HTA September/October 2022 Newsletter
Welcome to Fall 2022 where storms have already severely impacted our beaches; on the plus side mild weather is still with us. Hopefully the re-emerging old stone jetties will hold onto more of the sand this winter.
SPECIAL NOTE: Please come out and support the All-Island Beach/Bay Cleanup on Saturday, October 22 from 9am-noon. The storms have deposited a lot of plastic on the beaches. This is in partnership with Alliance for Living Ocean, Clean Ocean Action along with most of the LBI taxpayer associations. We will meet at the Tebco Terrace Beach entrance at 9am. You should bring gloves and a bucket to pick up trash. HTA will provide water and long-handled pickers for the kids. See flyer at bottom of this email.
September/October Highlights
- Beach Conditions
- Fall Membership Meeting/BBQ
- Windmill Status
- Holgate Water Treatment Plant
- Elections: Trustees and Officers
- Dune Planting
- Dune Planting Water Needs
- Dune Grass
- Adopt-A-Trap
- Holgate Refuge Clamming Trail and Rules Reminder
- Township Ordinances Moved on First Reading
- Township Ordinances Approved on Second Reading
- Grants Received by Township
Updates
- Beach Conditions
- Fall Membership Meeting/BBQ
- Windmill Status
- Holgate Water Treatment Plant Project
- Fall Elections
- Dune Planting
- Dune Planting Water Needs
- Dune Grass
- Adopt-A-Trap
- Holgate Refuge Clamming Trail and Rules Reminder
- Relevant Ordinance Moved on First Reading
- Relevant Ordinances Passed on Second Reading
- Grants Received by Township
• The remnants of Hurricane Ian still managed to do a number on LBI beaches and this was definitely true in Holgate. Southern Holgate saw increased dune damage and the return of 10-15’ cliffs. Northern Holgate didn’t have dune damage but lost a significant amount of sand. Much of the sand from our beaches appears to be just offshore in a large sandbar so hopefully it will come back. But the Township will need to be busy again with plows in the Spring.
• The annual Fall meeting was a great success with at least 75 people in attendance in Bond’s Park. The HTA provided updates on key issues, followed by more than an hour of Q&A.
• The latest updates (#5 and #6) of available information from the Joint Council of Taxpayers Associations of LBI will be posted soon on the homepage of the HTA website. Please note, these summaries do not represent any formal position on the part of the HTA but are the result of efforts by the JCTA to present as much factual and objective information as possible so that people are better educated about the wind projects. One caveat to keep in mind is that much of the information that is specifically related to the fields closest to LBI is coming from directly from Atlantic Shores (LBI wind farm), Ocean Wind (Atlantic City wind farm), the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), or studies which have been commissioned by these parties. As such, it is up to you to assess if you feel there is any bias or vested interest in information provided by Atlantic Shores, Ocean Wind and BOEM.
• The Township has included a link on its home page to the petition started by Save Long Beach Island in opposition to the Atlantic Shores project. In addition, the Township has indicated it may donate funding to this effort (possibly as much as $25k).
• Unfortunately, it remains unclear what the specific plans are to update the water treatment plant located between Pershing and Roosevelt. Commissioner Bayard has said the footprint of the plant would not be increased but the building has to be raised. The HTA has asked for more specific information (how high will the structure be; are the 3 building structures on the property being combined; will noise increase). As of the October commissioners meeting, the design plans had not been submitted to the Township for review and the Mayor deferred comment until he has seen them.
• Trustees: Art Levy and Jeff Lipman received overwhelming approval from the membership and will begin their two-year terms as trustees.
• Officers: The Board will elect officers in our November meeting. Rand Pearsall, Bill Cannon and Bob White have agreed to stand for election as president, treasurer and recording secretary, respectively.
• Plants were put in the ground at Susan, Tebco, Scott, and Holgate. We continue to have the budget to plant much more than this and at many other locations, but are severely limited by a shortage of watering volunteers.
• Anyone who can help with watering the new plants on a regular basis (45 minutes/day, every 1-2 days when it does not rain), please reply to this email.
• Dune grass is available at the LBT Municipal Yard. HTA Trustee Bill Hutson led a squad of local Boy Scouts to put grass in on some of the hard-hit southern Holgate dunes this past weekend.
• Please bear with us as we work through the details of this new program. We are thankful that many people have volunteered and Bill Hutson’s team is working towards getting as many greenhead traps as possible placed with homeowners. Special thanks to Joe Chieffo for leading the effort on the north end of Holgate.
• From Virginia Rettig, Forsythe Refuge Manager: Please check out the Clamming Trail, which is about 1/3 of the way down the beach. It is a great opportunity to see the back bays of our site, go clamming, or take a look at the refuge’s birds.
• It is very important that we are respectful of the Refuge and obey all posted signage. One important rule is that no dogs are permitted on the site at any time, which even includes being in cars or trucks. Unfortunately, dogs create a lot of disturbance to all wildlife and any birds that are forced to fly away are wasting much-needed energy. The area where this regulation is enforced is to the south of the small beach below the steel jetty, where the refuge boundary is located and clearly marked.
• 22-22C: Limits height requirement for commercial marina bulkheads
• 22-20C: Establishes set-backs for air conditioning units and other such equipment
• 22-21C: Prohibits carrying guns into government buildings (including the LBT municipal building), in parks and on beaches in LBT
• The Township, especially Angela Andersen, does an excellent job in applying for grants which fund projects that would otherwise impact our tax base. One such grant was received from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in the amount of $87k which is intended to protect Clam Cove through the creation of a living shoreline.
