Upper Police to Investigate ATV Trespassers; Continues Shared Services with School

PETERSBERG – Upper Township Committee met April 27. Mayor Richard Palombo briefed committee that a number of residents in the Sunset Acres neighborhood have complained about all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles barreling through their yards to get to the township “pits” behind Amanda’s Field.
“Residents have even seen trucks hauling in these vehicles to get to these off-road trails, some with out-of-state license plates. We have notified the Woodbine barracks of the N.J. State Police, they are going to begin surveillance, paying attention of course to not precipitate any high-speed chase that would be imprudent and might cause injuries,” said Palombo.
“We have even seen these vehicles roar by during sports games on the fields at Amanda,” said Committee member Hobart Young, who is also in charge of township recreation facilities and programs. “They are destroying people’s yards, damaging fields and clearly are trespassing.”
Cost-Sharing Moves
Committee unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the execution of a formal shared services agreement with Dennis Township to provide clerical and administrative services for the construction code office. This resolution complements an earlier arrangement by which Upper and Dennis townships share a municipal court.
School District Project Work
In an item of new business, committee unanimously approved the school district request for 2015-2016 summer project work. “One hand washes the other; we receive great support from the school which sends custodial staff on a regular basis to maintain our Senior Citizens’ Center so we’d like to keep this arrangement going,” noted Deputy Mayor Edward Barr, chair of the Public Works Committee.
“Do we need estimates of man hours and anticipated scheduling?” asked Committee member John Coggins, chair of the Revenue and Finance Committee. Palombo answered that each year the school comes in with more or less the same number of projects which township public works personnel can easily handle.
Upper Township uses school facilities without charge, including at night and the school reimburses the township for any materials used in these projects.
“We have been profiting from our joint arrangement for about six years, this year the type of work the school is requesting includes installing insulation in a number of areas including the bathrooms, curbing and parking improvements and repairs to things like lockers,” explained Palombo.
“I am fully in support of continuing this great cooperation, it’s been really successful since it saves the school money, helps the township with the Senior Center and of course, saves residents’ money since we keep our manpower busy even in the slower summer month of August when maintenance of sports’ facilities for example also slows.”
Hope Corson Road Repair
“Work continues on Hope Corson Road,” said Barr. “Pre-work has started; curbs and drainage should start soon. We ask everyone to continue to exercise caution through this construction period, we’ve already alerted Action Supply on Stagecoach Road to ensure that its trucks don’t use residential streets as cut-throughs and signage will be ample to alert drivers as to how to proceed since only local traffic will be allowed through.”
Beach Replenishment
Township Engineer Paul Dietrich Sr. said he “had good news and bad news” regarding the timetable for the beach replenishment that will take place on Strathmere beaches. “The bad news is that the dredge still has not left Norfolk – it’s a question of them getting the proper Coast Guard certification – hopefully they left this afternoon but I haven’t received confirmation on that. The good news is that Avalon has agreed to allow use of the dredge in Strathmere that might advance the schedule a bit, the project can’t come soon enough since at high tide the situation continues to worsen.”
Honoring Memory of
Resident Kittie (nee Leaming) King, of Steelmantown, died at age 94 March 10. She was honored for service to the U.S. as a Woman Air Force Services Pilot (WASP) and World War II veteran.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.