Wildwood Beaches

A Long Way To Fun
Plenty of room in Wildwood, but is a trek to the water
By MICHAEL MILLER Staff Writer, (609) 463-6712
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Sunday, July 30, 2006
Updated: Sunday, July 30, 2006

WILDWOOD – Hosi Khan of Montreal stood, hands on hips, looking for the rest of his beach party.

Khan lugged about 40 pounds of cooler, towels, beach chairs, umbrella and snacks piled high on a hand cart from the parking lot past the Wildwoods Convention Center.

But he stopped after 100 feet when he realized he wasn't sure where he was going. The rest of his family was nowhere in sight. With acres of deep sand surrounding him, he was looking for a beeline.

Finally, he spotted them waving about 100 yards north. With a grunt he leaned forward and continued the slog.

“My sister-in-law picked the place,” he said, panting a little as the cart's almost useless wheels dug parallel furrows in the hot sand. “She had to pick the farthest spot.”

With him pulling and his brother-in-law Tuan Vu pushing, they made it to the family's umbrella planted like an explorer's flag in their patch of white beach.

Families such as Khan's make this pilgrimage to the sea every summer day — sometimes many times throughout the day. The walk never gets any shorter.

Wildwood has the Mount Everest of beaches. It's so vast the city has dirtbike rallies here. It's so immense, it serves as a drop zone for skydivers every summer and boasts two outdoor movie theaters with room enough for thousands of beach towels, sandcastles and umbrellas.

The only erosion here is the kind that nibbles at your will to keep moving toward the mirage that is the water.

“We call it the desert,” said Drew Landes of Boyertown, Pa., still dripping from a refreshing ocean swim.

“We like that it's a long stretch of sand. It never gets too crowded,” he said.

Tour operators have taken full advantage. One company gives rides on the beach in a cherry-red monster truck named The Jersey Devil. Another enterprising businessman approached commissioners in 2000 about giving camel rides on the city's own Sahara.

Perhaps, as Landes suggests, some people are intimidated by the prospect of crossing to the water's edge without help from a Sherpa. More likely, the ample beach creates an optical illusion that there are fewer people here than in neighboring towns. After all, there are no beach tags here.

Celine Pilon of La Chute, Quebec, used a beach ball the size of a coffee table to play kickball with three children. They only needed a courtyard's worth of room but had enough empty acreage around them to fill Citizens Bank Park.

“We went to Cape May first. Here, it's better for the children,” Pilon said. “They have more room.”

Why so big?

Wildwood hasn't always had such a generous strand. Aerial photographs from 1920 show a consistent strip of sandy coastline resembling beaches in Ocean City today.

What happened? Two major things, beach expert Stewart Farrell said.

He is director of the Coastal Research Center at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built twin jetties along either side of Cold Spring Inlet, the rocks began trapping sand that might otherwise have drifted south to Cape May and the Delaware Bay, he said.

Then in 1922, an entire channel called Turtle Gut Inlet became choked with sand forming what is now Sunset Lake in Wildwood Crest. The sand from the inlet began to collect, helping to form what is now a Wildwoods phenomenon.

Another reason Wildwood has such amazing beaches is the sand itself. Five Mile Island has the finest sand in New Jersey, Jeffrey Gebert said.

He runs the coastal planning section of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Philadelphia.

“The smallest grain size of sand along 125 miles of New Jersey coast is in the zone occupied by the Wildwoods,” he said.

The difference is tangible. Wildwood's beaches actually feel different beneath bare feet than Strathmere's or Atlantic City's. The fine sand in the surf can be packed so tight it feels smooth and hard like marble. The dry stuff can be silty.

“There is a progressive fining as you go south along the coast,” Gebert said. “The grain size gets smaller and smaller until you get to Wildwood.”

Contrarily, Delaware Bay beaches have larger grains and even bits of polished quartz known locally as Cape May diamonds.

The grain of the sand has a correlation with the slope of the beach, Gebert said. Wildwood has some of the flattest beaches, too, in New Jersey.

“The larger the grain size, the steeper the slope,” he said.

So even though beachgoers have a long walk, at least it's flat.

Shifting sands

Farrell said Wildwood's colossal beach likely won't get much bigger.

“The rate of growth has come to a standstill on Wildwood's beaches. They won't get even 100 feet wider naturally,” he said.

This is good news in some ways. The city has to work daily to keep storm-water pipes free of sand. The bigger the beach, the more time it takes for tractors to rake trash and debris every morning.

The creeping beach has dry docked the fishing pier on Heather Road in Wildwood Crest. At low tide, anglers with the local fishing club can cast 200 feet and still miss the water.

The Army Corps launched a study of the island's beaches this year. North Wildwood's northern beaches have lost as much as 800 feet of sand in the past decade.

Gebert said tourism dollars are a factor in his agency's analyses for shore protection projects. There is no telling whether the island's large beaches attract tourists for the elbow room or keep them away because of the daunting hike, he said.

“As a beachgoer, the quarter mile of hot, dry beach to get to the Boardwalk or where you park your car. To me, that would not be an advantage,” he said. “Does it have an impact on the number of beach users?”

Not judging by Saturday's crowds. The beaches were dotted with umbrellas as far as the eye could see.

People seemed to enjoy the space, flying kites and building enormous castles. Wildwood hosted an Ultimate Frisbee tournament Saturday. The Poplar Avenue beach fit 60 fields with space for team tents.

Lifeguards in some towns rigidly enforce rules against tossing footballs or Frisbees on crowded beaches. Not here, Caroline Pauze of Montreal said.

”We used to go to Ocean City. But the lifeguards made you swim between the flags,” she said, toting a beach chair and a backpack full of drinks and summer reading.

“But I'm not here to play games today. I just want to relax.”

And here, more than at any beach in New Jersey, there is plenty of room for that.

To e-mail Michael Miller at The Press:MMiller@pressofac.com

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Peaceful retreat or eyesore?
Wildwood Crest wild garden attracts fauna, ire of neighbors

By MEGGAN CLARK Health/Science Writer, (609) 272-7209
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Monday, July 17, 2006
Updated: Monday, July 17, 2006

WILDWOOD CREST — Bob Kole likes the simple moments in life, like picking a ripe tomato in his backyard or relaxing on the porch after work, sipping a beer and watching the birds.

Kole's home, a triplex with a strip of tall flowers out front, isn't fancy by Wildwood standards, but it's home. The backyard is crowded with sunflowers, pine trees, bird feeders, vegetables, a birdbath and a soccer net, and his porch is similarly crowded — books, sea shells, wind chimes and a small brown fridge give it a comfortable, unpretentious feel.

Ten years ago, Kole says, you could still see the ocean from his back porch. The neighbors had picking rights in his garden and he had swimming rights in their pool. His dad, Vincent, who bought the Morning Glory Road home as a vacation place three decades ago, had retired there from Philadelphia and grew huge tomatoes that won prizes at the county fair.

That was back when the neighbors didn't mind the Koles' garden.

But things can change a lot in 10 years, and now, with housing growing faster than the wildest zucchini, Kole says there isn't much room in Wildwood Crest for a garden, wildlife, birds or his family anymore.

Just five years ago, Wildwood Crest issued only 33 residential building permits. By 2005, building had had increased more than tenfold. Nearly every street and street corner in the borough seems to be under construction — raw dusty dirt holes, big yellow machines, piles of cinder blocks.

The new houses are big. They're expensive. They're often vinyl-sided and surrounded by narrow strips of concrete and white pebbles in the place of grass. They replace smaller, older, more modest homes, like the old sea captain's house and little Cape where the Koles' neighbors used to live.

“We used to be able to see the ocean,” Kole says. “Now all I look at is vinyl siding. You're out here and all you can hear is central air conditioning.”

The noise is ever-present, a wet muffled roar.

These days, Kole has one of the few wild yards on Morning Glory Road. Squirrels climb his trees. Cardinals visit the bird feeders. The confusion and profusion of his garden yields beets, eggplant, tomatoes, peas, raspberries and sunflowers.

To Kole, it's a garden — the garden that's been there for 30 years.

Breeding complaints

But to his new neighbors, it's nothing short of an eyesore. It's earned him numerous visits from town code-enforcement officers and citations. Some of them, he says, are apologetic. But the codes are the codes.

“I don't want to get the borough in trouble or anyone else in trouble,” Kole says, adding that one code inspector even asked him for some daffodils to bring to his wife. “The borough wouldn't be bothering me if it wasn't the neighbors complaining all the time.”

Kole's problems with his neighbors are not rare. As development booms along the southern shore and trophy vacation homes take the place of old working- and middle-class year-round dwellings, a backyard garden can become a lightning rod for dissent.

“Quite a few people do have to contend with ill-informed township officials who are trying to enforce something like a weed ordinance that really doesn't apply to a wildlife habitat,” said the Cape May Bird Observatory's Pat Sutton. “(A weed ordinance) applies to something that is neglected and a wildlife garden, it's not a neglected, nuisance situation.”

Sutton teaches classes on gardening for butterflies, birds and wildlife as part of the observatory's efforts to increase and preserve wildlife habitat in the face of New Jersey's burgeoning population. She teaches people to plant native species, not popular, non-native ornamentals; to grow patches of milkweed for the Cape's famous monarch butterfly migration, to leave enough wildness and greenery that small animals and birds will thrive.

Wildlife gardeners love their little patches of rampant, unfettered beauty, the butterflies, birds and squirrels they attract — even the caterpillars, worms and bugs.

Need for education

But when the neighbors have a lawn of white rock and concrete, or perfectly manicured green, problems can erupt. It's so common, in fact, that the New Jersey Audubon Society's Web page on gardening for wildlife includes a section called, “So, your neighbors don't like your backyard habitat.”

The advice: If you're going to have a wildlife garden, educate your neighbors, build paths and plant pretty native flowers to make your property more attractive, and, if necessary, fight your municipality's code violation citation in court.

Kole, who can rattle off the history of the Jerusalem Artichoke like most people can recount a Philadelphia sports team's season, sees his garden as something of a fortress, a refuge for animals and birds left with fewer and fewer places to live in the Crest. The past few years, he's started seeing more squirrels in his garden, a phenomenon he attributes to the development.

“They're cutting down more and more older trees. Where are the squirrels going to go?” he says. “Nature has sort of been pushed off the board for the sake of making money and development.” He says he wants to give his children a sense of where things come from, and birds a place to rest. Also, he says, he wants to be left alone.

Wildwood Crest's code-enforcement office didn't return calls and an e-mail seeking comment for this story, and Mayor Carl Groon could not be reached Thursday and did not return two phone calls Friday.

But Kole's neighbors spoke freely, although they refused to give their names.

“He's trying to use you idiots because the city wants him to clean up his yard and comply with codes,” shouted a next-door neighbor, who Kole identified as Chris, from his back porch.

He and a female companion shouted at Kole for several minutes, saying his yard is a mess and his tree is encroaching on his property.

“My tree was here before your building!” Kole shouted back. “Trees should have rights, Chris.”

Asked if she wanted to comment for an article, the woman replied, “Do you want to be sued? I don't want to talk about it because it's asinine, that's why.”

Chris also declined to be formally interviewed.

“If it it appears (in the paper), I'm going to sue the living (expletive) out of you,” he said. “I'm going to sue you personally.”

Chris lives in a new, white, towering new home with a newly poured concrete driveway and sidewalks. Kole says Chris' late father used to have a smaller home on the site that was torn down to make room for the new one. He says the family also used to have picking rights in Vincent Kole's garden.

Up for sale

“I think my days are numbered here,” Kole says wearily, after the neighbors retreat inside. “It's a shame. I wonder what the future is going to bring in Wildwood.”

Kole says he has reluctantly put his home up for sale, advertising it as “for sale by gardener” in the hopes that the buyer will continue the family tradition. But he admits that, with the land valued far higher than the house, his family home is likely to be bulldozed if he sells.

“This was a working class town, families coming here from the city for a week of vacation,” he says. “I feel I have roots here. This is my family's house.” He glances around, at the pristine, hostile white walls on all sides, where the view of the ocean used to be.

“Now, I want to leave.”

It's hard to believe, looking out over Kole's backyard, that the Wildwoods were so named because they were “wild woods,” a land of dunes and vine-tangled forest that until the turn of the century was virtually uninhabited.

“Today, when you drive through the Wildwoods, you can hardly find a tree,” Sutton says. “Everything that's not protected ends up looking like a cityscape. That frightens me.”

She calls the Wildwoods of today, with their sidewalks and pebble lawns “sterile, very sterile.”

“Heaven forbid a migrating bird should end up in Wildwood Crest unless they find their way to the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse or this gentleman's backyard,” she says.

To e-mail Meggan Clark at The Press:Meggan.Clark@pressofac.com

Developers Wanted

North Wildwood hopes to attract developers to pier
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, July 11, 2006

NORTH WILDWOOD — The Boardwalk is abuzz with the sounds of screaming roller-coaster riders and the sweet smell of funnel cakes, but the scene is a little different at Seaport Pier.

The municipally-owned pier, between 21st and 23rd avenues, is quiet except for occasional activity at the information center and police substation up front.

But in less than a month, the city should have plenty of ideas about how the dormant pier can be revived.

City Council approved a redevelopment plan for the pier, and municipal planner Stuart Wiser said at least 85 requests for qualifications and proposals have been sent to potential developers.

In addition, the city placed advertisements in major newspapers including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times asking for potential developers. Those ads also led to several calls.

Next, the city hopes interested developers will come back, by the Aug. 4 deadline, with plans to turn the pier into a quality retail, dining and/or entertainment complex.

Mayor Bill Henfey said he is optimistic the wooden pier can become a destination that will bring excitement to the Boardwalk.

Henfey said the city had already received calls from people wanting to go up on the pier and take a look at the site, and on Monday a developer spoke to him about options for the pier.

While the city asked for dining, retail and entertainment operations of some sort, Henfey said the city welcomes something beyond the ordinary.

“I'm hoping to get surprised with something we haven't even thought about,” Henfey said. “A fresh idea.”

Henfey recalled his childhood days when the pier was made for fishing. At one time, a restaurant was at the center of the pier and fisherman could travel farther up to cast their lines.

Resident and local historian Robert J. Scully recalled building stores across from the fishing pier in the 1970s and said the pier can trace its roots to the 1920s.

Today, water no longer runs under the pier, but the city is still doing a little fishing.

“We tried to cast a wide net,” Wiser said, noting that local, national and international developers have been invited to redevelop the pier.

To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian at The Press:Gilfillian@pressofac.com

Liquor at Waterpark

N. Wildwood waterpark gets approval to sell liquor
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Thursday, July 6, 2006
Updated: Thursday, July 6, 2006

NORTH WILDWOOD — With a 5 to 2 City Council vote Wednesday night, Morey's Piers won the last approval it needed to begin serving alcoholic drinks at its 25th Avenue waterpark.

Clark Doran, director of planning and development for Morey's, said the company hoped to be serving alcoholic drinks by this weekend at the Ocean Oasis Waterpark and Beach Club.

Wednesday's vote by City Council, which acts as the city's Alcoholic Beverage Control board, followed a steady stream of speakers for and against the prospect of allowing alcoholic beverages to be served at the former Raging Waters park.

Doran told City Council the company was trying to keep up with a market that demanded more services and amenities than found at the traditional waterpark.

The company has already added hammocks, massages, organized activities and other services to the waterpark, and alcoholic drink service is part of the plan to upgrade the park.

“We try to evolve with the times,” Doran said.

The company plans to sell beer, wine and tropical drinks at two locations within the lower level of the park and at an overhead observation area.

Denise Beckson, head of the company's waterpark operations, outlined the company's management plan and said strict controls would be in place.

They include issuing wristbands to patrons 21 and over, selling drinks in easily identifiable cups and not permitting unattended drinks to be left behind.

Opponents of the plan, however, warned that allowing drink service in a park frequented by children was a mistake.

Independent City Council candidate Kathy Martin said children ages 12 and over often travel to the waterpark without an adult, and the service of alcoholic drinks would be a danger to them.

Children, she said, would be swimming and playing in the water around adults who have been drinking.

Others questioned various aspects of the operation such as trash collection, the hours alcoholic drinks would be served and the need to separate children from areas where alcohol is served.

Drinks will be served from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. while the waterpark normally closes at 7 p.m.

But supporters said the Morey family was trying to change with the times as any business should do, and they suggested parents, not a private waterpark, are ultimately responsible for their children.

“I do not see alcohol as a threat,” said resident Brian Lafferty.

Councilman Hank Rice and Walt Larcombe, who had previously voted against the plan to sell alcoholic drinks at the waterpark, voted against the liquor-license transfer.

“I just think (the sale of alcoholic drinks) has been taken very lightly,” Rice said.

Rice said he worked as a bouncer for 12 years, and he has seen the effect alcohol has on people. “You can't tell me alcohol doesn't change a person,” he said.

Ocean Oasis opened in mid-June without alcoholic drink service.

To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian:TGilfillian@pressofac.com

Casino Shutdown

With appeal lost, casinos start planning for shutdown

By THOMAS BARLAS Staff Writer, (609) 272-7201
Published: Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, July 4, 2006

ATLANTIC CITY — There will be no tear gas. Dogs won’t be turned loose. Paddy wagons won’t cart away scores of gamblers reluctant to let go of their favorite one-armed bandits.
The hope is that the unprecedented shutdown of gambling at the city’s casinos — scheduled for 8 a.m. Wednesday — will be calm, orderly and without any problems.
Casinos will turn in part to closing plans originally developed to deal with things such as natural disasters and terrorist attacks. They’ll follow specific steps to secure money and keys to hard-count rooms and gaming-table drop boxes. Continued surveillance will help make sure that nobody places a bet at a table game or slips a coin into a slot machine — or even crosses the gaming floor — after the closing deadline.
Perhaps the hardest job will be to get customers off the gaming floor by 8 a.m.
That will be primarily the job of casino security staff, which have reportedly undergone briefings on the issue since Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed an executive order that shut down state government after he and the Legislature couldn’t agree on a budget by the constitutional deadline of midnight June 30. Corzine considers state Division of Gaming Enforcement inspectors, who must be present in the gaming halls for gambling to proceed, to be nonessential state employees.
But at least 100 DGE inspectors and uniformed State Police officers will be on hand to back up casino security Wednesday morning. They’ll meet at about 6 a.m. at DGE headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue to get a last minute briefing from DGE Director Tom Auriemma before heading to the casinos.
“It’s not like we’re going to arrest anybody,” Auriemma said. “The goal is to ensure an orderly exit.”
A gambling shutdown is not what the casinos want, and casino officials worked the state court system on Monday in hopes of staying open.
Their efforts were unsuccessful, as both an appellate court and the state Superior Court on Monday denied their request to keep gaming operations running. State Supreme Court Associate Justice James Zazzali said simply that the casinos had not “established sufficient grounds for relief.”
Assistant Attorney General Patrick DeAlmeida, who argued the case on behalf of the state, said that if the casinos won judicial approval to stay open, other private parties would also seek such relief.
“Casinos are not alone here in feeling economic harm,” DeAlmeida argued.
Casino association lawyer John Kearney said the casinos were trying to figure out their next step.
The decision means that while casino restaurants, shops, bars and entertainment venues will remain open, gridlocked state budget negotiations will do what not even past hurricanes or blizzards could — bring gambling to a halt.
Casino officials weren’t immediately available for comment regarding their gaming shutdown plans.
However, the casinos, DGE and state Casino Control Commission have already discussed stop-gaming scenarios.
Auriemma said that getting people off the gaming floors should be easier at 8 a.m. than at most other times of the day because crowds are not at their largest.
Each casino can decide how to get people off the floor, he said. Part of that might involve an announcement to customers, he said.
Casinos may decide to cordon off sections of the gaming floor as the overnight crowd begins to thin out, Auriemma said. It’s possible that gaming at some casinos will end before 8 a.m., he said.
Once customers are off the gaming floor, the casinos will have several hours of accounting that must be done, he said.
The casinos will also have to figure out a way of keeping customers out of gaming areas, Auriemma said.
That could present a challenge for some casinos that have bars and restaurants on their gaming floors, he said. Casinos could close those bars and restaurants, he said, or create some kind of secured path through the gaming floor so customers can reach their destinations.
Auriemma said it’s clear that casino officials aren’t happy with the situation.
However, he also said that discussions regarding the gaming shutdown have been professional and cordial despite the court challenges to the closure.
“We work with them every day,” Auriemma said. “They work with us.”
“We didn’t expect them to sit idly by without challenging the issue. That’s their right.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.

To e-mail Thomas Barlas at The Press:
TBarlas@pressofac.com

Beaches Open

Don't worry, folks — most N.J. beaches are open
By DEREK HARPER Staff Writer, (609) 272-7203
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Tuesday, July 4, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, July 4, 2006

ATLANTIC CITY — Listen up, ladies and gentlemen: The New Jersey shore is still open.

“We're going to have to start telling people that,” laughed Elaine Shapiro Zamansky, spokeswoman for the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority.

The authority, which took calls from people wanting to know whether the casinos were still open, was one of several places along the shore that panicked vacationers called Monday.

They heard New Jersey's state government closed, potentially shuttering the casinos along with state beaches and parks Wednesday, and thought that meant all beaches, boardwalks and other attractions from Cape May to Sandy Hook were locked down.

In reality, the casinos will remain open until at least 8 a.m. Wednesday, and each of the towns bordering the Atlantic Ocean owns its particular stretch of the shore.

While some state-run areas like Cape May Point State Park, Corsons Inlet in Cape May County and Island Beach State Park in Ocean County may be forced to close this week, those are the exceptions.

In North Wildwood, Lotus Inn co-owner and manager Lori Stambaugh took calls throughout the day asking if the beaches were opened. She was upset.

“I am not happy when information is put out there to alarm the public and to influence the public and it is not in the correct way.”

In Wildwood, Lee Brasch, admissions manager for Morey's Piers, took a similar call from a woman coming to vacation who wanted to know: Are the beaches closed?

“No,” Brasch said.

How about the water park?

“Nope. And even if the beaches were closed, we will not close the water park,” she said.

Operators told people that the city's beaches and the privately owned pier were still open, but she was afraid that tourists would stay away.

“Tell everybody to come to Wildwood!” Brasch said. “It's great here!”

In Ship Bottom, Information Clerk Cindy Galvin assured a person who stopped by the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce that the Barnegat Lighthouse State Park was still open.

In Cape May, Cathy Wahl at the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cape May said she took a dozen similar calls throughout the morning, mostly from the New York region.

Callers wanted to know if the beaches were still open. She assured them yes and read a letter from Director Larry Muentz explaining things were up and running.

“We sure don't want to have people call and cancel their vacation out of fear,” Wahl said.

Fear over a potential closure stretched into Pennsylvania.

In Douglassville, Pa., 45 miles northwest of Philadelphia, people called Adele Klein to find out whether Klein Transportation's casino buses ran were still going to Atlantic City casinos.

“We just tell them to keep signing up and we will let you know if they are closed,” said Klein, co owner and director of business development.

She's concerned. The company runs between four and five 54-person buses to Atlantic City every day. While the firm has 17 buses, the resort is its only regularly scheduled destination and accounts for half of its revenue.

On Monday, 11 buses were out. If there is a casino shutdown, they stand to lose as much as $6,750 per day because beach or no beach, that's not what they're coming for.

“They enjoy what Atlantic City is all about and if they pay the fare, that's what they want to take part in,” she said, referring to casino gambling.

Even so, Atlantic City Beach Patrol Chief Rod Aluise was surprised when a reporter called him. The city's beaches were thick with the holiday crowd.

He relayed his view from the squad's South Carolina Avenue headquarters, a couple blocks from Resorts Casino Hotel. “I am looking at a very beautiful holiday crowd,” Aluise said. “Everything is normal.”

Wildwood Tax Bills

Wildwood to issue estimated tax bills
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, July 1, 2006
Updated: Saturday, July 1, 2006

WILDWOOD — City Commission held an emergency meeting Friday to authorize the tax collector to issue estimated tax bills for the third quarter.

According to a resolution passed by the commissioners, the emergency meeting was necessary because of the anticipated late adoption of the city's 2006 budget and the lack of a certified tax rate for the year.

“The mailing of estimated tax bills will enable the city of Wildwood to meet its financial obligations, maintain the tax-collection rate, provide uniformity for tax payments and save the unnecessary cost of borrowing,” the resolution read.

The third quarter bills are due Aug. 1.

Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. said Friday that tax bills should be mailed to city property owners within the next two weeks.

The city, meanwhile, continues to fine-tune its 2006 budget, and Troiano said he hopes to introduce it within two weeks.

Under the estimated tax-bill resolution, the city's anticipated total tax rate is $1.52 per $100 of assessed property valuation compared to $1.42 in 2005.

The rise in the overall tax rate includes a 1-cent increase in the Cape May County tax, small increases in the the county library and county open-space taxes, and a 5.7-cent increase in the local school tax.

“Seven or eight cents of (the increase) is something I have no control over. I have zero control over the county and the school,” Troiano said.

According to the estimated tax bill, the local property-tax rate, used to fund the city's operations, would increase from 79.7 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation in 2005 to 82.3 cents in 2006.

The estimated local tax levy is $14.5 million, which would be an increase over the 2005 tax levy of $13.7 million.

Troiano said the final city tax rate, however, was expected to change because the city is still waiting to receive state funds connected with the Wildwoods Convention Center operation.

The city's 2005 budget was $22.5 million.

To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian at The Press:TGilfillian@pressofac.com

Doo Wop Tour

Doo Wop tour leaves visitors in Wildwood daze
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Saturday, July 1, 2006
Updated: Saturday, July 1, 2006

WILDWOOD — Drivers caught behind the slow-moving yellow school bus occasionally honked or sped past whenever they could, but those on board hardly noticed.

Like children on a field trip, they peered through the windows trying to catch a glimpse of the globe spinning above the Pan American Hotel.

This, after all, was the Doo Wop 50s Trolley Tour, a trip designed to slow things down and get visitors to see the details they had likely passed before but never really noticed.

The dozen or so tourists on this tour oohed and aahed as tour guide, and self-described Wildwood cheerleader, Joan Husband pointed out the design elements that have come to be known as doo-wop.

Tour goers looked to the right at the roof line on the Bel Air Motel designed to resemble the fins on the car of the same name, and to the left as the bus passed the lava rock that covered the walls at the Waikiki Oceanfront Inn.

Much was said of the plastic palm trees, a native Wildwood plant, known to appear in time for spring, the neon signs that would light the night sky, and the decorative railings such as the “va va va voom” rounded balconies of the Imperial 500 Motel.

The tour bus cruised up and down the streets of Wildwood and Wildwood Crest as Husband talked of the history behind the island's collection of doo-wop motels

Husband, sporting her 50s-style “Pink Ladies” shirt, spoke of the role cars played in the Wildwoods and the development of the drive-up motel.

Other events of the times also played their part in the Wildwoods, Husband explained.

Motels like the Satellite and the Ala Moana owed their names to the space race and the development of commercial air travel to foreign locales.

“You came here for your foreign travel,” Husband said as the bus made its way past the famed Caribbean Motel.

And Miami Beach was only a drive away with motels like the Eden Roc.

“Come to Wildwood. You're in Miami Beach,” Husband said.

Along the way, Husband also pointed out what was no longer there.

As the tour bus passed new condominium construction, Husband recalled motels that once lined the streets like the Hi-Lili and the Three Coins.

“Don't get me crying,” Husband said as the bus passed what was no more.

But while some of the island's doo-wop motels have ben torn down to make way for the new, Husband literally found signs of hope.

The Acme sign, the Commerce Bank sign and more.

All are examples, she said, of doo-wop revival, a modern take on a bygone day.

With songs like “Leader of the Pack” and “Under the Boardwalk” playing on the bus speaker system, Husband pointed out the major companies that have embraced this new doo-wop. Wawa and Harley-Davidson, for instance, have doo-wop themed stores covered in neon and chrome along Rio Grande Avenue.

The tour also gave visitors ideas.

“We have to go in there,” said one as the bus passed the new doo-wop flavored Starlux Motel. “Wow,” said another.

When the tour returned to its base at the Wildwoods Convention Center, visitors like Brie and Pat Walsh departed the bus with a better appreciation for the motels and their history.

The Washington, D.C., couple came to town at the invitation of their cousins and had never been to Five Mile Beach before.

“I thought it was a worthwhile $10,” Brie Walsh said. “I'm seeing it in a new light. I really did learn about the Wildwoods, the history, the music.”

Pat Walsh said he had no idea how much cars influenced the motels' development.

Brie Walsh, meanwhile, was anxious for nightfall to arrive so she could see the neon in all its glory. She had already begun planning her next trip to the Wildwoods.

“I already picked out a couple (motels) I want to stay at,” she said.

To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian at The Press:TGilfillian@pressofac.com

Boat Parade Doesn't Sail

Lack of Funds Kills Wildwoods' Boat Parade
Cape May County Herald
6/28/2006
WILDWOOD - The annual Christmas in July boat parade, originally scheduled for July 22, has been cancelled, Greater Wildwood Jaycees announced June 23. The Grinch didn't do it. It was lack of funds, the Jaycees deciding that the parade was "too much for this non-profit organization to handle," according to a press release. The parade has been a tradition in the Wildwoods for over 15 years, said Jodie DiEduardo, chairperson. In years past, the Jaycees said it relied on the support of the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority (GWTIDA), Coastal Broadcasting, and Lighthouse Pointe Restaurant. "Without their support, it couldn't have ever happened," said DiEduardo. GWTIDA had provided $10,000 annually for the last two years, but specified the contribution would decrease over time, according to reports. This year, the event received $2,000 from GWTIDA. The plan, according to the Jaycees, was that the event would grow and attract more sponsors, thus, becoming self-sufficient. "Unfortunately, not many other businesses or organizations in the Wildwoods were willing to help with the event, which costs in excess of $10,000 each year," the press release stated. "I've sent letters asking for cash donations in the past, and we've received gift certificates from various businesses to use as prizes, but we haven't received monetary donations that could keep the parade going," explained DiEduardo. In addition, the number of registered boats dropped from approximately 40 boats in 2000 to 16 in 2005. The only portion of the event that was expanding in popularity was the house decorating contest, said DiEduardo. Unfortunately, that was all tied into the parade and will be cancelled as well, she said. "The event was a huge amount of work," stated DiEduardo. "Considering all the paperwork and permits involved, we have to start working in April and then run right up until July." The only annual fundraiser for the organization, the Hotel/Motel and Restaurant Trade show, was cancelled due to poor attendance and dwindling motel rooms in the area. "(The trade show) decreased to the point where exhibitors were not interested in participating in the event anymore," according to the Jaycees. The Jaycees said that it had hoped another organization might step forward and take over the parade. For more information, the Greater Wildwood Jaycees can be reached at P.O. Box 63, Wildwood, NJ 08260. Contact Huggins at: (609) 886-8600 ext. 25

Reval Lawsuit Dropped

North Wildwood couple drops reval lawsuit
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Published: Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, June 27, 2006

NORTH WILDWOOD — Two city property owners have dropped their legal challenge to the city's recent revaluation.

In April, property owners Alexander and Margaret Schernecke, on behalf of the Wildwood Taxpayers Association, filed a lawsuit in state tax court charging that errors in the revaluation process led to “violations of the taxpayer's constitutional right to be taxed fairly and equitably under New Jersey law.”

The lawsuit claimed that the revaluation “resulted in grossly overvalued, inequitable and inconsistent valuations throughout the city.”

If the suit had been successful, it would have forced the city to complete an entirely new revaluation.

The suit named the city along with Tyler Technologies/CLT Division, which performed the revaluation, as well as the Cape May County Tax Board and the city's tax assessor.

On Monday, the city received written notification from the Schernecke's attorney, Philip J. Giannuario, that the lawsuit had been withdrawn.

The letter was dated June 23, the same day a judge was set to hear a number of motions filed by the city and others asking that the lawsuit be dismissed.

“In our estimation ... it was frivolous litigation,” City Solicitor William J. Kaufmann said Monday.

In court documents, Kaufmann asked Judge Joseph C. Small to dismiss the Schernecke's complaint for several reasons.

Kaufmann said the couple had failed to exhaust all of the administrative remedies open to them to challenge the new value placed on their property. Those options included appealing to the county tax board and then to the state.

In addition, Kaufmann said the Scherneckes had no standing to act on behalf of other property owners, 85 percent of whom did not file an individual appeal with the county tax board.

County Tax Administrator George R. Brown said 1,057 North Wildwood residents, or about 15 percent of the city's property owners, filed tax appeals.

The tax board has heard individual North Wildwood appeals since May and has several more to hear in July, Brown sid Monday.

Kaufmann also noted that the Scherneckes did not challenge the initial county order which required the city to conduct the revaluation in the first place.

Kaufmann also challenged the timeliness of the suit. He said notices of the new assessments were mailed Feb. 10 and property owners had 45 days to appeal, which would mean they had until March 27. The lawsuit was filed April 3.

Neither the Scherneckes or their attorney could be reached for comment Monday.

Before the revaluation, the entire city was valued at $794.9 million, and after the revaluation, the town is now said to be worth about $3 billion.

To e-mail Trudi Gilfillian at The Press:TGilfillian@pressofac.com

CAFRA Permit denied

State denies CAFRA permit for high-rise hotel in Wildwood

By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Press of Atlantic City
Published: Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, June 27, 2006

WILDWOOD — The state has rejected the coastal building application for the Nouveau Wave Hotel, calling the proposed 25-story hotel out of character with the surrounding community, a danger to migratory birds, a public safety risk and damaging to the island's historical collection of motels.

The developer, listed as PPI Rio Associates LLC in care of Pitcairn Properties Inc., planned to build a 281-foot, 269-unit hotel/condominium complex with 4,566 square feet of retail space, a restaurant and other amenities on the site of the former Rio Motel, now a vacant lot at the corner of Ocean and Rio Grande avenues.

In a letter issued Friday, the state Department of Environmental Protection denied the developers the Coastal Area Facility Review Act, or CAFRA, permit needed to move ahead with construction.

The state found the Nouveau Wave would have met a number of regulations such as requirements for impervious coverage and plant materials coverage given the size of the 48,000-square-foot lot.

But Kevin J. Broderick, manager of the Land Use Regulation Program, offered a long list of reasons why the permit was being denied.

The state found construction of the high-rise was only made possible by the destruction of the Rio Motel, one of the 1950s and 1960s-era motels built in the doo-wop style known for exotic names, bold neon signs and kidney-shaped pools.

Demolition of the Rio began before the CAFRA application was submitted and an analysis of whether the demolition could have been avoided could not be done, Broderick wrote.

“This project resulted in the destruction of a historic or potentially historic property,” the report reads.

Next, the height of the building and its effect on wildlife came into question.

“The proposed 281-foot high-rise structure would have been constructed within the lower 10 kilometers of Cape May County near the tip of the ‘funnel' of the second most important migratory flyway in North America,” the report reads.

Broderick said the building's height, perpendicular orientation to the coastline and the fact that it would be lighted at night would be detrimental to birds.

A hotel of this size and magnitude “would have had an adverse effect on the endangered and threatened bird species which use this flyway and is prohibited.”

Broderick also detailed safety issues surrounding the high-rise and its relation to the smaller properties surrounding the motel site.

He found the hotel would cause a visual intrusion, a deterrent to air circulation, cast shadows on residences, adversely impact traffic patterns and threaten property values. Broderick wrote there was also a concern about the sewer system's ability to handle the added burden of the high-rise.

Broderick continued, “With regards to public safety, neither the applicant nor the city has presented evidence that the local fire department has the equipment to effectively fight a fire within a building of this size.”

The state also reviewed the city ordinance that permits high-rise construction up to 250 feet and found that while the ordinance allows such buildings it does not require them.

It also found the hotel would tower over neighboring structures such as smaller motels and residential units and was not “visually compatible with existing scenic resources.”

Ultimately, Broderick found the building did not meet seven sections of the state's coastal zone management rules and the permit should be denied.

The developers can appeal the state's finding. They could not be reached for comment Monday.