Vacant Homes Must Be Registered, Middle Committee OKs Ordinance

COURT HOUSE – Middle Township Committee passed an ordinance March 6 that requires all vacant homes to be registered. 
The move was promoted as a public safety measure and came over a year after the death of Nicole Angstadt, 15, whose body was found in an unoccupied dwelling in December 2015.
Under the ordinance, vacant property, defined as property that has a “foreclosure judgment” or is subject to “ongoing foreclosure action,” must be registered with the township. 
In most cases that action will be taken by the lender or bank foreclosing on the property. Failure to register will make the lender/owner subject to fines.
The ordinance also requires that owners secure the property, clean trash, and debris and post a sign on the property with contact information for “service of process” and indicate responsibility for maintenance.
A registration fee of $500 will be charged every six months that the property remains vacant.
Although the issue of public safety was prominent during earlier discussions of the ordinance in committee sessions, discussion at this meeting focused on ensuring that banks that obtain property through foreclosure act responsibly on maintenance and code violation issues.
Deputy Mayor Jeffrey DeVico expressed the hope that the ongoing registration fee may provide an incentive for banks and lenders to move more quickly in the process of selling the homes and getting them off the vacant list.
Grassy Sound
The small community on North Wildwood Boulevard moved another step closer to resolving its problem of sewage removal and treatment. The area is without sewer service and has been working with the township to rectify its sewage disposal problem for many years.
A grant and a long-term low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Program hold the promise of a solution.
The project would carry sewage from the community to municipal mains and then to a treatment facility.
The solution in place involves storage in tanks and eventual trucking of effluent to an off-site facility.
The project, estimated to run $3.225 million, would have 30 percent of the cost covered by federal grants along with a $1.4 million 40 year low-interest loan at 2 percent.
Committee agreed to support the effort, and a resolution will be presented for a vote at committee’s March 24 meeting.
Flood Maps
Sal DeSimone, the township’s flood plain manager, urged the governing body to accept the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) preliminary flood maps, an action that, he said, would aid the municipality’s efforts to gain entry to the agency’s Community Rating System Program (CRS). 
The township has been working for two years to enter that program. Success would begin a process of offering discounts on flood insurance premiums to residents.
DeSimone said that FEMA’s adoption of the preliminary maps had been delayed by litigation from the state of New York.
New York and New Jersey are in FEMA Region II. He added that FEMA has offered to allow the municipalities in the southern Jersey shore to adopt the maps without waiting for the results of what will probably be a long litigation period.
The committee took no action, but members appeared to favor DeSimone’s recommendation.
Local Heroes
The committee began its meeting with a tribute to four individuals whose “quick action and professionalism” saved a life.
Senior Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Scott Klecz, EMT Jennifer Teasenfitz, Police Officer Michael Pastore and Telecommunications Operator Robert Egan were honored by the committee for actions to save the life of a 67-year-old man Feb. 8.
Egan received a call for assistance and dispatched Klecz and Teasenfitz to Route 47 and Dias Creek Road. The EMTs found a 67-year-old man in “severe cardiac arrest” and began efforts to revive him. 
Pastore arrived and assisted in getting the man on a stretcher and into an ambulance. Pastore drove the patient to Cape Regional Medical Center while the EMTs and medics labored to keep him breathing while enroute to the hospital.
The patient was stabilized at the hospital and airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden. Reports are that the man is conscious and alert.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.