Should Lower Township be Renamed “Cape May Township”?

VILLAS – How can Lower Township keep the next generation of young people living and working in Lower Township, while continuing to support existing businesses? That is the question that the Economic Development Advisory Committee, a 10-member board led by Deputy Mayor Norris Clark and former council member Glenn Douglass, hopes to answer. Clark, along with members of the board, presented council with the committee’s preliminary findings on Sept. 16 at Township Hall.
“Cape May County has the third highest unemployment rate in the United States of America,” said Clark. “It’s over 18 percent.” When speaking with residents in Lower Township, Clark explained that parents were concerned that their children wouldn’t be able to find employment upon graduation, resulting in them having to move out of the area.
“We recognized that we are all in the same boat,” explained Clark. “If we’re going to solve this problem we have to think regionally. We’re all dependent on each other in many different ways.” The committee, which began by brainstorming ideas, eventually, narrowed the field down to 37 contenders. The “Idea Pageant,” as Clark called it, gives committee members the option to place their “chips” on the ideas they think will “give the most bang for your buck.” Once the highest rated ideas are chosen, the committee will further research their feasibility by bringing in experts and conferring with the public.
The committee features representatives from a variety of industries: Tourism, Fishing, Aquaculture, Retail, Camping, Cultural, and Marinas. Assembled in February, the committee will remain in effect until the end of 2014. At that time the board will approach council with the best, most feasible ideas for economic development. “Either you can do something to help attract new business or tourism, or you can do something that will take a barrier that’s currently in the way of some of the businesses that are here,” Clark explained.
It’s fostering those established businesses that committee member Rick Weber stressed to council. “Protecting what we have is as important as promoting growth,” Weber said. He explained the significance of the marinas to the local economy and the challenges associated with keeping them functional. “On the wrong tides I have boats that are literally aground in their slips,” Weber said. “We need the help of government at all levels to deal with these dredged materials.”
Weber said that locations to deposit dredged materials were at or nearing capacity. He, along with City Manager Michael Voll, suggested looking at beneficial reuses, including mixing the dredged material with MUA mulch to develop a type of topsoil. “The Garden State Parkway Project is going to use 300,000 cubic yards of non-structural fill,” said Weber. “Where it is coming from is still to be determined, but maybe the municipality should be part of the discussion.”
Also present was Ryan Krill, president of Cape May Brewing Company. He spoke on behalf of the Cape May County Airport and its potential to attract new and varying business ventures. “The airport is ripe for this type of development,” Krill said. “Give an incentive for people to come to the airport. Invest in the airport and those businesses will invest in Lower Township.”
Another suggestion for aiding economic development came from Committee Member Ernie Utsch, owner of Utsch’s Marina. “The brand names that are instantly recognizable get people’s attention and that’s one of the things that we in Lower Township need to address,” Utsch said. “We need to be recognized.”
Utsch pointed out that Cape May Point, Cape May Winery, Cape May Fishing Fleet, and Cape May Brewery are all located in Lower Township.
Weber agreed with Utsch’s assessment of brand recognition. “I use it,” Weber admitted. “I don’t call myself a Lower Township marina because it won’t sell; and that is not a fault of Lower Township, this is a great place. It’s the fault of whoever chose two really lousy words to put together to call us.”
“Ultimately the test is—is it something I can see across the front of a sweatshirt?” Weber asked. “And no, that one’s not it.”
With the ‘Cape May’ name already prominent throughout Lower Township, Utsch suggested council embrace it. “So I bring a difficult suggestion, and that’s all it is, to the members of Township Council, and it’s about changing the way we do our business, it’s about changing the way we are recognized,” Utsch said. “I think Township Council needs to look at a name change, possibly changing from Lower Township to Cape May Township.”
Additionally, the committee has begun working with students from Lower Cape May Regional High School. Local businessman and committee member, Curtis Bashaw, invited members of the junior class to develop business ideas. If the students are able to convince Bashaw that their ideas are innovative and beneficial to economic development in Lower Township, he will fund their ideas. Clark explained how this approach has already “lit the flames of our young people.”
Mayor Michael Beck was excited about the direction the Advisory Board was taking and praised Krill for his contributions to the local economy. “They (Cape May Brewery) are not going to make a difference in the total picture of Cape May County,” said Beck. “But they’ve made one hell of a difference in the lives of 10 people over there.”