Margate Commissioners met on Feb 6. Topics ranged from sharing services with Longport, overdue school consolidation, back bay dredging, vacating more public land, and Margate’s lack of bike friendliness.
Longport’s municipal building has mold & structural problems. Longport getting help from Margate. Approval of shared Municipal courtroom. Longport will pay to use Margate facilities. More proof that Downbeach consolidation is smart and doable.
More requests: vacation of public land and access in Margate. This is a type of easement in which the government of Margate transfers the right-of-way of a public street or public parcel of land, to a private property owner. The Lamberti’s deal is one such example. The Margate Fishing pier is another. If you’re interested in developing your property but are restricted by nearby public land, roads or utilities, you can request the municipality vacate their public use.
On the beachside of Union Ave: Property owner wants to move bulkhead out by 5 feet.
Ordinance to be introduced for vacation of city land at Union Ave on the bay. Developer wants to construct new cul de sac. Combine lot with an adjacent lot on Thurlow Ave.
Amherst Ave UPDATE:
Broke ground with Lamberti’s. Lotta rebar laid. 85 yards of concrete poured.
Margate Solicitor John Scott Abbott: A committee meeting convened. Topic: Dredging Margate back bay and channels.
Margate lagoons and channels are clogged with sand, much of it due to sand pumping on the front beaches. Portions of the back bay are impassable during high tide. Some marina businesses, especially the planned Amherst Water Park, need deeper waters.
Margate looking for a city wide, dredging permit. DEP says two more years of research is needed. Margate will spend $30,000+ to hire Stockton Coastal Research Center.
Margate wants to use Shelter Island (behind Ventnor) to dump contaminated dredge spoils. This land is co-owned by both Ventnor and Margate. DEP seems OK with this plan.
Shelter Island was former site of Ventnor sewer plant and waste treatment facility.
The Shelter Island dredge hole is 28 ft deep and covers 4.5 acres. The hole was created back in the 1920’s….when Margate and Ventnor were raising elevations and needed fill to beef-up Downbeach lowlands.
Who will pay for dredging of Margate’s back-bays channels? We need transparency says Margate resident, John Sewell.
Dredging could affect winter flounder and crabs, too.
Stockton University Research on Shelter Island:
Shelter Island is a former sewage treatment facility located along the Intracoastal Waterway in Ventnor City, west of Absecon Island. Site is heavily vegetated with large trees. Apparently, sludge was concentrated into large bins in the landfill that were trucked away when full. The liquid waste was treated with chorine gas and piped across Beach Thorofare to Shelter Island where it was discharged into the bay waters.
Erroneous bikes symbols painted on streets. This needs to be fixed prior to return of summer residents. Who authorized this?
Indeed, Margate still dropping the ball for bicyclists. Taking over 3 years to install simple bike racks.
Crazy Bike Rules?
Dwindling residency. Resident John Sewell most definitely blames that on Mayor Becker and his cohorts on the city commission; John Amodeo and Maury Blumberg.
75% of tax revenue comes from non-voting residents of Margate.
Those on fixed incomes, more likely to leave Margate. Young families can’t afford Margate. It’s only gonna get worse.
Mass school consolidations are coming. Is Margate paying attention? Time to sell one of the schools. Maybe both. Send Margate kids to Ventnor. This would make Margate home-ownership more affordable.
Public comment from Steve Altman. Can we employ better audio and video for meetings? City doesn’t make it easy for residents to follow along with taxes, planning & zoning, and other important issues.
During public comment, resident Sewell talks about the ‘sponging parasitic neighbors in Longport.’ Ouch. Forced consolidation of Downbeach schools. Commission is comatose and catatonic. Are they on psychotropics? asks Sewell.
When are they going to remove the ugly, eyesore fence at Amherst and N. Huntington??? Would take 5 minutes. And why was it put there in the first place?????
That bike lady is full of crap.
I’m car-free and 100% cyclist. I love the new bike signs on Winchester and Monmouth. It makes me feel safe. Do I ride in the middle of the road? No, but the signs protect me from road rage. They make it the driver’s obligation to protect the rider.
And bike racks are a need? Come on, get real. Bikes can literally lock up anywhere. NYC and Philly have huge bike populations and little public racks. Offering bike racks as a concession for unsafe streets is a joke.
Choice schools and consolidation
There is only one high school and they are choice.
These commisioners have ruined the city!!!!