Ocean City offers information by e-mail service
From Press staff reports -
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, July 29, 2006
Updated: Saturday, July 29, 2006

OCEAN CITY — The city on Friday launched a mass e-mail service in keeping with Mayor Sal Perillo's campaign pledge to make city government more accessible.

But this is hardly spam, unless you consider meeting agendas, calendar items and volunteer opportunities comparable to the “refinance now” notices most people get in their virtual inbox.

The city printed registration cards that will be available at City Hall, the library and other public places, and anyone can go to

www.ocean-city.nj.us

to sign up online. It is free.

The registration cards let people choose what city information they would like, including information about city events, news from the mayor's office and releases from the city's public relations office.

O.C.'s frontyard proposal seeks to lay down the lawn
By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6712
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, July 29, 2006
Updated: Saturday, July 29, 2006

OCEAN CITY — City Council wants to restrict property owners on East Surf or Seabright roads from building new homes closer to the street.

The council has introduced an ordinance establishing a building setback of at least 20 feet on these roads to preserve a rarity in Ocean City: front lawns.

While most homes here already are 22 to 25 feet from the road, a handful of neighbors planned to take advantage of the actual zoning on the books at the city's Planning Office that allowed 11-foot setbacks.

“There is nothing wrong with a 12-foot setback,” said Michael Fazzio, who is building a home on East Surf Road.

Michael McPartland, of Seabright Road, spoke in favor of his neighbors who want to build closer to the road.

“These are good people, the kind you want living in Ocean City,” he said.

Marshall Schmeizer said he, too, wants to build a new home on East Surf Road using the smaller setbacks allowed now. He said the change was spot zoning because it affects only one side of both streets.

“This ordinance isn't being done with the appropriate intentions. My neighbor doesn't want me to build a house,” he said.

City Solicitor Gerald Corcoran said the zoning change does not constitute spot zoning. Zoning is designed to create more uniformity, which this ordinance does, he said. Corcoran noted publicly Thursday that he lives in the neighborhood.

“The attempt here tonight is to address a mistake,” Mayor Sal Perillo said.

Supporters of the wider setbacks said they enjoy being able to watch their children play from their front porches.

On these tree-lined streets, neighbors know each other, East Surf Road resident Carol Allen said.

She said homes such as hers were built with two purposes in mind: to keep living space above bothersome flies near the ground and to allow the cooling ocean breezes through the many large windows.

“We have trees. We have lawns. We have space around our houses,” she said. “People have air conditioning now and they build to the limits. But where's your neighborhood? You might as well live in an apartment in New York City.”

The council agreed, approving the first reading of the ordinance.

“The character of that neighborhood should remain,” Councilman Keith Hartzell said. “When you preserve things like that, it has a positive effect (on property values) in the long term.”

The public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 10 at City Hall.

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

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

Surfer Only Beach Sparks Controversy in Ocean City
By Cathy Gandolfo - Channel 6 ABC

OCEAN CITY, NJ - July 25, 2006 - Ocean City has three surfing beaches, but one called Waverly Beach in the north end has sparked controversy. This is the first year that is has been designated for surfers only, much to the dismay of property owners who live across the street.

"It means that only people who chose to surf can be here," said resident Barbara Harris. "Prior to this summer, this beach was shared by everybody - surfers before 10 and after 5, and in between that time if you wanted to swim, jump waves with your kids, bogey board, wade, whatever, you were able to do that."

Surfers say Waverly Beach is a good place to catch the waves, but residents who live across East Atlantic Avenue from the surfing only beach are upset. Summer resident Lauren Asher says not only can't they use the beach, but traffic is terrible and so is the behavior of some of the surfers.

"There's public changing all day long on our property. They sit on our walls. They use our hoses. They use our showers. It's complete invasion of privacy," said Asher.

Charles Bowman, deputy chief of the fire department and beach patrol, was on the board that designated Waverly as the surfer beach on this end. In part, he says, it comes down to numbers.

"We picked it because of the waves, because of the lack of people being impacted. Once again, we realize the six families are across the street. However, the good of the many outweigh the given few," said Bowman.

Most surfers with whom we spoke are unaware of the controversy. They just want a place to catch a wave

(Copyright 2006 by Action News and 6abc. All Rights Reserved.)

Market Conditions - (Ocean City, NJ)
by Carla L. Davis
Realty Times

Lexington, Kentucky, located near about an hour east of Louisville, is a city known as the "Horse Capital of the World."

They have seen a housing market strengthen steadily (4 to 6 percent appreciation rates) over the last half of a decade, but not at the same booming rate as the rest of the country. An ample inventory has kept supply and demand in check, leaving the average days on market anywhere from 6 to 8 months, depending on the price range. Experts are reporting the city to be a moderate buyers market with slightly rising prices.

Onto the eastern coast, we look next to Ocean City, New Jersey. This city is famous for being a family resort city, with plenty of beach and condos to go around. The TravelChannel.com even voted it the "Best Family Beach."

But as the inventory of homes for sale increases -- there are 42 percent more condos on the market than in 2005 -- the market is coming into hard times. Average condo prices dropped 9 percent this year to $626,595. Pushing this even harder is the lack of buyers on the market. Fifty-seven percent fewer condos sold this year so far.

This means that the market is in the buyers favor. As sellers experience a harder time making a sale, they become more willing to negotiate on prices and terms.

But don't wait too long. One expert reports to Realty Times, "Ultimately the market is reacting well to the little pause in the market. We have more inventory than last year this time, but properties are moving. This market is not doom and gloom and ultimately prices are on a upward trend. The time to purchase is now."

Higher flood insurance rates could swamp vacation homes

Federal legislation targets artificially low premiums for policies
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/23/06
BY TODD B. BATES
ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER

If you own a second home at the Jersey Shore or in other flood-prone areas, the cost of flood insurance may eventually rise dramatically.

"I think that's really bad," said Mary L. O'Brien, who has flood insurance for a second home in Point Pleasant Beach, 1 1/2 blocks from the beach.

A nor'easter in the late 1990s flooded her basement, and "we're sealing up the house and . . . taking a little more care in keeping the house water-tight," said O'Brien, 49, who also lives in New York City.

Last month, the House of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 4973) that would end artificially low rates for flood insurance for some property owners to help pay off the National Flood Insurance Program's debt of more than $20 billion. The Senate is considering a similar bill (S-3589).

The Federal Emergency Management Agency program was forced to borrow from the federal treasury after hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma and other events last year led to a record number of flood insurance claims and payments, said Butch Kinerney, a FEMA spokesman.

The House-passed Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2006 would make major changes to the flood insurance program.

About 450,000 vacation homes, second homes and commercial properties are subsidized and not paying sound rates for flood insurance, according to the bill.

In New Jersey, rates could increase for more than 40,000 homes, Kinerney said.

It now costs about $500 a year for a $100,000 flood insurance policy, according to FEMA's Web site. People who live in low- to moderate-risk areas and are eligible for a Preferred Risk Policy may pay as low as $112 a year, including coverage of their property's contents.

Under the House bill, subsidies for affected properties would be phased out, and premiums would increase 15 percent a year compared with the current 10 percent limit annually, the Library of Congress Web site says.

Under the Senate bill, rates would rise 25 percent a year, and subsidies would end for secondary residences and "severe repetitive loss" properties, or those with at least four losses in 10 years, among other provisions, according to the Web site and Kinerney.

Premiums would eventually cost up to 81 percent more if the subsidy ends for secondary properties, according to figures provided by Kinerney.

Under the House bill, the maximum flood insurance coverage for a residential property would increase from $250,000 to $335,000 for a single-family dwelling; from $100,000 to $135,000 for contents; and from $500,000 to $670,000 for the structure and related contents of a nonresidential property, including churches, according to the Library of Congress Web site.

The Bush administration supports many of the provisions in the bill, according to a statement by the White House Office of Management and Budget posted on the Web last month.

But the administration opposes provisions that would increase the scope of coverage offered by the flood insurance program, the statement says.

"Total exposure for the flood insurance program is quickly approaching $1 trillion, and the program is currently facing a potential debt burden of $22 billion or more," it says.

Increasing coverage amounts "could encourage expensive development in high-risk areas," it says.

However, higher premiums would cause some property owners to drop flood insurance or reduce the amount of coverage, according to a letter from the Congressional Budget Office on the Web.

As a result, Congress might face greater pressure to approve money for disaster relief if a major flood occurs, the letter says.

FEMA subsidizes policies for structures built before flood maps were introduced, which took place mostly in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kinerney said. Those properties generally were grandfathered in at a much lower premium rate.

Normally, the flood insurance program might get 8,000 to 10,000 claims a year, Kinerney said.

But it received about 250,000 claims last year, the most ever by far, he said.

Todd B. Bates: (732) 643-4237 or tbates@app.com

Taking Sides on Beach Tags

The Philadelphia Inquirer; 7/24/2006 - John Grogan Column

At least I'm not the only one grumpy about those dastardly beach tags.

After I teed off Friday on what I consider to be a most un-American and undemocratic tradition -- charging people to walk on a public strand of sand -- I heard from many just as annoyed as me. They basically had this to say: Just because we pay it doesn't mean we like it.

With a few exceptions, such as Wildwood and Atlantic City, beach fees are simply part of the Jersey Shore experience.

As you might expect, my mail largely has been split into two equally cantankerous camps, separated by zip code. Those who pay taxes in beach communities tended to feel that outsiders should chip in to use the beach. Visitors tended to feel they already pump enough money into the local economy -- by patronizing hotels, restaurants, arcades and stores.

Take it away, sand-and-surf lovers:

"I become incensed when I have to pay to use the beach," wrote Kathleen A. Diem of Warminster, who has spent decades doing just that. "To add insult to injury, after paying to sit on the beach at Ocean City or Sea Isle City, you can only go into the ocean at certain places... [and] are forced to swim in a corral with a million of your closest friends and their boogie boards."

Who'll lead the charge?

Wrote Sue Salmon of Ambler, whose family has owned a home in Ocean City for nearly four decades: "When I sit on the beach and look up at the homes and think of the taxes paid just in one city block, I am floored. I simply do not understand why a city that collects so much in taxes still needs to charge everyone to sit on its beaches."

Added Anthony Preziosi of Mantua, Gloucester County, "What will they tax us on next?"

Dave Meade of Media suggested I lead the civil-disobedience charge: "Why don't you go on the beach and refuse to pay? Now that could lead to an interesting article." I'm behind you every step of the way, Dave.

Bob Horbach of North Wales was one of many I heard from who votes with his flip-flops. "Never in my lifetime have I paid for a beach tag," he wrote. "I avoid those towns like a swarm of locusts. I've found that other beach towns love my money just as much as those with the tag fees. Because of the New Jersey Shore's insistence that they 'own' the ocean and the beaches, my local beach time is mostly spent in Ocean City, Md."

"Much better beaches, and they're free," agreed Michael Gottsch of Havertown, who similarly favors Maryland.

Others suspected the real purpose of tag fees is to discourage low-income hordes in front of multimillion-dollar homes. As David J. Salerno of Annapolis, Md., put it: "They want to create their own little oasis on public land so they don't have to look at others enjoying themselves."

Share the burden

Not everyone loathes the lowly tag.

Cheryl Lyman, who owns rental property in Ocean City, defended the beach tag as a fair way of "sharing the burden" of upkeep. Besides, she said, the fee could be less if renters were not "piglets who leave their trash" on the beach.

"This is one of the 'fair' taxes, a true user fee," wrote Brian Young Jr., who owns a home in Avalon. "Believe me when I say the property owners pay more than enough. How about I buy your beach tags and you pay my property taxes?"

How about you give me your beach house, Brian, and I'll give you my metered parking space?

Erin McNamara Horvat, an urban-studies professor at Temple University, was on my side, writing: "The beach is a public good and ought to be treated as such. One of the fundamental ideas undergirding our society is that we pool resources, in the form of taxes, to support things that we all need and use."

Finally, Chris Lloyd of Willow Grove, calling me The Inquirer's "whiner emeritus" (at your service!), wrote: "If you do not like the policy, go somewhere else. It is a pretty easy fix and will save us all the complaining."

Good advice, Chris. In a few weeks, I'll be sipping a cold beer on the white-sand beaches of Lake Michigan. No fees, no rules, no chest-puffing enforcers.

Oh, and no jellyfish.

Post a question or comment for John Grogan at http://go.philly.com/askgrogan. Or by e-mail: jgrogan@phillynews.com.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Be bold in beach homes
Posted on Fri, Jul. 21
Philadelphia Inquirer
Philly.com

Shells, wicker and pale colors are the all-too-familiar strategies for decorating a beach house. But it doesn't have to be that way, according to Ventnor interior designer Scott Eccard.

"People think you have to do pastels at the Shore, and you don't," says Eccard, whose sophisticated take on beach style is on view through Aug. 13 at the RNS Show House at the Shore in Ventnor.

For a striking home office/den at the show house, which features the work of 20 designers, Eccard did the walls and a slipcovered sofa a deep slate gray. He turned a vivid red bamboo side table into a bar and set a painted white rattan chair with white cushions in front of a brushed-metal Parsons desk. On one wall, he hung a giant framed chalkboard, on another a set of bold black-and-white prints whose abstract patterns, on closer examination, are revealed to be the masts and rigging of sailing ships.

"Strong colors can work great in a beach house," Eccard says. But use no more than one or two in a room and balance them with neutrals, such as white.

As for furniture styles, second homes are a great place to employ the eclectic look, says the designer: "An eclectic mix makes for a more inviting, livable room. Also, when you are furnishing a second home, you probably don't want to go out and spend thousands on furniture."

Flea-market finds and useful stuff from your basement or grandma's house can work just fine at a beach house, he says.

"There are no rules anymore. You can take a dining-room buffet and put it in the living room and put a TV on it. Or take a dresser out of the kids' room and put it in a hallway."

Paint is always a great way to perk up those motley pieces and get them to hang together, Eccard says. He transformed the secondhand-store rattan chair he featured in the show house with white paint and gave that bamboo table its coat of lacquer red. Paint can turn an old chest into a focal point, or transform a group of mismatched dining chairs into a set, he says.

Unite a mix of upholstered pieces with coordinating slipcovers, which are eminently practical at the Shore, Eccard says.

"You can get them made in a washable fabric or in indoor/outdoor fabrics. Those are really beautiful these days, and you don't have to worry when people sit on them in wet bathing suits or the kids spill Kool-Aid."

Easy care should be the rule for floors at the Shore, too. Tile and laminate floors stand up against sandy feet. Warm them up with an area rug in cotton or woven grass that can be picked up and shaken out.

Short on art to dress up those bare walls? You don't need to resort to cheap and cheesy posters of lighthouses. At last year's RNS show house, Eccard adorned the walls of a guest room with a grouping of empty flea-market frames, all spray-painted white. His den at this year's event includes an arrangement of inexpensive, patterned vintage plates on one wall.

When it comes to windows, think spare, Eccard says: "You don't want fussy window treatments at the beach." Bamboo shades are a great option. So are gauzy white drapes.

"I think people sometimes overdo it because they want to make a statement. But there is beauty in simplicity."


Eils Lotozo

Plan for downtown fee alarms O.C. merchants
By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6712
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Updated: Wednesday, July 19, 2006

OCEAN CITY — The mayor's proposal to improve the downtown through zoning changes is stirring controversy among some merchants.

In a 20-page ordinance, Mayor Sal Perillo proposed ways to protect downtown shops from the tremendous pressure of rental condo construction the island is seeing.

“The downtown is out of balance,” Perillo said. “The existing zoning in my judgment promotes residential development at the expense of commercial development.”

More than two dozen business owners attended a public meeting Tuesday to make their own recommendations.

Perhaps the biggest change is a parking requirement, the first in the city's Central Business Zone since 1996. Developers would have to provide two parking spaces per new residential unit. But only one parking space per unit would be permitted on site. The others would be provided through a city fee of $25,000 per space. Ultimately, this money would pay for a new public parking lot or garage downtown.

Business owners balked at the steep figure.

Councilman Keith Hartzell owns three mixed-use buildings on Asbury Avenue, including the one in which he lives. Hartzell said the parking fee seemed exorbitant to him.

“It will benefit everyone, but the burden is on us,” he said.

“I think $3,000 to $5,000 is more reasonable,” said Paul Schaeffer, owner of Denovum. “Merchants already pay a Special Improvement District fee. That money is going into a fund, and not one dime of parking revenue has come downtown. All of the (public) lots are on the Boardwalk.”

Schaeffer is one of several Asbury Avenue property owners who plan to rebuild soon. He hired a Washington, D.C., architect to replace his familiar purple store with a three-story steel, glass and copper building. This would include two retail stores on the ground floor and eight condos on the second and third stories.

Schaeffer said both he and his parents eventually plan to live in his new building. Under the ordinance, he would have to pay $200,000 in parking fees alone.

Schaeffer also questioned whether some of the design rules imposed by the ordinance were too restrictive.

Much of the ordinance addresses display windows, store signs and canopies geared to making Asbury Avenue a welcoming place for pedestrians, said planner Michelle M. Taylor of the Taylor Design Group.

The ordinance also would outlaw the use of vinyl siding on building facades in the Central Business District.

“As you walk, there's a feeling of continuity, like on the Boardwalk,” she said.

Former Councilman Ron Denney and Donald Johnson of Johnson's Electric also plan to build on Asbury Avenue. Their applications before the Planning Board are on hold until the mayor's proposed zoning changes are approved by City Council.

“I like the fact that the mayor is thinking about the future of our downtown. He wants to make it attractive and improve it,” said Cheryl Huber, who leases space to Hoy's Five and Dime on Asbury Avenue.

Huber said she has no immediate plans to rebuild. But the parking fee is a concern, she said.

Tuesday was the first public meeting on the proposal. Perillo is hosting six such meetings to solicit comments from the public, City Council and professionals such as architects and planners.

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

New O.C. mayor offers truce to opponents at inauguration
By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6712
Published: Sunday, July 2, 2006
Updated: Sunday, July 2, 2006

OCEAN CITY — Sal Perillo was sworn into office Saturday to become the first new mayor in this resort in 14 years.

Superior Court Judge Kyran Connor administered the oath of office to Perillo in front of Perillo's wife, Mary Ellen, and a nearly packed house at the Music Pier.

Perillo easily won election in May over three competitors. In doing so, he spent a city-record $120,301, much of which went to defending political attacks and engaging in a few of his own.

Perillo offered an olive branch of sorts to his opponents' supporters.

“To those of you who did not know me well enough to vote for me, I promise to work diligently to earn your respect and confidence,” he said.

He said he would put the campaign behind him with City Council, including the three at-large councilmen sworn in Saturday: Keith Hartzell, Scott Ping and Michael Allegretto.

“They recognize, as do I, the deep desire to bring the divisiveness and contentiousness to an end,” he said.

Perillo, who has a private law practice, said the death of his father, Gennaro, last November made him take stock of his own life.

“I decided to devote some balance of the rest of my life to public service,” Perillo said.

As mayor, he said he will make better use of the city's Web site and public-access television channel. He said he will create a task force composed of local residents to improve city operations. And he vowed to support development “compatible with the city's residential neighborhoods.”

The reorganization was a nonpartisan civic celebration unlike anything else in Ocean City. Family and friends of competing candidates attended along with local lawmakers and former mayors Roy Gillian and Bud Knight, who has been a former mayor for just a day.

Many City Hall regulars also attended, including a group of residents whom the city is suing. They have a court date next week over the group's efforts to tie city spending to the federal cost-of-living adjustment. But on Saturday, the group applauded the plaintiffs.

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