^ • • s care: may county g ^ ttalu i r '

Vol. 20 No. 30 i?u St«w(«< c*>p. *( ligkn July 25, 1984

News— ~ Dlgpct Weeks ^ I. Top Stories

Tomorrow , Tomorrow THE BEACH — Ocean water temperature off Atlantic City reached 69 degrees Monday after a weekend of 60-62 -degree maximums and two weeks of ocean water temperature at least 10-15 degrees below normal. Unconfirmed' reports said^tourists were standing, arms-linked, at the water's edge and singing: "The water'll be warm TOMORROW, bet your bottom dollar that TOMORROW, there'll be warm water. .

Engines Idling WOODBINE — Last week's meeting of • the Woodbine Port Authority and Cape Motorsport President Jack La Bounty was cancelled when La Bounty earlier session with the project's Philadelphia financial backers took longer than expected. Authority Solicitor James Waldron said « they'll try again at 4 p.m. Aug. 2 in a meeting that will be part-open, partexecutive (closed). Motorsport leases 265 of the authority's 748 acres at the Woodbine Airport for a proposed motor' sportscar road racing facility.

More Beds UPPER TOWNSHIP - An Ohio-based ' nursing care company has asked the Southern New Jersey Health Systems Agency "for a certificate of need as the first step in building a nursing home on Route 9. Tentative proposal calls for a $6-million, 155-bed facility: 120 long-term care: 35 residential care. Certificates of need have already been issued for proposed homes in Middle and Lower townships.

* Arfl Arf! COURT HOUSE - Cape May County kids -» pre-schoolers through fifth graders — are going to the dogs in droves. County Library reports a summer reading program focusing on dogs is drawing about 350 youngsters a week. This is the program's third week with sessions running from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Lower Township Tuesdays. Sea Isle Ci-' (Page 51 Please)

Graphics by Ton&PohllMt t P * £ • ' Half of County's ' j Homes 'Seasonal' lift : * -UBUi .

Year-round residents weary of crowds on the beaches and highways, in stores and restaurants, may take heart from a county housing breakdown released by the Planning Board last Week It reported that 55 percent (39,760) of the County's 72,107 housing units are "seasonal" and only 45 percent (32,347) are "permanent."

f It Irt^oSaer words, more tha® half: mM# homes now bulging with tourifts wiigae i| i closed up tighter than a craih cdrae'1 . September-October I*** The statistics vary greatly from, town to town. A STONE HARBOR HAS the smallest jfl percentage of year-round or permanent M ( Page 51 Please ) , JE

Raffa Brings Wish (Book) , i

By JOE ZELNIK COURT HOUSE — A hatless Dominic C. Raffa came, hat in hand, to the Cape May County Freeholders last Thursday. Only those who have seen the Sea Isle City mayor in action could be expected to understand that sentence. Raffa waAed, among other things, county money to help replace dunes lost to the ocean in the March 29 storm. But in the apparent belief that the best defense is a good

offense, Raffa spent much of his time on the attack. He got what he wanted, of course. IT ALL STARTED jaith Freeholder William E. Sturm Jr. alwing Raffa if he had a proposal. > "I thought you'd have a proposal, said Raffa. "Give us protection. We need a bulkhead along Ocean Drive." Freeholder Gerald M. Thornton stated, as he has consistently since the storm, that ! , he felt there had to be "a permanent solu-

tion" to the beach erosion problem a'.* Freeholder Ralph W Evans suggest** Raffa consider "jacking up the iMand nft feet." , M That jogged Thornton's recolleMion of an article someplace about AuvaljB solution. It builds concrete pyranBs l.OJO feet off shore, he remembered, thra« disburse the waves to each side miteaWthe beach. J Evans then began reminiscing TTboW Holland, much of which is below sea?lev$ and protected by 1,500 miles of dikes. ^ > STURM BROUGHT everyone back fropi . overseas: "What are you here for, mayor?" he asked. "The same courtesy as Upper Township," said Raffa The freeholder^ two months ago told Upper Township, which lost much of Strathmere's Whale Beach, that it would pay one-third of the local 25 percent share of the cost of beach replenishment. The federal government is paying 75 percent, the state one-third of that local share. "Do you have a figure?" asxed Sturm. "A couple million dollars, at least, for 1st Street to 29th," said Raffa. pointing out the federal government will pay 75 per cent, leaving a 25 percent local share "Get back to us with some solid (Page 51 Please).

Nursing Home: 2 Options

/~"\COURT HOUSE - The firm that hopes * to bqild a 120-bed nursing home on Magnolia Drive is considering two proposals^ save the $4-million project. — Eugene Mayer, president of Court House ^ \ Associates, will ask the Middle Township f \ ^§5*^era8e Commission to consider adding \ 7* 30,000-gallon holding tank "at my exi ) pense" to its overloaded sewage treatment plant. His request is scheduled to come to the commission's meeting today at 4 in the N(pwnship building. If that doesn't work — and sources have told the Herald and Lantern a holding tank

would serve no purpose — Mayer also has met with county planning and health officials to discuss putting a septic system on the property. He is buying 2.5 acres of 8 acres owned by Holly Associates. "I'M ONLY REVIEWING the possibility of doing that," Mayer told the Herald and Lantern. "I haven't hired^an engineer yet." Mayor said he estimated the holding tank would cost $30,000. The septic system reportedly would cost as much, or more. Both the Health and Planning depart- , (Page 51 Please)

Overpasses Possible y K

Cape May County Housing Units Permanent Vs. Seasonal -Based on 1980 Census U" * ' *)'3 i* * * k * 'x * aBiBBllI|ll|(ll| I I; — — nr ir ni — ii—ii — — — ii — u — ii 'i i|r

By JOE ZELNIK COURT HOUSE - Elwood Jarmer and James Pivovar were stuck in a typical summer traffic jam at Stone Harbor Boulevard, and the Garden State Parkway (Route 444) on July 5th. Jarmer loved it. He's county planning director ; Pivovar is with the state Department of Transportation (DOT) Bureau of Statewide Plann ing. Jarmer was showing Pivovar why the , county needs three Garden State overpasses The traffic light changed four times before Jarmer, eastbound on the boulevard, could make a left turn to go north on the parkway WHAT PIVOVAR SAW was traffic back ed up in botji left-turn lanes on the parkway far beyond the lanes themselves "How many people did you have to pay to create this traffic jam?" Pivovar joked "It was a rather effective field trip," Jarmer told the planning board last week, describing "a little ride" that shewed Pivovar the three parkway intersections where the county wants overpasses : Crest Haven Road, Stone Harbor Boulevardv,and ' Shell Bay Avenue. \ The result, "encouraging" to Jarmer, is that the state is considering including those overpasses in a new Transportation Pfan which will spell out how it will spend $3,3 billion in the recently passed • Transportation Trust Fund. / I bOT HAS A DEC. 15 deadling^Jor its pljin. Jarmer met July 17 with county engineer Neil Clarke, county transportation planner Robert Bonner, and two DOT engineers, Anthony DeJohn and Jerry t Mooney. The latter gave the county until ^Aug. 3 to "justify" the overpasses. Traffic volume is one of the justffications , 'XkHi't let them take a traffic count ' w|ffen the Stone Harbor bridge is closed," cracked planning board chairman William J,lDiller Jr. \TJ|b county 's been hoping for overpasses 'ffflears and in May linked its support for jj^Aegislation creating the new Transpor flBBn Trust Fund to some consideration the state. |£*ut Jarmer conceded last week he was ^■iirprised" to learn overpasses could, in^Bgd. be included in the state plan "1/ W (Page 18 Please) m

rTrs/de 1— mm was the highlight of 4-H Fair as far as/ Erik Chapman was concerned. See^ photos, page 22. \