DEP Not Forcing Police Station Relocation

CAPE MAY – Cape May City Council took pains, Dec. 5, to clarify the confusion about an alternative location for the new police station, caused by a recent news article.
Councilman Michael Yeager said it was reported in a Cape May Star & Wave article that the state Department of Environmental Services (DEP) has asked the city to consider moving the location of its proposed new police station.
The city proposed locating the new building on a parcel of land at Lafayette Street and St. John Avenue, which is in the state’s Green Acres program, which does not permit development. The city has proposed a land swap in which the municipality would add several acres of city-owned land adjacent to the environmentally protected Sewell Tract in East Cape May to Green Acres in exchange for the less than an acre parcel on Lafayette Street.
Yeager said the negotiations for the land swap are proceeding normally with the full expectation of approval. The news article, according to Yeager, resulted from a misinterpretation of efforts by the DEP to do their due diligence concerning alternative analysis in the process. Both Yeager and Mayor Zack Mullock expressed a need to “get the word out” given phone calls from citizens who thought the state was forcing a move in the police station location.
Yeager promised the public that the swap would be approved, although he cautioned that there is still a lot of paperwork to be completed. He said he expected approval in early spring.