Sea Isle Gazebo Saga Continues

SEA ISLE CITY — A local woman’s artistic labor of love has been nothing but trouble since she began work on it nearly a decade ago.
Louise Clemente has a gazebo in the back yard of her home in the 7900 block of Central Avenue. She’s decorated the structure with a number of etched-glass scenes commemorating the notable people and places important to the history of Sea Isle City. Clemente created the etchings herself.
Rather than celebrating Clemente for her artistic tribute to the island community, city officials have been trying to get her to alter the structure, which they say is too big.
Clemente received a gazebo in 2000 as a 65th birthday gift from her children. She tore down a shed in her back yard to make room for the structure.
On March 30 of that year, city Zoning Officer Robert Bowman signed a zoning certificate that read, “Having examined the plans, plot plan, grade, etc., of the above applicant, I herewith certify that the same is in compliance with the Sea Isle City Zoning Ordinance, and the application is hereby approved.” In October of that year, a city building inspector approved the footing for the gazebo.
With these approvals in hand, Clemente put up her gazebo and began work on her glass etchings. She held parties to unveil her artwork when they were completed.
Shortly after the gazebo was erected, Clemente’s neighbor Patricia Urbaczewski, a member of the city’s zoning board, complained that the structure did not conform to zoning regulations.
The gazebo is a 16-foot by 16-foot octagonal structure that measures 19 feet 4 inches in height. The problem is that under the city’s zoning ordinance, no accessory building or structure shall exceed 15 feet in height above the mean elevation of the top of the curb.
When the matter went before the zoning board, Clemente was ordered to bring the gazebo into compliance. In subsequent years, Clemente was denied a variance by the board and also lost a bid to have the city’s governing body create a new “gazebo ordinance” that would allow the larger structure. She later appealed the matter to Superior Court, lost before the zoning board again and went on a hunger strike over the gazebo, all to no avail.
Things were quiet for a few years as the city allowed Clemente to exhaust her legal options.
Then, on Oct. 12 city Solicitor Paul Baldini notified Clemente that “all litigation between the city, yourself…is over. You were not successful in that litigation. The gazebo remains in violation of the city zoning ordinances.”
“You are hereby directed to submit to my office a plan as to how you will bring the structure into compliance or remove the structure,” Baldini stated. “Should you fail to be compliant with this letter, the city is prepared to move forward and take appropriate enforcement action against you and the structure.”
Baldini told the Herald that Clemente had several options. She could remove soil beneath the gazebo, take the peeked roof off or remove sections of the support beams to bring the structure below the 15-foot height requirement.
Clemente told the Herald she would not alter gazebo’s height because it would lose its artistic integrity. She contends that she has a “good permit for a 19 foot 4 5/8 inch gazebo approved by Robert Bowman.”
She said that once city council sees she has a legal permit, “they will do the right thing and stop the litigation.”
She was mistaken.
At a council meeting Nov. 10, the governing body directed Baldini to take the next step, which he said would likely involve a lawsuit asking the court to compel Clemente to comply with the city’s zoning regulations or have the structure torn down.
Clemente believes officials want her to donate the gazebo to the city so it can be placed in a public area.
“But I can not donate the gazebo to the city because of their treatment of the whole situation, which could have been resolved from the start,” she said.
Baldini assured the Herald that the city would not accept the gazebo as a gift even if it were offered.
“We just want Mrs. Clemente to comply with the law,” he said.
Contact Hart at (609) 886-8600 Ext 35 or at: jhart@cmcherald.com