STONE HARBOR – Half glad, half sad might aptly describe the voters of this borough in the wake of Borough Council’s 4-2 vote Tue., July 3 to locate a branch of Cape May County Library on a tract of borough-owned land between 93rd and 94th streets on Second Avenue, commonly referred to as the “Hand Lot” since it was purchased from late Mayor Arden Hand in 1989.
The vote was one of the most contentious council decisions in many years. It spared Mayor Suzanne Walters from having to cast a tie-breaking vote before a room filled with many who advocated the original 95th Street location on a borough-owned parking lot overlooking the ocean.
A petition that contained 342 votes was presented to Borough Clerk Suzanne Stanford by resident Jon Ready. Gathered since Borough Council’s June 19 meeting, sought to set aside the day’s vote, establishing a new committee, one with a public taxpayer member.
Resident Jean Miersch, who made it clear she spoke for herself, no other group, said of that hastily-circulated petition, 273 signers “were specifically in favor of the beachfront (95th Street) lot.” She noted that “there isn’t any way to possibly ignore the petition” and directed the comment toward Councilmembers Joselyn Rich and Karen Lane, who took office in January and who were members of the Library Location Committee. That council-appointed entity studied seven potential lots. Rejected four of them, and then focused on Seng Place, the Hand Lot, and the original oceanfront site.
Votes for the resolution to locate the library branch on the hand lot were:
Yes: Joan Kramar, Karen Lane, Joselyn Rich, Judith Davies-Dunhour.
No: Albert Carusi, Barry Mastrangelo.
Of the petition, Walters said that, like an earlier petition regarding the library that was rejected after inspection by Solicitor Michael Donohue, the one presented at the meeting would be “exactly the same” since it did not deal with bonds or money issues. Her answer brought an outcry many.
“They just squandered $4 to $5 million and they have not even mentioned the cost to taxpayers. Basically they flushed it down the toilet,” said Ready after the meeting. He added there “are other options we will take a look at them,” He did not elaborate.
In his address to council prior to presenting the petition, he noted there was no cost analysis done on the sites.
There were seven public speakers in favor of the beachfront site, two for the Hand Lot. One man advocated the question be placed before voters on the November ballot. Another asked that council consider buying “The Pebbles Guest House” next to the borough parking lot, since it is presently for sale, and convert it into a library.
Councilmember Rich, who headed the Library Location Committee, thanked “everyone who took part in the process and displayed their freedom of speech. We have listened your involvement was important. Your reasons were logical and sensible. Most had the common thread of good, old-fashioned common sense. The bottom line is there is no way to make everyone happy. All members of the Library Location Committee acted in good faith with what each considered in the best interest of Stone Harbor. Now the full borough council will do the same. We will move forward.”
Carusi said when he took office over a year and a half ago, “I felt the Hand Lot was the obvious spot.” But later “Came away with a different viewpoint. I felt comfortable to put it on the beach. What troubles me, the town is so divided by the inability (of some) to recognize their opinions are different…We tend to demonize people who don’t agree with us. That is one of the most distressful things. I can see this town tearing itself asunder and can’t come together.”
“What I see this town is divided 50-50,” Carusi added. “What I make a decision, some will say ‘He’s brilliant’ because he agrees with me. Others will say ‘He’s an idiot’ but I will vote what I see is the right thing.”
Lane, a member of the location committee, said she had “traveled extensively and never has a library been my destination. I never had a tour guide take me to a library. I will bet none of you ever scheduled or had a library in your itinerary. People come here for the beach, bay and businesses. That’s what makes this the seashore at its best.”
Further, Lane wondered who would “wash those windows every day?” She noted if the site had been chosen “extra maintenance would take away from programs and events.”
“We are building a library, a cultural center, a recreation center for the mind,” she added.
The mayor thanked the county Library Commission and administration for “being patient in the process since 2007” when the previous council approved the lease of the beachfront lot, and the county spent a “great deal ($400,000) of money.”
