Wednesday, January 28, 1981

The Herald and Hie Lantern

Page 3

The Stone Harbor Pt. Battle

(From Page 1) tion, it stipulated that the borough impose an "irrevocable deed* restrictionV to preserve the "Point" south of 127th St in its natural condition — as had been recommended by the Cape May County Plannirlg Board. (The state had earlier sought to have this land transferred to the Natural I^ands Trust to insure that it would be adequately protected.) IN OCTOBER 1978, the borough agreed to the deed restriction, provided it could impose its own conditions on it. The borough wouldn’t be prohibited from construction and maintenance of devices and structures to^ protect and preserve the area. Also, the deed restriction could be removed uf>on petition to the N.J. Legislature after 35 years. In its final decision of July 1979, on the plans submitted by the Borough to obtain the CAFRA permit, the state found the municipal deed conditions unacceptable. It claimed it would be inappropriate, for public monies to be spent for new shoreline structures not affording protection to existing buildings. It acquiesced in accepting the second condition set by the borough, but changed the length of time before a removal of restrictions of the deed could be sought from 35 to 50 years. THE CONCEPTUAL management plan for the area south of 127th St. was found to be acceptable. However, the detailed design plan for 122-127th St. vyas termed "a good effort" to present an environmentally sensitive residential plan, and hence could suffice for the permit. However it was stressed that "any residential development in this area south of 122nd St. is not in compliance with current Division Rules on Coastal Resource and Development Policies.” In other words, CAFRA permits would need to.be reapplied for in areas south of 122nd St. if the Borough wished to develop subsequent

blocks.

In August 1979, the appeals, which will be presented at a plenary hearing beginning next Monday, were brought against the Department of Environmental Protection by Stone Harbdi', as well as C.A.P.E. and the American Littoral Society. C.A.P.E. AND THE American Littoral Society .are appealing the decision granting Stone Harbor the permit from the technical Standpoint that the conceptual

management plan the borough submitted to fulfill the conditions attached to its permit was never fully approved. Ruth Fisher of C.A.P.E. stated that a good effort, the actual wording of the final decision, doite not constitute approval. Gail Abrams, attorney for the two groups, said that as yet, she had no evidence that a financial analysis of the proposed trust fund, revisions to the borough master plan with the revisions in the 122nd-127th St. area indicating plans for an enlarged buf fer zone, or a new environmental impact statement for the management area had ever been submitted by Stone Harbor. According to E.W. (Ted) Pain, administrative assistant to Mayor James Wood. Stone Harbor will be contesting the legality of ihe conditions attached to the CAFRA permit applying to an area south of 122nd St.) which is located‘outside that for which the permit was sought. BOROUGH COUNCIL, he replied, fe(f it would be both poor planning and unfair to burden future generations with a deed restriction for "the Point." He claimed the borough had no problems with the fact that a restrictive deed would outlaw development south of 127th St., since it would be ♦consistent with local' ordinances and

policy.

The main concern, he maintained, was that the deed would prohibit ‘any activity" on the borough's part to “save the Point." But the borough’s talk of "saving the

Point’’

v, through the use of groins and jetties, beech nourishment, dune stabilization and landscaping comes in an era when Support for such policies — outside of fhat from borbugh taxpayers — might be increasingly difficult to obtpin. * ACCORDING TO Orrin H Pilkey, a marine geogologist at Duke University, there is absolutely no way to prevent erosion — which can only be postponed at the cost of environmental imbalance and, frequently, erosion following on an even grander scale. According to Rutger’s University's Center for Coastal and Environmental Studies, “Shoreline erosion is so great that it will never be stopped nor totally controlled." In 1977 Stone Harbor was denied state aid by D.E.P. for the repair of the 127th St. bulkhead, constructed in 1967 with state aid. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers drew up plans for shore prelection along

7-Mile Beach which were a pproved by Congress in 1969 and 1976, but which were deactivated by the Corps in 1969 when (he plans were judged to be financially impractical to implement by the state, Stone Harbor and other municipalities affected. D.E.P. also decided»against Stone Harbor's request to construct a new groin at 131st St. MAYOR WOOD recently provided a 1400,000 estimate as the cost of building a new bulkhead at 127th St. in part to rectify an "ehgineering error." Under D.E.P.’s Shore Protection Master Plan, beaches perceived to be in need of rebuilding are rated in a priority system in which island tips have the lowest priority and bulkheads are not recommended The July 1979 final decision on the CAFRA permit — the focus of next week’s hearings — indicated that neither the natural fluctuations occiirrirfg in the 122nd-127th St. zone, nor the effect of pianmade structures on the erosion and deposition process, received sufficient consideration in the plan submitted by the borough Residents and those familiar with Stone Harbor have remarked on the extensive erosion that has taken place at "the Point" within the last half-dozen years, and claim as much as one-half mile of beach has been lost. ELWOOD JARMER, director of Cape May County’s Planning Board, said, "I’ve walked the Point, I couldn't disagree that the plan (submitted to Stone Harbor) should be reviewed in light of present eondjtons," when questioned as to whether the Stone Harbor plan — initially deemed "reasonable" in the board's review — should be re-evaluated in view of the rate • of erosion. Former Planning Board director Wesley J. Ewell was quoted in an article of a few years ago as saying, "Close to half thd pr<^ sent Point was created by the 1962 stopn There's a very definite possibility that more than a mile of it could disappear." During the Ash Wednesday and succeeding two-dav storm that March, the area between 122nd and 127th Sts. was inyndated by ocean waters which then flowed into the inlet -Damage to 7-Mile Beach amounted to $9,030,000, per 1967 prices. This area, which includes the site of the 29 lots in question for the CAFRA permit, is said to be lower than the last row of developed houses. ,

ACCORDING TO Keith Seager, president of Cape May Geographic Society, erosion is the most critical variable to consider in settling the debate over the 29 lots. He speculated on the millions of dollars that unwise development on barrier islands could cost the taxpayers. "Let the surf take its course." he said "It would be highly dangerous, to build houses in that area It seems to. me, the real issue is greed.’ - ' According to administrator Pain, the tax rate in Stone Harbor is the second lowest in Cape May County. When asked about the motivation behind the borough's selling of the lots at 122rid St., he said. "The best interest of Stone Harbor is to bring to a thoughful conclusion the controlled development envisioned by the town fathers." Over the past years, he said, Stone Har bor practiced the sale of municipal land qn a controlled basis to insure that land would be developed in a fashion best for the com munity and thtft the objectives of the master conceptual plan for the municipality submitted for the CAFRA review pro cess were consistent with borough ideals. HE SUGGESTED Til AT a Jot of disputes qver plans for the "Point” could lx* at tributed to people's perceptions that it was an issue of local versus state control. For the Dept, of Environmental Protec tion, "The Point’ constitutes one of the longest open expanses of oceanfront grow ing dunes in N.J south of Island Beach • State Park. It is irreplaceable as it represents a relatively undisturbed exam pie of the natural dune habitat ” According to Mr Pain, perhaps the main controversy in the Stone Harbor Point development issue is the definition of “The Point" itself. Since the 1940s, hespid. "The Point" was considered by the borough and demonstrated in its .ordinances to be that area south of 127th St., in which developmqnt was never envisioned He indicated that the first major extant dune was just south of 127th St. For the Bureau of Coastal Project Review, “The entire area south of 122nd St. and between the beach and wetlands is a dune complex exhibiting typical dune vegetation. For many who understand the area as one of the last vestiges of the barrier islands of New Jersey. "The Point" ik defined as all that is not lost

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