CAPE MAY – Council took time to recognize the winners of this year’s beach tag design contest at the Nov. 17 meeting. All of the winners are students at the Richard M. Teitelman School in the Lower Cape May Regional School District and they were present with their families to receive their awards. 2014 marked the first year that the city had beach tags for veterans and active duty military and the winner for this initial design was Madasyn McCloskey. She had the task of coming up with a winning design in a completely new area.
The winner for the weekly tag design was Zachary Long who, as Mayor Edward Mahaney noted, had the added challenge of making sure the color scheme would work with all the colors used for the weekly tag throughout the summer. The winner for the seasonal beach tag contest was Anthony Benigno. His challenge included ensuring that his design did not reuse themes already employed in years past. Mahaney said that each year “the bar is raised a bit higher,” and this year’s winners produced designs met those challenges.
Flood Maps
Mahaney discussed the new FEMA preliminary flood maps, which he said are significantly different from the advisory maps that were issued following Hurricane Sandy. Mahaney announced that there would be a Dec. 12 meeting at Convention Hall from 4 to 8 p.m. concerning the maps. Work stations will be available at the meeting to allow property owners to see exactly where their property sits in terms of the maps, what mitigations are possible, what the flood insurance rates will be, and what hazards could be elevated to keep insurance rates down. The city will be playing host to the entire county at that meeting and expects upwards of a thousand people who will take advantage of the help and assistance available.
Low Speed Vehicles
Council’s agenda included two resolutions covering the licensing and zoning of businesses wishing to rent low speed vehicles and also the operation of such vehicles within the city. Although there has been discussion of this at previous council meetings, the Planning Board is also reviewing the matter and requested more time for its deliberations. Council tabled the resolutions and will return to them with public discussion at its Dec. 16 meeting.
City Wins Award
Mahaney announced that Cape May was recognized by Sustainable N.J. as the 2014 Sustainability Champion in the small population category. Sustainable N.J. is a non-profit initiative supported by the state’s Environmental Protection Agency. Mahaney took special pride in pointing out that the work of the city’s green team helped Cape May amass the most points overall for all municipalities in this certification cycle. Cape May is also holder, one of 27 in the state, of the Sustainable N.J. silver certification, the highest such certification awarded.
Special Meeting
At a special council meeting the week prior to the regularly scheduled meeting, council approved a resolution for a lease agreement with the school board for the area of the proposed Lafayette Park. This is a long-standing project that has roots in city planning decisions in 2009. The availability of funds following Sandy has helped move it along. The city and the school would share the park and recreation facility and the exact language spelling out the details of that shared relationship is yet to be finalized.
There was a great deal of public input at the meeting on this single resolution. That input was overwhelmingly in favor of the project.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
