Margate Survey Says Residents Want Transparency, Especially 2nd Homeowners.

The Margate Homeowners Association (MHA) released results from a survey they recently sent out.

The MHA wanted to better gauge the needs of local residents and taxpayers, including 2nd homeowners who make up approx 75% of the taxbase. Currently, seasonal residents pay taxes but have little ability to influence Margate elected leadership.

Survey takers were asked to select their top 3 concerns/requests. Respondents were able to add comments and make suggestions as well.

What were TOP requests of Margate residents?

• Encourage Mayor Becker to lift ban on public comment during Margate Commission meetings via ZOOM online conferencing.
• Implement regular Town Hall meetings via ZOOM online conferencing
• More City Hall transparency. Share municipal, zoning and school district documents

Some Comments:

• Treat vacation homeowners with same respect as fulltime owners. Advocate for 2nd homeowners. They should not be excluded.
• Share long range planning of Margate.
• Push for consolidation of public services and schools with Ventnor and Longport. Join County centralized court.
• Force city to be more transparent. Bocca Essex Ave shut down should be forbidden.
• Help get new people to run for Commission.
• Bring all municipal changes to forefront while in the planning phase before they become a done deal in the shadows. Example: did they already decide on closing ESSEX AVE for Bocca?
• Important meetings and voting should not be completed when most homeowners are not in Margate. These votes should be completed in summer months so all taxpayers get a chance to evaluate, comment and make suggestions.
• Need to review nepotism and salaries of all personnel on a routine basis.
• Why doesn’t the tax bill decrease considering great number of new construction homes and renovations that have to be increasing revenue faster than rising costs. Have to assume $$ is not being spent effectively or worse.
• Margate officials blind (most likely bought off) to preservation of and future needs of Margate, and sadly MHA does not seem to have enough power to stop them. If second homeowners had voice in anything that gets done, it would be a different story.
• These skyscrapers with six bedroom house will eventually cause a parking problem. I personally attended a zoning hearing meeting in September where the applicant was asking to subdivide a 90wide lot into two 45. Meaning two houses. I along with other neighbors spoke out and was ultimately denied.
• Monthly news updates via e-mail. For example, zoning approvals and commissioners meeting decisions.
• Too much over-building. I bought a summer home in 1995. It has been great for my family til now. Within 200 feet of my front door there are 3 McMansions– 18 bedrooms and 15 + bathrooms. and no place to park! I can no longer shop at many of the local businesses along Ventnor Ave as there is no available parking.
• Push for more transparency by town commissioners.
• We don’t need or want Margate to become Ocean or Sea Isle City with short term rentals.
• Get all Margate citizens to vote in local elections. We have taxation without representation. Other similar communities have changed the laws so non-residents that pay their taxes can vote in local elections. This is extremely important. A review on the Internet reveals even some New Jersey communities that have changed their local voting rules and regulations.
• Need to follow building regulations that Zoning Board approved.
• Please continue to stay on top of plans to allow any hotel/motel projects like the one you recently helped to avert. Things like that would be disastrous for Margate “A Residential Community by the Sea”. Thanks.
• Enforce parking and speeding rules. Enforce pedestrian crosswalk rules.
• Allow owners, who pay property taxes and year round water bills, to vote in municipal elections
• Why is Margate the ONLY City whose access to the Mainland is by a private bridge. A disaster waiting to happen. They have NO senior rate. Seniors use the bridge daily for drs appts etc. The Mayor has no comment. Maybe look in to how much the bridge owners donate to his campaign. Also note the bridge owners are suing Ventnor!
• We feel like we have lost our charming little seaside community to overdeveloped housing construction towering over smaller homes. Margate feels like Manhattan by the sea now.
• Infuriating that existing codes are ignored and both old and new owners flout regulations about fences, building height, hardscape vs. landscape.
• Allowing BOCCA to block a street all summer long is not only dangerous, but it’s a big middle finger to all Margate taxpayers. Shame on BOCCA.
• Make quid pro quo aspects of how all projects get approved. The money trail. Encourage council to listen to public.
• Better handicap access on the beach. Maybe extend blue mats halfway down beach towards Ocean.
• Encourage Margate to provide more options for teens to decrease loitering in the evenings
• Push for more transparent governance from Margate’s elected officials.
• Push for handrails over dunes.

See the MHA survey here.