Herald/Lantern/Dispatch 1 May '85 / 25

Battle for Beaches Goes to Court Mon. By JACK SMYTH CAPE MAY — The battle for the beaches resumes next Monday. No artillery or troops will be involved, and the only shots that will be fired will be verbal ones. But that in no way diminishes the intensity or the scope of the struggle between city officials and the owners of three strips of the beach. X sinps or uie oeacn.

The battle has been fought in a series of skirmishes on an intermittent basis since 1979. When Superior Court Judge John F Callinan bangs his gavel Monday, the legal arguments that follow will add to the record of the longest running litigation currently pending in Cape May County. And the end is not in sight. Lawyer Frederick W. Schmidt Jr., told the Herald-Dispatch last week that regardless of whom the winner is, the loser is likely to appeal to a higher court. THE MAJORITY of the people who go to sit on the beach, or to take a refreshing dip in the water, have no idea that forces are fighting over the warm, friendly stretches of sand. Beaches, to most Americans, were taken for granted like the public streets. That changed about 20 years ago when a number of seashore resorts first charged fees to- visitors to use the beaches. With the number of people using the beaches increasing, conflicts over who controls beaches have been multiplying nationwide. The public wants free access to them, but property owners, especially those who own valuable beachfront land, have become more assertive of their stake. THE FIGHT over city beaches takes place against this larger back-drop. The pieces of property that the legal battle is over are 70 feet in the vicinity of Beach and Patterson avenues owned by Florence O'Rourke, over 400 feet owned by Robert and Doris Menz in front of the Marquis De Lafayette hotel; and 54 feet owned by Robert D. and Doris L. Spiegle between Congress Hall and the Regency Beach condominiums. The city seeks to acquire the parcels by condemnation. But that process has been sidetracked by legal challenges brought by the property owners. Chief of these challenges is to the city's rezoning of the beaches to permit only 4 recreation-related uses in 1968. In 1977, the city approved the collection of beach fees on both city-owned and privately held sections of the beach. POLICE REGULATIONS approved at about the same time prohibited a number of activities including boating, picnicking, and ball playing, and defined the hours during which beaches could be legally used. Schmidt, who represents thethree property owners who have taken the city to court, contends these moves by the city have seriously devalued the land owned by his ■ clients. In addition. Schmidt will argue that the city has in a number of instances violated its own ordinances limiting use of the beaches by permitting commercial uses. • He will cite the city's selling licenses at $100 each to owners of catamarans to use part of the beach, and the leasing of the cityowned Solarium to shop owners. Schmidt also will point to an instance where city officials offered to relax zoning regulations for a developer in exchange for turning a section of the beach over to the city. •THEY ARE VICTIMS." said Schmidt of his clients. "No where else in Cape May City can you find an example of someone being told they can do so little with their land. "And no where else do you find land that is in such high demand," said Schmidt. The limitations placed on what his clients can do with their land is reflected in what x I

Schmidt calls the "paltry" sums the city has offered in condemnation proceedings. Mrs. O'Rourke's land, for which the city has offered $13,000, should be worth over a million dollars, Schmidt claimed. The Spiegles' for which the city has offered $10,000, would be worth close to $800,000 without restrictions, he Said. And the land owned by the Menzes. for which the city offered less than $100,000, Schmidt values at $6 million. • ROTH SIDES in the dispute are reluctant to discuss the dispute publicly because it is pending before the court. But Mayor Arthur Blomkvest said the city's goal is to keep the beaches as open space, and permit their use by the public. Blomkvest said public sympathy favors city acquisition of all privately held sections of the beach. To this end, the city has raised $640,000 in a bond issue to purchase the privAe land. City officials rezoned the beaches to prohibit building of any sort on them, Blomkvest said. Citing the challenge of the Spiegles to the city law, Blomkvest said, "If they win, it would be the time that I would move out of Cape May." , BLOMKVEST DISMISSED Schmidt's allegations that city officials have devalued the land of his clients. "That's not true at all." Blomkvest said. "You would think that these people would have complained years ago when the taxes were so cheap on that property." The legal battle resulted in the city pulling lifeguards off of the private beaches early last summer after Callinan dismissed part of the city's condemnation argument. "The city told the owners they didn't want to lease the sites as they had in the past," said Schmidt. "Then the city told the owners they would provide cleaning and guards for the beaches if the owners would pay the city $1," Schmidt said. Part of the deal called for the city to collect beach fees. SCHMIDT SAID his clients refused because they were being asked to pay for beach protection instead of being paid by the city lease fees for the use of the private sections. Under the lease arrangement, fylenz and his wife, for instance, were paid about $4,000 a year to lease the site. The city went to court over the impasse. charging that the failure of the private owners to hire guards constituted a nuisance. But the court ordered the city to return the guards to the disputed stretches. * THE BATTLE OVER the beaches has been costly to both sides. Schmidt said his clients have spent about $31,000 in court costs to date. He estimates city expenditures at over $110,000 as of the first of the year. The eventual outcome will set a legal precedent regardless of who wins. Schmidt said. Lawyers from Newark representing the city are expected to argue that the city can proceed to acquire the private land by condemnation under the doctrine of the beaches being a public trust. "I don't think this is the real issue, because the city has access," said Schmidt. "That would only apply if there were a question of access."

Help Hospice Program

WILDWOOD - The Evening Membership Department of the Wildwood Civic Club recently donated $2,000 to the Holy Redeemer Hospice Program. The hospice program is a subsidiary of the Holy Redeemer Visiting Nurse and Home Health Agency. Its goal is to help the terminally ill to live life to the fullest in their own home, until they die. / The presentation was made by Mrs. Kenneth Calloway, chairman of the Evening Membership Department, to Sister Jacqueline Long, R.N., S.H.R., executive director of the nurse and home health agency.

ALSO PRESENT at the , presentation of the check were: Wayne Whelan, adi ministrator; Sister Janet, i S.H.R.; Marybeth Walsh, nursing supervisor; Sister Mary Anne, S.H.R., and Mrs. Charles J. Versaggi, chairman of the EMD's Community ftpprovement Program. The program is co-spon-sored by the General , Federation of Women's / Clubs and Chevron USA. The local club earlier , selected the hospice project for its part in the two- , year program. AT A LATER meeting of the EMD, Mrs. Versaggi 1 explained the volunTber i program for the hospice. Anyone who wishes to help

can become part of the professional team by providing transportation, companionship, and support for the patient and family, she pointed out. Each volunteer, she told the group, receives 22 hours of extensive training before sei'viog as a regular member of the hospice team. Inservice meetings and weekly team conferences also are held, she

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