N.J. plans to spray for gypsy moths
Bacteria, chemical part of proposal to control
infestation
By MEGGAN CLARK Health/Science Writer, (609)
272-7209
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Thursday, January 4,
2007
TRENTON — Ravenous
caterpillars will be a costly burden to municipalities throughout
southern New Jersey in 2007, as the state tries to combat a
mushrooming gypsy moth population.
The gypsy moth caterpillar infested more than
125,000 acres of New Jersey forest last year, compared with just
5,141 in 2003. State officials blamed two consecutive dry springs,
which stunted growth of a fungus that kills the caterpillars.
On Wednesday, the state Department of Agriculture
announced a plan to spray 78,000 infested acres with Bacillus
thuringiensis, a bacteria that causes caterpillars to become
paralyzed, stop feeding and die of starvation or disease. The
department also has proposed using Dimilin, a synthetic pesticide
that has been criticized by environmentalists, on some of the land.
Municipalities can opt out of the state spraying
program, but if they want in, they have to pick up the tab — about
$40 per acre in 2006.
One of the hardest-hit municipalities, Upper
Township in Cape May County, has 2,335 acres on the DEP's list and
will have to pay $112,000, or $48 per acre, Township Engineer Paul
Dietrich said. A federal grant could cover half the cost, but it's
unclear whether that money will be available.
“We haven't had this much
acreage required in a long time,” Dietrich said. “Over the past five
or six years, we've had 400 or 500 acres in different locations, but
never that much.”
Typically, he said, gypsy moth caterpillars
confine themselves to forested tracts, but last year they made their
way into well-populated areas. As the caterpillars inundated
residents with droppings, residents inundated township offices with
complaints.
“We had a lot of people complaining about the
gypsy moths. ... They're eating their trees, they're leaving a lot
of droppings, and they're a nuisance,” Dietrich said.
Folks also were complaining in Absecon, where 440
acres are targeted for spraying.
“The first thing (residents) saw was the leaves
being eaten away and then they saw residue on the ground, and I was
told at that point that by the time you see that kind of
defoliation, it's too late to spray,” City Administrator Terry Dolan
said. “The mayor and the City Council instructed me to contact the
state to see if we could become eligible for spraying in 2007.”
He said Absecon will find the money to pay for it
“one way or another.”
“From what I know about this whole thing, it gets
progressively worse year by year, if you don't address it,” he said.
“It is our hope that by spraying in 2007, we can limit the damage in
the years to come.”
In Commercial Township, where 509 acres are on the
state's spray list, Deputy Clerk/Administrator Jud Moore said
complaints were minimal in 2006.
“As far as I know we did not receive any,” he
said. “We'll probably talk about it (spraying). ... Usually, when we
sprayed in the past, residents were grateful to see us spray, and we
want to control our gypsy moth population, so that's what we'll be
doing. If there's an outcry from the public, the governing body will
look into it.”
There has been some outcry already from
environmental groups, including New Jersey Environmental Federation,
New Jersey Audubon Society, Citizens United to Protect the Maurice
River and the New Jersey Sierra Club. About 20 groups recently
signed a letter expressing concern about the use of Dimilin.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Dimilin is a “restricted use” pesticide that kills caterpillars by
interfering with their normal molting process. It also can affect
aquatic crustaceans and immature insects that molt. To apply Dimilin,
the Department of Agriculture would need both state Department of
Environmental Protection and local approvals.
Lynne Richmond, a spokeswoman for the Department
of Agriculture, said Wednesday that the use of Dimilin has not been
approved by the DEP, and “even if we get approval to use Dimilin,
towns make the ultimate determination of what will be used in their
town, if anything.”
In order to legally spray, municipal governing
bodies must advertise the plan, hold a public hearing and declare
the gypsy moth a “public nuisance,” Richmond said.
The gypsy moth is native to Asia, Europe and
Africa, but it was imported to Medford, Mass., in 1869 by French
scientist Etienne Leopold Trouvelot, who hoped to breed a more hardy
silkworm.
The experiment was a failure, but Trouvelot did
succeed in letting the ravenous critters escape from his home, and
by 1889 they had eaten nearly every leaf in Medford. They have made
their way steadily across the United States ever since, reaching New
Jersey in the 1920s. In 1981, according to the USDA, they defoliated
a record 12.9 million acres — an area larger than Rhode Island,
Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.
The caterpillars stripped about 800,000 acres in
New Jersey in 1981, according to the state Department of
Agriculture.
Gypsy moths' most deadly natural enemy is a
fungus, Entomophraga maimaiga, a Japanese import that penetrates the
caterpillars' bodies, multiplies and releases new spores to attack
other caterpillars, killing its host in the process. But the fungus
needs abundant moisture to propagate. Scientists believe dry weather
in 2005 and 2006 sent the gypsy moth population spiraling up.
Two years of successive defoliation can kill a
healthy tree, but many residents are as worried about the “yuck
factor” as they are about defoliation. After all, picnicking, hiking
and other outdoor activities are no fun when the forest is literally
crawling with caterpillars.
“Aside from the eating of their trees ... when
they call in to us, I think (people) were more upset that there were
so many of them and they were disgusting,” Richmond said.
To e-mail Meggan Clark at The Press:
Meggan.Clark@pressofac.com
Top of Page
Somers Point
submits affordable-housing plan
By MARTIN DeANGELIS Staff Writer, (609) 272-7237
Published: Saturday, October 7,
2006
SOMERS POINT — The
city submitted a 190-page answer Friday to a judge's request for a
plan on how it will comply with his ruling that Somers Point doesn't
offer enough affordable housing.
The City Council and the town's Planning Board
both voted unanimously late Thursday to send the compliance plan to
Superior Court Judge Steven P. Perskie. He decided after a trial in
August that under state rules, the city comes up short on supplying
its share of low- and moderate-income housing and gave the city a
Friday deadline to turn in its plan for addressing that shortage.
Key points in the city's complex, excruciatingly
detailed plan include a proposal to rezone a 3-acre tract known as
Bass Harbor — at Maryland and Bay avenues — to allow either 15 or 18
condominium units per acre. The current zoning for the area calls
for a maximum of six units to the acre.
At 18 units per acre with 15 percent set aside as
affordable, a developer could build 8 affordable units at Bass
Harbor and 46 to sell at the normal market rate. Building 15 units
to the acre and keeping 20 percent of them affordable would create
36 market-rate homes and 9 affordable ones, the plan adds.
The city also calls for rezoning Bay Avenue land
owned by Shore Memorial Hospital to allow 18 units to the acre,
which would allow for a maximum of 149 condos on the 8.3 acres.
Keeping 15 percent of them affordable would create 22 more low- and
moderate-income units and 127 market-rate homes, the plan says.
The current zoning would
allow for just 49 units total on the hospital land, according to the
document.
The third main component of the city's plan calls
for building 375 condos on 25 of the 150 acres owned by Greate Bay
Country Club. Making 15 percent qualify as affordable rentals
creates 56 more units the city would get credit for, the city's plan
says.
State Council on Affordable Housing, or COAH,
rules say Somers Point should have 105 new affordable units to meet
its past needs and 66 more low- and moderate-income units to meet
projected future obligations, according to the city's planners,
Heyer, Gruel & Associates.
Greate Bay's owners have proposed building 550
condo units and setting aside 20 percent of them, or 110, as
affordable. That figure would more than satisfy all the past COAH
obligations.
But some neighbors of the golf course have sued to
block development there, arguing that a deed restriction bars the
owners from using the land for anything but a golf course. The
owners say that restriction can't be enforced because it has been
breached repeatedly since the course was built in 1923.
The developers who sued the city in the first
affordable housing case, a company owned by the Scarborough family,
submitted their own plans to the judge calling for higher densities
than the city does on land it owns.
Scarborough proposed a project with 23 units to
the acre along Bay Avenue or an average of 26 units to the acre on
Bay Avenue and another site on Route 9. Scarborough, which also
built the popular Harbour Cove condos on Bay Avenue, notes for
comparison that Harbour Cove's density is about 22 units to the
acre.
To e-mail Martin DeAngelis at The Press:
MDeangelis@pressofac.com
Linwood plans to limit
parking near Mainland Regional
Published: Saturday, October 7,
2006
ISSUE: Linwood City
Council has given preliminary approval to a plan to limit parking to
one side of the street on Woodstock and Ireland avenues, two streets
near Mainland Regional High School. The ordinance would allow
parking only on the south side of the entire length of Woodstock and
only on the north side of Ireland between Shore Road and Wabash
Avenue.
WHY IT MATTERS: Some neighbors of the high
school have complained that too many students park on their streets,
arguing that the excess parking has become a safety issue because
emergency vehicles couldn't pass all the cars if they had to respond
to a fire or medical problems.
WHAT'S NEXT: Council is scheduled to take
its final vote on the no-parking rules at its meeting Wednesday. The
governing body will hold a public hearing on the proposed law before
that vote, giving residents and anyone else affected a chance to
comment on the matter
Information about Linwood can be e-mailed to
MDeangelis@Pressofac.com
Top of Page
Somers Point to hold
another joint meeting behind closed doors
By MARTIN DeANGELIS Staff Writer, (609) 272-7237
Published: Wednesday, September
13, 2006
SOMERS POINT — City
Council and the Planning Board have scheduled another joint meeting
for tonight, but the 8 p.m. session will be behind closed doors
because it involves an ongoing lawsuit against the city.
These combined meetings are usually rare, but this
is the second in two months for the two city agencies. They also met
in early August to talk about details of a proposed settlement to a
suit filed last year by Bay Avenue Redevelopers.
But the council voted down the settlement 5-1 and
the Planning Board decided that its votes would make no difference.
In a trial the following week, Superior Court Judge Steven P.
Perskie ruled in favor of the developers, a company controlled by
the Scarborough family, by deciding that the city doesn't provide as
much low- to moderate-income housing as state rules require.
That sets up a second trial, which the judge
tentatively scheduled for next month. In that round, the developers
are expected to ask for what is known as a builder's remedy, a court
decision allowing them to create more housing density than local
zoning normally allows as a way to address the legally declared
shortage of affordable housing.
Perskie also called for a conference call the
other day among the parties to the lawsuit, a special master he has
appointed to oversee Somers Point's compliance with state rules and
the judge himself. The special master is Mary Beth Lonergan, a
planner with a private firm in Trenton and a former official of the
state's Council on Affordable Housing.
Top of Page
Somers Point
approves voting on regionalizing
By MARTIN DeANGELIS Staff Writer, (609) 272-7237
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, August 26,
2006
Overshadowed in the clamor
and noise and name-calling of this week's Somers Point City Council
meeting was one thing the governing body managed to do quietly.
The council voted 7-0 to put a referendum on the November ballot
asking voters what they think about the city joining with nearby
Linwood and Northfield to try to share government services, possibly
including school systems. That unanimous vote for a vote generated
barely a word from the council or from the crowd — even though it
followed a July meeting at which the same issue started a partisan
war of words for the governing body.
That pattern repeated almost precisely what had happened in
Northfield — a vote for the referendum passed placidly 7-0 earlier
this week, a month after it was the subject of sharp debate between
Democrats and Republicans. That angry rhetoric was followed by a
party-line vote that the majority Democrats won 4-3 in the July
session.
But now with all the fighting and the voting on the vote over, each
city has its own shared-services committee at least started, and one
member from each governing body is scheduled to meet Thursday in
Linwood to set up a framework for talks among the towns.
Plus a member of the school board for Mainland Regional High School
— a major service the three towns already share — said Friday that
representatives of all four local boards, the three cities' plus
Mainland's, met last week to get their own talks on the topic
restarted.
The planned structure of each
committee appears to be different, but all seem to be serious about
sharing — or at least talking about sharing.
“It was just a matter of all going down different
streets, but coming to the same point,” said Northfield Council
President Vincent Mazzeo.
Linwood's different street is that its council
never voted on whether to have a referendum, but council President
Donna Taylor said she's happy to cooperate and communicate with its
neighbors to the north and south. She has informally appointed a
committee that will include herself and council colleagues Elliot
Beinfest and Alex Marino.
And she agrees with Somers Point's plans to set up
a timetable for the towns to talk internally and then with each
other, adding that the state's budget deadlines make it important to
know when decisions will be made.
Leaders in each city agreed that pressure from the
state is likely pushing progress on the local talks — Gov. Jon S.
Corzine and the Legislature started to focus recently on sharing
municipal services as a key to their attempt to address New Jersey's
highest-in-the-country property taxes.
“If we don't do this,” said Somers Point
Councilman Gregg Clayton, who pushed to get the referendum before
voters in all three towns, “the state is going to shove it down our
throats.”
Still, officials all cautioned that the process
could be a slow and complicated one. And Taylor added that before
her town agrees to any major structural changes, it plans to hold
its own referendum — after giving voters time and information to let
them study the process and decide what they think is right.
Tom Ritter, a member of the Mainland Regional
board, said the school boards' committee has met once and is
scheduled to meet again early next month. But he noted one obvious
complication in the cities' regionalization talks, at least as far
as schools are concerned. Local governments don't control their
school boards, which are independent entities by state law.
To e-mail Martin DeAngelis:
MDeangelis@pressofac.com
Top of Page
Record heat forces water
restrictions in seven towns
By DEREK HARPER Staff Writer, (609) 272-7203
Published: Saturday, August 5,
2006
Looks like the fever
broke.
After seeing eight straight days with highs above 90 degrees, the
next few days promise to be a whole lot cooler, with highs expected
to reach the 80s.
But the damage has been done.
Local water utility New Jersey American Water asked customers to
immediately begin conserving water in seven Atlantic County towns,
saying the hot, dry conditions over the past few days have led to
record-high water usage.
The conservation request affects 115,096 residents in Pleasantville,
Northfield, Linwood, Somers Point, Absecon, Galloway Township and
Egg Harbor Township.
No other New Jersey American
customers are affected.
The private company, which serves 2 million people
in 176 towns as the state's largest water utility, called them
mandatory restrictions, but spokeswoman Lendel G. Jones admitted the
company had no way of enforcing them.
“All we can do is ask and hope the customers
follow the guidelines and cut back the use of the water,” she said.
It comes even though the National Weather Service
said July saw 5.2 inches of rainfall in 22 days, 1.34 inches more
than normal. For the year, the region's rainfall is 1.84 inches
higher than normal.
In the last several days, Jones said the utility
has drawn record-high amounts of water from its 22 Atlantic County
wells that draw between 300 and 800 feet down.
The company usually draws 14 million to 18 million
gallons per day. “We are peaking at 22.7 or 22.4 million gallons,”
Jones said, “and that's a lot of water.”
It is unclear how much the company's water
allocation permits allow them to draw per month, but they have
exceeded it in the past.
In June 2003, the state Department of
Environmental Protection, or DEP, charged the company with
repeatedly exceeding the permits with violations at three sites
between 1993 and 2001.
A settlement agreement effective August 2003 fined
the water provider $30,000. The matter is still pending, according
to the DEP Web site.
Elsewhere around the region, people on Friday
breathed a sigh of relief as temperatures dropped from the truly
infernal to the merely scorching.
The heat was blamed in the deaths Newark residents
Samuel Jacobs, 66, and his wife, Bettye, 65. City officials said the
couple had no air conditioning and their windows were closed.
The state's electric utility companies were able
to handle increased demand in power, reporting no significant power
outages over the three-day period.
Public Service Electric and Gas, the state's
largest electric utility, and Jersey Central Power & Light and
Rockland Electric all set demand records Wednesday. PSE&G's
unofficial peak was 11,146 megawatts. JCP&L and Rockland Electric
peaked at 6,680 and 1,617 megawatts, respectively.
Temperatures reached 93 degrees between 1 p.m. and
2 p.m. Friday at Atlantic City International Airport, according to
the National Weather Service. But forecast highs tumble into the 80s
for the next week.
Michael Casella, owner of Michael's Deli at
Ventnor's Lafayette and Monmouth avenues, welcomed the cooler
weather.
A fan blew hot air from the building and a single,
ostensibly powerful air conditioner labored to cool the room. But
the 20,000 BTU oven and seven compressors chilling the wrapped
mortadella, prosciutto and pickles conspired against them.
With three fans pushing hot air overhead, Casella
said Friday was much better.
“Without an ocean breeze, it's just brutal,” he
said. “And you know it's hot when there's nobody on the beach. And
it hurts business, too, because (customers) say it's too hot to
eat.”
Closer to the beach, a trio of area junior high
schoolers hired by Ventnor's Public Works crew took the weeds out of
cracks near where Cambridge Avenue met the Boardwalk.
“We were out at, like, nine in the morning
(Thursday), and we were just sweating like pigs,” Shawn Slattery,
15, said.
A breeze lazily twisted the American flag at the
nearby Ventnor city hall.
“But (Friday) was a lot better,” Shane Sochocky,
14, said. “Yesterday it was just hot, but today it's nice because
I'm not sweating as much.”
The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
To e-mail Derek Harper at The Press:
dharper@pressofac.com
Top of Page
Bay Avenue, Greate Bay on
agenda in Somers Point
City Council expects a full house for talks on
controversial developments
By MARTIN DeANGELIS Staff Writer, (609) 272-7237
Press
of Atlantic City
Published: Thursday, July 27, 2006
Updated: Thursday, July 27, 2006
SOMERS POINT — The City Council has a full agenda for its meeting
tonight, and it may well have a full house in its meeting room.
Jack Franco, a member of the citizens group Save The Charm, said
members have passed out 200 leaflets to homes around Bay Avenue
urging people to attend the 7 p.m. session. The fliers warn that
plans call for “hundreds of condos in our beautiful, historic
bayfront neighborhoods, and one of those neighborhoods may be
yours.”
The city has been in negotiations and in litigation with Bay Avenue
Redevelopers, a company owned by the Scarborough family, about the
company's plans to build a project on vacant land owned by Shore
Memorial Hospital.
The plans call for a new nursing home to replace the aging Ocean
Point facility on Bay Avenue, a parking garage and condominiums.
Exactly how many housing units would be built has been one of the
subjects of the negotiations, which have dragged on for months.
City officials have reported progress in the talks in recent weeks
and attempts to wrap up details on agreements that would settle the
Scarborough suit before its scheduled trial date of Aug. 14.
It wasn't clear Wednesday where those talks stood, but Councilman
Gregg Clayton said the city's redevelopment lawyer, Joseph Maraziti,
is scheduled to meet privately with members of the governing body
after tonight's public session to bring them up to date on the case.
That could make for a late night, because along with the crowd that
Save The Charm hopes to draw to talk to the Council about condos,
the agenda is also expected to include:
n A presentation by representatives of the Greate Bay Country Club,
which has controversial plans for its own development project — also
featuring hundreds of condos.
n Discussions of redevelopment plans for both the Atlantis
Apartments and the Brandywine Apartments.
n A plan for a Clayton-backed referendum on exploring sharing
services — including schools — with nearby Linwood and Northfield.
Somers Point already shares a high school, Mainland Regional, with
the two cities to its north, but talk about the referendum caused a
heated political battle last week in a Northfield City Council
meeting.
Clayton said Greate Bay officials have approached him about
addressing the Council and the public tonight, and the redevelopment
and regional school plans are both on the prepared agenda for the
meeting at City Hall.
To e-mail Martin DeAngelis at The Press:MDeAngelis@pressofac.com
Somers Point loses $135,000 in
state aid for its schools
By MARTIN DeANGELIS Staff Writer, (609) 272-7237
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Updated: Wednesday, March 29, 2006
SOMERS POINT — Local school districts have complained for the last
four years about state aid being held flat. But flat state aid would
look pretty good in this town right now because district officials
found out just before unveiling their proposed next budget that the
state plans to cut Somers Point's aid by more than $135,000.
In a town where a penny on the tax rate raises about $68,000, that
aid cut alone accounts for 2 cents of the proposed school-tax
increase of 6.1 cents per $100 of assessed property value. The total
budget for the next school year would go up by less than $100,000,
to about $14.57 million, if voters approve it in the April 18 school
election.
Along with the loss of aid from Trenton, major contributors to the
tax increase include projections of higher utility and insurance
bills and salary increases under staff contracts, district Business
Administrator Nancy Steinhauer said.
She added that the aid figure is based on declining enrollment,
although the schools actually expect to gain about eight students
next year, to a projected total of 1,006 children.
The district didn't cut any programs but plans to cut some spending
through attrition. Officials expect three veteran employees — a
teacher, a secretary and a custodian, all with more than 30 years of
experience — to retire before the next school year, and their
replacements would come in at lower salaries, if they're replaced at
all, the administrator said.
“And some part-time positions may be eliminated,” she added. “That
will be something to discuss.”
So will other possible savings on supplies and reductions in field
trips, Steinhauer said.
The district hasn't gotten its insurance bills for the next school
year yet, but the budget projects 10-percent increases in its
coverage. It also anticipates higher energy costs, but the
administrator noted that utility bills were abnormally high last
summer because several school buildings were having renovations
done.
“We're hoping that was a one-time thing,” Steinhauer said.
And as for construction projects, which included reopening the
historic New York Avenue school earlier this year, she expects only
good financial news.
“I think we're done for a while,” she said.
A public hearing on the budget is set for 7 p.m. Thursday in the New
York Avenue School.
There are also three school-board seats on the ballot for the April
18 school election, but only three candidates, all incumbents, filed
to run for them. They are Walt Wilkins and Karen Broomall, both
longtime members, and Greg Pfund, who is running for his second
term. Each spot is for a three-year term on the board.
To e-mail Martin DeAngelis at The Press:
MDeangelis@pressofac.com
Top of Page
A nose
for help - Therapy dogs give Somers Point students help in
overcoming reading difficultiesBy DIANE D'AMICO Education Writer, (609) 272-7241
Published: Monday, March 13, 2006
Updated: Monday, March 13, 2006
SOMERS POINT — Third-grade teacher Nancy Good knows that when her
students are struggling to read a word, they are likely to stop and
wait for her to help.
But they won't get much help from their new reading partner,
although they may get a lick on the hand.
Joni, a 2-year-old golden retriever, is one of several dogs that are
visiting Jordan Road School as part of Reading Out Loud Creates
Knowledge, or R.O.C.K. Similar programs such as Paws for Reading
have grown around the country as an effective way to encourage
children to read. Some R.O.C.K. dogs attended the New Jersey
Education Association convention last November and were a hit with
children and adults.
“When students read with me, they'll stop and wait for help,” Good
said. “But the dog is not going to help them. They have to make the
effort to sound out the words themselves, and that's what I want to
encourage.”
It doesn't hurt that Joni listens attentively, and might even reward
them.
“She licked my hand all the way up to here,” said Frank Cuba, 9,
running his fingers over his hand. Cuba lives in an apartment and
can't have a dog at home. He chose the poem “My Dog Ate My Homework”
to read to Joni during a recent visit.
School guidance counselor Shari Frolove, who also owns a therapy
dog, arranged the visits with curriculum supervisor Donna Moore.
Currently four dogs visit a first, second and third grade class and
the English as a Second Language students at least once a month. The
goal is to improve student reading, encourage them to read more on
their own and learn a little about dogs and how to care for them.
The dogs are trained therapy dogs and the owners carry insurance.
Parents were informed about the program and gave permission to have
their children participate. A few children were a bit nervous at
first, but every child participates.
“It's good for the children to read to a non-judgmental partner,”
Frolove said. “It gives them self-confidence, and they practice
reading because they know the dog is coming.”
The students are also writing about their experiences and making a
journal that includes information on goldren retrievers.
Joni's owner, Lisa Powell, said it takes a special dog to work with
children. Joni, who adores children, is ideal. She is calm and
friendly, although Powell notes that Joni will let loose later at
home, running laps around the yard.
“Sometimes children can be apprehensive at first,” Powell said. “And
not all dogs can tolerate an extended period of time with children.
Children can be unpredictable, and the dog can't overreact.”
Good said Joni has been especially effective with struggling readers
who know they don't read well and are self-conscious about reading
aloud in class.
“If this makes them look forward to reading out loud, you can't beat
it,” she said.
Cuba offered some student guidelines for effective reading to a pet.
“Don't read too loud,” he said. “And watch out or you'll get your
fingers licked.”
Top of Page
Town's recreation complex growing
By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6712
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Thursday, March 9, 2006
Updated: Thursday, March 9, 2006
UPPER TOWNSHIP — Township work crews this month moved dirt around
what will become new baseball and softball fields at Amanda's Field.
This sprawling patch of mud will soon become the epicenter of
recreation in Upper Township.
The 72-acre complex off Route 50 is slowly taking shape,
Committeeman Jay Newman said.
This year, the township finished a new walking and bike path that
carves a 1.4-mile-long circle around the complex.
The township is in the third year of a decade-long plan to build
ballfields and basketball courts in Petersburg. The center is named
for Amanda Field, a 15-year-old girl from Petersburg who died in a
car accident nearby in 1999.
While the township is on schedule, the work is going somewhat
ploddingly. The township is relying exclusively on development fees
from new subdivisions to pay for everything, Newman said. The
township budgeted $100,000 for Amanda's Field in 2006, or half as
much as it budgeted for improvements here last year. And it cut
recreation funding by 10 percent this year.
But the township's decision to acquire this former turf farm with
Cape May County Open Space money seems like a better one every year,
Newman said.
“I don't know where we have room for anything else. We just don't
have the space,” he said.
When he was growing up in Upper Township, he played on the
township's inaugural football team, the Indians, coached by his
father. Now, more than 140 township children play football each
year.
Another 450 children play organized baseball, 600 play basketball
and about 1,000 play soccer, Recreation Director Brenda Layton said.
“If you have a kid in this township, there is a program for them.
We've always got something going on. There's no excuse for them to
be sitting home watching TV,” Newman said.
Meanwhile, local sports groups have stepped in to speed
improvements.
The Upper Township Baseball Association raised $27,000 to build
indoor batting cages in a heated pole barn at Amanda's Field with
the help of local contractors. The Upper Township Soccer Association
plans to install practice lights at a field nearest the concession
stand.
These light stands won't be as tall or as bright as those used in
games, association President Ron DiGiovanni said.
“We're cognizant of the neighbors. We don't want to interfere with
people who live there,” he said.
But the lights will provide enough illumination to give the
traveling teams more practice time during the darker months of early
spring and late fall, he said.
“Upper Township has a good (soccer) tradition. Unlike other sports,
size doesn't matter. And we keep it in proper perspective. It's fun
first,” he said.
While baseball fields are still a year or more away from completion,
the recreation complex is starting to live up to its potential,
baseball coach Eric Ortolf said.
“I think it's wonderful. It becomes a real focal point for the
township. The strength of the township has been recreation, kids and
schools,” he said. “It's moving along.”
The batting cages have been a popular diversion in the wet, cold
winter.
“You could have almost a whole team in there at once,” he said.
The club has its own pitching machines, but coaches prefer to let
players do the throwing.
“As long as the arms are good, we like to have the kids hitting live
balls,” he said.
The new skate park is in its third year. And some parents are
already taking advantage of the new walking path, Layton said.
“When I pulled the Port-a-Potty from the soccer field, I got calls,”
she said. Walkers wanted to take a pit stop.
The field soon will open its own restrooms and concession stands.
And because this was a former turf farm, there is a ready supply of
water from the old well and pump, Newman said.
The township will need it. Some day soon, all this mud will be
topped with acres of green grass.
To e-mail Michael Miller at The
Press:MMiller@pressofac.com
Top of Page
ALERT:
Job’s Point Bridge closed, days earlier than expected
e-published 03/03/2006 - Ocean
City Gazette
By NANCY RUMP
Staff Writer
SOMERS POINT – Frustrated motorists were forced to turn around
Thursday night when they attempted to cross the Job’s Point Bridge
at the border of Somers Point and Egg Harbor Township.
The span was slated to close Monday, March 6 for repairs. Instead,
it shut down Thursday without warning.
Signs in the area alerted travelers to the originally scheduled
closure but served little purpose Thursday night for those that were
not allowed to cross the bridge.
According to Atlantic County engineer Joseph D’Abundo the discovery
of a huge hole in the span was to blame for the immediate closure.
The hole, a 4-by-1 foot cavity, was said to be just too unsafe for
motorists to travel over. The county engineer believes it could
continue to grow.
Closure of the Job’s Point Bridge adds to the continuing melee of
bridge closures in Atlantic and Cape May counties. In addition to
the closure of Job’s Point, the Beesley’s Point Bridge remains
closed indefinitely and the Route 52 causeway is still limited to
two lanes, scaled down for the past several months from its normal
four lanes.
The Job’s Point Bridge is expected to be closed for at least two
months – about 60 days – while work is done to repair the span. The
state Department of Transportation has promised to reopen the Route
52 causeway to four lanes by Memorial Day. There is little hope that
the Beesley’s Point Bridge, which is independently owned, will ever
open again.
Job’s Point Bridge crosses over Patcong Creek as part of Somers
Point-Mays Landing Road (Route 559). It is located less than a mile
west of the Route 9 and Route 559 intersection.
Its detour will force motorists to take the long way around using
Steelmanville Road in Egg Harbor Township, Bethel Road in Somers
Point, and Ocean Heights Avenue through both towns.
A.P. Construction of Blackwood, Camden County, will be giving the
bridge a new five-inch thick reinforced concrete deck. The new deck
is phase two of a two-phase, $1.5 million project.
The timber pilings holding up the bridge were strengthened as part
of earlier construction; that phase of the project is almost
finished.
Eventually, the county hopes to replace the bridge entirely,
although it would take as much as seven to 10 years to do so, after
environmental permitting, design approvals, and funding are
obtained, according to the county.
Angry business owners effected by the Job’s Point closure are said
to be joining forces to gather names on a petition to fight the
detour.
The closure is in effect 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during
construction.
Top of Page
| Two
towns talk about sharing police costs
By MICHAEL PRITCHARD Staff Writer, (609)
272-7256
Published: Saturday, March 4, 2006
Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2006
With Absecon Island neighbors Longport and Margate both facing
manpower shortages in their police departments, talk of
consolidating functions of the two departments have started
again in earnest.
But unlike previous rounds of talks, which never resulted in
serious changes to either department, this time the talks
include discussion of the most drastic change of all —
consolidating the two departments into one police force.
Margate Commissioner John Swift is pushing the idea of combining
the two departments.
“Ultimately, that's what I'd like to see done,” Swift said
Friday. “Both our departments are down patrol officers. We're
down about six officers from two years ago. Longport has also
been struggling with how many police officers it has on patrol.
A consolidation seems an obvious way to get those patrol numbers
up and increase the safety for residents of both towns.”
Longport Mayor John Stroebele, however, stopped short of saying
he would advocate combining the two departments completely.
“The people of Longport really like their police force and know
the officers personally,” he said. “And they also enjoy that
Longport is its own distinct place. That's what they've
impressed on me while I've been in office, and obviously the
people would have a very big say in a change like this.”
But Stroebele also said that he and Swift have had numerous
informal conversations about combining functions of the two
departments.
“We already have a system of mutual response in place, and that
includes Ventnor as well,” he said. “The three towns already
work together in emergencies or in covering each other where
appropriate. But I'm always ready to have discussions on how we
can improve cooperation and reduce costs.”
Longport currently has about 13 patrol officers on its force.
Police and union officials have said they feel 15 patrol
officers are needed to serve the borough. Stroebele, however,
says the borough is planning to budget for 14 patrol officers
this year.
Margate has 24 patrol officers, down from about 30 two years
ago. Swift said the city has lost several officers who have
moved to other departments and now faces training new recruits
to get back up to a full complement.
Rumors that the two municipalities are even considering a merge,
however, has already led to opposition to the idea.
“We'd be opposed to a consolidation,” said Patrolman Christopher
F. Ricciotti, president of the Longport Police Benevolent
Association. “I've talked to more than 100 residents about this,
and they've all told me that they want Longport to remain
self-sufficient. I don't think Longport residents would be happy
to have Margate police officers respond to their calls, and I
can't imagine Margate residents would be happy with Longport
officers responding to their calls.”
Ricciotti, however, was responding to talk of an agreement that
would have the two departments covering each other at times when
their patrols were understaffed. Consolidating the two
departments completely would be a more complicated step.
Swift acknowledged that initially there would be strong
opposition to the plan.
“It's not going to be easy and it would take a long time,” he
said. “It's going to take some leadership and a lot of
cooperation. We'd have to show people that this isn't going to
hurt them and that it will really help their situation. And we'd
need to show that this would result in some real savings for
both towns while increasing the safety of all the residents.”
Meanwhile, talks are also starting again about consolidating
emergency dispatch operations for the two towns. Ventnor is also
involved in the discussions. Talks on consolidating the dispatch
departments were last held in 2003, but the idea died when
studies showed it would actually cost more to combine the
dispatch centers, Swift said.
Since then, Atlantic County has embarked on a $100,000 study of
consolidating dispatch services throughout the county, including
the possibility of regional dispatch centers to cover areas such
as Absecon Island. Swift, Stroebele and Ventnor Mayor Tim
Kreischer are scheduled to meet on the issue next week.
Between Margate and Longport, other consolidation plans, such as
consolidating administrative functions, are also under
discussion.
“If we don't combine the two departments, I'd expect that other
types of consolidation would happen,” Swift said. “But I believe
in combining the two departments. Change — any kind of change —
usually scares people, but I really think that in the long term
this will result in savings for everybody and will make all our
residents safer.”
To e-mail Michael Pritchard at The Press:
MPritchard@pressofac.com
Top of Page
|
Northfield pharmacy
owner to appeal closing
By MARTIN DeANGELISStaff Writer, (609) 272-7237
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, February 18, 2006
Updated: Saturday, February 18, 2006
— The owners of a 64-year-old business that was ordered out of town
last month by the local Zoning Board will appeal the decision in
court soon and go back to the board with a new application later,
their lawyer says.
The Shore Road building that houses Palombo's Med-Rite has been a
pharmacy since the early 1940s, and current owner Aldo Palombo has
been running a pharmaceutical business there for 25 years. But in a
hearing last month, local officials ruled that the owners' use of
the property has changed in recent years and then refused to give
them a variance from the city's zoning law to let them stay in
business.
Aldo Palombo acknowledged that his business has changed since he
bought it as a neighborhood drug store. Palombo's now specializes in
delivering drugs to nursing homes and hospitals around much of
southern New Jersey, and has about 100 employees involved in that,
up from the 15 or 20 it had when he arrived. At least six of his
workers now are family members — the owner's four brothers and his
father work there, mostly as pharmacists.
His father, also named Aldo, was the longtime mayor of North
Wildwood and is a pharmacist.
The ruling would effectively shut down the business, although the
board's chairman — who voted to let the company stay — said the city
should give Palombo a grace period before forcing the pharmacy to
close. The pharmacy is open while it appeals the decision.
But Steven Scherzer, the company's lawyer, says he plans to appeal
the Zoning Board decision with a suit in state Superior Court,
probably by the end of this month. Plus Scherzer says he expects to
go back to the board, most likely sometime in the spring, with a
different request for a variance that would let Palombo's stay in
Northfield.
“We believe the board abused their discretion and made a mistake in
their decision-making process,” Scherzer said, arguing that the
business' six decades in the town and the benefits it offers to
Northfield and neighboring communities should have convinced
officials to leave it open.
“To send a business such as that on its way, when it has a
relatively insignificant impact on the community, no noise, no
noxious fumes and 100 percent of what's going on in that business
stays in that business ... to deny us any relief and invite us to
leave the community, I think was wrong,” he said.
He acknowledged that city officials had a legitimate concern about
parking for Palombo's employees but said the owners “turned
themselves inside out” to solve that, including arranging parking at
a lot a block away owned by Central United Methodist Church, just
across the city line in Linwood.
The Palombo side said that although they fill few prescriptions over
the counter, they are still a retail operation because they fill
individual prescriptions for patients and don't do any wholesale or
bulk sales.
But after hours of testimony and questions, including some
objections from neighbors on parking issues and work hours, local
officials voted unanimously that Palombo's had changed its operation
substantially in the years since it opened. In a separate vote of
5-3, the Zoning Board then denied the company a variance to stay in
its home.
Scherzer noted that several new members were on the board for that
meeting, and suggested that with a “more experienced board, we're
hoping we'll be seen in a different light. ... We certainly don't
consider the actions of the board in January to be the last word.
It's too important an issue and we think, respectfully, that the
board made a mistake that night. Everyone is entitled to a bad
night.”
Top of Page
|
Gypsy Moths
Housing Plan
Parking
Meeting
Regionalization
Water Restrictions
Developments
State Aid
Therapy Dogs
Amanda's Field
Bridge Closing
Police
Northfield Closing
|
