New Development Coming To Manitou Section Of Berkeley

Town Leaders Fighting JCP&L Increase

By Chris Lundy BERKELEY

–

The

Township Council filed a resolution in opposition to the proposed 7.5% increase in electricity costs by Jersey Central Power & Light.

At a recent council meeting, Councilman Keith Buscio brought up the increase and asked for a resolution from the governing body in opposition to the increase. This resolution is a letter that would be sent to involved parties, such as the Board of Public Utilities, which oversees rates.

Mayor Carmen Amato asked the attorney to file paperwork in opposition to intervene

JCP&L, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp, ap - plied to the BPU for a review of its rate, asking for a 7.5% increase, which would amount to an $8.45 monthly increase for the average residential customer.

“Our proposal balances our need to invest in a safe, reliable and modern grid while keeping rates affordable for our customers,” said Jim Fakult, president of New Jersey operations for FirstEnergy. “This plan keeps JCP&L’s rates the lowest in the state and offers additional assistance to our customers facing financial hardship.”

The last rate change was in 2020, the company said. Since then, there has been more than $794 million (JCP&L - See Page 8)

By Chris Lundy BERKELEY

– A de - velopment of 56 homes will be coming to the Manitou Park section of Berkeley Township in the next few years.

Manitou is north of the town of South Toms River. It’s a small grid of homes and churches. Most people get there from Railroad Avenue at the intersection with

Route 530. The new development is not to be confused with the mixed use retail and residential that’s going in behind the Wawa. Homes For All is plan- ning a build-out of 56 homes called Autumn Ridge at Manitou. Five of these homes and the model are either built or started. They are (Manitou - See Page 4)

B each Sweep

Rescheduled

By Bob Vosseller

OCEAN COUNTY –

Area beaches were set to be cleaned as part of the annual Beach Sweep but an April Fool’s Day prank by Mother Nature had them be washed instead.

Clean Ocean Action had scheduled sweeps throughout the area on April 1

Officials Concerned About ATVs In Pinelands

By Bob Vosseller OCEAN COUNTY

– but now they have been rescheduled for April 15. Information on them can be found at cleanoceanaction. org/beach-sweeps. Another is scheduled for October 21.

County and state officials are seeking solutions to issues of ATV/quad users damaging environmentally sensitive woodlands.

On the morning of April 1, volunteers arrived at Ortley Beach and started to set up for the day. They decided

(Beach - See Page 5)

Judy Noonan, a resident of the Whiting section of Manchester noted the problems of improper use of ATVs, quads and trucks damaging such areas within her community during a recent meeting of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners.

“They are destroying our Pinelands. I was on a livestream meeting listening to the people who drive these quads and ATVs and some of them really don’t care. Some of these people don’t live here,” Noonan said. “I listened to the Assistant Commissioner from the State Parks and people really are destroying our Pinelands and the police are not able to stop them. There needs to be another place for them and it needs to be addressed.”

Noonan, a former Berkeley Township Councilwoman, said that there had been complaints

(ATVs - See Page 6)

Manitou on First Street, between 4th and 5th Avenue.

The remaining 50 homes will actually be on streets that aren’t built yet on the opposite end of the neighborhood. If you take 1st Avenue (not 1st Street) as west as it can go, it passes electrical wires and ends in woods.

These woods and the dirt trails are often crisscrossed by ATV riders. Roads will be built out there. Another east-west road will also be extended.

The entire project is expected to take about two years, said Glen McDonald, Executive Director of Homes For All.

The homes will have three or four bedrooms. The pricing will be determined based on the market when they are available, he said. Fitting in with the philosophy of Homes For All, these will be workforce housing with an affordable housing component.

Homes For All has a history working with the township. They built 80 homes over a decade ago. Some were on extended streets. Some were on lots that had abandoned homes that needed to be demolished. In paving the streets they also brought water and sewer into the community that was on wells and septic tanks.

McDonald said that Homes For All’s relationship with the town leaders has always been positive.

This recent development started on paper several years ago, Mayor Carmen Amato said.

The township provided money for them from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund which comes from a permit surcharge on all development – not taxes. When a developer comes in to build homes that are not deemed affordable housing, the town is able to give money to either Homes for All or Habitat for Humanity to help people with financial challenges get a new house.

In related news, the township also recently authorized a contract with Langan Engineering for the Manitou School House renovation. Built in 1929, it is on the register of historic buildings.

The Manitou Park Schoolhouse has seen a lot in its history, and locals want to make sure it will have a future. It’s been dilapidated for a number of years but they want to give it new life.

“The residents don’t have a community center. The building is neglected and needs to be rehabbed,” Amato said. Homes For

All bought land from the town which is being used to offset the cost of improvement. “They really need and want a community center. Kids are out playing and they have to look at this dilapidated eyesore.”

Beach: Continued From Page 1 the mission would continue on, at least in Ortley Beach. They were joined by some dedicated volunteers who ignored the rain.

Their unofficial mascot, a pig named Hamlet, came with Beach Captain Crystal DeCaro and her dog Aurora. “Rain or shine we’re going to make it happen,” she said.

“Clean Ocean Action has a spring sweep and a fall one. It is always in April and always in October and they usually shoot for a Saturday. In the last 10 years we’ve had so many windy days and rain before and other things that might deter volunteers but we always have people come out,” DeCaro added.

Laurie and Keith Huryk of Toms River were there despite the rain. DeCaro said, “they are extreme supporters and they always come in and get a selfie with Hamlet. They come prepared with cleanup items and everything.”

“I started coming when I was on council,” former Councilwoman Laurie Huryk said. “I didn’t know it happened before that. We enjoy it so much. It has been six years now. You help clean up the beach and help the environment.”

She and her husband later found a pair of eyeglasses that were left behind near the dunes.

Hamlet didn’t mind the rain. “He is our unofficial mascot of Clean Ocean Action. He is six years old. He’s been coming since he was a baby. I’ve been doing it for 10 years. He has been a hit ever since so I felt I couldn’t help but bring him out. He’s my pet indoor pig and he loves the beach so that was also a motivation behind it because he pushes around the sand with his snout,” DeCaro said.

“I try to teach people to make sure you know what you leave behind and notice the trash. It isn’t only all about us it is also about the animals and our ecosystem,” she added. Ortley Beach was just one of several sweep locations that were to be held that day. Other Beach Sweeps in Ocean County were to include Bay Head, Berkeley, Brick, Island Beach State Park, Lavallette, Long Beach Island, Mantoloking, Ocean Gate, Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, Seaside Heights, Seaside Park, Normandy Beach and Tuckerton.

Three volunteers at the Berkeley location – Dudley Park – stayed at the picnic tables to let people know it was cancelled. They still picked up a few things while they were there.

Clean Ocean Action started the Beach Sweeps in 1985. It is one of the longest running cleanups of its kind in the world. The program grew from 75 people at one site in 1985, to over 10,000 volunteers in 2018.

Volunteers gather as groups (community, school, business, and organization), families, or individuals and collect and record valuable data about debris, which is presented in annual reports.

“If you want to change the world, people power is the answer,” COA Executive Director Cindy Zipf said. “The Beach Sweeps is proof positive of that fact. We are grateful and inspired by the dedication and true-blue spirit of volunteers.”

Fish, whales, birds, and other animals often mistake litter for food. As a result, animals get entangled in or ingest items, such as plastic bags, cigarette filters, and fishing line, with deadly results. Cigarette filters are made of plastic fibers and trap carcinogenic chemicals that are introduced into animals’ bloodstreams.

Watershed Program Manager Alison Jones said, “last year, over 10,000 volunteers welcomed the opportunity to gather safely, get outside, and give back by participating in the Beach Sweeps. As always, their hard work and diligent data collection provided COA with interesting insights about litter at the Jersey Shore.”

ATVs: Continued From Page 1 of ATV users making fires out in the Pinelands area. She noted Berkeley has a similar problem in the woods behind senior communities. In Manchester, one location is along Country Walk where they go through fences.

“Some of us have private roads. They are destroying the Pinelands and the (State Department of Environmental Protection) is doing the best they can. I know you have some say with the Pinelands. I know the (Ocean County) Sheriff got a new vehicle that can go into that area which is really fantastic because the police’s hands are tied with what they can do,” Noonan added.

“They just don’t give a hoot about the Pinelands,” Noonan added regarding the remarks she heard from some of the ATV riders. “Most people want more enforcement. I don’t know what the county can do but the Pinelands Commission can. They are also coming into our home properties. They are very arrogant and they have children on the back of their quads and over the years people have been hurt in the woods.”

“I don’t have the answer but something has to be done. I would like someone to address it a little more and push it a little harder to some of these people. Some feel it can be moved to another place. We (in Manchester Township) have Heritage Minerals and perhaps we can create a place for them over there because it is contaminated,” Noonan proposed.

She noted pictures showing the harm to wildlife and “the roads they put in there, the fire hazards. I’d appreciate some input.”

Joseph H. Vicari, the director of the Board of Commissioners noted that this was an ongoing problem. “We worked with the Pinelands and we also worked with seven different police departments and what we felt the biggest problem was behind the WOBM building. They would come on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, there was drinking and there were drugs. It was an absolute disgrace.”

“We couldn’t even get an ambulance to the back there. We’ll reach out to the police departments and we’ll get a recommendation out from our professional staff. It is hard to find out where they are coming from. Some of it is on private property; some of it is public property,” he said. Board of Commissioners Deputy Director Commissioner Gary Quinn noted he was a commissioner on the Pinelands Commission for 11 years. “The problem with the Pinelands is that they have no enforcement authority whatsoever under the guidelines of the State of New Jersey.”

“We were having problems a couple of years straight in the state forests and different areas. They were bringing in trucks and just destroying areas and something we were fighting constantly and the Commission was trying to get the state involved so they would put more enforcement in there,” Quinn said. “We relied on the Forest Fire Rangers to do it and I think at the time I was on the Board back then. We had three rangers covering the entire Pinelands. There was no possibility of catching these people and slowing this thing down.”

“The Sheriff’s Department has gotten involved with a lot of the towns around the county. The Sheriff’s Department is not only buying the vehicle you were talking about but other equipment,” Quinn told Noonan.

Paws In The Park

BERKELEY – The Ocean County Department of Parks & Recreation will be hosting their Paws in the Park at the Ocean County Fairgrounds, located at Robert J. Miller Airpark at 901 Route 530, Berkeley Township, on June 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ocean County Parks and Recreation, as well as various dog related vendors, shelters/rescues, trainers, veterinarians, etc. will be tabling and providing demonstrations and information for event-goers. The Ocean County Sheriff’s Department will also be present to assist in the Child Registry Program.

Dog related vendors, shelters, etc. are welcome to contact Marc Steuer at 732-5069090, ext. 5950 for more details. There is no vendor fee or admittance fee to the public.