From Commissioner Nietubicz

Offers some insight to what’s going on at The Point

I hope the Holidays treated everyone kindly.   May the Holiday’s Peace and Love continue long after we  put the lights away, sober up and start our diets.

The bubblers and compressors were installed on Dec 19^th and 20^th.  The eleven bubblers were scattered across the lake. They are rather inconspicuous and you have to look hard to see them.

The compressors were installed on the lakeside of East Lake Ave.  One is at 519 E. Lake and the other at the intersection of Lake and Lighthouse.   They are relatively quiet.  One can hear them if you stand on the street next to them.  The sound dissipates as you move across the street.  Weather conditions and the water in the lake plays tricks.  The low hum has been heard over on the west side of town.

So far, four people have complained about the noise.  The Lake Committee has plans to deaden the hum before the weather warms and windows are opened.

The year closed with nothing definitive about the impending school tax.  The Governor has announced a new school funding formula.  It is not clear to me what impact (if any) it will have on our school tax.

New Jersey has sprung a new tactic on us.   In the past, municipalities got aid only after agreements were made. Likely as not, the municipalities did not keep it’s part of the bargain, at least as far as the state is concerned.

We are being asked to sign a state aid agreement assigning certain control to the DEP or we will not get the state part of some grant money, for example, beach replishment, for which the state bucks up 35% of the federal bill.  If we do not sign the agreement, we do not get the 35 %.

Some feel that it is further erosion of “home rule”.  Some feel that the state is trying to make a state park of our beaches.  Some feel that the state is using “strong arm” tactics.  Some feel that the document is too vague and the state is asking us to agree to “future” regulations before we see them.

Two boroughs have sued the state over the agreement.  We have not seen our copy yet.  Reports from other communities claim that the DEP wants to regulate things; bathrooms, parking, signage, hours of operation, price of tags, etc.  We were supposed get our copy before Christmas.  Hopefully, the delay means that the two lawsuits has given the DEP some pause and they are re-writing some conditions and clauses in the agreement.

There was a pre-construction meeting in Borough Hall on Dec 12^th.  I was in Antarctica and no minutes were taken, which I find strange.  The following was gleaned from notes taken by attendees.

At the meeting were the DEP, Coastal Engineers (who is responsible for the New Jersey Coastal and Beach “fortification”), the Army Corps, the Mayor, Commissioner Schupp, Borough Clerk and the Borough Solicitor.  The discussion went from taking sand from Whilden and Coral, to a reef on St. Pete’s, to the reef on Cape, to a revetment on Brainard/Stites.

·      Whilden/Coral:  removing sand is a new idea to the Army Corps and they will consider the matter.  Earlier commitments seemed vague.

·      Reef on St. Pete’s:  Sand fill and/or reef is a particular problem on that beach because of the nearness of the rips. 

·      The reef on Cape is installed properly.

·      Any revetment will not be covered by sand and we will have to pay the engineering cost.

·      The Army Corp. expressed empathy for beach fortifications co-existing with bathing.   We were asked to consider the present condition of St. Pete’s and decide if a sand refill every four/five years isn’t enough.

All of this is tempered by the “state aid” agreement hanging over us.  The only thing clear at this point is that we are scheduled to get sand in the fall of 2008

Seems like the state is talking out of both sides of their mouth.  On one hand, they imposed a 4% cap on local taxes, on the other allow the DEP to dictate what our beaches should look like,  They could, for example, tell us to condemn a house to build a parking lot or change our entrances, install a bathroom every ½ mile and we’d have to pay for it.