WIN

UP TO

0 PLAY NEWSO NEWSPAPER BINGO

SEE PC

* • 9

News

P) j ppcf" According To Published Reports School Cuts Loom TRENTON On the eve of annual ' budget preparations, Jersey Cape school districts and statewide counterparts have learned that Gov. Brendan Byrne is considering axing about $100 million in state aid to schools — amounting to some $1.3 million in Cape May County. Affected would be minimum aid, transportation aid and compenstatory education aid. The severe cutback pro- * posal, which some view as the administration’s leverage for new $tate taxes, comes at a time when New Jersey continues to lag inVelation to other states in its aid to education. State aid figures (rounded off) for the Jersey Cape school districts include: Lower Cape May Regional $358,300, County Vo-Tech $283,300, Ocean City $221,200, Wildwood $118,300, Crest $94,000, Upper Twp. $94,000, N. Wildwood $60,400, Cape May $42,300, Sea Isle City $35,900, W. Cape May $11,700, W. Wildwood $9,400.

Wait & See on Pines COURT HOUSE - Cape May County’s master plan can’t be brought into conformity with the Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan with the $5,000 earmarked far the revision. Besides, county government may not want to anyway. That’s the thrust of county planner Etwood Jarmer's opinion — a wait and see attitude bordering on noncompliance. His thinking, matching that ofother county and municipal officials, is that the new federal administration plus a change in the leadership of the commission itself may result in less restriction and fewer strings, and more home rule control. The four Jersey Cape municipalities affected by the plan will receive $4,000 each for municipal master plan revision purposes. * Beach Fee Feverish WILDWOOD — Interest pro and con continues to mount as the binding referendum next Wednesday, Feb. 4 nears on the local beach fee question. Mayor Guy Musiani and Commissioners Wilbur Ostrander and Richard Nordaby faced angry residents last week who criticized the Commission’s proposal to initiate the fee as a way of raising some half-million dollars to pay for lifeguards and beachfront maintenance in the face of a proposed municipal budget which this year approaches $7 million. Many residents, especially business persons, are fearful the fee will divert the throngs to Atlantic City tohich not only has a free beach, but the enticement of casinos where players are actually given money as a lure to take a chance. How to effectively enforce a beach fee while at the same time policing the strand and boardwalk is another question raised by opponents, as is how the pay(Page 24 Please)

The Point: Where Man & Nature Battle

by Jane Tanaskovlc STONE HARBOfl —- There are contradictory but inflexible'opinions on the desirability of further development in this resort, Just as there are uncompromising positions on what enhance the quality of life here. It is ironic that these have been focused on "The Point,” an area at the tip of the barrier island whose contours are ever changing, and whose definition has yet to be settled. Hearings are scheduled in Trenton Feb. 2, 3 and 4 in the Office of Administrative Law between the Borough of Stone Harbor and the Division of Coastal Resources of the Dept, of Environmental Protection, with CMwens Association for Protection of the Environment (C.A.P.E.) and the American Littoral Society as interveners. The hearings may decide the outcome of a long-standing conflict, or may simply initiate further appeals. In December 1971, the borough decided to sell the land at 122nd St. IN NOVEMBER 1974, Stone Harbor applied for exemption from'provisions of the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) through its attorney, A.J. Cafiero, to develop streets and 29 building lots at 122nd St. His letter reviewed the pattern of land improvements and sales from 114th St. in 1967, through 121st St. in 1972, and stated the intent of the borough to continue the pattern "in further stages, as far as 127th St., where thfe seawall ends.” After the exemption was denied, the borough submitted a CAFRA permit ap-

Hi-Level Span Opposed

STONE HARBOR - It was revealed at the Jan. 21 meeting of Chamber of Commerce that fire equipment exceeds bridge weight limitations and posses a serious situation on the 96th St. Bridge, the main thorofare to and from this community. The county freeholders have requested a high-level bridge replacement, hoping to get state and Federal funds to support the project. Mayor James Wood opposes such an expenditure and councilman Jack Fitz-

patrick feels that residents should support the mayor’s Judgment. Chamber members agreed the borough should consider further alternatives and a meeting has been planned for Jan. 28 at Borough Hall to examine thoroughtly the following choices: * •Complete repair of the existing bridge and approaches; •Construction of a new drawbridge facility; and •The highrise bridge concept with possible outside funding.

Income Tax Aid For Seniors

RIO GRANDE — Free assistance on income tax returns for senior citizens and others with incomes under $20,000 will again be available this year at the Social Services Building here from 9 a.rft. to noon each Tuesday and Thursday during February and March. The service, affiliated with the American Association of Retired Persons, is funded by the Internal Revenud Service, which provided training. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Berryman are again coordinating the work of the volunteer tax counselors. No appointment is needed.

OTHER LOCATIONS at which the service will be offered are: Raffa Civic Center, Kennedy Blvd., Sea Isle City, call 263-2017 or 283-2824 for appointment beginning Feb. 2. Stainton Senior Center, 3304 Bay Ave., Ocean City, call 399 055 after Feb. 1 North Wildwood City Hall, call 522-2030 after Feb. 1. This assistance will be available only during February and March. Applicants are urged to bring all necessary forms and documents with them.

plication, accompanied by an environmental impact statement, in July 1975. The application was given conditional approval that September. Preconditions for the permit were submission of a conceptual management plan for the area from 122nd St. to Hereford Inlet; and a detailed plan, based on the conceptual plan, for the area from 122nd St. The latter was to include an implementation mechanism to insure the area would be managed for a purpose consistent with conservation. A condition of the permit was that in the event of a delay in establishment of permanent landscape plantings, the borough was to take temporary measures to prevent excessive erosion at the 122nd St. site, such as sand fences and plantings of vegetation. C.A.P.E. FELT THE application should have been denied and appealed the decision ; the Borough objected to the management plan required as a precondition of a permit, and also appealed. In February 1977, the Coastal Area Review Board sustained the original approval of the application. Moreover it changed the submission of a management plan from a pre-condltibri, to a condition which would have to be approved before sale or transfer of title to the 29 lots at 122nd St. could be effected, C.A.P.E. didn't appeal this decision because of financial constraints. Iff January 1978, the "Stone Harbor Borough, Conceptual Management Plan, detailed Design Plan" was submitted. It classified land from 122nd to 127th St. primarily as Residential (32 acres to be divided into 78 lots), and Recreation/Open Space, land south of 127th St., plus some additional land bordering the Residential land was "to be maintained” and also "managed to increase its productivity” and designated a "Conservation Manage ment District.” Funds for "future management, educational programming and preservation" Would be derived from a non-permanent trust fund established from the proceeds of successive blocks of residential lot sales. IN ITS PRELIMINARY analysis of April 1978, the Office of Coastal Zone Management maintained there wasn't an adequate buffer between tte southernmost extent of development of 127th St., as put forth in the plan, and the proposed conservation management district — a critical wildlife habitat — to the south. It suggested the proposed structures on the residential lots would be particularly susceptible'to storm damage and tidal innundation in the 122nd-127th St area. The office concluded that "no farther shore protection structures should be placed south of 127th St ." and suggested further extension Inland of the 127th St. bulkhead return, and construction of a breakwater Regarding the coastal management district, the state required submission of a detailed financial analysis of the proposed trust fund, and suggested that proposed policies restricting access for 4-wheel drive vehicles be reviewed again. In addi(Page 3 Please) ^