitats seek to remove roads from the equation.

The concept sparked Avalon’s interest.

The borough plans extensive dredging of its harbors, lagoons and bays over the next decade.

Dredging produce large quantities of materials, said Stewart Farrell, of the Coastal Research Center.

“The problem is, where do you put it?” he said.

Avalon is proposing to the state Department of Environmental Protection transforming a dredge disposal island it owns and building a road to it.

The road, Avalon Borough Engineer Tom Thornton said, would make it easier and more cost effective to remove dredge materials from the island once they dry.

As a result, it could be used as a recycling center for dredge materials. Otherwise, the island would be almost stocked to capacity after dredging this fall, Thornton said.

But their plan involves disturbing three acres of wetlands to build the road and then reducing the size of the existing dredge disposal island to compensate for the environmental impact.

The proposed project will also require environmental and wildlife studies, officials said.

Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi said proposing the area on Macchia’s Island as turtle nesting habitat is part of their application to the DEP to make the project more appealing.

“How are they going to say no to turtles?” he said.

Macchia’s Island is a pear-shaped island and existing dredge-disposal site located between Avalon and Middle Township.

Middle Township has also supported the idea for dredging it plans near Avalon Manor, which is in Middle Township.

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

Expensive Taste

2007-07-18T08:55:00.000-04:00

Marauding mink plunders plover nest in Stone Harbor Point
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, July 18, 2007

STONE HARBOR — Eggs of one of the state’s most expensive birds were eaten by minks, whose fur produces some of the world’s most expensive coats.
And this in one of New Jersey’s most expensive seaside resort towns.

State environmental officials said they believe a mink ate the eggs in two and perhaps three piping plover nests located on Stone Harbor Point.

But the appearance of the soft, furry, semi-aquatic mammal represents just one of the problems this year with piping plovers on Stone Harbor Point.

A combination of flooding and hungry laughing gulls and foxes have hurt the nesting season in the quiet, sandy habitat located in the southern end of Stone Harbor, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection said Tuesday.

“(It’s) not going as well as we had hoped,” said Darlene Yuhas, spokeswoman for the DEP’s Division of Fish and Wildlife.
To date, 17 nesting pairs of the tiny shorebirds produced three young, she said. Other hatches are pending, as are census results.

Piping plover eggs can prove easy fare for wildlife eyeing the early-bird menu. To combat this, biologists place cages that wrap around the nests to limit cats and raccoons, for example.

But the mink, officials believe, was small enough to sneak through the cage.

“We have predator issues at all of our sites. In this case, based on tracks that were observed at the scene, evidently we did lose some eggs to a mink,” Yuhas said.

“Most predators can’t get through that caging, but in some cases very small ones can. It doesn’t happen too often, but it has happened before,” Yuhas said. “We have had minks destroy nests previously, so it’s not unprecedented, but it hasn’t happened very often.”

New Jersey considers the piping plover endangered.

Federal preliminary estimates from 2006 listed 116 nesting pairs in New Jersey.

The tiny piping plovers were listed as federally endangered and threatened in 1986, depending which of three North American locations they breed.

Their protection warrants extensive and costly efforts on both the federal and state levels.

Meanwhile, the traces of a mink was somewhat of a surprise at Stone Harbor Point, although minks are around.

The state identifies the population of minks as stable.

State Fish and Wildlife in 2005 and 2006 reported trappers harvested 1,656 minks.

Stone Harbor Point is located in an area away from houses and roads and on the outskirts of the bathing beaches.

The nesting area is roped off to prevent pedestrians from trouncing on the sand that serves as habitat for piping plovers, black skimmers and least terns.

Nesting wildlife have also witnessed another odd occurrence last month.

In the space of nine days, two small airplanes toting advertisements made emergency landings on Stone Harbor Point. Officials said no wildlife was injured in either case.

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

Deserted Island

2007-07-14T07:59:00.000-04:00

Birds, boaters both fond of deserted island in Cape

By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6712
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, July 14, 2007

STONE HARBOR — The New Jersey Audubon Society wants the state to beef up protection for nesting shorebirds at Champagne Island.

This shifting sandbar in Hereford Inlet is home to the state's largest colony of rare black skimmers. But the deserted island is a favorite haunt of boaters, too, because they can drink alcohol, grill food and relax without worrying about being pestered by beach-badge checkers, police or lifeguards.

New Jersey Audubon would like to ban boats from the island during the skimmers' breeding season, which coincides with Cape May County's boating season.

Perhaps the biggest conservation obstacle is the island's unusual geography. It straddles the border between Middle Township, Stone Harbor and North Wildwood. No town has taken responsibility for the island.

“It's this ephemeral sandspit, just most of an acre at high tide,” New Jersey Audubon spokesman Eric Stiles said. “This site is critically important to a very imperiled species.”
The state Department of Environmental Protection regularly cordons off large sections of the island while the birds are nesting. But some people pay no heed to the barriers, especially when the rising tide shrinks the sandbar, said Don Freiday, director of birding for New Jersey Audubon's Cape May Bird Observatory.

The skittish birds do not tolerate people or their dogs. When the adults take flight their chicks are exposed to the heat of the sun and hungry gulls, he said.

“A lot of boaters get it. They're respectful of the signs and accept that. More than a few like the birds,” Freiday said. “But over the Fourth of July weekend, it became party town. People were there with grills and Hibachis and they moved into the colony.”

This year, royal terns are nesting on Champagne Island. This is the first breeding colony ever observed in New Jersey, Freiday said.

“That's an exciting development,” Freiday said. “Now there are over 100 royal terns around Champagne Island.”

But he and other birders are concerned about the future of the black skimmers. Not long ago, the state had two large colonies of the birds. Now the largest colony consists of just 1,400 individuals off the coast of southern Cape May County.

“Not only do we have eggs literally in one basket, but we've paved over most of the other baskets,” Stiles said.

The migratory birds are protected by law and are considered threatened with extinction in New Jersey. The black and white birds get their name from the longer lower bills they use to skim the water's surface in search of fish.

Skimmers can be fickle in their choice of nesting spots. For many years they nested off the nearby Stone Harbor Point, which has far more room than Champagne Island.

Freiday said there are no known predators on Champagne Island, unlike Stone Harbor Point, which has red foxes and raccoons.

Skimmers share the vegetated sandbar with about 700 common terns and another 100 or so royal terns.

According to New Jersey Audubon, the DEP does not have enough conservation officers to protect the state's natural resources adequately. The nonprofit group said there are 17 vacancies, a number neither the governor's office nor the DEP would confirm Friday.

The state also relies on volunteers who ask beachgoers to observe regulations designed to protect shorebirds.

DEP spokeswoman Darlene Yuhas said the agency received reports of conflicts between people and birds this week.

“We increased enforcement there. We are investigating it,” she said.

She said people who observe illegal activity such as the harassing of protected shorebirds can call the environmental action line at 1-877-WARN-DEP.

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

Sea Isle School?

2007-05-22T07:03:00.000-04:00

Academic question: Should Sea Isle have a school?
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Tuesday, May 22, 2007

SEA ISLE CITY — The future of the small Sea Isle City school will soon be decided.

City officials, school leaders and residents met last month for a series of public forums about what should become of the 93-student, pre-K-to-8 Sea Isle City School District, which is facing the possibility of seeing even fewer students if the school-age population in the resort decreases as projected.

The Board of Education may make a decision this month, school board president Steve Zellers said Monday.

A school board work session is scheduled for tonight at 6 p.m., and another meeting is set for May 29.

“It's a very difficult decision for everybody involved,” Zellers said “The difficult part of it is if you vote on closing the school, basically you can never start up again.”

Last year, the City Commission funded a feasibility study by the Educational Information and Resource Center.

The study released in March estimated the school's per-student spending — already the highest in the state at $33,805 — will grow to $39,160 in five years.

For the 2007-08 school year, the city's school will cost taxpayers about $3.2 million.
Maintaining the school as it is would cost between $1.1 and $2.3 million more than sending students out of district, the report estimated.

But sending students to another district has drawbacks. It would reduce the control the residents have over school programs and future spending.

The future of the school could include keeping it operating as normal. It could also involve sending some or all of its students to other school districts — most likely Ocean City.

High school students in Sea Isle City attend Ocean City High School.

“It looked like it was pretty clear we have one of three options,” said school board member and City Councilman-elect Michael McHale. “One is looking at keeping the school as it is, two is Ocean City completely, or three just sending grades 6-8 to Ocean City.”

“The board has to make some tough decisions.”

There are other issues involved. The school building also has leaks and other problems. A long-range facilities plan from October identified nearly $2.2 million in repairs, the city's Interim Chief School Administrator Timothy Wade has said.

At public forums, residents voiced mixed feelings about the school: some said it should stay open for the good of the community; others, that the class sizes are too small.

“It's a big thing to be addressed,” Zellers said.

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

School Days

2007-04-19T00:41:00.000-04:00

Sea Isle discusses school's fate at forum
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, April 18, 2007

SEA ISLE CITY — At tables stationed between foul lines on the school gymnasium's basketball court, residents began public discussions on the fate of the city's only school.

Enrollment at the 93-student school is declining and could drop to 61 in five years, with class sizes too small to field a basketball team, according to projections.

More than 100 residents attended a public forum Monday night, sitting in groups and brainstorming the pros and cons of keeping the small school on Park Road or sending students to other districts.

Among the considerations were decreased school taxes if the school closed, paired with loss of community if it closed. Joining another district could also mean the school loses much of its elected representation on a school board.

“I think this community has some tough decisions to make,” said Interim Chief School Administrator Timothy Wade. “My experience is that although this is hard, time-consuming and messy-in a democratic sense — it's far better than a board in isolation making a decision (the public) feels they don't have a say in.”

The city scheduled a second public forum for April 23.

The results will be put in the form of minutes and distributed to the city Board of Education, said Charles Ivory, executive director of the Educational Information and Resource Center, which published a city-funded feasibility study on the school in March.

Wade said the student population is expected to drop over the next five years, to 81, 69, 65, 64 and 61.

Class sizes of six to eight students per grade are possible, he said.

As a result, the per-student spending will go up.

Already the highest in the state at $33,805 per student, the school's per-student spending is nearly three times the state average.

City officials said the Board of Education will face an important decision.

At Monday's forum, the likeliest options included keeping the school as it is or sending all students to the Ocean City School District.

The feasibility study also included the possibility of sending students to Middle or Dennis townships. Sea Isle City currently sends it high school students to Ocean City.

“My eyes are open a little more,” Mike Boyle said following the meeting.

Boyle said he feels the city should try to keep the school open “for the spirit of our community.”
“Yes, it will have some cost, but we won't lose that spirit,” he said.
John Vliet supported sending students to Ocean City.

“Our kids need that socialization you have when you're with more students,” Vliet said.

Keeping the school has obvious advantages and disadvantages on paper.

Sending students to Ocean City would drop the school-tax rate about 30 percent, or $181 for a homeowner with a $564,000 house, which is the average assessment, Wade said.

Also, the school building leaks and has other problems.

A long-range facility plan from October 2006 identified $2.2 million in repairs “that are in the realm of must be made,” he said.

But if it joined another district, Sea Isle City would likely lose representation on the elected body that decides future tax rates and educational issues, he said.

There could be other losses as well.

Inside the school's gymnasium are banners proudly touting past successful soccer and sports teams through the decades.

Tara Crowell said she would like to see the school remain open for younger students but perhaps send middle-school-aged students to another district.

Wade said the forums serve to eliminate rumors or inaccurate information regarding the school and to allow residents to listen for themselves.

“This was really good to answer some basic questions… and now that you have a baseline of data, what do you do?”

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

Name Change

2007-02-08T01:02:00.000-05:00

What's In a Name?

Cape May County Herald
January 24, 2007
www.capemaycountyherald.com

STONE HARBOR - It's official. It's not North Basin anymore. From now on, the correct name for that bay area will be Smuggler's Cove, which according to the resolution adopted by council January 16 "is a much more colorful name for a popular recreational area."

Solicitor Michael Donohue gained praise for his flowery language and explained that there would be no conflict with official maps as long as North Basin is listed as a "formerly known as."

Colonnade Inn Renovated

2007-01-02T21:34:00.000-05:00

An old Victorian style building from the 1800's is renovated and re-opened for summer tourists along the Jersey Shore
Tuesday, 02 January 2007
New Age Media Concept

SEA ISLE CITY, NJ, (NAMC) - The Colonnade Inn is pleased to announce it’s post-restoration Grand Opening in 2007.

Located 1.5 blocks from the Atlantic Ocean in Sea Isle City, the Colonnade Inn is an old Victorian hotel that was originally built in 1883. It is the only remaining testament in the beach town of Sea Isle City to the architectural style of a time that has long since passed.

In 2004, the Colonnade Inn was purchased by the Colonnade Investment Group who carefully restored the building with an aim to preserve it’s Victorian style and history. Today the Colonnade gives its visitors a glimpse into the past of not only Sea Isle City but of most shore towns on the Jersey Shore.

For much of its history, the Colonnade Inn has been operated as either a hotel or bed and breakfast. It has 19 rentable units most of which feature jacuzzi tubs and fireplaces. Units range from 1 room studios to 3 room suites. All unites are available for rent year-round.

In the Summer, the Colonnade Inn is run as a bed and breakfast. Coffee and baked goods are provided in the mornings, and daily cleaning services are offered. Most units feature cable television and high-speed wireless internet.

The Colonnade Inn is located only 1.5 hours from Philadelphia and 2 hours from New York City. It is less than one hour from Rowan University and only 25 minutes from the heart of Atlantic City.

Because of its accessibility and location along the Jersey Shore, Sea Isle City has become a thriving beach town in the summers and popular weekend vacation spot even in the fall and winter. The Colonnade Inn is regularly booked throughout the year for weddings, family gatherings and holiday events.

With its recent restoration, The Colonnade Inn is now able to provide modern amenities such as central AC, cable and wireless internet into each room. Additionally, there is a victoria style common room with a big screen tv and a beautiful wraparound porch with an ocean view.

No Parking Here

2006-11-16T09:40:00.000-05:00

County says no sale to offer from Avalon condo group to buy land
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Thursday, November 16, 2006

AVALON — Cape May County freeholders on Tuesday night rejected a $61,000 bid by the Windward Harbor Condominium Association to purchase county property for additional parking.
The county's asking price was $1.1 million.

There were no other bidders at the Oct. 27 auction because the land — located on the county right of way off Ocean Drive and capable of adding 17 parking spots — cannot be built on.

Windward Harbor on Ocean Drive and Seventh Street burned down in a December 2003 fire.

The 45-unit complex has since been rebuilt. However, when the Avalon Zoning/Planning Board approved its plans in 2005, it asked the association to look for more parking spaces.

The association was not required to find them.

County Administrator Stephen O'Connor said the county's appraiser Metro of Marmora appraised the 4,535–square-foot land at $1.1 million.

Its value included the additional units that could be created by the additional parking, he said.

Because zoning requirements changed since it was built in 1970, Windward Harbor required more parking spots when it was rebuilt 35 years later.

Board Chairman Neil Hensel said the county's appraisal number seemed especially high for an unbuildable piece of property, and he would not expect the condominium to purchase that property at that price.

“We asked them (Windward Harbor) to pursue it to the best of their ability,” Hensel said. “They've done their job of trying.”

The condominium complex, located on a 71,900 square-foot parcel of land, sits off the bay in Avalon's northern end.

The condo association had previously and unsuccessfully sought room for additional parking from nearby property owners.

“Even with county land, Windward Harbor will rely on ... on-street parking,” according to the Planning/Zoning Board's approval, dated February of 2005.

The condominium association is represented by attorney Michael Fusco.

A woman answering the phone at his Ocean City office Wednesday said Fusco does not speak to reporters.

Anthony Taormina, president of Windward Harbor's board of directors, could not be reached Wednesday.

On Dec. 3, 2003, a fast-moving fire struck Windward Harbor.

It took 125 firefighters from 10 fire companies almost five hours to contain the blaze. The fire was so hot it melted parts of nearby fire trucks and houses.

There were no injuries, but the fire destroyed seven of eight buildings that comprise the complex.

The eighth building was demolished in May 2005 to make room for the new construction.

“This is one of those disasters that happens to a town once in a lifetime,” Hensel said.

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

Elevator Approved

2006-11-15T12:19:00.000-05:00

Spirit willing but knees weak: Sea Isle OKs church elevator

By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, November 15, 2006

SEA ISLE CITY — For years, pallbearers have navigated the steep steps at St. Joseph's Catholic Church with particular care. But as Americans have grown heavier, the short trip down 12 concrete steps has grown even more precarious.

The quick drop from the church to the sidewalk on Landis Avenue means pallbearers must hold the weight of caskets above their heads, and it has become more difficult as caskets have gotten heavier, the Rev. Stephen Carey said.

Because of that, and because the congregation is growing older — with knee replacements and sore backs unable to climb those stairs — the church sought and received site plan approval at a city Planning Board meeting Monday night to construct an elevator at the quaint 104-year-old church.

“I dread to see the day when a casket goes down the front of that church, because they're very steep and caskets are getting heavier,” resident John Henry said, speaking before the Planning Board and asking the elevator be approved.
Entering or leaving the church means walking up the steps. With a heavy casket, that walk can be difficult.

Carey said even young, strong pallbearers have trouble carrying the casket up the stairs and to the back of the church.

An estimated 65 percent of adults 20 years old or older are either obese or overweight, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the size of caskets has not increased “Once in a while we have to order an oversized casket,” Radzieta Funeral Home Director John Radzieta said Tuesday.

The church's plans call for the elevator to be 8 feet 5 inches by 5 feet 8 inches — deep and rectangular in order to accommodate coffins and those carrying them.
The elevator had the support of parishioners who attended the Planning Board meeting.

Many were concerned that the steep stairway was keeping the elderly from attending daily Mass.

The church's parishioners include 1,050 families — “good, bad and indifferent” — and includes year-round and seasonal populations, Carey said. More than half are senior citizens.

“I hope I'll have plenty of chances to come to church and use it (the elevator). And not necessarily in a casket, but that is a good feature,” said Jack Gibson, a parishioner and former state assemblyman.

“It's for a necessity. I'm becoming older, and I look forward to riding that elevator,” Ernie Marcacci said.

Michael McHale, a former Sea Isle City mayor who serves on the parish council, said the church hopes to have the elevator built and in use by May

Emergency Repairs

2006-10-21T09:38:00.000-04:00

Sea Isle City to repair geotube to protect Landis Avenue from sea

By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, October 21, 2006

SEA ISLE CITY — The city on Friday authorized $95,000 for emergency repairs to its geotube — the sausage-shaped sandbag that lines its northern beaches to prevent erosion and keep waves from hitting the streets.
City Engineer Andrew Previti said storm damage badly ripped three sections of the artificial sand dune at Seventh, Eighth and Ninth streets last week.

Previti said he believes the waves carried a piece of timber or metal, puncturing the geotube's lining.

“So many things are out in the ocean either dumped from ships or pilings that break loose from different locations,” he said.

The city will replace 25-foot and 10-foot portions of the geotube, while other sections between First and 10th streets have smaller tears and can be sewn together, he said.

The geotube is the last line of defense between the Atlantic Ocean and Landis Avenue. Although designed to be covered by sand, the geotubes are exposed from the erosion. The geotubes were installed along a stretch of Landis Avenue in Sea Isle City in 1998, after a February storm caused $645,000 in damage to 3,900 feet of the road.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio called the latest repairs a Band-Aid for a larger problem — needed beach replenishment from Townsends Inlet to Great Egg Harbor.

“The ocean has not breached with this geotube, and it's done a remarkable job protecting Landis Avenue and the city in the north end,” Desiderio said.

Earlier this week, Desiderio met with Ocean City Mayor Sal Perillo and Upper Township Mayor Richard Palombo to talk about future appeals to federal lawmakers to push for beach-replenishment money.

A project that would include Sea Isle City, Strathmere and Ocean City could cost more than $50 million, Desiderio said. There is no funding in place yet.

Those towns are not alone when it comes to finding funding for beach replenishment.

In March, Avalon paid $2.8 million to pay for stocking beaches.

Avalon officials felt that, without the dredging, part of their town — as well as the beach, its main tourist attraction — would have been destroyed by the ocean.

Before this year, Avalon's last beach fill was in 2003, when it entered a 50-year partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Under that agreement, the federal government pays more than half the costs.

But this year, Avalon went it alone, concerned about severely eroded beaches and aware that a federal government project might be almost three years away.

Avalon Public Works Director Harry deButts said strong west winds have been helping restock beaches damaged by storms this fall.

However, Avalon's northern end will require some work in the spring, he said.

This may include backpassing (pushing the sand from one area to another) or perhaps another dredge project, deButts said.

A beach fill through the Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to be funded in 2007, but that has been delayed, he said.

It is now anticipated for late 2008 or early 2009, he said.

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

Lawsuits

2006-10-07T23:00:00.000-04:00

Suits fly over chip king's beach house

Suits fly over chip king's beach houseA group sued to halt construction of Utz potato chip magnate Michael Rice's mansion in the dunes. Rice is suing Avalon

By Jacqueline L. Urgo
Inquirer Staff Writer

AVALON, N.J. - A group of property owners trying to preserve a coastal anomaly known as the Avalon High Dunes has sued a Pennsylvania potato chip magnate, the borough and New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection in its latest effort to halt construction of the chip king's 14,000-square-foot beach mansion.

At the same time, Utz Quality Foods president Michael Rice has sued Avalon for denying his application to add one more luxurious amenity to his Dune Drive property - a large swimming pool.

The lawsuits are the latest salvos in a saga that has pitted hundreds of local and summer residents against Rice, and his wife, Jane. Jane Rice is marketing vice president of the Hanover, Pa., snack-maker.

Placard-toting demonstrators, printed flyers and outbursts at municipal meetings denouncing the mansion have punctuated life in the tony beach town for months. The mansion is being built on more than an acre of the Avalon High Dunes - a two-mile stretch of mostly undeveloped sandy grasslands and maritime forests that is one of the few such natural areas left on the East Coast.

The Rices already own one of the largest beach houses in Avalon, a 7,000-square-foot home assessed at $8.75 million, located a few blocks from the new mansion.

Rice's attorney, Richard Hluchan of Voorhees, said this week that the Rices would use the opulent new mansion as a summer residence. Construction began last spring.

"People can oppose whatever they want and say whatever they want about the property, but Mr. Rice has lawful approvals and permits from the DEP and from the borough to continue the construction of his home," Hluchan said. "And he will."

Hluchan said Rice's lawsuit is based on approval the snack king received in 2001 from the DEP to replace a 1,429-square-foot dwelling on the property with a single-family home, swimming pool and cabana.

When completed, Rice's mansion will be six times the size of the average U.S. home and will include 40 rooms, 15 bathrooms, and maids' quarters.

The mansion under construction is a scaled-down version of the 20,000-square-foot home the couple originally wanted to build on the 1.2-acre dune-top property they purchased in 2000 for $3.5 million.

In 2001, the couple reached a legal settlement with the DEP allowing them to build a 14,000-square-foot home on the site.

The mega-size mansion has sparked a trend in Avalon, where the median price of a home is more than $1 million. In the last several months, the borough has fielded applications and queries about construction of other huge homes and restaurants in the dunes and in other areas of the barrier island community.

That has prompted a group of more than 150 property owners called Save Avalon Dunes to kick into high gear.

This summer, members of the group held several demonstrations outside the Rice mansion construction site. The group also tried unsuccessfully to get the borough and the DEP to impose stronger regulations against development in the high dunes area.

But by the end of the summer, SAD founder Elaine Scattergood said the group, now incorporated as a nonprofit, felt it needed to take legal action.

"We don't want to look like Wildwood, and the borough is basically doing nothing to prevent this," Scattergood said. "It's not just this one issue or this one house, it's a pattern of development that could forever change the way Avalon is and has been for a very long time."

The lawsuit seeks to invalidate the April 2001 agreement between Rice and the DEP that allows the construction of the mansion. The suit alleges that the state failed to properly notify Avalon and the public about the agreement as "required by governing regulation" and that the permit was granted without "rational determination that the proposed construction will result in 'minimal practicable degradation' of the High Dunes."

The lawsuit also says the Rice property is subject to the terms of a 1994 state aid agreement between the DEP and Avalon that prohibits the construction of swimming pools, tennis courts and similar structures in the dunes. The agreement was a contingency to Avalon receiving millions in state and federal aid for a beach replenishment project.

Superior Court Judge Steven Perskie this week denied a request by the residents' group to immediately halt construction until the lawsuits are litigated.

Avalon Borough solicitor Stephen Barse declined comment on either lawsuit, as did the DEP

No Pool

2006-09-27T10:33:00.000-04:00

Avalon denies pool for mansion in the dunes
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Wednesday, September 27, 2006

AVALON — The borough has denied an outdoor swimming pool for a mansion under construction on Dune Drive, but that may not be the last word from the owner, whose lawyer says he has already obtained the necessary permits.
The denial opens another chapter in the controversy surrounding construction of a 15,000-square-foot home for the president of Utz Quality Foods Inc. in Hanover, Pa.

In a letter issued last week, Avalon's zoning office said the planned swimming pool in the high dunes was not allowable.

Avalon officials said the borough has a 12-year-old agreement with the state as part of an effort to receive state funding for beach-replenishment projects. A provision of that agreement forbids construction of swimming pools in the dunes, officials said.

“It's a complicated situation, and we're damned if we do and damned if we don't, like we have been continually,” said Neil Hensel, chairman of Avalon's zoning and planning boards.

Richard Hluchan, an attorney representing the property owner, Michael Rice, said pools are a permitted use under Avalon's zoning ordinance.
Rice received all the necessary approvals for the project and the house has been under construction since the spring, Hluchan said.

“He intends to continue construction until completion,” Hluchan said Tuesday. “His rights are vested. I know there's a lot of noise in the community about this project, but there's really nothing they can do about it because all the approvals are in place. We intend to preserve Mr. Rice's rights.”

Hluchan said he recently wrote to Avalon zoning officials and asked them to reconsider.

The high dunes run alongside Dune Drive for several miles. Unlike most of Avalon, which has been heavily developed, the high dunes are heavily wooded with trees and vegetation that look like they belong somewhere other than on a beach block.

The issue of development on the high dunes has been stirring since a local activist group — Save Avalon's Dunes — began mailing out fliers protesting construction of the house earlier this year.

Avalon officials opposed construction of the mansion, which will be the largest in the borough, since 1999, when the local Environmental Commission objected to the project's size and potential effect on dunes, plants and wildlife.

The state Department of Environmental Protection initially rejected the property owner's plan. But Rice took the matter to court, where it was mediated. Rice and the DEP negotiated a settlement in which the house would be smaller than originally sought, officials said.

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

Last month, Mayor Martin Pagliughi said the borough planned to fight the installation of swimming pools in the high dunes.

Moving Day

2006-09-08T14:42:00.000-04:00

Location, location...The Avalon house was a steal, but moving day was quite the ordeal

By Alan J. Heavens
Inquirer Real Estate Writer
Posted on Sun, Sep. 03, 2006

David and Elizabeth German had the chance to buy an architect-designed house in Avalon for $1.

That's right, Avalon, the ritzy Jersey Shore community where offering $1 million for a house is considered a good starting point and $1 seems like the stuff of 999,999 dreams.

There was a catch, though. The Germans had to move the house out of town.

"It's really not all that unusual to find a house for $1 in Avalon," said David German, 57, a woodworker who makes his living crafting Adirondack chairs and picnic tables. "It's cheaper for a developer to clear a site that way than to have the house torn down."

The land - right in the middle of the island, not even spyglass-distance from the beach - went for $1.4 million. A McMansion is rising on the site, which is adjacent to a church parking lot.

Meanwhile, for their dollar, plus $50,000 in transport costs and lots of sweat equity, the Germans will be moving - in a couple of weeks, give or take a month - into a 1930s-era, Colonial-style, 1,700-square-foot house on the Tuckahoe River in Corbin City.

"We have a bet when move-in day will be," said Elizabeth German, 55, a dietitian. "He says Sept. 15, I say Oct. 15. I won't tell you what the prizes will be, but to win, he's been reaching out to anyone who can swing a hammer."

The dwelling was designed by Philadelphia architect Richardson Brognard Okie, and built in 1931 or 1932 for a Main Line matron. It cost $60,000 in the middle of the Great Depression, when the typical house cost $5,000 in 1930s dollars.

Okie (1875-1945) specialized in the restoration and reconstruction of Colonial Pennsylvania-era buildings, including the Betsy Ross House. Constructing this house also required a teardown - the Germans have been told that it may have been the first in Avalon.

"We also have been told that the woman spent just a few weeks here every year with her maid to escape the heat," David said.

The Germans have been buying and rehabbing 19th-century "wrecks" for years: two houses on Main Street, including the one they're living in now and have sold in anticipation of move-in day - whenever that will be.

"We were looking for a teardown to buy and move last fall, and we came across this one," David said.

Buying it was easy. Finding a place for it 20 miles away in Corbin City wasn't so tough, either. The Germans own property on which were sitting his workshop and a rental house. David German razed the workshop, dug a foundation for the teardown, and converted the rental to a workshop.

Moving the house? Now, that's where things got tough.

"No one seemed to want to take it on," David said, until Brian Gallagher, of Brian's Quality Plus Moving in Barnegat, agreed to do it for $50,000.

"The average rancher costs about $20,000 to move, but this is a special house, and even though he could have moved 20 ranchers in the time it took us to move our house, he stuck to his price," David said.

The design of the house forced them to cut the top floor from the bottom and move it in two pieces. David had to cut several holes in both sections to insert the beams to which the trailer wheels were attached for the move.

They had hoped to move it in December, but for various reasons the two sections of the house sat in the church parking lot for two months, covered by tarps.

In March, after all the permits were obtained, each section was moved separately (bottom floor first) 20 miles on Route 50 to Corbin City, making its way successfully over the often-unforgiving Avalon Parkway Bridge.

"We made it with a few inches to spare," David said. "A lot of things aren't so lucky."

Elizabeth German didn't watch the move or the house being assembled in Corbin City.

"Didn't want to look at it," she said. "If something went wrong, I didn't want to see it."

The bottom floor had to be lifted nine feet to sit on the new foundation. The second floor went on top of that.

Work was delayed a month, because March is the start of the chair- and picnic-table-making season.

"The foundation has a basement garage that uses the four doors from the garage on the Avalon site that couldn't be moved," David said.

"We couldn't take the chimney and the fireplace, either, so it left a hole in the center of the house through which we could run the ductwork for the gas and wood furnaces, all new plumbing and the utilities."

The 900-square-foot mahogany and cedar deck that goes about three-quarters of the way around the house has as its railing a Louisiana yellow locust fence salvaged from the Avalon property.

David German collects discarded lumber from mills as a sideline, and that's where the deck wood came from.

High-end, or "yacht," craftsmanship is a hallmark of the original house, and that manifests itself in oak tie and chestnut beams, Pennsylvania sugar pine paneling, random-width pine floors, and hand-forged nails, Elizabeth said: "They had a blacksmith on site who did the work."

"A lot of the wood used in the house no longer is available," she said. "And there is so much of it that it makes the house kind of dark, so what we have done is add just enough white paint to lighten things up without spoiling the wood."

David sanded a lot of it, too, to lighten it. He was lucky because nothing had been stained or painted, so it was all light sanding.

"By the way, we also sanded the floors on the second floor," he said. "It goes much faster when there are no walls."

They'll be adding French doors along part of the deck and opening a couple of windows to bring in more natural light without sacrificing the integrity of Okie's design.

The small kitchen was enlarged by knocking out a couple of walls. The 20-by-30-foot living room got a wall to accommodate a bedroom and bathroom.

"I like to move walls, so this job was perfect," David said.

Whoever wins the bet, the work won't stop after they've moved in.

"There's a lot of landscaping to do," Elizabeth said, "and I'm a bit nervous about it because you really need to achieve the right look."

David really wants a lap pool, "so I think that's somewhere down the road," she said.

What about moving another teardown?

"I wouldn't think twice," David said. "Of course."

"Absolutely," Elizabeth agreed. "It's been very exciting. But David has been working so hard, so he's going to need a vacation first."

Contact real estate writer Alan J. Heavens at 215-854-2472 or aheavens@phillynews.com

Noise Control

2006-08-09T19:18:00.000-04:00

Sea Isle civic group wants crackdown on noise
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, August 9, 2006

SEA ISLE CITY — A local watchdog group wants the city to get tougher on noise issues and write more tickets.

Jack Glancey, a member of Town Watch/Town Pride, asked City Commissioners and police at a meeting Tuesday to issue noise-violations citations, because the fines and community service would deter the rowdy.

Glancey said in many cases police have been issuing tickets for other matters under tenant registrations but not noise violations, which pose heavier fines and community service.

A city law requires rented and leased apartments to list the names of the tenants.

James Iannone, the Commissioner in charge of police, said officers use their discretion. If an officer is unable to issue tickets for noise violations, that officer may issue tickets if a group is violating another local law.

“We cannot legally order a police officer to write a ticket for a certain matter. You have to leave it up to the patrolman,” Iannone said, and police will address the matter appropriate to the situation.
The issue of noise in Sea Isle City, as well as neighboring resort towns, becomes an issue each summer as more people flock to the ocean and live in buildings and condominiums that are side by side.

A city ordinance sets permissible decibel levels based on the time of day and location in the city.

Sea Isle City even designates noise-free zones — 18 residential areas marked with red street signs warning that noise fines are doubled.

Glancey said there were only three summonses issued specifically for noise between Memorial Day and late July.

“It looks like the town was quiet,” but it wasn't, he said.

At a recent Town Watch meeting, property owners reported loud and unruly tenants in a number of rental properties, according to the group.

Iannone listed police statistics from May to late July.

In that period, there were 346 noise complaints, but those include reports that turn out to be nothing, he said. During that time, 36 summonses were issued for tenant registry issues and noise, he said.

There were seven noise violations during the past weekend, he said at Tuesday's meeting.

“We're doing our job. We're doing it the best way we can, in a legal way,” he said.

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

Whale of a Tale

2006-07-27T01:37:00.000-04:00

Beach Goers Save Whales In Sea Isle City

John W. Morris - Action News Executive Producer

SEA ISLE CITY, N.J. - July 26, 2006 - Two pilot whales were pushed back into the Atlantic Ocean Wednesday night after they beached themselves in Sea Isle City.

The whales were rescued by dozens of beach goers.
The mother and her calf were spotted in very shallow water, just off the on the beach at 25th street around 5:00 Wednesday afternoon. People on the beach immediately jumped to help the whales, and were able to puch the calf back in the water.

They had a much more difficult time getting the larger mother off the sand and past the breakers.

People of all ages gathered around the whale and pushed for two hours, all while children stood on the beach chanting "save our whale."

Among the rescuers were workers from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.

To protect the whale from the sun, they covered her with wet t-shirts. All the while, her rescued calf, stayed nearby, circling in the ocean about 30 yards away.

Shortly after 7:00, the people, described by the Coast Guard as Good Samaritans, threw up their arms and cheered. They'd gotten the whale out deep enough that she was able to swim on her own, and she went back out to see.

She was 20 to 25 feet long and weighed several tons.

There is no reason to think that she and the calf will not be able to recover and rejoin the rest of their pod in the Atlantic. Experts think the two ran into trouble while feeding too close to shore, and then got stuck in the shallow surf.

The workers from the stranding center remained at the beach for an hour after the rescue to make sure the two didn't return.

In all, more than 150 people took part in the rescue.

Action News reporter John Rawlins is in Sea Isle City and will have a live report on Action News at 11.

(Copyright Action News and 6abc.com. All Rights Reserved)

Stone Harbor Allowing Wine Sales

2006-07-19T09:07:00.000-04:00

Stone Harbor allows eateries to sell N.J. wines
Press of Atlantic City
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Updated: Wednesday, July 19, 2006

STONE HARBOR — Borough Council passed a law Tuesday that will allow BYOB restaurants to start selling Garden State wines later this summer.

Better known for its blueberries and tomatoes, New Jersey allows local wineries to sell their product at many eateries to promote the winegrowing industry.

Borough Council allowed the sales by enlarging its existing alcohol zone, which excludes most restaurants, to include sales of New Jersey wines.

Deanna Ebner, who owns Sea Salt on 83rd Street with her husband, said the ordinance will allow her business to offer another option to patrons.

They already incorporate locally grown fruits and vegetables in their menus, so the local vino made sense, she said.

Ebner doesn't know how much it will affect her business, where people can bring their own wines from far more diverse regions around the world.

Several other restaurateurs spoke in support of the decision.

But Stone Harbor's wine decision didn't go down very smoothly.

It left a bitter taste in the mouths of some.

Martha Conlin, who lives on 84th Street, said there was no reason to introduce more alcohol sales in the area, particularly those near residences.

“We've never had it before. I don't see the reason for having it now,” she said. “We are a family-oriented town, and I feel that's the way we need to stay.”

Borough Solicitor Michael Donohue said Stone Harbor has been approached about a half dozen times in the past four years by restaurants seeking to sell New Jersey-produced wines with dinner.

But those establishments were outside the downtown alcohol zone, which centers around 96th Street and 2nd and 3rd avenues, and requests were denied.

Recently, the borough sent the issue to the Planning Board, which in June week voted to recommend such sales anywhere in the business districts, which run for several blocks along 2nd and 3rd avenues and in two satellite districts at 83rd and 107th streets.

The law only allows the sale of New Jersey wines and only at restaurants.

Borough Council voted 5-1 on the ordinance.

Councilman Karl Giulian dissented, stating that wine is alcohol, no matter how you look at it, and the ordinance is bringing alcohol to the neighborhoods.

He also feared that the state would expand its New Jersey winery program to include local breweries or more intoxicating liquors.

New Jersey — no Napa Valley, Calif., by any stretch — has more than two dozen wineries, including several in Cape May County.

According to the Garden State Winegrowers Association, the state produces more than 1 million gallons a year.

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

Reassessment in Sea Isle City

2006-07-18T13:18:00.000-04:00

Sea Isle City to reassess properties

By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, July 18, 2006

SEA ISLE CITY — City Commission on Monday authorized a reassessment of city properties, making it the second valuation of expensive shore real estate here in fewer than five years.

Mayor Leonard Desiderio said the reassessment will bring property values in line with their current worth following several years of rocketing land values in shore communities.

Neighboring Avalon underwent a similar process last year.

The city's last revaluation was based on property values from 2003, said George R. Brown III, Cape May County tax administrator.

The citywide revaluation in 2003 increased the city's tax base by about $2.3 billion.

The county tax board hasn't officially ordered Sea Isle City to revalue its properties, but Brown said it seemed to be something coming down the road.

In Sea Isle City's case, assessments performed less than five years apart do not require inspectors to examine the interiors of homes — one of the most costly aspects of a revaluation, Brown said.

“I believe that's part of what prompted the (city's) assessor, not just the rapidly rising values and high-end sale prices, but him recognizing the need would arrive soon based on those sales, and could save the city (money),” Brown said. “I think Sea Isle's taking a pre-emptive step to try to get prepared.”

City Commission passed the $200,000 emergency appropriation to fund the assessments, drawing criticism from the Sea Isle City Taxpayers Association President Tom Henry, who said the expense should have been included in the city's budget earlier this year.

Henry said the revaluation is a good idea, but that the city knew of the situation several months before the budget passed and the funding should have been included in the city's spending plan, which directly affects taxes.

Desiderio said the city was already in its budget process when it found out about the assessments.

The revaluation will be completed by 2007 and be included in the 2008 budget, Desiderio said.

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

Preserve Avalon's Dunes

2006-07-17T23:32:00.000-04:00

Defending Avalon's high dunes
As beach mansions rise, there are fears about this unique coastline. A house going up now has 40 rooms. Some ask: "How big is big enough?"
By Jacqueline L. Urgo
Posted on Sun, Jul. 16, 2006
Inquirer Staff Writer

AVALON, N.J. - The high dunes of Avalon, a mostly undeveloped stretch of sandy grassland and woods thick with bayberry, Atlantic white cedar, and pines that soar 50 feet above the beachfront, are unique along the southern New Jersey shore.
Mostly by luck, Avalon's high dunes have survived the development that has all but erased similar strands that once lined the entire 127-mile coastline.
Until now.
The high dunes of Avalon are under attack.
It turns out that the same characteristics that environmentalists and local officials want to protect - beauty, uniqueness, and a buffer for the coastline - have attracted investors to this upscale Cape May County municipality who want to build dune beach mansions.
A Pennsylvania potato-chip magnate is building a 14,000-square-foot beach house - six times bigger than the average U.S. home - on Avalon's high dunes. Another landowner has applied to the borough zoning office to build a 4,200-square-foot house two blocks away. Plans for a 10,000-square-foot house in another area of the dunes were recently withdrawn, but may be resubmitted later, officials said.
"We have an incredible national treasure here in our high dunes, and there doesn't seem to be any mechanism in place to make sure they remain," said Elaine Scattergood, who can still remember when many of the paved streets on the island were dirt roads.
"We've seen big houses here for a long time, but they are getting bigger and bigger, really to the detriment of everything else around them," said Michael Collins, whose roots in the town date to the 1940s, when his father was a beach patrol captain here.
"The question becomes, 'How big is big enough?' Do people really need summer houses that are this big and use up this much of a natural resource?"
Scattergood and Collins are among those who have organized a 100-member group of locals and summer residents called Save Avalon Dunes.
The group, Scattergood said, asks local officials: "How did this happen?"
Why, wondered Scattergood, did regulations protecting the dunes give way to the gigantic home being built by Michael Rice, president of Utz Quality Foods?
Environmentalists say that without stronger regulations, development could gobble an additional 10 percent of Avalon's remaining high dunes - the last ones in New Jersey - over the next decade. Unlike most coastal dunes, high dunes rise steeply to a height of 30 to 50 feet above sea level.
Local officials are so concerned by the citizens' questions that they have hired a public relations firm to answer criticism, said Neil Hensel, chairman of Avalon's planning and zoning boards.
"I don't think there is a single person on this island who doesn't understand that these dunes are our lifeline," Hensel said. "But people come here, make a big investment, and want to use that asset. In many ways, our hands are tied by the regulations that we have.
"If they don't need a variance to do what they want to do, then we are often in a position where we can't say no."
Although large, expensive beach homes are nothing new in Avalon - the $1 million-plus median home price here is among the highest at the Shore - the 40-room dune-top mansion being built by the potato-chip heir is.
Rice runs his family's Utz snack company in Hanover, Pa., which was started by his grandparents in 1921. His wife, Jane, is vice president of marketing.
The couple also own a 7,000-square-foot house on the beach at 38th Street that has an assessed value of $8.75 million.
Six years ago, the Rices paid $3.5 million for a 1.2-acre lot in the 5200 block of Dune Drive.
Their first plan was for a 20,000-square-foot home - even bigger than the one they're now building. The Avalon Environmental Commission, which oversees the town's natural resources, rejected that plan, citing the home's size and effect on dunes and wildlife.
The Rices appealed the decision to the state Department of Environmental Protection, which regulates some new oceanfront construction. The DEP upheld Avalon's ruling.
The Rices then appealed to a state administrative law judge, who strongly advised the DEP to settle with the couple.
"It's not often we see an application for a project the size of what the Rices originally proposed building on the site. The scope was unbelievable," said Mark Mauriello, assistant DEP commissioner of land use management.
Mauriello said the DEP chose to settle instead of fight because of the costs of the continued litigation and the risk of losing. The DEP couldn't argue, as it usually does in coastal construction litigation, that the house would be unsafe, because the high dunes protect it from the tide line, Mauriello said.
The Rices asserted their property rights, arguing that they have a right to build on their land.
In 2001, the DEP and the Rices compromised. The couple could build a 14,000-square-foot house on a 9,000-square-foot piece of land. They also would file deed restrictions on the rest of their property that forever prevent further construction.
Mauriello said the settlement wasn't "everything we could have hoped for" and involves destroying some dunes on the Rices' property. He said the compromise is "very big" in preserving the rest of the property.
Neither the Rices nor their lawyer would comment.
In April, the Rices began construction of their three-level house with 40 rooms, 15 bathrooms, and maids' quarters.
Mauriello said a landscape mapping project completed by the state in 2002 and new regulations protecting Avalon's high dunes would give the DEP "sharper teeth" in negotiating future residential development along the coastline.
Avalon officials say they also plan to vigilantly protect the remaining dunes.
"We do have these historic dunes that are unique to Avalon, and my personal feeling is that when you take one shovelful of sand out of them, you are negatively affecting the entire infrastructure," Avalon Borough Councilman Dave Ellenberg said. "We have to do whatever we can to preserve them."

Community Center

2006-06-22T15:40:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-22T15:29:00.001-04:00

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

2006-06-16T08:26:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-15T13:55:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-13T13:41:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-12T23:12:00.000-04:00

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

2006-06-10T23:43:00.000-04:00

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

Gazebo

2006-05-08T22:54:00.000-04:00

Sea Isle zoners refuse to convene
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, May 6, 2006
Updated: Saturday, May 6, 2006

SEA ISLE CITY — The Zoning Board is refusing to meet again until the City Commission promises to defend its members in court regarding board decisions, including one concerning a gazebo.

Zoning Board members signed a letter in response to a lawsuit against the Zoning Board, its solicitor Ellen Nicholson Byrne and board member Patricia Urbaczewski.

The board's letter to the city commissioners states it believes the city will not provide legal representation to Urbaczewski or Byrne relating to their duties on the Zoning Board.

It all started with Louise Clemente's handmade gazebo, which features images of city mascot Sara the Turtle, St. Joseph's Church and a fisherman, among others, etched on panes of glass.

But the gazebo is 4 feet higher than city regulations allow. Clemente sought a height variance in 2003, several years after its construction.

The gazebo, which became an attraction in Clemente's back yard, turned into much more.

Urbaczewski lives adjacent to Clemente and filed the initial complaint.

In turn, Clemente sued the zoning board and the memembers alleging she did not receive a fair and impartial hearing on the variance request.

Now, more than three years later, the Zoning Board said it will suspend all further board activities and functions.

“We feel strongly, however, that we cannot continue to place our lives and property, and those of our families, on the line for Sea Isle City, if Sea Isle will not come to our defense when a frivolous lawsuit such as this is aimed at our board,” according to the letter.

The Zoning Board holds monthly meetings.

Solicitor Paul Baldini, who represents the city, said the Zoning Board's stance in the letter is based on a misunderstanding.

“The answer is the same for both, which is, we are defending them, and if they are saying we are not, it's simply factually not correct,” Baldini said.

Baldini said the city is negotiating a settlement and has not entered any formal pleadings in the case, which was filed in January. Other than negotiations, not much has happened since then, he said.

The city has insurance to cover these very instances, he said.

“I think the real issue is a communication issue between the city and the board. The city has always enjoyed a good relationship with the board,” Baldini said.

A settlement conference among the sides is scheduled for May 16, he said.

Byrne, is not representing the zoning for this case, said she immediately wrote the city a letter after being named in the suit and inquired about her legal defense as well as that of the board member and the board.

“We asked pretty clearly. I don't think this was a misunderstanding on my part,” she said.

Byrne said she wrote two letters and received no written response.

Byrne said she and Urbaczewski have hired their own lawyers to represent them.

The result, Byrne said, is she could potentially seek restitution from the city for legal expenses.

“You have board members who are small business owners who are now saying, ‘that could be me.' They are really good to the people and they're just hoping for an answer,” she said.

Urbaczewski could not be reached Friday.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court, says that Byrne took an adversarial position to the application when it appeared before the Zoning Board in 2003. The plaintiffs appealed later that year, alleging that Byrne “overstepped her authority by participating more as an advocate against the applicant than as an objective professional advising the board,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleges a conflict of interest between Byrne and Urbaczewski, stating that Byrne represented Urbaczewski in a matter before the Middle Township Planning Board.

The lawsuit seeks the sought-after height variance, as well as punitive and compensatory damages and legal fees.

Clemente has fought the denial through legal means and by a short-lived hunger strike.

The case of the tall gazebo has spent hours before the Zoning Board, a state judge and now a federal court.

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

Avalon's Noise Law

2006-04-29T22:37:00.000-04:00

It's shut up or pay up under Avalon noise law
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, April 29, 2006
Updated: Saturday, April 29, 2006

AVALON — Between 2 to 5 a.m., shhhh. Really.

Avalon Borough Council this week passed a law that doubles fines for noise violations in the wee hours of the morning.

Borough officials said the law is aimed at crowds of people who leave the bars on summer weekends but are loud and unruly.

“We do get an awful lot of complaints from people who say ‘They woke me up,'” said Councilman David Ellenberg. “The complaints are really coming in between 2 o'clock and 3 o'clock in the morning. “We'd like it to be a deterrent.”

The borough's new law recommends fines of at least $500 and 15 hours of public service for a first offense.

Council President Richard Dean said the late-night noise issues only really come into play on summer weekends, after people have left the bars and restaurants but remain noisy throughout the night.

“People should have some time when they should get a little sleep. It's just an arbitrary figure as far as time goes,” he said.

The borough already has a noise law but hopes increased penalties at certain hours will cause people to hush up.

The broadening of the noise law marks the second time this year the borough passed a law aimed at raucous partying.

Last month, the governing body passed a law that created a permitting process for special events that took place on borough property or required services of police or public works employees.

Specifically, the law was aimed at annual “Floatilla” parties, conglomerations of inner tubes, beer and bathing suits on Avalon's bayside.

Last year, a person jumped from the 21st Street bridge and was considered missing as rescuers and divers searched the waters.

He was alive and located later in the evening, but Avalon police saw the incident as an indication the event needed to be curbed.

The law could end the event, which last year was in its fifth year in Avalon.

Ellenberg acknowledged that balance is required in passing laws in resort towns that strive to make sure visitors have a good time so they keep coming back.

But the 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. rule seemed a safe bet, he said.

“You keep getting complaints from the residents trying to sleep,” he said. “Folks have to take responsibility for their own actions.”

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

Stone Harbor Emergencies

2006-04-02T03:18:00.000-04:00

Emergencies Will Bring New Ring In Stone Harbor
3/29/2006
Cape May County Herald

STONE HARBOR - When storms barrel up the coast, flood sirens will still wail, but many phones will also ring in a matter of minutes.

Thanks to computer automation, for six cents a call, all 3,000-borough residents can be alerted within eight minutes, under a contract approved March 21 by borough council.

The voluntary "opt in" program with Global Connect of Mays Landing will be open to all property owners. It will enable those who provide a phone number, which will not be used for any other purpose, to be alerted when Emergency Management Director Roger Stanford declares an emergency.

Residents will get further information on the program in an upcoming newsletter, said Administrator Kenneth Hawk.

"It utilizes Internet technology. That's how they can do it so cheaply," he explained.

"Your privacy is secure," he added. "It will not be used to send political messages.

"It's a neat program that will really help a lot of people in low-lying areas," Hawk noted. "It's persistent. If you don't answer, it will leave a message on an answering machine."

The resolution states that the cost "is minimal, amount to less than $200 for a notification which would telephone every property in the borough."

The contract was awarded without public bid, because, "in aggregate, the total cost of the contract is expected to be less than $1,000," the resolution states.

Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or: al.c@cmcherald.com

Avalon Tax Rate

2006-03-30T15:37:00.000-05:00

Avalon's budget increases, tax rate drops
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Thursday, March 30, 2006
Updated: Thursday, March 30, 2006

AVALON — The local government will collect $1.2 million more from taxpayers this year, but a revaluation that rocketed Avalon's worth to $8.5 billion means the tax rate will drop.

With a tax rate of 14.1 cents per $100 of assessed value, the owner of $1 million home here will pay $1,410 in local purpose taxes.

Avalon Chief Financial Officer James Craft said the budget includes $500,000 to reduce its debt service on beach-replenishment projects and other loans.

Avalon's ratable base grew from $5.5 billion to $8.5 billion following a revaluation that went on the books in January.

The budget also includes a $264,000 increase from last year for the municipal library, Craft said.

In 2005, Avalon began paying for its own municipal library after separating from the county library system.

But as Avalon's ratable base grew this year, so did the new municipal library's funding, which is based on those ratables and determined by state law, Craft said.

As a result, the library is receiving more money than it needs, said Councilman Charles Covington.

“It just doesn't need that much money and probably isn't going to need it in the future either,” Covington said.

Excess money would go in a surplus but would be reserved for library projects, Covington said.

Covington said Avalon has suggested that state legislators change that law to take into account municipalities that collect more than their libraries require.

“It's going to have to be something that's going to take a lot of work to change the current legislation,” he said.

Also in the budget, salaries and wages increased $211,000, or 4.5 percent, from last year.

The borough is also anticipating it will receive $840,000 by selling beach tags this year. The amount — an increase of almost $60,000 from last year — is based on the price of beach tags being raised by $2.

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

Sand trap

2006-03-30T15:32:00.000-05:00

Workers will disassemble a 150-ton excavator to free it from grip of sea and sand in Avalon
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Thursday, March 30, 2006
Updated: Thursday, March 30, 2006

AVALON — As the tide crept closer and closer, workers tried Wednesday to free a 150-ton piece of construction equipment from a 12-foot-deep crater on the beach at Townsends Inlet.

Like an outstretched hand clasping a ledge, an excavator's gigantic mechanical arm tried to push its heavy metal body from the crater.

The trouble started Tuesday afternoon when the huge machine — worth about $1.2. million new — began to sink into the sand.

The excavator was being used to build a new rock seawall. The area where they are working was a late addition made by the Army Corps of Engineers to its plans. The ground there had not been tested to see if it would withstand the weight of the excavator.

Unable to extricate the machine Tuesday, workers left it there overnight. At high tide, seawater filled the hole.

During low tide Wednesday, workers repaired the engine in the hope that with the help of some earth movers, they could free the behemoth.

The spectacle drew dozens of onlookers, but one common sentiment: There is no way they're going to get that thing out of there.

“They'll never get it out,” said John Peltier, of Sea Isle City.

And they didn't.

As high tide approached, salt water trickled and then streamed into the crater, made wider and deeper in the attempts to free it. Workers piled makeshift dunes on the beach to keep the water at bay.

By Wednesday afternoon, nature had won — again.

The machine was just one outstretched mechanical arm in a sandy pool of brown-gray water. Its wheels, body and cab were submerged.

“It wasn't a good day,” said Alex Dick, the project manager for Jay Cashman Inc., which has been constructing a seawall in Avalon's northern end.

“The soil just wasn't suited to support a machine like this,” he said.

An Army Corps spokesman could not be reached Wednesday night.

Avalon Public Works Director Harry deButts said the project was on schedule to finish by mid-April.

“This is really a tough nut,” he said.

Marvin Leonard, a retired construction supervisor who lives in Avalon, spent Wednesday afternoon looking through binoculars from his minivan, parked by the toll bridge on Ocean Drive.

“If they get the lift working, they can push that up in the air … I don't know. They ain't moving it yet,” he said.

“Each time the tide comes in, she'll sink more.”

Avalon and Cashman officials said nobody was injured when the excavator began to sink Tuesday. The fuel inside was contained and there was no environmental damage, they said.

But the machine?

That's a different story.

Dick said they will have to disassemble the excavator — including its bucket and counterweight — to remove it from the beach.

“In this business, you can expect the unexpected,” Dick said.

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

Avalon's Tax Rate

2006-03-30T15:26:00.000-05:00

Stone Harbor Bulkhead

2006-03-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

Stone Harbor wants money from county fund to fix marina bulkhead
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Updated: Wednesday, March 29, 2006

STONE HARBOR — The borough wants to replace and raise the bulkhead — a popular fishing location — near the bayside marina on 81st Street.

To do so, it is turning to Cape May County and a new program to fund municipal projects through county tax dollars.

Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters said the borough is applying to the county to fund about half of the $900,000 project.

Walters said the bulkhead would be replaced and raised about 2 ½ feet.

Walters said a larger bulkhead will help prevent flooding there during severe weather and high tides.

It would also act as a table-sized barrier from the bay for people who fish there, she said.

“We realized we were going to have to do something. This project came at the perfect time,” Walters said.

Cape May County's 16 municipalities are eligible for a combined $3.8 million of surplus funds to towns to help fund public projects.

Middle Township, for example, has expressed interest in using county funding to enlarge its bike path.

Walters said the marina work involves acquiring the required environmental permits. And Borough Council would also have to vote on spending its share of the money. Councilman Barry Mastrangelo said the marina area becomes a popular summertime spot.

“It's used by everyone in the county, as well as local people and the tourists coming to town. A nice day in the summer time, that place will be lined with people fishing,” Mastrangelo said.

Earlier this month, Cape May County Freeholders approved the 2006 Municipal Public Improvements Pooled Financing Program. The funding to municipalities will not be awarded until this summer.

County officials have said the program allows the county to return some of its surplus without further cutting the tax rate. Officials have said cutting taxes too deep will hurt future budgets because state laws put an incremental cap on the amount a county can raise taxes each year.

Also in Stone Harbor: Walters said the repaving of 96th Street may finish in a week, placing work almost a month ahead of schedule due to advantageous weather.

Lanes entering and leaving Stone Harbor have been alternately shut down, and downtown traffic detoured from the work.

Walters said the rest of the so-called Gateway Project, which includes streetlights and landscaping to the 300 block of 96th Street, is scheduled to finish by Memorial Day.

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

Stone Harbor Taxes

2006-03-25T12:38:00.000-05:00

No school tax hike in Stone Harbor
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Friday, March 24, 2006
Updated: Friday, March 24, 2006

STONE HARBOR — The school district's proposed $2.3 million budget will keep the school-tax rate stable.

The 2006-07 tax rate will remain at 5.65 cents per $100 of assessed value.

A homeowner with a $500,000 property will pay about $282 in school taxes.

“We don't have any surprises. We don't have any issues that were not anticipated,” said David Rauenzahn, the chief school administrator for Stone Harbor and Avalon.

“All existing programs are being maintained. All personnel are being maintained.”

Stone Harbor, a K-8 school district, expects to have 92 students enrolled in the fall.

Rauenzahn said the district plans to continue its five-year facilities plan, which will include new carpeting, sidewalk repair and some window replacements this school year.

The school budget goes before a public vote on April 18.

Avalon Taxes

2006-03-25T10:22:00.000-05:00

Avalon officials cite revaluation for 1-cent drop in school taxes
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Friday, March 24, 2006
Updated: Friday, March 24, 2006

AVALON — Avalon's school budget grew 3.1 percent, but the tax rate will drop 1-cent following a recent revaluation that made Avalon properties more expensive.

The $3.6 million budget means taxpayers will pay 3.4 cents per $100 of assessed value for school taxes.

A person with a home valued at $500,000 will pay about $171 in school taxes.

Avalon, with its valuable shore properties, underwent a revaluation that took effect this year.

The ratable base grew from $5.5 billion to $8.5 billion, according to Avalon's tax assessor's office.

Chief School Administrator David Rauenzahn said spending increased as Avalon pays debt service on the new school library, which opened last year. The school also has set money aside for capital improvements, including security upgrades, a sprinkler system and fencing at the school, he said.

“In spite of opening a new facility and the capital projects the board and the community want to achieve at the site, we have those budgeted and we were still able to bring it down a penny,” Rauenzahn said.

The district, which runs a K-8 program, projects it will have 83 students this fall.

Rauenzahn said Avalon will take out advertisements to get more enrollment in the borough's tuition program for out-of-town students. Out of town students pay $2,800 per year.

Avalon and neighboring Stone Harbor both accept tuition students.

Avalon has six tuition students; Stone Harbor has 15, said Rauenzahn, who serves as the chief school administrator for both districts.

Schools in island towns such as Avalon, Stone Harbor and Sea Isle City have few year-round residents and even fewer school-aged children.

Accepting tuition students has become more important following a state budget cap law that limits administrative spending and threatens schools with low enrollments.

“The school's got a good reputation, nice, small class size and quality education. Good teachers, programs, curriculum, test scores — they're all very positive, and that's what many parents are looking for,” Rauenzahn said.

The school budget faces a public vote April 18.

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

Middle Voters to Decide

2006-03-17T09:06:00.000-05:00

Middle voters to decide on purchase of firehouse site
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Thursday, March 16, 2006
Updated: Thursday, March 16, 2006

MIDDLE TOWNSHIP — Some Middle Township voters will have a say on whether their fire district will buy land for a new firehouse in Cape May Court House.

Voters in Fire District No. 1 on March 30 will decide whether to approve a $1.8 million bond to buy land on which officials later plan to build a new firehouse.

Fire Commissioner David Blood said officials will use the bond to purchase land about one-tenth of a mile away from the current fire house on Boyd Street.

“We have pretty much maxed out the use of this building for what is required for a modern fire department,” Blood said of the Boyd Street fire house, which was built in the 1920s.

Blood said the facility is too small.

“Trucks have grown, they've gotten bigger. As a result, the engine room designed for trucks in the 70s and 60s is inadequate,” he said.

He also said moving locations would make it easier for fire trucks to leave the building. Boyd Street is narrow and can get congested during the day.

Fire District No. 1 includes areas in Cape May Court House, Swainton, Mayville, Burleigh, Dias Creek, Avalon Manor and Stone Harbor Manor.

The fire districts do not correlate to voting districts in the township. For residents who don't know to which fire district they belong, that information appears on their tax bills, Blood said.

If voters approve the bond, fire officials will purchase three tracts of land, including the Avalon Carpet, Tile and Flooring Center on Hand Avenue. The company is currently constructing a building in Rio Grande.

The public vote addresses only securing the land on which to build a fire house, Blood said; it involves no money for a fire house.

“This is all future oriented. We try to make sure what we do will hold together for the next 50, 60 years,” Blood said. “Without the property, we can't go forward. Without property, we can't even go for grants.”

The cost of building a new firehouse will be subject to a later vote, Blood said. Blood said he hopes that grants and the sale of the existing firehouse can cover some of that cost.

Meanwhile, the municipality may use the firehouse to expand Township Hall, which is next door. Mayor Nathan Doughty said it could be used for police and other township agencies.

“It's a perfect fit. Are we involved in it? No way,” Doughty said. “Let them (the voters) make the call and then we'll go from there.”

The vote will take place Thursday, March 30 from 2 to 9 p.m. at the Cape May Court House fire station on Boyd Street.

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

Recreation Projects

2006-03-17T08:55:00.000-05:00

Freeholders approve fund to help towns with recreation projects
By W.F. KEOUGH Staff Writer, (609) 463-6710
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Updated: Wednesday, March 15, 2006

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — County freeholders adopted an ordinance Tuesday that creates a $3.8 million pool of funds to help towns improve their marinas, bike paths and public parks.

The freeholder ordinance also provides another $200,000 to eligible artists.

The additional $4 million won't increase the county's tax rate, but it will boost the budget another $4 million, to $128.3 million. Freeholders officially adopted the amended budget Tuesday.

The 2006 Municipal Public Improvements Pooled Financing Program had its first taker Tuesday.

“We're ready to submit our plans,” Middle Township Mayor Nate Doughty told freeholders.

Doughty said he was seeking about $135,000 from the fund to extend the township's bike path from Goshen Road to Shellbay Avenue. Doughty and the township will have to wait: the funding won't actually be awarded until August.

Officials say everyone will have a crack at getting some of the money. The county has sent application packages to the 16 municipalities explaining how it will award the funds.

The county's funding program will help towns complete public projects such as parks, marinas and other recreational projects.

The program will allow the county to effectively return some of its ballooning surplus without further cutting the tax rate, already a record low 17.1 cents per $100 of equalized value.

The county has been careful not to label its largesse as grants in the legislation it used to create the plan. That's because of concerns from state officials. But that's what the plan is, said County Administrator Steven O'Connor.

Officially, the funding will be provided through “interlocal agreements.” The artist funding will be available through the county's division of culture and heritage. The money will be provided on a weighted system based on how much towns contribute to the county's tax levy.

Using that system, Ocean City, with a $7.7 billion ratable base, would be eligible for nearly $929,000. Woodbine, with just under $58 million in ratables, would qualify for $50,000.

To e-mail W.F. Keough at The Press:WKeough@pressofac.com

Avalon Beaches

2006-03-07T08:17:00.000-05:00

Sand ho! Avalon begins work to replenish eroded beaches
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Tuesday, March 7, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, March 7, 2006

AVALON — The ocean holds many treasures, including the better part of some of Avalon's beaches.

Avalon has been stockpiling sand on beaches between 18th and 26th streets.

Avalon officials also expect a dredging operation to start within two weeks as part of an effort to restore severely eroded beaches in the borough's northern end. In many places there, beach access is closed.

Trucks are moving 60,000 cubic yards of sand from the southern end of the borough and stockpiling it between 18th and 26th streets, where it is needed, said engineer Tom Thornton of the firm Hatch Mott MacDonald.

About 2,000 to 2,500 cubic yards are being moved per day, Thornton said.

Back passing sand is the first — and smallest — beach replenishment that will take place this month.

The dredging will provide about six times more sand than the back passing.

“Once they start, it should only take two or three weeks to finish,” Thornton said of the dredging.

Joan Hunter, director of the Avalon Chamber of Commerce, said the condition of the beach is of no small concern to business owners.

If not remedied, it could discourage vacationers, a prospect not overlooked in a summer economy such as Avalon's.

“Everybody in the borough is aware (that) if we don't have beaches, it's going to hurt businesses. It's going to hurt everything,” Hunter said.

“The borough was working on (the issue) all along, which we were aware of,” she said.

Until last month, borough officials were unsure whether they could find a dredging company to take the project. They had considered back-up plans, including trucking in sand from off the island, if a dredge was unavailable before the summer.

Avalon eventually entered into a $2.8 million contract with dredging company Weeks Marine to pump 350,000 cubic yards of sand between Ninth and 18th streets.

“I've known for a long time that the availability of dredges was going to get tight because of the Gulf Coast,” said Avalon Public Works Director Harry deButts.

Luckily, a dredging company that happened to be working on a project in Brigantine became available, deButts said.

“Having the ability to tie into the Weeks dredge coming out of Brigantine was a godsend to us,” he said.

As Avalon waited to find out whether they could hire a dredging company, officials formulated back-up plans, which deButts said could have adequately stocked the beaches but is not as efficient and would cost more per cubic yard.

While the uncertainty of a dredging project lingered, the Chamber of Commerce fielded questions about the beaches.

“I can't tell you how many phone calls we get here asking what's happening with the beach replenishment,” Hunter said.

Storms damaged beaches in the fall last year and caused Avalon to cut off beach access at many locations in the northern end.

Before Memorial Day last year, a late spring storm also damaged portions of the beach, and sections of the beaches were closed as well.

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

Tax-rate Increase in Stone Harbor

2006-03-04T10:30:00.000-05:00

Stone Harbor budget plan calls for 1 cent tax-rate increase
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Saturday, March 4, 2006
Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2006

STONE HARBOR — Borough Council will introduce its budget Tuesday with a tax-rate increase of 1 cent per $100 of assessed property value, borough officials said.

The increase means a person with a $1 million home will pay $100 more in local purpose taxes than last year.

Last year, the municipal tax rate increased more than 3½ cents per $100 of assessed value, after factoring in a recent revaluation. Last year's tax rate was about 18.6 cents per $100 of assessed value — or $1,860 in local purpose taxes for a person with a
$1 million home.

The $10.2 million 2006 budget will be introduced at a council meeting at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday , with public comment and final adoption slated for April. A line-item budget will be available early next week, officials said.

Stone Harbor holds budget presentations before they officially introduce their budgets. Mayor Suzanne Walters said this gives the public advance notice of their taxes.

“If there's an outcry, if people didn't like one thing or another, it's better to have it out there,” she said.

Among the spending increases this year is more than $80,000 for the volunteer fire department's budget.

Last year, Borough Council voted to pay volunteer firefighters stipends as much as $250 per month based on their participation at fire calls, drills, training and meetings. Borough officials said it was done to retain volunteers.

“There are a lot of things that got added in this year that were not in last year's budget,” Walters said. “Chief among them is the stipends we're now paying for the fire company. But it's still a lot less expensive for us doing that than to actually have a paid fire company.”

The borough also intends to use $819,000 of its $1.8 million surplus.

Also in Stone Harbor, Walters said road construction on 96th Street for the Gateway Project is ahead of schedule due to good weather. Borough officials have said they hoped to finish the project by Memorial Day and before summer vacationers arrive.

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

Avalon Floatilla

2006-03-02T14:14:00.000-05:00

Avalon law takes aim at Floatilla

By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Thursday, March 2, 2006
Updated: Thursday, March 2, 2006

AVALON — The annual summer “Floatilla” party draws rafts, bikinis and beer to the waterways of Avalon.

It also drew widespread concern last year, and borough officials have said the event was getting out of hand.

In July 2005 — its fifth year — the Floatilla attracted more than 1,000 participants to house parties and inflatable rafts near the 21st Street bridge.

The party also attracted the attention of borough officials after a Philadelphia man jumped from the bridge and was never seen resurfacing.

Police, rescue divers, lifeguards and K-9s searched for hours believing he may have drowned. He was alive but did not report to police until later that night.

The incident prompted Avalon Police Chief Stephen Sykes to say last year that police would map out a plan to deal with the partygoers next time.

Last week, Borough Council introduced a law creating a permitting process for special events that not only involves borough property but also those involving Avalon police or public works employees.

The Floatilla party, a conglomeration of rubbing inner tubes in Avalon's bayside, would be one of the law's primary targets. It could end the event in Avalon.

An application for a special event would need to be filed through the borough clerk's office, and then police, public works and recreation can have their say.

Any special event that involves alcohol consumption would need Borough Council approval.

The proposed ordinance will be considered for final passage after a public comment session at 7:45 p.m. March 8 in Borough Hall.

Avalon Councilman Joseph Tipping said he, a fire policeman, was among others involved in the search for the man.

“The Floatilla thing has become so popular with everybody it has become a safety issue. Who would be held responsible if something went wrong? The borough,” Tipping said.

“I have no objection to people floating around and having a beer, but I do have an objection to the way it was last year,” he said. “You want people to have a great time and come down here, but you don't want other people to abuse property (or compromise) safety.”

Last year, police also issued several citations for noise and open consumption of alcohol.

To e-mail Brian Ianieri at The Press:

BIanieri@pressofac.com

Amusement Park Not amusing to some

2006-02-15T15:06:00.000-05:00

Some homeowners in Sea Isle City oppose amusement park
By BRIAN IANIERIStaff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Updated: Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Alex Alexander bought a house in the northern end of the city for its peacefulness.

It was unlike the Philadelphia resident's previous perception of Jersey Shore resort towns as a conglomeration of boardwalks and bells, she said.

She does not want the sounds, lights and traffic that would come with an amusement park in that setting, she said.

“It's quiet. It's beautiful. It's one of the places left on the Jersey Shore that's not commercial,” said Alexander, who splits time between Philadelphia and Sea Isle City.

Kathryn Doyle and Alexander, who listed addresses in both Sea Isle City and Philadelphia, sent Sea Isle City a letter opposing the building an amusement park on Landis Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets.

Last month, Sea Isle City disclosed that an amusement park company, Atlantic Pier Amusements, was interested in opening a park on a former landfill.

City Commissioner James Iannone said the city is still waiting for its requests for proposals from amusement companies that might want to use the former landfill. Iannone said several companies have expressed an interest.

“I think it's a wonderful idea, something we need,” he said.

Alexander's objections include increased traffic on Landis Avenue, noise pollution, increased trash and negative impacts on property values, according to the letter.

“I don't really want it in Sea Isle. I like the quietness, and the fact it's about sailing, it's about swimming, it's about sitting on the beach,” Alexander said. “It's pretty laid back.”

Alexander also said the two-lane Landis Avenue would be gridlocked in the summer if amusement park traffic would have to compete with the normal congestion.

About six years ago, the city lost Fun City, a popular family recreation spot that was sold and developed.

Iannone said the city will take the letter into consideration.

The site had been looked at for a golf course but was too small for a nine-hole course, Iannone said.

If the city does approve an amusement park at that site, it would likely lease the land, perhaps for 30 years or longer, Iannone said.

2006-02-09T20:09:00.000-05:00

Avalon OKs beach project
The borough will spend $2.8 million for an emergency beach fill.
By BRIAN IANIERIStaff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Thursday, February 9, 2006
Updated: Thursday, February 9, 2006

The borough approved a $2.8 million contract with a dredging company Wednesday night, settling an issue that threatened beaches, tourism and property, Avalon officials said.

Avalon negotiated a contract for an emergency beach fill with Weeks Marine Inc. to pump 350,000 cubic yards of sand from Townsends Inlet to beaches between Ninth and 18th streets.

“The last thing we can afford to do is not do anything on that beach,” Councilman David Ellenberg said.

The borough, which voted to borrow money for the beach fill last year, is paying for the project by itself, unsure of federal funding that is fickle and often threatened with cuts.

Storms and encroaching ocean have decimated beaches in Avalon's northern end.

Most access paths are closed because the ocean chewed steep cliffs into the dunes late last year.

Just reaching north-end beaches is difficult now.

“There are public safety issues, as well as economic issues we are addressing to get the beach back in shape by the summer season,” Administra-tor Andrew Bednarek said.

Avalon has sought to restock the beaches but had trouble finding a dredging company to do the work—and for about $3 million.

After two unsuccessful attempts, the borough entered negotiations.

The borough also considered backup plans, which would have included trucking in sand from outside of Avalon, if dredging were not available.

However, those options would deliver less sand and cost more per cubic yard.

Weeks Marine spokesman Chris Champigny said dredging will likely begin in a few weeks.

The company is currently working on a federal beach replenishment project in Brigantine.

High Speed Internet Service

2006-02-07T23:41:00.000-05:00

Broadband Wireless Internet Service Now Available in Sea Isle City
SeaWaves Technology, a new computer and internet services company located in Cape May County, New Jersey, is proud to announce that it is now offering high speed internet service to certain locations in Sea Isle City, NJ.

(I-Newswire) - Sea Isle City, NJ ( I-Newswire ) February 08, 2006 -- Sea Isle City beachgoers rejoice! Gone are the days of spending a week at the beach without high-speed broadband internet service. Now you can check your email and browse the web without the inconvenience of a slow dial up internet connection.

SeaWaves was born out of real world needs: many people are not able to sacrifice an entire week of high-speed data communications. Business people vacationing at the beach need regular communication with their co-workers and customers. But up until now, a trip to Sea Isle City effectively meant a compromise: no high broadband internet in exchange for a vacation. But now you can have both!

SeaWaves technology, a leader in South Jersey internet and computer technology, has launched a new wireless internet service in various locations throughout Sea Isle City. All you need is a wireless enabled device such as a laptop or PDA and you're all set to hook up...wirelessly!

SeaWaves employs Sputnik's state of the art wireless internet technology to securely provide service to all WiFi enabled devices within range. Sputnik's architecture will enable SeaWaves to grow its network transparently as demand increases.

Due to limitations in wireless technology, not all areas in Sea Isle can receive service.

SeaWaves Technology was formed in January of 2006 as a complete computer technology company. In addition to wireless internet service, SeaWaves Technology provides custom web development, web hosting, web promotion, and a variety of other computer and internet related services.

SeaWaves Technology
43rd St.
Sea Isle City, NJ 08243

Contact at:
http://www.sea-waves.net/contact.php

If you have questions regarding information in this press release contact the company listed below. I-Newswire.com is a press release service and not the author of this press release. The information that is on or available through this site is for informational purposes only and speaks only as of the particular date or dates of that information. As some companies / PR Agencies submit their press releases once per week/month or quarter, make sure check the official company website for accurate release dates as our site displays the I-Newswire.com distribution date only. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of information on or available through this site, and we are not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in that information or for actions taken in reliance on that information.

More Information
SeaWaves Technology
Published on:
2006-02-08

Strathmere wants different revaluation

2006-02-07T08:29:00.000-05:00

Strathmere group wants Upper to scrap reval
By MICHAEL MILLERStaff Writer, (609) 463-6712
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, February 7, 2006

The newly formed Strathmere Taxpayers Association wants the Township Committee to throw out the latest property revaluation and start over.

This group of property owners is convinced the latest property assessments have no basis in reality.

“We're convinced and our professionals are convinced,” group spokesman Randy Roash said. “It's going to cost homeowners to file an appeal. So we're asking (the township) to throw it out and redo it.”

The association has 163 members.

Mayor Richard Palombo said any revaluation was bound to draw criticism — and has. He has gotten complaints about inflated home values from homeowners in the development-restricted Pinelands and mainland homeowners whose property consists primarily of wetlands.

He conceded a majority of complaints have come from Strathmere, a small barrier island north of Sea Isle City.

“The problem is it's not up to us to make a determination to throw it out,” Palombo said.

Palombo noted the township's tax office has worked closely with property owners and the revaluation company, CLT, to resolve differences. Homeowners who dispute their property value can appeal to the Cape May County Board of Taxation, he said.

“We want a fair assessment across the board,” Palombo said.

In a letter dated Feb. 2, township Tax Assessor Kristen Errickson told the tax group she was not aware of any state law that would allow the township to set aside the results of the revaluation.

“April 3 is the deadline for people to individually appeal their tax assessments,” Roash said. “That's for me to go in with my lawyer paid at my expense and fix the mess they made.”

The tax group plans to meet again 2 p.m. Saturday at the Strathmere fire house to offer residents help in filing tax appeals, Roash said.

Wetlands Institute

2006-02-06T10:48:00.000-05:00

Institute celebrates World Wetlands Day
By DEBRA RECHFor The Press, (609) 463-6719
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Monday, February 6, 2006
Updated: Monday, February 6, 2006

Madison Blithe, 2, didn't know she was learning about the importance of preserving the wetlands on Thursday at the Wetlands Institute. She just enjoyed “fishing” for wooden fish, then matching them in a puzzle board.

Madison's grandmother, Elly Poupard, of Dennis Township, brought her granddaughter to the institute to celebrate World Wetlands Day, which raises awareness of the value and benefits of wetlands. Although the event has been held since 1997, it was the first time for Cape May County.

The event marks the signing of the Convention on Wetlands in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Erica Hartman, educator and events coordinator at the Wetlands Institute, said the goal is to make people aware of how the wetlands interact with the ecosystem.

“It's important that people know how valuable the wetlands are,” Hartman said. “We decided to hold this event and see how much interest we could generate. We also wanted to give Groundhog Day a run for its money.”

Admission was free for the day, and, although the event started out slowly, with only a few families attending, a crowd did show up for the live animal programs in the evening. Every hour, a different wetlands creature was featured, including crabs, horseshoe crabs and seahorses.

In “Wetlandia,” a room with exhibits and hands-on activities for preschoolers, there were coloring pages and learning “blocks,” wooden tables that have interactive displays for little hands including puzzle boards that showed the ecosystem and how animals in the wetlands live.

A large felt board offered children the chance to create their own wetlands, and in one corner, children could use a miniature telescope. The room was built about a year ago and funded through an anonymous donor. Poupard said Madison was having a great time.

“She just loves animals so I knew she would be interested in coming here,” Poupard said. “She's had the run of the place and is having a great time.”

For more information on the Wetlands Institute or to order a brochure of upcoming events, call 368-1211.

More on Avalon Beaches

2006-01-31T00:57:00.000-05:00

Avalon speeds sands of time
Borough bypasses federal budget for quicker beach replenishment
By MICHAEL PRITCHARD Staff Writer, (609) 272-7256
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Monday, January 30, 2006
Updated: Monday, January 30, 2006

When Harry deButts, Public Works director for Avalon, looks out on Absecon Inlet in Atlantic County, he can see the answer to many of his problems. Sitting there is a dredger, currently pumping sand onto Brigantine's beaches as part of a $4.5 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beach replenishment project.

DeButts wants that dredger because his borough is about to start a $3 million beach replenishment project of their own, funded through a city bond ordinance.

“We've been trying to work a deal to get it to stop off our beach,” deButts said. “The availability of dredgers is very limited. There are only so many in the country and they're usually booked out years in advance. If we're not successful, though, we're ready to truck the sand in from other areas. We'll do what we have to do.”

The quick solution to deButts' problem might be to simply bring the corps into the project with their ability to book dredgers. The solution, however, is part of the problem. The corps already maintains the borough's replenishment project, but in order to move quickly, borough officials decided to bypass the corps and, more importantly, the federal budget process.

Although the past several presidential administrations have often cut funds for beach replenishment, the current administration has been more than stingy. When President Bush sends his proposed federal budget to Congress next month, it is unlikely to have one dime set aside for beach replenishment projects anywhere in the country.

That will set a host of congressmen in action as they look for money for replenishment projects — both new projects and maintenance of older projects — in other appropriations. And while Congress has often been willing to fund replenishment projects that the president will not, it makes for a long and complicated process.

It's a wait Avalon officials decided they couldn't afford because storms have cut deeply into borough beaches since its last replenishment — done by the corps — in 2003.

“We felt we had a problem with public safety that needed to be addressed, deButts said. “We need to do something. We can't afford to take the chance that funding might be there in the future. It's our responsibility so we decided to move ourselves.”

In southern New Jersey, however, there are more than a dozen beach replenishment projects under way. Most of those projects have been engineered by the corps and come with 50-year commitments for maintenance and periodic renourishment of sand.

But 50-year commitments aren't very reassuring when funding is up in the air every year.

“It does make for some consternation,” said Drew McCrosson, city administrator for Ventnor. “You know you have a commitment to the project, but securing the funding is an annual event that you can't be sure of. And there aren't a lot of alternatives available if that funding isn't there.”

Ventnor, along with Atlantic City, was part of a $25 million beach replenishment project started in 2003. That project is already scheduled for renourishment this year, although McCrosson feels realistically the city won't see any sand until at least 2007 considering the need for new projects along the country's storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.

It will be up to local congressmen, such as U.S. Reps. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd, and James Saxton, R-3rd, to secure funding for state projects. Both congressmen have been successful in securing funds projects in the past. LoBiondo was instrumental to securing funds for the Brigantine and Absecon projects, and Saxton recently secured funding for a $71 million project on Long Beach Island, to cite just a few examples.

But for the state's congressional delegation, each year they start from scratch.

“At the moment, we are funding these projects through add-ons to other appropriations,” said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-8th, who serves on the Congressional Coastal Caucus. “Every year the president puts out his budget and there is no money for coastal beach replenishment because this administration doesn't believe in it. So every congressman has to go before the House and try to secure the funding for their projects.”

Making things worse is a lack of a dedicated funding source for replenishment projects.

“When you consider that these projects are spread out across the entire country, and usually with maintenance agreements covering 50 years, it's just not practical to fund them upfront,” said Jason Galanes, spokesman for LoBiondo. “The cost would be staggering and probably bankrupt the budget.”

Pallone also noted that setting a guaranteed tax source —such as how the federal gasoline tax funds transportation projects — is a long shot.

“To do that, realistically you need a national issue,” Pallone said. “Transportation is a national issue because every state has transportation projects. But shore replenishment is seen as a local issue and many people feel it is a waste of money. Even in New Jersey, the farther you get from the coast the less support there is.”

The federal government, however, is not the only source of funding for replenishment projects. Most replenishments projects are only funded by federal money as much as 65 percent. State and local funds generally cover the remaining 35 percent. That figure is then split, with 75 percent paid by the state Department of Environmental Protection and 25 percent by the local municipality.

But state funds can't maintain all of the projects going on in New Jersey or that are committed to 50-year maintenance. Corps officials say maintenance projects are given a higher priority than new projects because the corps tries to live up to their commitments, but at the moment its anyone's guess what will and won't be funded.

Except in Avalon, where the borough is paying for everything.

“It's an incredibly frustrating process,” deButts said. “Let me put it this way. We first started pushing for a replenishment project in the borough in 1987. We finally got it in 2000.”

Avalon Beaches

2006-01-28T21:13:00.000-05:00

Avalon works against time and tide to fix beaches
By BRIAN IANIERIStaff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, January 28, 2006
Updated: Saturday, January 28, 2006

Borough officials are preparing a back-up plan to stock eroding beaches before the tourist season after learning that dredging — the most practical option — might not be available.

Engineer Tom Thornton, of the firm Hatch Mott MacDonald, said the borough may buy sand from local gravel pits and truck it to the beaches if Avalon cannot find a dredging company willing to take the project.

Avalon is seeking approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection for the trucking project, Thornton said.

Trucking could produce 180,000 cubic yards of sand between Ninth and 18th streets, the most heavily eroded on Avalon's coastline.

Currently, most beach access there is closed because encroaching saltwater chewed steep cliffs in the dunes.

Avalon had budgeted about $3 million for an emergency beach fill but could not find a dredging company that would take the job.

Next week, Avalon is scheduled to negotiate with two dredging companies and determine whether the companies will take the project and for how much.

“We need to do something on the beach. If it takes trucking in sand, by God that's what we need to do,” said borough Councilman David Ellenberg. “The renters are coming here over the summer to use our beaches. That is the infrastructure we have to deal with at this point. It's all part of economic development.”

Avalon has authorized spending almost $390,000 for backpassing — shifting sand from elsewhere in Avalon to the depleted northern end.

But the two methods would deliver less sand than dredging and would be more expensive per cubic yard.

Together, the two projects could deliver as much as 240,000 cubic yards of sand, about two-thirds of what the dredging would deliver, Thornton said.

Either dredging or trucking sand could begin sometime in February, Thornton said.

Ellenberg said he hopes the borough can negotiate with a dredging company to take on the project.

Avalon is working with a tight timetable, though.

The project would likely need to be finished by the end of March due to nesting season for the endangered piping plovers.

Valet Parking at Beach

2006-01-27T19:50:00.000-05:00

Sea Isle City kicks around valet parking at the beach
By BRIAN IANIERIStaff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Press of Atlantic City
Updated: Wednesday, January 25, 2006

— A tourist pulls his sport utility vehicle within sight of the sand, unloads the kids and beach chairs and then hands his keys to a valet. Late afternoon, the suntanned family calls a valet service and has the vehicle delivered to where they are standing in their flip-flops.

This might be Sea Isle City in the not-too-distant future.

The city is looking for possible solutions to summer parking problems, and officials are considering ideas from beachside valet service to making a parking lot at the site of a former sewer plant — now known as a popular place for dogs to relieve themselves.

“We have to try lots of solutions. Some of them are going to work, and some of them are not going to work. But we've got to give it a good-faith try,” said city Zoning Board Solicitor Ellen Nicholson Byrne, a mother who sees the advantages of valet.

She suggested the city experiment with a pilot valet program this summer. Mayor Leonard Desiderio said he supports the idea.

Any July tourist knows parking spots on barrier islands are worth their weight in yellow gold.

Each summer, a small department within Sea Isle City Public Works — called “Lines and Signs”— works to whitewash curbs that others have illegally painted yellow, a clever but misguided attempt to preserve a few precious yards of street-front property.

Summer parking has become an increasingly important issue as Sea Isle City reworks its master plan, in part to make owning businesses more lucrative than cashing out and selling to housing developers. The city is also considering allowing more residential units above businesses.

A mayor's committee and the city planning and zoning board attorneys are recording ideas at public meetings, attended largely by business owners.

At the end of February, that committee will present the ideas to the City Commission, which can make the necessary laws or spend the necessary money to implement those changes.

Planning Board Attorney James Arsenault said the city could likely convert the site of the former sewer plant on 48th Street into a 300-space lot by summer.

He said it could become a paid, automated parking lot and provide shuttle service to downtown, which is about seven blocks away.

Byrne said the committee is still identifying city-owned properties that can be used for parking. At the committee's first meeting two weeks ago, several residents suggested moving basketball courts from downtown John F. Kennedy Boulevard.

Officials estimate that could yield 60 to 100 additional parking spots in a high-traffic area. But that idea was met with perhaps the most concern due to its effect on recreation in a vacation town.

It is also not likely for this summer.

Resident Mike Gardner suggested offering shuttle service to Sea Isle City from campgrounds in neighboring rural townships.

The city has another meeting scheduled at 2 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Public Safety Building.

Amusement Park

2006-01-27T19:44:00.000-05:00

Amusement park proposed for landfill site in Sea Isle City
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2006
Press of Atlantic City
Updated: Thursday, January 26, 2006

— The company that owns the Steel Pier in Atlantic City is considering opening an amusement park on a former landfill in the northern end of Sea Isle City.

Mayor Leonard Desiderio said Atlantic Pier Amusements approached the city with plans for an amusement park on a chunk of city-owned land on Landis Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets.

The concept is still in an early stage, Desiderio said.

Building there would require several state environmental approvals, as well as the support of residents and the three-member City Commission, he said.

“I told them (the company) an amusement park would help with tourism and would be a welcome business to any tourism community,” Desiderio said. “Of course, we have to go according to what the public has to say, and especially the public in the north end, and what they're thinking (about) entertainment in this area.”

About six years ago, the city lost a popular summer recreation spot for families.

Fun City was a small amusement park that operated near 32nd Street and the beach for nearly 30 years, but it was sold to make room for duplexes, taking with it its Tilt-A-Whirl, Merry-Go-Round and Scrambler. It also took away one more family attraction from the resort town.

Desiderio said the city is preparing a list of possible uses for the former landfill. What the city doesn't want there, Desiderio said, are houses.

Desiderio said he supports keeping city ownership of the land and perhaps leasing it long term. That way, down the line, the property cannot be sold to build more condominiums or duplexes.

Carmen La Rosa, an architect for the amusement company, said the site is about 14 acres, about half of which is buildable.

“The main thing is to go to the state and see what we can get approvals to build over a landfill,” he said.

La Rosa said the amusement park would include a roller coaster, Ferris wheel, other rides and the potential for a water park.

There isn't much available land is Sea Isle City, especially for an amusement park, so the former landfill seemed a good site, Desiderio said.

Over the years, people have proposed using the area as a golf course, but it wasn't large enough, Desiderio said.

Garden State Parkway

2006-01-27T19:41:00.000-05:00

Engineers present parkway options
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2006
Press of Atlantic City
Updated: Thursday, January 26, 2006

— The engineering company designing interchanges to replace three traffic lights on the Garden State Parkway presented on Wednesday eight possibilities for exits 9 and 11.

But at this point, they are just possibilities. Some designs may be too expensive to build, while others may be less desirable due to impact on wetlands or preserved open space.

One design for an exit is named a “single-point urban interchange,” a 12-foot-tall bridgelike structure used primarily in cities. That one in particular is expensive to build, said Dennis Conklin, chief highway engineer for The Louis Berger Group, Inc.

“We'd be spending a lot of money for an exotic bridge in Cape May County,” Conklin said.

In two months, the engineering company will have an analysis of the impacts of each interchange design, Conklin said. The company is reviewing exits 9, 10 and 11.

These will include estimates on construction, environmental impact, right of way and — for a few designs involving exit 10 — possible use of eminent domain.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which runs the parkway, and the state Department of Transportation will review them, Conklin said.

The Turnpike Authority expects that the current preliminary design phase will be completed by 2007. Construction is slated to begin in 2009, with hopes of finishing by 2011.

Last summer, The Louis Berger Group, Inc., hired by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, presented possible design changes to exit 10, where the parkway and the heart of Middle Township meet.

Exit 10, where motorists either head into Cape May Court House or Stone Harbor, will be the largest and perhaps most complicated of the interchanges.

Besides heavy traffic there, Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital and some residential houses are nearby. Jan Dougherty, who lives on nearby Brighton Street, is particularly interested in what becomes of exit 10. The government may want her house.

Exit 11 would affect the Crest Haven Complex, the headquarters of Cape May County government and services.

Cape May County Engineer Dale Foster said he suggested some design modifications to engineers. Some designs would hamper traffic within the Crest Haven Complex, Foster said.

The Turnpike Authority is taking suggestions from local elected officials and residents. At a public meeting Wednesday, the designs were on display for perusal, and comment cards were available.

The designs for exits 9 and 11 can still be viewed by calling the Cape May County Engineer's Office at 465-1035.

Last year, the federal government earmarked $32 million for the parkway improvements.

Conklin said they have not completed cost estimates for the interchanges. However, previous estimates put the overall project at $100 million.

The 173-mile parkway has only three traffic lights, all of which exist in Middle Township.

There are concerns the lights are unsafe and clog traffic.

Middle Township Mayor Nathan Doughty acknowledged that, regardless of the final design, some people will not be happy.

Doughty and others witnessed similar attempts to remove the parkway lights fail through the years.

He said the choice of interchanges depends heavily on their cost and how much federal and state authorities are willing to spend.

“They're showing all this, but at the end of the day, who knows what they're going to do?” Doughty asked.

Appeals Have Appeal

2006-01-25T16:25:00.000-05:00

STRATHMERE — A filled-room at this seashore community’s firehouse on Jan. 21 focused its displeasure on the reassessed values of properties. Formation of the Strathmere Taxpayers Association grew from that recent revaluation which was ordered by the county Board of Taxation. The irate crowd heard attorney Joseph Grimes advise the manner in which they could appeal new assessments, which were performed by Tyler Technologies, Inc., the same firm contracted to do revaluations in Middle, Dennis and Lower townships. Those still unhappy with answers can appeal further. Other Upper Township residents were similarly displeased with the figures that allegedly show true market value of properties. There was also talk of an attempt at deannexation of this community from Upper Township.

News Digest 1/25/2006
Cape May County Herald

Parkway Hearing Set

2006-01-25T16:22:00.000-05:00

CREST HAVEN — A fourth public information meeting will be held today from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the Freeholder Meeting Room, County Administration Building, 4 Moore Road to present alternative plans for improving the Garden State Parkway intersections at Interchange 9; Shell Bay Avenue and Interchange 11; Crest Haven Road. The N.J. Turnpike Authority is doing preliminary designs for interchanges 9, 10 and 11. The improvements are anticipated to include grade separating the parkway and the east west cross streets, including interchange ramps to provide access to the parkway at certain locations. The existing three intersections are the only remaining at-grade signalized intersections along the entire length of the 172-mile parkway.

News Digest 1/25/2006
Cape May County Herald

No Bids for Sand

2006-01-25T16:19:00.000-05:00

AVALON — Despite rebidding a project for 350,000 cubic yards of beach replenishment after the first round of bidding came in with one contractor $1 million over budget, borough council had no bids to open at its special meeting Jan 17. Andrew Bednarek, borough administrator, has now been given authority to negotiate a contract for the work, which involves dredging offshore and then pumping it onto borough beaches. Last year, council passed a $3 million bond ordinance to cover this work needed at northern beaches that have taken the toll of heavy weather. Most beach access in that area is now closed due to dangerous cliff conditions that the ocean has carved into dunes.

News Digest 1/25/2006
Cape May County Herald

Sea Isle Title Error

2006-01-25T12:36:00.000-05:00

In Sea Isle City, still no resolution of 63-year-old title error

By JOHN CURRAN
Associated Press Writer
January 13, 2006, 9:58 AM EST

SEA ISLE CITY, N.J. -- Thrown into real estate limbo by a 63-year-old mistake, the owners of nine waterfront properties are still waiting to reclaim legal title to them _ even though they've owned the land for years.

The homeowners, who found out last spring that a 1942 mix up rendered their property titles worthless, got a boost last month when Gov. Richard J. Codey signed special legislation to address the problem. But they're still waiting for the city, the state and their title insurance companies to formally undo the damage wrought by the bizarre sequence of events.

"The devil's in the details, though," said Brian Buckley, 49, of West Chester, Pa., whose vacation home on 47th Place is among those affected.

Buckley and the other homeowners were notified last spring that the state _ not them _ actually owned the property under their houses and condominiums, owing to a 1942 deal in which the city transferred the finger-shaped piece of land to the state for the sole purpose of dredging the waterway that surrounds it.

The idea was that the state would give the land back to the city once the dredging was over. That never happened, but the city _ apparently believing it had _ sold the land to a developer, who broke it up into lots and sold them in the 1960s.

The title defect went undetected for more than 60 years as the properties were developed into vacation homes and year-round residences. A title search performed on behalf of one of the properties found the discrepancy, and last May, the state Bureau of Tidelands Management sent letters to the owners delivering the bad news.

"The State of New Jersey claims title to your entire property," it said. "The State has concluded that your deed is not valid. This title defect is a complete failure of your title."

The state Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the agency, has said it never intended to seize the properties, but that they could not be given back because under state law, the state must seek fair market value to sell its property.

The bill signed by Codey gave DEP the power to enter into agreements with each homeowner under which they would get clear title to their properties in exchange for an unspecified amount of money from the title insurance companies, three or four parcels of undeveloped land from the city and written assurances that the homeowners will not sue the city or state.

The city plans to give three beachfront parcels and a vacant lot at 29th Street and Central Avenue, and is pushing the state to guarantee that the land will remain open forever.

"The goal in all of this is to get clean title to the homeowners, but there are certain parties that have obligations with respect to these properties and the fact that these titles were not clear," said Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's office, which is involved.

DEP, meanwhile, must sign agreements with each of the homeowners and with the city, according to Elaine Makatura, spokeswoman.

"Once all of these agreements are implemented, we would then convey deeds to the homeowners," she said.

In the meantime, the homeowners have little choice but to wait.

The biggest losers in the case so far may be Thomas and Dolly Dowdell.

The retired couple was on the verge of selling their $885,000 condominium and moving to an Egg Harbor Township retirement community when the situation developed. Without clear title to it, they couldn't sell it, and without the proceeds, they couldn't go through with their new home purchase.

"We lost our $5,000 deposit, and they won't give it back," said Dolly Dowdell. "And the buyers for our property had to buy something else. I'm very frustrated. I wish they'd settle this."

Mayor Len Desiderio said he expects the situation to be resolved by the end of January. Others aren't so optimistic.

"The 47th Place situation has been a roller coaster," Desiderio said. "We've had our ups and our downs. Just when we thought we'd come to a conclusion, there were more bumps."

Wails, Warbles and Other Calls to Action

2006-01-25T12:27:00.000-05:00

By Al Campbell | Published 01/11/2006
Cape May County Herald

Wails, Warbles and Other Calls to Action

The answer could depend upon where you live.

If home is inland, away from rising back bays, chances are that the wavering tone is alerting volunteer firefighters that their services are needed, pronto.
If home has beautiful sunset views over waterways or marshes, and there's a wicked northeaster barreling up the coastline, the siren alarm is likely a flood alarm.
After a reader called the Herald recently to inquire about a siren he'd heard, and wondered what it meant, the question began to bug the newsroom staff.
Sirens, it seems, remain the last bastion of home rule left in New Jersey.
Every town has sirens, even though volunteer firefighters carry radio pagers that alert them of a call.

So why are sirens still used to summon aid?
Consider: Many volunteer firefighters have jobs in noisy environments. The sound of saws or motors can easily drown out the pager's pitches. So, sirens, alarming as they may be to the uninitiated, still serve a purpose.
In Avalon, where a new siren system is slated to be in operation by month's end, the present siren wails its up-and-down tone for 90 seconds, according to Chief Kevin Scarpa, rescue squad chief, who oversees the emergency sirens.
Locations of sirens, which haven't changed in decades, are 13th, 30th and 67th streets, said Scarpa.

In all likelihood, the new siren system will include a flood warning.
It will "give us the ability to store messages" that will be broadcast over the system, said Scarpa.

While some other towns rely on sirens to warn residents to move cars and other property that salt water may ruin, Avalon has its own ALERT AM emergency advisory radio station, (1630 on the dial) that broadcasts a variety of weather-related alerts.

That system was funded by an $18,000 grant from the N.J. State Police Office of Emergency Management.

Stone Harbor also has a siren system that allows messages to be broadcast to residents when floods are imminent. But there's also an alarm to summon firefighters, when needed.

The traditional fire alarm is an up and down cycle to alert firefighters.
Should there be an actual, “working” structure fire, a second tone, different than the first is sounded, said Administrator Kenneth Hawk, a volunteer firefighter.
When flooding is imminent, a “warbling sound” siren is broadcast followed by a recorded voice alert via the community-wide speaker system.
The pre-recorded messages contain various information and alerts.
Police dispatchers control all alarms.

Sea Isle City uses its sirens only for summoning firefighters and for a noon test.
In North Wildwood, where Emergency Manager Augustus "Gus" Mason has over seen nearly three decades of floods from new and full moons, as well as from northeasters, hurricanes and unusual tides, sirens are distinct.

A steady blast for 30 seconds, then off, then another steady blast, then off, then another steady blast for 30 seconds forewarns impending high salt water, not from rain-caused street flooding, said Mason.

Fire sirens in that city are different, he said.

"A normal fire call has a wailing sound, up and down and continues for a while," he said.

"We had to differentiate this from flood calls," said Mason.
He said prior to sounding a flood alert, the city's police dispatcher will alert firefighters via radio pagers that the tone they will hear is a flood alert, not a fire alarm.

There are two sirens in the city, at Second and New Jersey avenues atop Anglesea Fire House and at the firehouse, 15th and Central avenues.
"A lot of times, with northeast winds blowing hard, the sound of the siren doesn't reach the (Anglesea) Beach Colony," said Mason.

"We're looking to add a siren, but they're very expensive. We've tried to find someone, or some insurance company, to help pay for one. After all, if they alert someone to move a $50,000 Cadillac, they're saved the company the cost for only a few thousand dollars," said Mason.

"So far, we haven't had much luck," he added.

In neighboring Wildwood, a siren sounds seven times, up and down, to alert volunteers in the municipal division of a fire, said Capt. Dale Gentek.
Those alarms are dispatched through the city police department.

When tidal flooding is about to occur, Gentek said word is passed from the county Office of Emergency Management, or, "if we recognize tidal flooding is taking place," a three-cycle siren system is used, Gentek said.

Those sirens are manually sounded from within the fire department for 30 seconds, solid sound, followed by a minute rest, another 30-second blast, another minute rest, and finally another 30-second blast.

Those who reside on the flood-prone west side then take heed to move their cars to high ground.

Wildwood's siren is located atop City Hall, but the alert is also sent out over radio pagers, he said.

If winds are favorable, residents in West Wildwood may hear Wildwood's flood sirens, although their borough operates its own siren.

West Wildwood’s Emergency Management Coordinator James Fox said there are two distinct siren sounds, one for fires, which is high-low for an eight-time cycle.
Residents there are alerted to flooding conditions by a single, 40-second blast.
“Depending on conditions and the wind, we will sound it twice. Normally, we wait about 20 minutes in between so as not to panic people,” said Fox.

When flooding is expected, the local police go door to door to alert residents who may not have heard the alert. Residents usually move their cars to North Drive, a dirt road off Neptune, which is a “very high area,” said Fox.

The borough is planning to seek funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a speaker system, similar to those in Avalon and Stone Harbor, Fox said.
Sirens in Wildwood Crest can mean three different things. But they are not sounded after 11 p.m. or before 7 a.m.

A single siren in the Crest, sounded for 30 seconds, means there is a general alarm for one of two squads on duty for a week at a time.

The borough's firefighters have divided into two squads so that not everyone is required to respond to every fire call.

If a siren sounds six consecutive times, it means a full alarm, an actual fire (as opposed to a false alarm) in an occupied dwelling, motel or fully involved structure fire.

The flood siren, like those in Wildwood and North Wildwood, sounds for 30 seconds, rests a minute, sounds again for 30 seconds, rests another minute, then sounds for a final 30 seconds.

Sirens in the Crest are located at Morning Glory Road and New Jersey Avenue, at the police department, Cardinal and Pacific avenues, and at Topeka and New Jersey avenues.

Cape May City residents will hear two distinct siren sounds; one summons volunteer firefighters, the other alerts for flooding.

According to Fire Chief Jerry Inderweis Jr., the fire alert system is vintage, but works.

Rooted in former “pull boxes,” no longer used since they made sounding false alarms too easy, the system sounds a number of tones, which pinpoint a fire location.
Those fire alarms, which sound three times over the claxon horn regardless of the hour, are manually operated from the fire department to alert volunteers of a fire location.

The department had paid firefighters, for initial response, but relies on volunteers to add manpower when a large fire occurs.

Like counterparts in other areas of the county, Inderweis advocates use of the siren, even though firefighters carry radio pagers.
That’s because if a volunteer is working near loud equipment, the radio page is inaudible, but not the claxon.

Flood sirens, which consist of a long blast, followed by a pause, sounded three times, are situated in five locations around the city, according to Robert Smith, emergency management coordinator and public works superintendent.
“They’re very helpful, and we used them in the last few days,” said Smith.

An area that often gets such a warning is Yacht Avenue, located in the north end.
Smith has noticed a decrease in amount of flooding since the 1993-94 beach replenishment.

“We have also improved pump stations,” he said. “We rebuilt Benton Avenue and Frog Hollow station about a year ago,” he added.

Still, flooding may occur when outfall pipes get clogged with sand, especially on Beach Avenue, Smith said.

As soon as tides recede, crews clear sand from the pipes, he said.

The city continues to make improvements to flood-prone areas, he added.

“As an example, we reconstructed Elmira and Bank streets several years ago. When we did, we raised the elevation of them, and put small berms in to reduce tidal flooding,” Smith said.

Contact Campbell at: al.c@cmcherald.com

Another Way into Sea Isle

2005-12-30T00:49:00.000-05:00

Sea Isle seeks signs for shortcut into town
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Updated: Thursday, December 29, 2005

SEA ISLE CITY-The city has asked the New Jersey Turnpike Authority for a sign instructing motorists of a Garden State Parkway shortcut that many locals already know about.

The issue of finding a way into Sea Isle City from the parkway has long been a sore subject.

There is no northbound exit to enter Sea Isle City or neighboring Dennis Township. However, there is a southbound exit.

Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio said a sign should tell vacationers about a shortcut involving a U-turn through a parkway rest stop.

He revived an old issue during a meeting between the Turnpike Authority and county officials recently regarding one-way tolls on the parkway.

"As long as I had them at the table, I'd figured I'd bring up an old request," Desiderio said.

In 1996, parkway officials erected a sign meant to make reaching Sea Isle City easier.

The sign, which is still there, instructs northbound motorists heading to Sea Isle City to get off at exit 13.

The route means driving through Avalon and 25 mph speed limits, crossing the Townsends Inlet Bridge and then driving through much of residential Sea Isle City.

Desiderio said the current sign is confusing, leaving vacationers who take that exit with no further directions.

There's also a much faster route.

Motorists can make a U-turn at the Ocean View rest area and exit from the southbound lane of the parkway at exit 17, which leads directly into Sea Isle City.

On Wednesday in light traffic, a drive from Cape May Court House to downtown Sea Isle City took about 20 minutes using the prescribed route through Avalon.

Using the U-turn shortcut, however, the drive took about 12 minutes.

For years, the city wanted a sign indicating that the nearby parkway rest stop can serve as a U-turn.

Previously, state officials have said that technique is too dangerous, as motorists must cross two lanes of traffic to reach the exit.

Cars must enter fast-moving parkway traffic from the left lane and cross the two lanes within about half mile.

But Desiderio said exiting the rest stop is no different than leaving any other parkway rest stop.

The issue has been dormant for several years.

Desiderio said it was worth presenting the idea again.

This time, there are also different officials in charge of the parkway, he said.

"We've been doing this for generations here. ... All I want to do is alert motorists to the loop," Desiderio said. "I don't believe it would bring any more traffic because everybody's doing it now."

But Desiderio said it would make it easier on vacationers.

Turnpike Authority spokesman Joseph Orlando said Wednesday officials were reviewing the request.

"We know the request has been made, and we're going to have the engineers look into it, the feasibility in terms of traffic and safety," Orlando said.

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

Avalon Alarms

2005-12-27T12:26:00.000-05:00

Avalon to make public-alert siren less alarming
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Saturday, December 24, 2005

Updated: Saturday, December 24, 2005AVALON-The borough will replace its three aging public-alert speakers with ones that will not scare the living heck out of those nearby, Avalon's chief of Emergency Medical Services said Friday.Kevin Scarpa said volume control is one of the features of a new system that costs about $57,000 and is scheduled for installation in January.For public alerts, the current speakers sound a startling, immediate blast, like someone honking a car horn while you walk past, Scarpa said. The new speakers will gradually increase volume."These new ones will have a volume control so we'll stop scaring these people and animals out of their underwear," Scarpa said. "The people that live near in the summer actually despise it because of the startling noise, not because how loud it gets."Avalon has three speakers distributed throughout the city, used to alert volunteer firefighters and also capable of public-address announcements, such as tidal flooding or high winds, Scarpa said.Those speakers, bought 13 years ago, have deteriorated, mainly due to the harsh salt air, he said.Scarpa said the new alarms can convey voice messages uploaded from a personal computer. The voice messages can also be timed at intervals at each speaker to eliminate the "echo effect" that the distance between the speakers and the sound of speed creates, he said.The speakers can be used in conjunction with Avalon's 1630 AM station for information on weather and emergency conditions.The speakers will remain at the same locations -13th, 30th, and 67th streets -, Scarpa said.Avalon Borough Council approved the purchase at a meeting earlier this month.

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

Land Swap - The End of the Story

2005-12-27T12:24:00.000-05:00

Gov. signs bill to allow land swap in Sea Isle
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Thursday, December 22, 2005

Updated: Thursday, December 22, 2005SEA ISLE CITY-Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed a bill into law Wednesday to give clear property ownership rights to nine homeowners caught in a bizarre land dispute.The law gives the state Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP, the legal authority to convey the property back to 47th Place homeowners, DEP spokeswoman Elaine Makatura said.The law is a big step, she said. But the process is not over.Brian Buckley, who became a spokesman for the 47th Place homeowners, was pleased with the bill's passage but will remain cautious until everything is ratified."The bill doesn't state all the details. It just gives the authority to the DEP, so long as all parties are in agreement," Buckley said."We're thrilled, we're optimistic," he said. "But this has taken so long, it's not done until it's done."Mayor Leonard Desiderio said the whole process had the ups and downs of a roller-coaster ride."The legislators did their job getting it through their respective houses and getting it done in record-breaking time," Desiderio said.Desiderio said he will schedule a meeting with the DEP to confirm that the land swap of city-owned land means that the city will not be held liable by title companies for selling that land in the 1960s."I just want to make sure the city is going to be held harmless, which we're sure is going to happen," Desiderio said. "It was never an issue. All along I believe all parties were in agreement that the city would not be held liable for anything that happened in 1942."Desiderio said he also wanted to confirm with the DEP that the city-owned property used in the land swap will be conserved for open space."I just want to sit down with the Commissioner's Office and make sure we know the lands, that they know the lands they are getting, and to ensure that these two minor little things are accomplished," he said.On Feb. 9, 1942, Sea Isle City sold title to the area to the state to dredge. The price was $1. The title change allowed the state's former Board of Commerce and Navigation to dredge a waterway.The titles to land at 47th Place were never returned to Sea Isle City. However, in 1965 - more than 20 years later - Sea Isle City held a public land sale. In January 1966, the city confirmed the land sale at 47th Place, which was sold to a developer, who filled the marsh and sold individual lots.And that was that.It wasn't until 2003 when the DEP's Bureau of Tidelands Management discovered the discrepancy.In May, the agency sent letters to nine property owners who live on six lots at 47th Place.The letter included the phrases, "the State of New Jersey claims title to your entire property" and "the City sold land it did not own and you eventually bought a portion of that land."The homeowners were stunned.They met several times with DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell, who drove to Sea Isle City to attend afternoon meetings.But clearing the titles proved a difficult process.Sea Isle City offered two city-owned lots on 29th Street in exchange for the 47th Place parcels. When a deal between the DEP and the city appeared ready to pass, the state Attorney General's Office said that legislation would be needed to close the deal.But that revelation came in late November. A bill would have to move quickly to pass the lame-duck Legislature. The bill passed through the Assembly, the Senate, and was signed by the governor in less than a month."I think, once in a while, the process works," said Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic. "This is a case where the process really works and in record speed."

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

Full Evacuation Recommended

2005-12-27T12:18:00.000-05:00

Cape May County officials say full evacuation necessary
Cap: Cape dwellers used to take shelter in a big storm but the county is now publicizing a policy to get everybody out following routes to the north and west. They say it can be done within 36 hours.
By Richard Degener
Published: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Updated: Tuesday, December 20, 2005CAPE MAY — If you live on Cape Island there is only one place to go in a big storm: Somewhere else.
That is more than a recommendation Cape May County Emergency Management Director Frank McCall delivered to residents of Cape May, Cape May Point and West Cape May at a recent forum held here at Convention Hall. It is actually a mandate.
McCall will be soon be delivering the same mandate to residents in the county’s other 13 towns during a series of six meetings on the resort peninsula. McCall will tell them much of the county is under water even in the smallest of hurricanes, a Category 1, and in a larger storm there is no way out once floodwaters hit.
“People ask, ‘Where are the shelters in Cape May County?’ Ladies and gentlemen, we have no shelters in Cape May County. We want you to get off the Jersey Cape,” McCall said.
Is this because of Hurricane Rita or Hurricane Katrina? No, not really. Those storms may have focused more attention on the issue but McCall said the policy goes back a few years. He said the county planned a series of public outreach forums earlier this year, months before the Gulf coast was hit.
Residents who lived here in 1985 when Hurricane Gloria passed by remember being sent to evacuation shelters, often the local fire hall. These unofficial shelters were supposed to be made official after a 1992 study on hurricane evacuation by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, American Red Cross, and New Jersey State Police.
“It listed 397 shelters in Cape May County, including 50 here on The Promenade, 75 to 80 on the Wildwood boardwalk, and 25 on the Ocean City boardwalk. I refused to sign off on the plan,” McCall said.
Instead of shelters, those areas are now referred to as “staging areas” for a mass evacuation. McCall said the agencies have all agreed there is no place in the county to ride out even a Category 1 hurricane.
Hurricane Gloria and U.S. Coast Guard Training Center Cape May both played a role in the decision to not shelter people in a storm. The Coast Guard evacuated to Fort Dix three days before Gloria hit. The small boats were taken to Philadelphia and the big boats were taken out to sea into deep water.
“Everybody left the U.S. Coast Guard base except the guy in the gatehouse,” McCall said.
The decision was made easier when maps came out showing the amount of flooding a direct-hit hurricane would bring. Only the northwest corner of the county, and a narrow strip of high ground in the center of the peninsula, would be dry. Most of the roads out will be under water once the storm hits.
The county is publicizing a map to show there are many ways the 105,000 year-round residents, but up to 1 million on a hot summer day, can get out. The Garden State Parkway, Route 47 and Route 9 are the major northbound routes, though with the bridge at Beesley’s Point closed McCall notes Route 9 travelers would have to link to a road like Route 83 at some point.
McCall said the evacuation could be done in 20 hours but it might take as much as 36 hours at the height of the summer tourist season. He said several steps would be taken to help the exodus, including:
Route 47, between Route 83 and Route 55, would be made one-way northbound;
Tolls would be suspended on the parkway
Atlantic City Expressway would be one-way westbound.
As the lowest lying area of the county, and the farthest from safety, Cape Island residents technically would be evacuated first. The reality, McCall told residents, is the order would be given to the whole county at the same time. Southern county residents have farther to go and could find themselves behind everybody else. West Cape May Emergency Management Coordinator Dan Rutherford said locals must take such an order seriously.
“We need people to leave and leave early,” Rutherford said. “As (Deputy Coordinator) Paul Mullock says, ‘Brace for wind but run from water.’” he added.
While Gloria brought a mandatory order to evacuate to a nearby shelter, the next order will be to leave the county. McCall said three hurricanes have followed a similar track as Gloria since 1985 and could have led to such an order. With better science and communications, McCall is confident an order won’t be given unless absolutely necessary.
Residents asked if Route 55 could be finished or certain bridges could be widened. McCall urged them to pressure the officials that can make such things happen.
The meetings are also to update the public on other emergency efforts, including some outgrowths of the Sept. 11 attack. The county is prepared to respond to terrorist attacks through its CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive) training. Prosecutor Robert Taylor led tours of the new $336,000 Mobile Command Unit purchased with Homeland Security funds. The vehicle has equipment allowing communication with all agencies no matter what radio frequency they are using.
“It won’t be like Katrina where they couldn’t talk to their parishes and state police. The problem at the World Trade Center is they couldn’t evacuate the building because they couldn’t talk to each other,” Taylor noted.
They should be able to talk now, even it’s just to say one thing: Get everybody somewhere else.

47th Place - Almost End of Story

2005-12-27T12:11:00.000-05:00

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.

Parking Problems in Avalon

2005-12-27T12:09:00.000-05:00

Parking time limit not easy to enforce, Avalon chief says
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Friday, December 16, 2005

Updated: Friday, December 16, 2005AVALON-Police Chief Stephen Sykes said enforcing a two-hour parking limit in the business district this summer will be difficult.Sykes, in a memo he sent to Borough Council on Wednesday, outlined potential problems with monitoring vehicles by two-hour limit signs, particularly without parking meters to log the time.Without parking meters, a police officer would have to keep a notepad and record the vehicles in the spots and the time, Sykes wrote in the memo.The borough opens itself to complaints if motorists receiving tickets contend they were not in that spot for two hours, he wrote. Also, a vehicle leaving a spot for a brief time and then returning can also pose problems.Sykes said in the memo he will assign a bicycle officer in the business district to try to enforce the parking regulations."Myself, representing the Police Department, want to see this work, and I will do everything in my power to see that this happens," he wrote.The borough plans to limit parking times on Dune Drive to free more spots in the business district in the summer.Avalon paid a company to monitor parking availability late this summer. The study indicated that about half the number of cars parked on Dune Drive remained there for two or more hours and sometimes all day.A parking limit, in conjunction with a trolley system Avalon is considering, is designed to put less stress on downtown parking without introducing parking meters.Avalon's neighbors - Sea Isle City and Stone Harbor - both use parking meters.Meters also generate money, but some are concerned that meters will discourage shoppers."It's going to be a test to see," said Avalon Borough Council President Richard Dean. "We're going to try it, and eventually we may have to go to meters."Borough Councilman David Ellenberg said the two-hour limit must be enforced to be effective."I can understand (the police chief's) concern about having a difficult task. But I think the bottom line is if we don't come into this program with the enforcement, then the parking and the trolley issue is not going to be rectified," Ellenberg said.Ellenberg said the borough can reevaluate the parking limit if it is not effective."One of the reasons we identified this two-hour time frame was we said that's the best way to get this rolling. If that doesn't work, then we'll have to do something else. But I think it will work," Ellenberg said.Parking on Dune Drive becomes a greater concern as Avalon expects several dozen new shops to open in the business district in the following year, Ellenberg said.

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

Sea Isle Land Swap

2005-12-27T12:06:00.000-05:00

Sea Isle deed bill faces Senate vote
From Press staff reports
Published: Thursday, December 15, 2005

Updated: Thursday, December 15, 2005SEA ISLE CITY-A bill meant to clear titles of 47th Place property owners will be posted for a vote before the full Senate today, said state Sen. Nicholas Asselta, R-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic.The bill would also need the governor's signature.On Monday, the state Assembly unanimously passed the bill.The law would allow the state to swap land with Sea Isle City in exchange for 47th Place properties. In May, the state Department of Environmental Protection informed nine 47th Place property owners that the state owns their property due to a decades-old land mix up.

Strathmere Residents Wary

2005-12-27T12:04:00.000-05:00

Strathmere residents fear stranding by storm
By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6712
Published: Thursday, December 15, 2005

Updated: Thursday, December 15, 2005UPPER TOWNSHIP-Some Strathmere residents fear they could be marooned by the next northeaster.A storm earlier this year undermined Ocean Drive between Strathmere and Ocean City. The storm pushed some debris onto the road, creating a hazard on the 45 mph county thoroughfare.Strathmere has two exits. In severe storms, residents can flee south on Ocean Drive through Sea Isle City or north on Ocean Drive over the Rush Chattin Bridge. The latter route through Ocean City has always been the more reliable during coastal storms - until lately."That road is washing out," Strathmere resident Elizabeth Bergus warned the Township Committee this week.The ocean and bay occasionally have breached Ocean Drive between Strathmere and Sea Isle City. Cape May County hopes sandbags will continue to protect that route.Bergus said many of her neighbors have health problems that require daily medical attention. Being marooned even for a short time could be disastrous, she said. "We have three people on chemo, two heart patients," she said. "We have elderly people."Cape May County's Public Works Department dumped rocks along the edge of the road to buffer future storms. But a permit to make long-term improvements has languished with the state for more than a year, county Engineer Dale Foster said.The county needs land-use permits through the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The county applied to the state in September 2004.Throughout the years, as the tides moved Corsons Inlet, the waves carved direct access to the tiny beach protecting Ocean Drive, Foster said. The waves consumed the dunes, the protective cedar trees and bayberry. The storms also exposed piling and a long-unused railroad bed.Now, this 100-yard stretch of Ocean Drive between the Rush Chattin Bridge and the toll bridge is in the direct path of storms. All that protects the road is a knee-high pile of rocks the county dumped there. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers objected to the county's emergency dumping without permits, Foster said."The Army Corps came down pretty hard on the county," he said.If the state awards the approvals, the county plans to build a rock seawall the length of this stretch of road. The county also would remove the old railroad bed and piling, plant meadow grass and build two wooden walkways over the rock mound.The state would pay 75 percent of the project, estimated to cost $600,000, Foster said.Foster said the DEP prefers natural dunes to manmade rock walls. But the dunes would be impractical in this case, he said."The project would clean up the area and afford the benefit to the roadway we're after," he said.

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

Avalon Beach Replenishment

2005-12-27T12:03:00.000-05:00

Avalon approves $3M. beach replenishment
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Thursday, December 15, 2005

Updated: Thursday, December 15, 2005AVALON-Borough Council on Wednesday night approved $3 million for replenishing about three-quarters of a mile of beaches hit hard by storms and erosion.Avalon will borrow most of the money for work between Ninth and 18th streets - the northern end of the municipality.The beach fill, planned for completion about February, involves pumping 350,000 cubic yards of sand from Townsends Inlet and depositing it on beaches eroded by the ocean.The project originally called for twice that amount of sand but was scaled down to fit an existing state Department of Environmental Protection permit, which expires Feb. 13, said Tom Thornton of the engineering firm Hatch Mott MacDonald.But the DEP has said it will grant an emergency extension if work continues past then, Thornton said.Avalon officials also said they plan to truck thousands of tons of sand to areas where it is needed most, after the project is finished.An Army Corps of Engineers project replenished Avalon beaches in 2003. However, a recent study estimated that Avalon beaches from Eighth Street to 35th Street lost 1 million cubic yards of sand since then.Beaches have had a tough year.In the spring, northeasters struck near Memorial Day, creating sharp cliffs of sand and forcing Avalon to limit beach access during one of the busiest times of the year.In October, significant erosion damaged many beaches after the remnants of Hurricane Wilma.Borough officials have said they wanted to stock the beaches to protect Avalon from future storms.Also at Wednesday's meeting, the borough said it will hire Hatch Mott MacDonald for $3,200 to design a replacement for the Eighth Street public pier.The borough will replace the bulkhead there and will raise the pier. Avalon anticipates the project will cost $46,000.

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

New Lifeguard Headquarters - Sea Isle

2005-12-27T12:02:00.000-05:00

New lifeguard headquarters planned for Sea Isle City
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Updated: Wednesday, December 14, 2005SEA ISLE CITY-The city expects to build a $2 million lifeguard headquarters throughout the summer and open it by 2007.Sea Isle City will use temporary trailers next year as makeshift headquarters, Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio said.The plans for the beachfront building, which will replace existing headquarters on 44th Street, include a three-port garage, meeting rooms, locker rooms, offices and public restrooms.Desiderio said the plans would go to the city's Planning Board early next year. The city must also receive state environmental permits.The city will demolish the headquarters, built in the 1960s, once it receives the approvals, Desiderio said.Desiderio said original plans called for a storage facility for the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol but were too expensive for just that purpose. The beach patrol needed a new facility to replace its aging building, he said.The new headquarters will be larger, will include public restrooms and offer a separate office for the beach patrol captain.Beach patrol Capt Renny Steele's desk is located near the entrance door of the building. As a result, he's being asked questions from the public about general information, such as beach tags, Desiderio said."He's more or less spending a lot of his time answering questions when he could be doing his other duties," he said.Steele could not be reached Tuesday.The public restrooms would be similar to a 40th Street facility Sea Isle City built in 1998-99 that includes stations for changing diapers, Desiderio said.Sea Isle City will borrow about $1.4 million for the project.While the city has intended to replace the headquarters, an October storm that brought the effects of Hurricane Wilma may have sealed the deal. The storm peeled off portions of the roof.The city will not repair the roof because the building will not be used again, Desiderio said.Desiderio said the temporary trailers would likely be located near the existing 44th Street facility or near JFK Boulevard, which serves as the main artery into the city. He said beach patrol officials are comfortable with the temporary arrangement."The bottom line is we're not going to jeopardize the safety of our visitors or our residents just to build this building," he said. "They're going to be as safe as they've ever been."

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

Sea Isle City Land Measure

2005-12-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

Assembly OKs Sea Isle City land measure
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Updated: Tuesday, December 13, 2005For Brian Buckley, a state law would be the greatest Christmas present of all.Buckley and eight other homeowners at 47th Place in Sea Isle City are watching the Legislature carefully as lawmakers are moving a bill that gives them clear title to their properties.On Monday, the state Assembly unanimously passed bill A4483, which would resolve the 63-year-old land discrepancy that was only discovered recently.The bill also must pass the state Senate and be signed by acting Gov. Richard J. Codey.But legislators are faced with a lame-duck session. After Jan. 10, unfinished legislation must start from scratch, thus delaying the process for homeowners nervous about where their land ownership stands.On Dec. 1, 1st District lawmakers drafted bills in the Assembly and Senate. On Thursday, the bill passed through the Assembly's Environmental and Solid Waste Committee.A Senate vote could happen Thursday at the earliest, said Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic."It has to go this quickly if it is to go lame duck," Van Drew said. "This is about as quickly as a bill can move."The bill would allow Sea Isle City to trade two parcels of city-owned land to the state Department of Environmental Protection in exchange for 47th Place properties. The state has owned the properties since 1942, when the city deeded the land to the state for dredging. The state never returned the land, but the city sold it in 1966.In May, the state notified homeowners of this recently discovered discrepancy. During the past seven months, many homeowners have been shocked, optimistic, disappointed, then optimistic again.Last month, when a land-swap agreement appeared ready to clear the matter, the state Attorney General's Office said legislation was needed to authorize the deal."Things look good now, but we've been thinking that since May," said Buckley, who lives in Pennsylvania and owns the second floor of a duplex at 384 47th Place. "So we're just hoping it finally goes through."The bill has moved quickly so far, and Van Drew said there's a good chance it will pass by Jan. 10. But there are always intangibles."This is a big bureaucracy, and it's complex. There's always a possible roadblock," Van Drew said. "It's that old saying, it's not done till it's done."

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

Real Estate Boom

2005-12-27T11:59:00.000-05:00

Buy, build, sell: The boom is on.
By RICHARD DEGENER - Staff Writer, (609) 463-6711
Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Updated: Tuesday, December 13, 2005STONE HARBOR - Dale Pritz comes to the shore for its sandy beaches, cool ocean breezes and a $1,000 per day. That isn't what Pritz pays for his shore vacation. That's what he gets every day his investment property sits here. "They're going up $1,000 a day. I did the math," Pritz said. Pritz, who owns a body shop in York, Pa., is one of many real estate investors flocking to the New Jersey shore to make some quick money. Eight months ago, Pritz bought a modest rancher on 87th Street for the not so modest price of $965,000. He demolished the rancher, for the value is in the land, and built a $390,000 mansion more befitting this island of upscale homes.He planned to sell in 2006 for a substantial profit. Pritz had not listed the house because there are tax advantages in keeping it for a year.His plans suddenly changed. "Somebody came along with a lot of money. He just walked up and said, 'Is this thing for sale?'" It may be the understatement of a new era along the shore. At times, it seems the entire shore is for sale. Pritz took the $1,875,000 offered and muttered all the way to the bank."I don't know where these New York people get all their money," he said. Even after paying capital gains, something he would have avoided by holding onto the property for a year, he made a huge profit. He's already invested in another house on 89th Street.The experts say the unprecedented shore building boom is fueled by outside money as real estate investors, retirees, and summer vacationers line up to get a piece of the shore. Pritz, 52, fits all these categories.He is an investor who since 1980 has bought and sold properties in Avalon and Stone Harbor. He's on his seventh house, each time making a profit and buying another property. But Pritz, who describes himself as "just a regular guy," is also a summer vacationer. At any given time he owns a house at the shore and can use it for visits. Some day, in the not-too-distant future, he will get out of the body-shop business and live here permanently. Until then, he might as well keep making money."I'm just a little guy. I'm just your standard schmuck that gets a mortgage and buys a house. I wait a year, and then buy something more expensive," Pritz said.Pritz started out small, buying a $76,000 property in Avalon 25 years ago. The adage of buying low and selling high hasn't been much of a challenge for Pritz in recent years. No matter what an investor pays, the value seems to increase. Even if he did not tear down the rancher and build the new house, he would have made money. He paid $965,000 and said he could have sold it unimproved a year later for about $1.3 million.Even with New Jersey's new "millionaires tax," which costs him $12,000 when he sells a house, and a recent tripling of the real estate transfer tax, Pritz said shore real estate "still beats the stock market." He turns the properties over in just a year, and this keeps interest payments on the loan to a minimum. He pays no capital gains so long as he holds the house for year, during which he can rent it, and then he uses the money to buy a more expensive property."You can do as many as you want as long as you buy for a higher price," Pritz said. He tears down modest bungalows and builds much larger houses because that's what the market wants. The new houses have wood floors and custom cabinets. Still, Pritz noted he lives full time at one of the best properties in York, and it isn't worth one-third the price of the houses being built here.It's all about location. It's all about proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. As long as the ocean is there, Pritz doesn't see the bubble bursting."Everybody says it's going to end, it's going to end. It could slow down. They can go flat, but they don't go down," Pritz said.Someday Pritz expects to retire here and in Key West, Fla., where he also invests in real estate and has seen it skyrocket in value. He will summer in Stone Harbor and winter in Key West."When I first bought in Key West, it was a fishing and drinking town. I bought my first house for $100,000. Cruise ships moved in, and now real estate is going through the roof," Pritz noted.When he is in Stone Harbor, he will see some people from back home. Many York residents have already retired here. Some build as an investment and a place to vacation. Philadelphia lawyer Mike McKeever owns the house next door to the one Pritz just sold. He vacations there with his wife and four children. McKeever recently built his $900,000 home as a vacation home and investment."My brother said, "You can't sit on the deck of a mutual fund,'" McKeever joked. The Future There are no amusement parks, seaside motels, mini-golf courses or pancake houses. It may not even matter, since there are few tourists to support such businesses or housing for the workers needed to operate them.In this picture of coastal Cape May County in the not-too-distant future, the landscape is more cluttered than ever. There is more construction, even though there are fewer people. It's urban sprawl with a twist. There is more housing but fewer people living in it. None of it is affordable to people of moderate means. In the winter, most homes are empty.In this new world, the shore is condominiums and second homes owned by rich retirees and investors who have driven up real estate prices that locals, working in a tourism economy, simply can't afford. Year-round residents have all but disappeared. There are no local schools because there are no children left.Farms no longer exist because the agricultural lands have been gobbled up for development. Condominiums rise along back bays that once were home to busy fishing docks.If this image of the county's future alarms you, consider this: It is already happening and will continue at a growing pace. That is the view of an expert who tracks such trends. Richard Perniciaro, Director of Atlantic Cape Community College's Center for Regional and Business Research, envisions a shore owned entirely by the wealthy. He questions whether the working classes will be able to afford a shore vacation much less a shore home."The middle class is being priced out of the shore," Perniciaro said. What's more, Perniciaro said the trend that began on the barrier islands is spreading rapidly to Cape May County's mainland towns. Perniciaro has some advice for young people born in the county who hope some day to live the American dream here with a suburban home, a yard, a white picket fence and a swimming pool."Move to Montana." Perniciaro said. The last big building boom at the shore came more than three decades ago when the federal government guaranteed flood insurance. This new boom began in the late 1990s as the stock market went soft at the same time mortgage rates dropped. Perniciaro said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were also a factor since they convinced some to take money from the cities and invest it in safer areas.Perhaps the biggest factor is the sheer number of baby boomers, a group defined as those born between 1946 and 1964. They are getting richer and closer to retirement age. Many are buying shore homes as an investment, a place to retire, or both."Ten million baby boomers will retire a year once the 1948 kids start retiring. The peak are the 1957 and 1958 kids," Perniciaro said.This present generation of shore dwellers may not be the big loser. They are selling the family property at a huge profit. The real losers would be future generations who will be unable to afford to live here. There are some big winners. Perniciaro said the construction industry will add hundreds of jobs during the next decade. Last year, $310 million was spent on construction materials, and the first four months of 2005 saw another $146 million expended."The construction industry is 10 percent of the economy in Cape May County right now. It's huge. It's only 5 percent in Atlantic County," Perniciaro said.Cape May County Tax Administrator George R. Brown III sees the trend eventually pricing locals out of their homes, or at least preventing young couples from being able to buy their first house. He showed figures from shore towns that document rising real estate prices. In one study, homes in Ocean City were appreciating at a rate of 24 percent per year. This has happened for two consecutive years in Ocean City, Avalon, Stone Harbor and Sea Isle City. A trend that began in 1999 finally hit the Wildwoods in 2003 and is now starting to appear on the mainland."I'm already seeing 2 percent (per month) appreciation rates offshore. One concern is the pricing is outpacing our income. We have a service economy. We have a ton of people in the $60,000 to $70,000 salary range. They won't be able to buy here," Brown said.Ten percent of Cape May County is being bought and sold each year - 10,000 property transactions annually. Brown remembers a 1984 magazine article that said a shore home would never sell for more than $1 million. The average purchase price now in Ocean City is about $1 million. It's $1.2 million in Stone Harbor and Avalon.To buy a shorefront house requires $200,000 down and a mortgage of $4,800 per month. That doesn't include property taxes of at least $5,000 - for a second home, no less.Perniciaro said that in 10 years, as baby boomers age, the barrier islands will be retirement towns. As they build out, he sees the trend moving inland at a quicker pace."The demand is just crazy, and it's just the start. Baby boomers aren't even retiring yet. This is just starting," he noted.Perniciaro sees the tourism economy shrinking and the retail sector changing to different types of businesses, catering to the retirees who have replaced tourists. Expensive restaurants thrive while small businesses fail.Outside forces could slow or stop the trend, since it is linked to larger factors such as the stock market, and even current events such as the recent hurricanes in the Gulf and rising energy prices. If city officials want to slow the trend, Perniciaro said, they could do so through zoning. He suggests larger lot sizes, zoning against multi-family dwellings, and restricting new water lines. Some have even suggested having the government acquire large tracts of land just to build affordable housing for the people who grew up at the shore and can't afford to live here. It's all part of the new economy at the shore.

To e-mail Richard Degener at The Press: RDegener@pressofac.com

Hot Real Estate Market in Avalon

2005-12-27T11:57:00.000-05:00

Builders cash in on hot market
By RICHARD DEGENER - Staff Writer, (609) 463-6711
Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Updated: Tuesday, December 13, 2005AVALON - Builder Bob Stocki arrived at the shore from Delaware five years ago, just as the boom was taking off. He was immediately busy. He would get much busier. And that's good for him and his work crew.The boom hit in 2000, and it's been going up ever since. It's out of control. I'm building four or five at a time," Stocki said.Business is so good, he doesn't have to advertise. People drive by a job site, see his sign and start offering him jobs. Most of the houses cost about $700,000, and that does not include the price of the lot.Stocki is amazed by how young some of the buyers are. Some are in their early 40s. He built a home for one man who is only 38. They have the money and want Stocki's unique brand of shore home, an older style similar to Nantucket's, with cedar shakes, huge porches, dormers, brick chimneys and no vinyl. Stocki built a $14,000 cypress wood picket fence at one Avalon house. He makes decks out of mahogany and tropical ipe wood."The theory is if they can afford to buy here, they can afford the maintenance. They don't want to see any vinyl," Stocki said.Stocki, 42, of Ocean City, gives a lot of credit to his architect, Mark Asher, for designing the old shore homes and attracting so much business."He has 35 start-ups right now," Stocki said. The problem is finding labor. Stocki keeps a work crew of five to eight men busy. The building boom is a windfall for tradesmen."Labor is very hard to find. Anybody who's worth something is working," Stocki said. It's also a windfall for suppliers of lighting fixtures, decking, bathroom faucets, lumber and many other products. Ron Frame, a Middle Township builder working in Stone Harbor, said his lumber salesman is doing $1 million in business per month.Stocki left Wilmington five years ago to come to a place where he used to vacation. It's no vacation now, just work, and there's plenty of it.

To e-mail Richard Degener at The Press: RDegener@pressofac.com

Stone Harbor Property Values

2005-12-27T11:55:00.000-05:00

Baby boomers pushing values higher
By RICHARD DEGENER - Staff Writer, (609) 463-6711
Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Updated: Tuesday, December 13, 2005STONE HARBOR - Ken Lawrence is 57, and after working years as a utility company executive, he wants to enjoy the fruits of his labor.The Bryn Mawr, Pa., resident drives an expensive car and he has a place to vacation on the New Jersey shore. Lawrence describes himself as a baby boomer, and with the birth year of 1947, he's on the edge of a retirement wave expected to boost the shore real estate market."I'll tell you, we've been working hard our whole lives and it's time to enjoy it. Millions of baby boomers are finally spending all the money they've earned their whole lives," Lawrence said.The retiree owns a house in Avalon and is so bullish on shore real estate, he is building another one in Stone Harbor. He has a place to vacation with wife, Molly, and son Brendan, 15. His older children, Justin, 31, and Melissa, 28, can also have a shore vacation. Like many retirees, Lawrence wanted to invest his money in something solid. He noted that when the national housing market goes down, the values in Stone Harbor and Avalon simply stay flat."In the last 10 to 15 years, the value has increased about 10 percent a year here. You can't do much better with your money," Lawrence said.He can also make money renting out his houses. Lawrence is not worried that his homes will turn into a bad investment, partly because of the large number of baby boomers yet to retire, and also because they aren't making any more shore real estate."What's here is here. There's a limited supply. Basic economics tells you when demand outstrips supply, the market will be good," Lawrence said.

To e-mail Richard Degener at The Press: RDegener@pressofac.com

Avalon and Stone Harbor Beach Tags

2005-12-27T11:53:00.000-05:00

Avalon, Stone Harbor to increase seasonal beach-tag fees
By BRIAN IANIERI Staff Writer, (609) 463-6713
Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Updated: Tuesday, December 13, 2005The price of sun, sand and someone watching your back will become a bit more expensive in Stone Harbor and Avalon.The two municipalities are raising seasonal beach-tag prices to compensate for costs of lifeguards, beach maintenance and other expenses.Stone Harbor expects to raise an additional $50,000 from the increase, Borough Administrator Kenneth Hawk said.Preseason and in-season prices will each increase by $2.This year in Stone Harbor, the sale of beach tags raised $529,000, about $13,000 less than last year, said Chief Financial Officer James Nicola. But running the beach cost $560,000."It's the wages for the lifeguards. It's the cost of running the tractor that rakes the beaches. The cost of gasoline," Hawk said. "We haven't done a change in a few years. We'll make this change, and we probably won't have another change for a few years."Prices for daily and weekly tags will not increase.Stone Harbor and Avalon sell their own tags. But the tags can be used at both beaches, and both municipalities try to keep the costs the same.Preseason tags, those sold before June 1, will cost $17, Hawk said. After that, tags will cost $22.In Avalon, beach tags recover about three-quarters of the operating costs, Avalon Business Administrator Andrew Bednarek said.This year in Avalon, beach tags brought in $796,000. Bednarek said beach-tag fees were last raised in 2002, when seasonal tags were increased by $3.Avalon expects the new increased fees to raise an additional $75,000, Bednarek said.Normal expenses, coupled with a planned $3 million beach-fill project in Avalon next year, make the sand business an expensive one.Stone Harbor Borough Councilman Barry Mastrangelo, who serves on the borough's Beach and Recreation Committee, said the borough would not increase beach-tag costs more than necessary."It's really not a profit center. You're looking to offset the expenses of maintaining the beaches," he said.

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