STONE HARBOR — A permit that would allow the local branch of the Cape May County Library to be built near the beachfront has until Jan. 7 to accept public comments
The DEP extended the comment period seven additional days due to the holidays, a press spokesman told the Herald Dec. 29. The county was not notified of that extension.
Comments may be made to: Shorefront Region Section Chief, Division of Land Use Regulation, NJDEP, P.O. Box 420 501-02A. Trenton, N.J. 08625 or at (609) 633-2289.
That CAFRA (Coastal Area Facilities Review Act) document would be a blessing or curse, depending upon one’s viewpoint.
Borough Council passed a resolution giving the county Library Commission until Jan. 20 to produce the necessary permit and begin work or the project will end.
Two council members-elect, who will take office Jan. 3, were opposed to the site, and worked to have council rescind its permission for the branch, would likely vote against any measure to make the project happen.
On Dec. 22, County Administrator Stephen O’Connor received a letter from David Fanz, manager, Bureau of Coastal Regulations, Division of Land Use Regulations. Its purpose was to “formalize the agreement reached between the County and the Department in order to settle” the appeal to erect the library branch on a borough-owned parking lot at 95th and beach.
It stated DEP had evaluated the “revised development as depicted on the site plan” dated Dec. 13, “unrevised as prepared by Dale M. Foster, county engineer, and concluded that it would be appropriate…to issue a CAFRA individual permit authoriging the construction depicted on the plan…subject to:
• DEP providing notice of intent to issue a permit based on the plan to the municipal clerk and “any interested third party who commented on the original project in writing.”
A 17-day period for comments will be provided (which would now end Jan. 7).
• At the conclusion of the comment period “and provided no meritorious dissenting comments are received,” DEP will issue the CAFRA permit.
Once in receipt of the permit, the county would have to withdraw its appeal to the Office of Legal Affairs.
“We anticipate that we will have the permit after Dec. 31,” said O’Connor.
Borough resident and former council member, attorney Vincent L. Lamanna Jr. believes the county is “not following statutes” in regard to the construction project.
In a Nov. 30 letter to County Counsel Barbara Bakley-Marino, Lamanna cited the revised plan before DEP that moved the library 45 feet from the bulkhead along with a corresponding change in the parking.
“This represents a substantial change from the application which your office brought before the Stone Harbor Planning Board in March of 2011,” Lamanna wrote to Bakley-Marino.
Further, Lamanna cited Sec. 31 of the Municipal Land Use Act, Review of Capital Projects, which mandates, “Whenever the planning board shall have adopted any portion of the master plan, the governing body or other public agency having jurisdiction over the subject matter, before taking action necessitating the expenditure of any public funds, incidental to the location, character or extent of such project, shall refer the action involving such specific project to the planning board for review and recommendation in conjunction with such master plan and shall not act thereon, without such recommendation or until 45 days have elapsed after such reference without receiving such recommendation.”
“Any time a governing body is avoiding public hearings, I get nervous,” Lamanna told the Herald, Fri., Dec. 16. “They did that here. They did not want to hear from the people,” he added.
As of that date, Lamanna said he had not received Bakley-Marino’s reply, and sent a follow-up letter requesting an answer.
According to Lamanna, a “superior agency issue” does not apply in this matter, since “this is a borough issue. If the county owned it, it would be a different story.”
‘No matter what, if they are spending public money, they must hold a hearing and get a recommendation. They violated that, and no one will be able to convince me on that,” said Lamanna
“They cannot abdicate this to the county. They (borough) contracted with the county, they are the vendor,” he said.
O’Connor said county counsel is awaiting formal direction from freeholders on a response to Lamanna’s letter.
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com
Cape May – The number one reason I didn’t vote for Donald Trump was January 6th and I found it incredibly sad that so many Americans turned their back on what happened that day when voting. I respect that the…
