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Sea Isle City Council Hears Taxpayer Survey; More Work for Townsend’s Inlet Bridge Area

By Camille Sailer

SEA ISLE CITY – Newly-selected President John “Jack” Gibson, chaired City Council’s meeting July 21.
Results of SICTA Survey
Seymour Burchman, of Sea Isle City Taxpayers Association, gave an overview of the organization’s recently concluded “2014 Sea Isle City Property Owners Survey.”
This survey complements another survey the city itself is undertaking entitled the “Master Plan Reexamination” survey.
SICTA’s online survey reached out to all city property owners and was administered by the Stockton Polling Institute. Interested property owners had 16 days to respond and the total respondents included 14 percent full-time residents.
The 187-page survey can be viewed at www.sicta.org. Burchman noted that overall respondents are happy with the direction and progress the city is making to enhance the attractiveness of the town.
Burchman explained that there were five areas where respondents were “least happy” with the results of activities.
These were:
– Inadequate parking during the busy summer months
– Water and sewer rates
– Finding a workable bike accessibility solution despite the city’s “geography”
– Enhancing what is offered for teenagers to do during the summer, realizing that activities for families and young children are viewed favorably
–  Overall tax spending
An interesting bit of data emerged in that in 2010 a similar survey showed that of all city property owners 67 percent did not rent out their properties while in 2014 per the current survey 73 percent do not rent out their properties.
Another survey question revealed that the city is aging and as a result 73 percent of all property owner households do not have children living there. However, as Gibson pointed out the number of grandchildren visiting property owners during the summer is significant and thus activities for teenagers are very important.
The survey demonstrated which items property owners view with the most satisfaction and these were beach maintenance; overall advertising and promotion of the city; lifeguards and beach safety; trash pick-up and municipal customer service.
Beach Replenishment
Business Administrator George Savastano reported that during the week of July 19 discharge will be ongoing around 56th Street and that by the second week of August replenishment activities will move south and then return to center around 38th Street. “We are trying very hard to provide timely, daily updates on the project through the city’s website that include entrances and beaches that are closed and when, where the discharge is occurring, and what direction the project is headed,” said Savastano.
Beach Tag Revenue
Savastano reported that as of July 15 the city had collected $1,167,285 in revenue generated from the sale of beach tags. “This total is a $5,000 increase year over year. We are hopeful the upward trend will continue although so much depends on what the weather does,” he said.
SIC Master Plan Re-examination
Savastano said that the city’s own request for input to its Master Plan Re-examination survey was released July 13 and within a couple of days over 2,000 people had responded with 1,600 or 80 percent of these property owners. “We are really pleased with the great response and are scheduling a master plan workshop Sept. 12 to brief the public on progress and status,” he said.
 More Construction for Bridge Area
Savastano said that Cape May County has received about $7 million to $8 million to reconstruct the roadway on the Avalon side road leading to the Townsend Inlet Bridge.
The county also is contributing around $2 million to the project. “This roadway continually floods during storms, the surface is really deteriorated and the project will ensure that it won’t continue to wash away,” said Savastano.
The city advertised for bids during the week of July 16 with a hoped-for award time frame by the end of August.
Construction will “probably commence in the October-November time frame and continue to May,” according to Savastano.
“We are in talks with the county engineer and others to minimize the disruption since that area will need to be closed for a few months. We’re hoping that when those few months are done the area can be reopened so that delays and inconveniences are minimized keeping in mind what we’ve just been through with the Townsend’s Inlet Bridge repair project,” he explained.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com. 

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