riverside signal - march 25th - april 7th, 2011

TRUTH. HERITAGE. ENVIRONMENT.

BEACHWOOD • ISLAND HEIGHTS • OCEAN GATE • PINE BEACH • SOUTH TOMS RIVER • TOMS RIVER

FREE March 25th ~ April 7th, 2011

RIVERSIDE SIGNALthe

OCEAN GATE – Six years ago, Ocean Gate School Su-perintendent Frank B. Vanal-esti walked the halls of this bor-ough’s decades-old elementary school and didn’t like what he saw.

“Our school was ugly,” he said. “It was not well main-tained, the hallways were dull and water stained, and we were in dire need of a facelift.”

Setting to work, this admin-istrator called upon school art teacher Michelle Dillon, who is also a local professional artist, and two years ago they started putting together his idea for a large-scale piece of artwork that could be embraced by students and the borough community.

“We talked about a great mu-ral being painted and my wish for student-designed murals to be placed in our cafeteria and

throughout our main building,” he recalled. “I wanted them to reflect our school district’s his-

tory, what makes us so special and what is happening to our school and community. I want-

BEACHWOOD – Late last month, voting members of the Beachwood Land Use Board unanimously denied an ap-plication for the third time in nearly two years that would have allowed the creation of a multiunit special needs housing facility on the 300 block of Cap-stan Avenue, here.

The applicant was HABcore,

Inc., a Monmouth County-based non-profit organization that provides transitional and permanent housing for the homeless and disabled and al-ready owns and operates at least one other property in the bor-ough. That property, a single-family home located near the proposed multiunit facility, was established in 2009.

The multiunit property de-nied by the board, located at 305 and 307 Capstan Avenue near the corner of Beachwood Boulevard, is a pre-existing non-conforming use that in-cludes one single-family dwell-ing and one two-story structure that is a rooming house and apartments. HABcore, Inc.’s proposal included reconfigur-

SOUTH TOMS RIVER – In a move that will likely please more than just borough resi-dents here, South Toms River Mayor Joseph Champagne and the borough council have shown strong support in re-cent months for new plans that would clean up the waterfront area, including removing one remaining eyesore that they ac-knowledge is a black eye on the Toms River: the decades-old abandoned gas station struc-ture in Mathis Plaza.

A second action made by the governing body toward

ing the two attached two-bed-room apartments into two stu-dio apartments and a laundry area so that upon completion the site would contain one sin-gle-family dwelling, five studio apartments and two two-bed-room apartments.

Located in the borough’s RB zone where only single-family homes and schools are permit-ted, the applicant also request-ed use variances for the expan-sion of the non-conforming use and waivers from the require-ment of site plan review and a parking variance, as 16 onsite parking spaces were required for the proposed reconfigured site, but only approximately four had been provided in the plan.

An initial hearing of the ap-plication, held in mid-2009, re-sulted in a unanimous denial by voting board members, many of whom held reservations over safety, parking and the poten-tial for setting a precedent for multiunit housing in the bor-ough, even though it was stated that every proposal is evaluated on its own merits. Residents present also spoke against the application during public com-ment. HABcore, Inc., then ap-pealed to Ocean County Supe-rior Court, where the case was heard by Judge Vincent J. Gras-so, who remanded the matter back to the Beachwood Land

Use Board to review whether the application was inherently beneficial.

On July 12th of last year, a remand hearing was held at the land use board meeting that saw a second unanimous denial by the board, who stat-ed that the proposed use was not inherently beneficial. The matter then returned to Judge Grasso, who concluded that the proposed use was, in fact, in-herently beneficial and that the board was required to perform a four-prong balancing test set forth in a 1992 New Jersey Su-preme Court case to determine whether the inherently benefi-cial use could be denied due to its impact on the neighborhood or community.

The first prong required that the board identify public interests at stake.

Chairman Thomas Prince and Board Member Patricia Barndt felt that the existence of a bus stop for Toms River Re-gional Schools students located at the nearby corner presented a public safety issue due to the high number of children in the immediate area who utilize it.

Board Member Michael Ely focused on security at the site itself, noting that the organi-zation previously had an issue with a resident at their other borough property, and that while security cameras had

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By Erik Weber

By Erik Weber

By Philipp Schmidt

Photo Courtesy MICHELLE DILLONStudents help create Ocean Gate School’s “Great Mural” early last year.

ERIK WEBER, the Riverside SignalThe decades-old, abandoned gas station at Mathis Plaza that has been an eyesore for local residents and visitors may soon be demolished.

cont. on page 11 cont. on page 2

Capstan Ave. Multi-Unit Special Needs Housing Again Denied

South Toms River Seeks Waterfront Cleanup

Ocean Gate School’s “Great Mural” a Focus of Pride

Applicant spearheading state-level letter writing campaign to reverse decision

cont. on page 6

Mar. 25th - Apr. 7th, 2011The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL

On December 16th, 1914, an article in the New York Tribune headlined, “Beachwood Just Laughs at Storms” recounted a recent winter storm which “caused such havoc and prop-erty loss [in the surrounding area, yet] left no traces… along Beachwood’s mile of water frontage.”

The paper attributed this to its position away from the Bar-negat Bay, and went on to de-scribe all the safety features and recreation amenities, stating that construction officially be-gan the day before, placing this official first date of construc-

tion in Beachwood at December 15th, 1914.

Two weeks later, on Decem-ber 30th, the Tribune ran an-other article under the headline “Rapid Progress in Beachwood Work”.

It described that work “is progressing despite ice and snow, by leaps and bounds” and that a letter written by a group of men who distributed tires for the Packard automo-bile company along the eastern United States was received stat-ing that they had purchased a site in Beachwood on which to build “an up-to-date garage for

the accommodation of the resi-dents,” of whom they would be part, having also purchased lots for their bungalows from the Tribune promotion.

The article ran on to de-scribe more of Nickerson’s work, including that “about sev-enty men were now at work lay-ing out streets, putting up street signs and block numbers, num-bering lots, cutting through and improving roadways and building tennis courts. If neces-sary, to have things in readiness for next summer the force will be increased.”

been discussed during prior hearings, he did not feel it was sufficient to stem any potential future issues at the new multi-unit site.

“There is no need for it in this community, no need for it at all, especially in that area,” remarked Board Member Mi-chael Merola.

The second prong of the balancing test required board members to identify the detri-mental effect that would result from granting the site varianc-es.

Mr. Ely focused on the waiv-er for a parking variance.

“I know there is trouble with parking on the streets of Beach-wood,” he said, adding that he was concerned about a higher parking congestion being intro-duced to the neighborhood that had a large amount of children who regularly played in and along Capstan Avenue and uti-lized the bus stop.

Mr. Prince noted that repre-sentatives of HABcore, Inc. had

replied to the parking concern as stating that most of their ten-ants do not drive.

“But they can,” added Mr. Merola.

“There’s no guarantee,” agreed Ms. Barndt.

“The fear I spoke about is if the property is turned over after it’s completed [to an out-side entity], we could have a ma-jor problem with parking,” Mr. Prince continued, adding that he was opposed to granting the parking waiver in general as

the applicant had “various op-portunities to come up with a better scheme and that did not happen; they did not even try.”

Board members also took is-sue with the lack of definition for supervision at the site, with Mr. Prince noting that there had not been a clear answer as to how often a supervisor would be present to check in or moni-tor the facility. Mr. Ely added that any security cameras pres-ent would not be supervised

BEACHWOOD

PHILIPP SCHMIDT, the Riverside Signal Of large concern for land use board members regarding an application for a multiunit special housing facility on Capstan Avenue are the local children.

Beachwood Community Calendar

Land Use Board MeetingThe next meeting of the

Beachwood Land Use Board is on Monday, March 28th at 7pm in borough hall on Pinewald Road.

~Author Visit

Author Donna Zappala will visit Beachwood Library, Beachwood Boulevard, on Monday, March 28th to read from her book, “Albert’s Per-fect Pet,” then do a related craft with children ages 4 to 7. Limited to 15 participants, please register, 732-244-4573.

~Teen Mom

Support SeriesA program focused on ad-

dressing the needs of the teen mom will be held on Thurs-day, March 31st from 6 pm to 8 pm in the Beachwood Li-brary, Beachwood Boulevard. The first in a four-part series co-sponsored by the Beach-wood Municipal Alliance. For more information or to reg-ister, please call Beachwood Branch Manager Nancy Voit-ko at 732-244-4573 ext. 3308.

~Marina Opens

The Beachwood Marina opens on Friday, April 1st, at which time all seasonal boat slip renters may dock their watercraft within their desig-nated space.

~Friends of the

Library MeetingThinking of volunteering

your time to a worthy orga-nization? The Friends of the Beachwood Library provide its branch with a means to support future programs and improvements. All are welcome to attend their next meeting on Friday, April 1st at 10 am in the Beachwood Library, Beachwood Boule-vard.

~Environmental

Commission MeetingThe Beachwood Environ-

mental Commission will hold its next meeting on Monday, April 4th at 7 pm in borough hall on Pinewald Road.

~Republican Club MeetingThe next meeting of the

Beachwood Republican Club will take place on Monday, April 4th at 7 pm in the Com-munity Center on Compass Avenue.

Special Needs Housing, continued from front

Jakes Branch Park Programs

Night of the Stars Spend the night under the

stars and up on the five story observation tower overlooking the Pinelands with the Astro-nomical Society of the Toms River Area (A.S.T.R.A.) on Sat-urday, March 26th from 7:45 pm to 9:30 pm at the Jakes Branch Park Nature Center. If you’re a budding astronomer or stargazer, this night is for you. Volunteer members of the club will be onsite with telescopes to share their out-of-this-world knowledge and answer all of your questions about the great unknown. Participants who own their own telescope are in-vited to bring them along. Club members will be happy to give you pointers on how to find the planets and locate constella-tions. Free, all ages, no registra-tion required.

Live Animal Talk A live animal talk will be

held on Sunday, March 27th from 1 pm to 1:30 pm for all ages at the Jakes Branch Park Nature Center. This event is free and no registration is re-quired.

Beginner-FriendlyBirding Walk

Join park staff on a walk de-signed to build confidence of the beginning birder on Friday, April 1st from 10 am to 11 am beginning at the Jakes Branch Park Nature Center. Partici-pants will search for the parks feathered residents and spring-time visitors. A limited number of binoculars will be available. Please register. Free, ages 12 years to adult, maximum 20 participants.

Homes for Animals: Coffee Can Birdhouse

All animals need places to nest, hibernate and escape from the weather and predators. On Saturday, April 2nd, from 10 am to 11:30 am, participants will have the chance to provide such homes by creating cof-fee can birdhouses in the Jakes Branch Park Nature Center. Please register. Cost is $8 per person, ages five years to adult, maximum 10 participants.

Native American Garden: Corn and Sunflowers

Gardening with native crops provided the Lenape Indians with most of their food. Corn, beans and squash grow togeth-er as “three sisters” and each plant benefits the other. Drop in and plant seeds using tradi-tional gardening tools on Satur-day, April 2nd from 12:30 pm to 3 pm at the Jakes Branch Park Nature Center. No registration required. Free, all ages.

cont. on page 16

cont. on page 14

Building Beachwood: Part IIIBy Erik Weber

The RIVERSIDE SIGNALMar. 25th - Apr. 7th, 2011

BEACHWOOD – This is the real estate report for single-family homes in Beachwood for March 2011.

There are 22 average months of inventory (months to sell present inventory at pres-ent sales rate), 98 active listings with an average list of $178,500 spending an average 107 days on the market.

There were 19 new listings carrying an average list price of $246,684 for this March. The number of new listings for February of last year was 18, and they carried an average list price of $230,599.

Six homes are presently pending with a list value of $210,535 after 56 days on the market. During the same month last year, 16 homes were pend-ing with a list value of $235,093 after 84 days on the market.

One home was sold this March for 97.75 percent of the list price of $178,500, or $174,500. Average days spent on the market before the sale was 107. It was sold under the Federal Housing Administra-tion (FHA) loan and the num-ber of days to close was 80. This is down compared to March 2010, where four homes were sold for 99.89 percent of the average list price of $257,200, or $245,000, with an average of 53 days on the market. One of those sales was conventional while three were FHA, and the average number of days to close was 92.

Judging the numbers, my opinion is that since Beach-wood has 22 months of inven-tory and 19 new listings coming on the market, prices are still dropping with sales showing no

improvement.Robert Suarez is a Realtor

with Coldwell Banker Flanagan Realty and an independent real estate correspondent for the Riverside Signal. For more in-formation, he can be reached at Coldwell Banker Flanagan Re-alty’s Toms River office, located at 1541 Route 37 East, 732-270-6100 or through e-mail at [email protected] and online at www.robert-suarez.net.

Disclaimer: All information was gathered from the Mon-mouth/Ocean M.L.S. All opin-ions are that of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Coldwell Banker and/or Coldwell Banker Flanagan Realty or the River-side Signal.

BEACHWOOD

ERIK WEBER, the Riverside Signal Jakes Branch Park Naturalist Jason Hoger showed creatures from the park nature center to area youth during Jakes Branch Park’s second “birthday” earlier this month.

Teen Advisory BoardThe new Teen Advisory

Board (TAB) will hold its next meeting on Monday, April 4th at 7 pm in the Beachwood Library, Beachwood Bou-levard. Share ideas on teen programming, help plan teen events, talk and work on a fun activity. Refreshments will be served. For teens ages 12 – 17. Please register, 732-244-4573.

~Council Meeting

The next meeting of the Beachwood Council will take place on Wednesday, April 6th at 7 pm in borough hall on Pinewald Road.

~Municipal Alliance

DanceThe Beachwood Munici-

pal Alliance will hold its next dance on Friday, April 8th from 7:30 pm to 10 pm in the Beachwood Community Cen-ter on Compass Avenue. Open to 5th, 6th, and 7th graders, space is limited, bracelets available for purchase begin-ning at 6:30 pm. Parents must pick up at end of dance at 10 pm. For more info, call 732-286-6000.

~Library Book DiscussionA book discussion on Pearl

S. Buck’s Imperial Woman is scheduled for Friday, April 8th at 10:30 am at the Beach-wood Library, Beachwood Boulevard. Recounting the story of Tzu Hsi, the last em-press of China, the author recreates the life of one of the most intriguing rulers during a time of intense turbulence. Copies are available at the branch. No registration nec-essary.

~Breakfast with Easter Bunny

The Beachwood Volun-teer Fire Company will hold its annual Breakfast with the Easter Bunny on Sunday, April 17th from 8 am to noon at their firehouse on Beach-wood Boulevard.

~Easter Egg Hunt

Beachwood will hold its annual Easter egg hunt at Mayo Park on Sunday, April 17th promptly at 1 pm. Any-one with questions are invit-ed to call Councilman Steve Komsa at 732-232-7983.

Do you have a Beachwood community meeting, sports game, fundraiser or event you’d like to see here? Write us at P.O Box 93, Beach-wood, N.J. 08722, e-mail [email protected] or call 732-664-1043 and get it listed!

Jakes Branch Park Programs

Native Plant Swap Go native! On Sunday, April

3rd from 10 am to 1 pm, Jakes Branch Park will be hosting their first Native Plant Swap in the nature center. Staff will be on hand to discuss the benefits of planting native and also have some native seedlings to give away. Participants are encour-aged to bring clippings of their own native plants so they may swap with others. There will be an “early bloomers” plant ID walk and opportunities for youngsters to make their own seedling pot. Take part by help-ing the staff plant their Na-tive American garden, too! No registration required. Free, all ages.

Nature & History: Ospreys, Peregrines and Early Waterbirds

By now the Osprey should be back in their nests and many other shorebirds, such as Pip-ing Plovers, Laughing Gulls and more are returning to their nesting grounds. Participants will be discussing these species with a focus on the Peregrine and Osprey during a Jakes Branch Park Nature and His-tory program on Monday, April 4th from 7 to 9 pm in the na-ture center. Please register. Cost is $5 per person, ages 12 years to adult, maximum 25 partici-pants.

Tiny Trekkers Take a walk with your tod-

dler and learn about forests and ponds in this parent and child program taking place Thurs-day, April 7th from 9:30 am to 10:15 am starting at the Jakes Branch Park Nature Center. Cost is $6 per team (1 child/1 adult), children ages 2 to 3 years plus adult, maximum 10 teams.

Kitchen Art Class Make creative products us-

ing common ingredients found in anyone’s kitchen. Take the projects home but leave the mess at the Jakes Branch Park Nature Center during this pro-gram for children and adults on Thursday, April 7th from 1 pm to 2 pm. Please bring a smock or wear play clothes. Please register. Cost is $8 per team (1 child/1 adult), children ages 3 1/2 to 5 years plus adult, maxi-mum 12 teams.

Real Estate Report with Robert Suarez

Jakes Branch Celebrates 2nd Birthday

Jakes BranchCalendar Continued on

Page 15

Mar. 11th - Mar. 24th, 2011The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL

ISLAND HEIGHTS – Mary Judge, chairwoman of the Is-land Heights Environmental Committee, provided the fol-lowing updates from that orga-nization:

• The Island Heights Envi-ronmental Committee has ap-plied for a “Green Communities Grant” from the NJDEP Divi-sion of Parks & Forestry. This grant will fund the preparation of a Community Forestry Man-agement Plan for the Borough to ensure a more livable com-munity through the proper care and management of trees. For

more information on this grant, see http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/forest/commu-nity/grants-gcg.html

• Anyone interested in join-ing the Environmental Com-mittee’s list-serve for volunteer and educational opportunities, please email Mary Judge at [email protected]. Also, if you would like to discuss joining the Environmental Commit-tee or the Island Heights Sus-tainable New Jersey’s “Green Team,” please email Mary or call her at 732-255-0472, ext. 1.

ISLAND HEIGHTS – This is the real estate report for single-family homes in Island Heights for March 2011.

There are 10.5 average months of inventory (months to sell present inventory at pres-ent sales rate), 21 active listings with an average list of $367,449 spending an average 139 days on the market.

There were eight new listings carrying an average list price of $382,137 for this March. This is a rise from the number of new listings for March of last year, which had two homes listed carrying an average price of $402,000.

There are three pending sales this month with an average list price of $207,600 after an aver-age of 148 days on the market. This is up from last February, which had zero.

There were two homes sold this month, which matches last year’s figures during the same period. This month’s homes sold for 91 percent of the aver-

age listing price of $367,449, or $335,000.

Judging the numbers, my opinion is that Island Heights is showing the worst number on inventory in the area. Prices must drop further to stimulate buyers.

Robert Suarez is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Flanagan Realty and an independent real estate correspondent for the Riverside Signal. For more in-formation, he can be reached at Coldwell Banker Flanagan Re-alty’s Toms River office, located at 1541 Route 37 East, 732-270-6100 or through e-mail at [email protected] and online at www.robert-suarez.net.


ISLAND HEIGHTS

Environmental Committee Updates


Mar. 11th - Mar. 24th, 2011 PAGE 5The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL

In this series, we invite local residents, past and present, to share their stories and memo-ries of living in the area. Below is Ms. Eileen O. Fancher’s story of brisk springtime days spent growing up in Island Heights during the Great Depression.

Any resident interested in sharing their story with the Sig-nal and its readers, please write us at P.O. Box 93, Beachwood, 08722 or [email protected].

~After a long, gray winter

back in the 1930s, we waited for spring impatiently. It was hard to tell when spring had arrived because it would come and go several times before we were really sure it would stay. What joy it was to be able to finally shed heavy winter clothes and ride our bikes up and down the streets and along the river in the April breeze. The air smelled fresh and the sun was a little bit warmer every day.

During recess at our three room school, we couldn’t wait to go outside for baseball, hop-scotch and marbles. It seemed as if every sport had its cham-pion. Itchy May will be remem-bered as the one who dominated the marbles game just as Richie Conklin will be remembered for his baseball. That sport was played on the street with tele-phone poles as bases and the few drivers that passed by our schoolhouse knew enough to drive slowly as the players reluc-tantly made way for them.

The earth came alive in the spring and we looked forward to seeing trees and flowers leaf and bloom. The girls enjoyed

picking maypinks and teaberry, and every student was sent to gather laurel that grew in the woods near Windsor Park to decorate the church for gradu-ation ceremonies. The arrival of the first snow drops, daf-fodils and forsythia marked those early days of spring. Later came the lilacs and roses as the weather warmed. We would pick them and sell small bunches to the neighbors. Hampie Moores deserted house stood on a side road off West End Avenue and the yard provided us with gor-geous lilacs year after year.

By selling flowers and cash-ing in empty soda bottles, we made enough to pay a quar-ter for the Saturday matinee at the Traco Theater in Toms River. That quarter bought us the Pathe news of the week, a cartoon, a serial and the main movie. What a bargain and what a thrill to go all the way into Toms River to spend the afternoon watching pure ad-venture.

The big excitement of spring was the wait to see who went swimming in the river first. Usually the water was warm enough that, by Memorial Day, word would spread that either Carl Netterman or Junie Cow-drick was about to take the first plunge, and our small band of children would rush down to the public dock to witness their bravery. They didn’t stay in long because the water stayed very cold until June brought its sudden rush of hot weather.

The blimps from the Lake-hurst Naval Air Station flew in the spring weather and were a familiar site over the river and

town. Sometimes they would come down low and the sailors would wave to use children on the ground. We loved watching the blimps and were sorry when they stopped flying.

Easter weather was uncertain and we would often be disap-pointed if we had a new Easter bonnet or outfit to wear, only to discover that the weather was gray, windy and bone-chillingly cold. Many days in the spring would warm up around noon and then, by suppertime, the cold, raw winds would start and the damp ground would feel too chilled and uncomfortable to play outside any longer.

One advantage of growing up in a very small town during the Great Depression was that the small population of children was all in the same boat. None of us had any money to spend, so we had to earn it. We also kept our clothes as long as we could fit into them, and nobody felt bad because another kid had more than they did. The styles reflected our resourceful use of available materials and most of the boys in town wore beanie hats with scalloped edg-es that they’d made from the tops of old fedoras. A collection of pins and badges decorated those beanies and they became cherished possessions. Before it got warm, the boys wore aviator helmets with ear flaps and occa-sional goggles perched on top. Bucky Buckwalter looked very much like Charles Lindberg when he donned his leather helmet.

Lin and Wilson Lloyd, Frankie Odenheimer, Hugh Applegate, Les Elms, Jack LaF-

leur and Harry Slusmon, along with almost every young man in town, wore one piece wool bath-ing suits with straps that went over the shoulder. One strap would be left hanging down to resemble what Tarzan wore swinging in the jungle. Many boys still wore knickers and ar-gyle socks and all of those styles of the Thirties appeared as spring arrived.

Spring also brought the bus-tle of yard clean-ups and the smell of burning leaves. Added to that was the smoke from the many forest fires that broke out in the dry vegetation of the Pine Barrens to the west. Seeing a pall of smoke hanging over the town and listening for news of where the fires were burn-ing was an annual occurrence. The Island Heights Volunteer Fire Company joined with the fire companies of surrounding towns to fight those fires for days on end.

The Methodist Church, the only church open during the winter months, would have its graduation ceremonies for its Sunday school as we headed into the hot weather of summer. Fans made from woven palm fronds and bearing the name of Anderson, Campbell and Ap-gar Funeral Home appeared in the pews of the church for the worshipers to use as the weather became warmer.

Soon spring faded into the lush green of summer and it was always surprising to those of us who had awaited its arrival so eagerly to realize that spring was gone before we knew it had really arrived.

ISLAND HEIGHTS

Snapshot of the Past: Island Heights in SpringBy Eileen O. Fancher

Island Heights Community Calendar

Yoga Classes Yoga classes for residents

are held every Thursday morning from 10 am to 11 am in borough hall at the Wana-maker Complex on East End and Van Sant avenues for a cost of $5 per session. Multi-session rates are available.

~Friends of

Library Meeting The next meeting of

the Friends of the Island Heights Library will be held on Monday, March 28th at 7 pm in the Is-land Heights Library, Central Avenue. The Friends of the Island Heights Library are an important link between the library and the pub-lic. The group plans programs and fundrais-ers for specific library needs.

~Preschool Storytime The Island Heights

Library, Central Av-enue, will be hosting preschool storytime on Wednesday, March 30th at 10:30 am. Stop in for stories and songs specially geared for pre-schoolers. This program is for children ages 3 ½ to 5. Please register, 732-270-6266.

~Twisted Fairly Tales

Puppet Show The Island Heights Li-

brary, Central Avenue, will be hosting a Twisted Fairly Tales Puppet Show on Monday, April 4th at 2 pm. We all think we know the story of Rapunzel and her flowing locks of hair and how Prince Charming woke Sleeping Beauty with a kiss. What if those stories hap-pened just a little bit different-ly? Our puppet show will offer an alternative (or twisted) ver-sion of the stories and then you can judge which one you like better. Space is limited to 20, open to ages 3 and up, please register. 732-270-6266.

Mar. 25th - Apr. 7th, 2011The RIVERSIDE SIGNAL Mar. 25th - Apr. 7th, 2011

SOUTH TOMS RIVER – This is the real estate report for single-family homes in South Toms River for March 2011.


There were three new list-ings carrying an average list price of $126,266 for this March. This is a drop from the number of new listings for Feb-ruary of last year, which had 15 new homes listed carrying an average price of $173,496.

There are three pending

sales this month with an aver-age list price of $158,233 after spending an average of 85 days on the market. The number of pending sales last March was one with a list price of $99,950 and a much shorter nine days on the market.

This month, two homes sold for an average of 95 percent of their average listed price of $141,200, or $133,750 after an average of 74 days on the mar-ket. One home was a cash sale and the other a conventional loan with an average of 112 days to close. This is down from March 2010 when there were three sales selling for an aver-age 96.33 percent of their av-

erage listed price of $149,116, or $143,000, after 38 days on the market. Two of those home sales were cash, while the third was an FHA loan. Average num-ber days to close was 61.

Judging the numbers, my opinion is still that South Toms River is showing some activity probably due to the low aver-age listing price. Again, other towns in the area should fol-low this borough’s example and lower the average price for new listings.

Robert Suarez is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Flanagan Realty and an independent real estate correspondent for the Riverside Signal. For more in-

formation, he can be reached at Coldwell Banker Flanagan Re-alty’s Toms River office, located at 1541 Route 37 East, 732-270-6100 or through e-mail at [email protected] and online at www.robert-suarez.net.


cleaning up its public shoreline image includes seeking a bene-ficial conclusion to ongoing liti-gation with Miller Yacht Sales over their storage of broken, dilapidated and deteriorating watercraft and machinery on borough-owned property at Crabbe Point.

Speaking this week at the borough council meeting, May-or Champagne first addressed the status of the abandoned gas

station, which sits in Mathis Pla-za along the Atlantic City Bou-levard corridor that is traveled by thousands of area residents and visitors each day. In the last decade, prior governing bod-ies attempted to lease the space to a vendor who would clean the property up and renovate the building for a commercial use, and even utilized CDBG funds to run new sewage lines to the site, but those plans fell through. Officials at the time said they were reluctant to de-molish the building because it would be nearly impossible to attain the permits and per-mission to rebuild on that site, even in the same footprint, due to Coastal Area Facility Re-view Act regulations and Green Acres restrictions.

“We are making headways to actually eliminate that struc-ture itself, [and] we have the en-gineer and we are studying the

feasibility of having this done this year,” said Mayor Cham-pagne. “Not only doesn’t it look appealing to our residents here in South Toms River, but we have also received complaints from neighboring municipali-ties like Toms River and those that are going through our town, and it’s definitely not a pretty sight.”

Last year, the borough at-tempted to mitigate winter

storm damage to the former mansard roof present on the structure by removing it en-tirely and painting the building white.

“We got more calls that ‘Oh, it’s about time that you’re tak-ing care of that building, we’re so happy,’” recalled Borough Clerk Elizabeth “Betty” Sil-vestri. “Then all of a sudden the [negative] calls are coming back: ‘What happened?’”

She noted that the previ-ous year’s paint job had largely deteriorated and added to the poor aesthetic of the site.

Debating the merits of keep-ing the building standing for a potential future tenant or de-molishing it with the possibility of rebuilding it under CAFRA guidelines, Ernest Hemmann, a longtime resident and borough code enforcement official, said that if a tenant were to move in under any proposal, there was

no onsite parking. “They would have to use

Mathis Plaza to park,” he said, and commenting on the con-dition of the structure, added, “I’m amazed it hasn’t fallen down to some extent.”

Mayor Champagne re-quested that Borough Engineer Chris A. Theodos look further into the conditions of demol-ishing the building with regard to environmental agencies that

may have a stake in regulating the site and to report back to the governing body.

Regarding the cleanup of borough property at Crabbe Point, from boats and machin-ery owned by adjacent Miller Yacht Sales, the mayor stated that he had attempted to have the borough’s attorney in the matter, Gregory McGuckin, a partner in the Forked River-

based firm Dasti, Murphy, Mc-Guckin, Ulaky, Cherkos and Connors, update the borough council on the long-running litigation, but thus far had not been successful.

Following the meeting, Mr. Hemmann, who was initially the code enforcement official in the 1980s and first half of the 1990s, gave some insight on the history of the site and its ongo-ing issues.

“Back around 1986, a lot of those boards that are on the South Toms River property right now at this moment came from the water,” he recalled, stating that officials at the time had ordered their removal from the river due to their poor, and often submerged, condition. “Then his cranes and all the old junk – cars, boats – some-how wound up on borough property.”

“It was ignored for several years, then it became an issue, then it was ignored as an issue,” the code enforcement official continued, who added that he left the code enforcement po-sition in 1996 and returned in 2007. “I got a hold of Council-man [Sandford] Ross and asked him, ‘What’s still going on with this property?’, and he and I went over there and took many pictures of the same items that were back there in 1986 on the borough’s property.”

Mr. Hemmann said he was concerned that the vessels left to deteriorate on borough prop-erty could potentially be spill-ing old fuel into the surround-ing area, and could possibly be left to the borough to clean up if the owner of the property, Donald Miller, should die or otherwise remove himself from ownership.

“I almost feel like the bor-ough is going to get sucked into having to clean up this prop-erty, and we’re probably talking millions of dollars,” he added.

Attempts to reach the ma-rina owners were unsuccessful at press time.

SOUTH TOMS RIVER

South Toms River Community Calendar

PTO Fundraiser The South Toms River El-

ementary School PTO is hold-ing a fundraiser sale of Old Monmouth Peanut Brittle Co. products until April 1st. Inter-ested parties may go online to www.oldmonmouthcandies.com and submit their order by e-mailing [email protected].

~Senior Meet & Greet

The South Toms River Rec-reation Commission will host its next senior meet and greet on Sunday, March 27th from 3 pm to 5 pm in the Recreation Center on Drake Lane. Re-freshments will be served.

~Storyteller’s Workshop

The South Toms River Rec-reation Commission will hold its next storyteller’s workshop on Saturday, April 2nd at 7 pm in the Recreation Center on Drake Lane. Children up to 10 years old and their par-ents are welcome to come and listen to an interactive, narra-tive story. Cost is $3, children may wear their pajamas and snacks will be available.

~Sewerage Authority

Meeting The South Toms River Sew-

erage Authority will have its next meeting on Tuesday, April 5th at 7 pm in the Sew-erage Authority Building on Mill Street.

~Municipal Alliance

Cheesecake Sale The South Toms River Mu-

nicipal Alliance will be ac-cepting orders for its annual Cinderella Cheesecake sale on Thursday, April 7th at the South Toms River Elementary School on Dover Road.


Waterfront Cleanup, continued from front

ERIK WEBER, the Riverside Signal Boats and machinery stored on borough property adjacent to Miller Yacht Sales is currently under litigation with the Borough of South Toms River, who are demanding their removal.


SOUTH TOMS RIVER

By 2009, our funds were running short. We sponsored many fundraising events, such as a Guitar Hero competition, to help pay for the walkabout, but the events took up much of our time and grant sources were drying up. With the generous support of the Wednesday eve-ning meeting of the Toms River Rotary, Hecht Trailers and the efforts of Barbara Englehardt and Vicky Geletei, we were able to find donations and funding to pull off the walkabout, and complete the circuit of twenty-one counties of New Jersey.

We also planned to open a farmers’ market, and despite fierce opposition from the Downtown Toms River group, who we were told by market vendors felt entitled to monop-olize the markets of surround-ing municipalities by suddenly disallowing them from partici-pating in nearby events or risk losing their downtown market space, we were able to raise enough from our now limited market (which didn’t even take place the same day as Down-town Toms River’s) to at least pay for food and a fall baseball team in South Toms River.

The National Guard also agreed to provide vehicular support and training, thus lead-ing to some returning veterans from Iraq taking the walkers to 88 Acres and playing the fierc-est game of Capture the Flag ever. Turns out that soldiers are excellent at forming groups to advance or defend territory and objects. It’s sort of what they do for a living, after all.

Walkabout 2009 officially kicked off at the Statue of Lib-erty, and on the very first day of competition, we were invited to sleep at Liberty Science Cen-ter and be treated to a special screening of the Star Trek mov-ie at their IMAX screen, the largest in North America. From there it was onto Montclair Uni-versity, checking in with one of the nicest men in the radio business, Thunder 98.5’s Cap-tain Jack, along the way, before heading into bear country.

For the next three days, we saw bear every day at least 12 times a day as we climbed into the hilly and often unfriendly side of the state. One of those days, as I settled in for my three hours’ sleep in the truck, a knock came on the window at about 2 am. Jonathan Reckeweg had spotted a bear in camp. It had perched its many-hundred pounds on the side of our Hecht trailer, smelling the food with-in, then waited for a raccoon to open the bear-proof box where

it was all stored. Once opened, the bear scared the raccoon off and began devouring the food. The older kids who were sleep-ing outside were understand-ably frightened.

Jonathan bravely stayed at my side while I tried to get the bear to leave. I started yell-ing, “Git! Git! You old baar!” as if the bear only spoke hick. It was a very strange scene. I was born in Queens and raised on Long Is-land and don’t have a drop of southern blood in me (unless you count southern Italian), but believe me, when you talk to a bear, it’s only natural to talk full-blown Redneck.

The bear lunged, and Jona-than and I both stepped back, Jonathan slipping over the lid of a container before scram-bling back to his feet. The bear, not amused by all the poncho-flapping, shouting and faux-southern accents, retreated into the woods, dropping the food as it left. When Mr. Frank and Jonathan went over to inves-tigate, the raccoons, who had caused the trouble in the first place, had retrieved their meal. Not only did the bear get away with the food, but it dented the fender of the trailer.

The next day brought fur-ther adventures in Bear Coun-try. When we had trained for the walkabout, the National Guard had advised that in case of a close encounter with a bear, one should shout the bear down and appear unafraid. On a walk through some elemen-tary school fields up there, one of our groups encountered a bear at close quarters. Brandon Murray, who weighed less than 100 pounds soaking wet and stood about five feet tall, decid-ed to heed the guard’s advice. He challenged the bear, using menacing gestures and fighting words (but he didn’t speak Red-neck – he simply inquired if the bear desired “a piece of this”). The bear was not exactly im-pressed. It roared, turned and went back to the woods, where it called a friend (“Hey Silas, come check out this bald, skin-ny-legged raccoon challenging me!” I imagine). Returning with

said friend, I assume he barked “This ain’t no raccoon, Beau-regarde, that’s a you-man!” The bears shook their heads and went back into the forest. Along the way, they let every

tick, beetle and mosquito know our ex-act GPS coor-dinates, and they all paid us many sub-sequent vis-its, landing, clinging, bit-ing and em-bedding.

Another one of our sponsoring groups was the Elks Club who, courtesy

their network, were able to al-low us to leave Bear Country

and camp at one of their loca-tions. The next morning, the walkers awoke for a treat: every one of them was to be treated to a balloon ride.

After that lofty enterprise, the walk flat stretched out along days and miles. We threw out the first pitch at a Somer-set Patriots game as we headed toward a break in Old Bridge, where we had bagels, ice cream, showers and a swimming pool (the hospitality of Old Bridge earned it the 2009 award for Friendliest Town). We walked to Sandy Hook and spent a rainy day at the beach. The next day, at Monmouth University, we were honored for planting the first trees at the new arboretum in West Long Branch and met then-gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie.

Rain continued as we walked south. Finally, we arrived at First Energy Park, where we’d been invited to sleep in the parking lot, but the mud and the rain and the Bob Dylan concert the day before had made accom-modations impossible. Nancy Mercadante, miracle worker and project manager, found a way to convince the Toms River YMCA to let us stay there over-night. The next morning, we were ready to return to South Toms River. Our walk had been the longest to date – 251 miles – but we accomplished our goal. In three years, the Gatherer In-stitute led area youth to every county in New Jersey, planting 3,000 trees along the way.

The experience was won-derful, but the paperwork requirements and fundrais-ing had sunk me as a leader. I

Students Honored

Frank Domenico Cipriani

Seasons of the Gatherer Institute: Part V

cont. on page 14

ERIK WEBER, the Riverside Signal South Toms River Borough Mayor Joseph Champagne commended elementary honor students during a council meeting on March 21st.


Welcome, Spring! As we put our boots and snow shov-els away till next winter, our thoughts turn to spending time outdoors again and exploring the many art shows and exhibits lined up for the coming warm weather seasons. I hope to see you at several shows, come up and say hello!

This issue, we will explore the many facets of TRACx81, an artists’ group based in down-town Toms River.

TRACx81, which is short for Toms River Artists’ Com-munity, Exit 81, is comprised of area artists who meet monthly in a relaxed, congenial group to discuss art, critique mem-bers’ works, share informa-tion, and participate together in area exhibits and shows. Members include professional and emerging artists who work in a wide variety of materials, including glass, ceramics, en-

caustics, printmaking, photog-raphy, oils, acrylics, pastels and collage, as well as musicians.

TRACx81 was the brain-child of Yvonne Yaar, a local hot-glass artist who was work-ing in a down-town Toms River gallery in 2005. While there, she met a number of local artists who were look-ing for a down-town venue to show and sell their work, but saw that such a cooperative space didn’t exist. And thus, a vision was born, as evidenced by the group’s origi-nal mission statement:

“The mission of the Co-op is twofold. First, to strengthen the artist community by creating an

affordable, active and vibrant environment, where local art-ists can work, teach and exhibit their art – thus enriching cul-ture and arts in our local com-

munity. Second, by enriching the local commu-nity, we hope to serve as part of the catalyst for revitalization in Downtown Toms River.”

Initial inter-est was very high among the many local artists and membership was growing,

however, TRACx81 was hav-ing trouble finding a building downtown that was affordable and amenable to gallery and studio spaces. As time went by, the practicality of operating a

TOMS RIVER

Cattus Island Park Programs

Tour Cattus Island by BikeCattus Island Park now has

adult bicycles and helmets of various sizes to loan out for use within the park. The bicycles are free to use with a driver’s license held until their return, and may be borrowed for two hours, seven days a week, be-tween 8 am and 2 pm. They must not be taken out of the park.

Ocean County Geocache Hunt

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure. GPS devices are used to locate caches hidden throughout the world. Once the cache is located, the finder leaves a small trinket and their name in a log. This van tour will take place on Saturday, March 26th and leave from the park-ing lot at Cattus Island Park at 8 am to travel to natural areas throughout Ocean County to search for caches until 4 pm. If you have a GPS unit, please bring it; if not, you are still welcome to participate. Please bring lunch and be prepared to do some hiking through brush. There may be up to three miles of hiking. Please register. Cost is $14 per person, ages 12 years to adult, maximum 12 partici-pants.

Step Into SpringIt’s amazing what you can

find just a few small steps from the Cooper Environmental Center at Cattus Island Park. Spring Azures are spreading their wings. Buds are burst-ing out leaves and flowers. Fiddleheads of ferns are push-ing their way out of the musty loam. Spring is, well… spring-ing at Cattus Island Park. Let a naturalist open your eyes to the wonder on Sunday, March 27th and Sunday, April 3rd from 10 am to 11 am. There is no cost or registration required. All ages.

Scales and TalesSnakes are frequently subject

to many myths. Join a naturalist as they uncover the real truths about snakes in this live ani-mal presentation on Saturday, March 26th, Sunday, March 27th, Saturday, April 2nd and Sunday, April 3rd from 11 am to 11:30 am at the Cooper En-vironmental Center in Cattus Island Park. There is no cost or registration required. All ages.

Turtle FeedingThe Cooper Environmental

Center at Cattus Island Park houses a variety of native tur-tles, including the Diamond-back Terrapin, the Box Turtle and the Painted Turtle. Natu-ralists and youth volunteers will be on hand to answer all of your questions while they feed

TOMS RIVER – Town-ship residents will see another longtime tenant of the ailing Bellcrest Plaza, Fischer Boule-vard, here, move out following the approval by the Toms River Planning Board for 27-year pla-za tenant Dr. Warren Mergue-rian to set up shop down the street in a renovated building all his own.

Foodtown, the plaza’s largest tenant of the last three decades, closed as a result of failing eco-nomic times last year, leaving an absence of a prominent an-chor storefront.

Dr. Merguerian came before the board last week for a re-quested parking plan variance for his proposed new office at 557 Fischer Boulevard, located on the corner of Thistle Avenue across from Hot Tomato, an Ital-ian restaurant. The township ordinance requires one parking space per every 100 square feet

of building space; Dr. Mergue-rian’s new site has an existing structure totaling 1,960 square feet but only 12 parking spaces available, including two inside a rear enclosed garage.

Representing Mr. Mergue-rian’s application were Harvey L. York, of the township-based firm of Novins, York and Jaco-bus, and Millis Looney, a local professional engineer.

At the start of testimony, Mr. York noted that the site had previously been approved by the board for use first as an ice cream parlor and later a day-care center, but that any prior applicants had failed in their attempts at using the site, allow-ing Dr. Merguerian the ability to purchase it.

“What our client proposes is to take the building and reno-vate it,” he said.

Ms. Looney confirmed that the applicant would renovate

the current structure and prop-erty, including upgrading the facilities, restriping the parking lot, installing landscaping and changing the sign to reflect the new business.

Defending the property’s ability to handle the lack of suf-ficient parking under its pro-posed use as a dental office, having 12 spaces where 20 are required, Mr. York stated that the business would not at any time require more than the ex-isting space as it reflected the maximum number of staff and patients the facility would be able to hold.

Using the equation that with the four projected operatories, or exam rooms, the renovated facility would hold, he said that even if the business had four staff members, four patients in the available chairs and four people in the waiting room, it would only need the existing 12 spaces.

Dr. Merguerian confirmed Mr. York’s assessment.

Ms. Looney also stated that if such an extreme situation as that occurred, there were ap-proximately four or five park-ing spaces on the adjacent This-tle Drive that could be utilized, which she added would not negatively impact the neighbor-hood.

Toms River Township Plan-ner Jay Lynch stated that dis-cussions had been held de-bating the current parking requirements for medical of-fices as other professional of-fices only required one parking space for every 250 square feet of building space, but that “we

Art and Artists with Jean LeBaron

New Fischer Blvd. Dentist Office Approved

32-Year Twp. Employee Honored

By Philipp Schmidt

Toms River Community Calendar

Benefit Concert A benefit concert for Eliza-

beth Burns, an eight-year-old township resident who has en-dured numerous emergency medical procedures, will be hosted by the Music Academy, where she takes lessons, and held in the Stone Pony in As-bury Park on Sunday, March 27th from 1 pm to 8 pm. For more information or to find out how to make a donation, please call 732-505-6080.

~Recreation

Commission Meeting The next meeting of the

Toms River Recreation Com-mission will be on Thursday, March 28th at 7 pm in town hall on Washington Street.

~Teen Writers’ Club

Area youth are invited to the Toms River Library on Mon-day, March 28th from 3:30 pm to 5 pm to meet other writers and share their work during the next meeting of the Teen Writers Club. Open to ages 12 to 18, registration not re-quired.

~Special Council Meeting A special township council

meeting will be held on Fri-day, March 29th at 5:30 pm in town hall on Washington Street for purposes of intro-ducing the 2011 municipal budget and other actions of the governing body.

~Developmental Disabilities

Advisory Committee Meeting The Mayor’s Advisory Com-

mittee on Developmental Disabilities will hold its next meeting on Saturday, March 30th at 6:30 pm in town hall on Washington Street.

Erik Weber, the Riverside Signal Township Recreation Department Jack Spangler was honored by Mayor Thomas Kelaher for his 32 years of employment.

Jean LeBaron

cont. on next page 15

cont. on next page 15


TOMS RIVERCattus Island Park Programs

and otherwise care for their na-tive turtles on Saturday, March 26th, Sunday, March 27th, Sat-urday, April 2nd and Sunday, April 3rd from 1:30 pm to 2 pm at the Cooper Environmental Center in Cattus Island Park. There is no cost or registration required. All ages.

Discovery BackpacksCattus Island Park has

10 discovery backpacks. The packs, which may be borrowed for free with a driver’s license held until their return, contain tools to help families enjoy and learn about the park, including binoculars, several field guides, an audio guide to bird sounds, an aquatic dip net, tools for catching and holding insects, and several suggested activi-ties and games. The packs are appropriate for family groups with children of any age.

Wetlands Exploration: Life in a Marsh Pond

The warmer days of spring bring a variety of new opportu-nities for viewing wildlife. Cat-tus Island Park’s 2 pm nature walks represent a long tradition of offering a fun, educational and interactive look at the wilds of the park. Take a break from the daily grind and get back to the basics with a short jaunt through one of Ocean County’s best-kept secrets on Saturday, March 26th or Sunday, March 27th for a “Life in a Marsh Pond” walk.

History Walking Tour of Stafford Township

In 1735, before sailing from Staffordshire, England, James Haywood, Perry Paul and Luke Courtney purchased the first tracts of land in Stafford Town-ship. By 1743, the area of Staf-ford was a bustling community. The public is invited to join a two-mile guided tour of histori-cal homes, churches, taverns and cemeteries on Wednesday, March 30th from 8 am to 3:30 pm. Participants will first meet at the Cooper Environmental Center in Cattus Island Park and must be able to walk for a sustained period of time. Please register. Cost is $14 per person, ages 9 years to adult, maximum 12 participants.

Spring Has Sprung: Signs of Spring

The warmer days of spring bring a variety of new opportu-nities for viewing wildlife. Cat-tus Island Park’s 2 pm nature walks represent a long tradition of offering a fun, educational

TOMS RIVER – This is the real estate report for single-family homes in Toms River for March 2011.

There are 29.48 average months of inventory (months to sell present inventory at pres-ent sales rate), 21 active listings with an average list of $364,703 spending an average 87 days on the market.

There were 213 new listings carrying an average list price of $420,418 for this March. This is a rise from the number of new listings for March of last year, which had 184 homes listed carrying an average price of $355,110.

There are 85 pending sales this month with an average list price of $387,225 after an av-erage of 110 days on the mar-ket. Last March had a higher number of pending sales, with 52 listed at an average price of

$355,926 after an average 100 days on the market.

There were 30 homes sold so far this month for an average 93 percent of their average list value of $364,703, or $340,263, after spending 87 days on the market. Ten of the sales were cash, 11 were conventional loans and nine were FHA. The number of average days to close was 67.

Last March, 56 homes were sold for an average 94.5 per-cent of their average list price of $354,664, or $337,698, af-ter spending an average of 106 days on the market. Fourteen of those sales were cash, while 23 were conventional and 17 were FHA. The number of average days on to close was 58.

Judging the numbers, my opinion is that Toms River is not showing many signs of im-provement. With close to 30

months of inventory, the prices of homes are declining in the township.



TOMS RIVER – It’s late at night on a Tuesday evening when you get an urgent knock at your door. Upon answering, a neighbor tells you that the house across the street is on fire. What do you do?

If you’re Harding Drive resident Wayne Ratti, you bolt across the street to the house, which is fast becoming a blaz-ing inferno, and make sure all your neighbors made it out safely. When you find out that an eight-year-old girl hasn’t, you immediately run in to save her life while risking your own.

That’s what happened last year on the night of September 7th on Forest Grove Avenue in the East Dover section of Toms River, and earlier this week the township council, here, present-ed him with a heroism award to commend him for succeeding in his mission and reuniting a family.

While Mr. Ratti was unable to attend due to a work com-mitment, his mother, Nancy, received the honor in his place as Mayor Thomas F. Kelaher re-counted the events of that eve-ning, which are printed below.

On a September night in 2010, at 11 o’clock at night, there was a commotion in the house at a neighbor’s yard: the house was on fire, and the woman at the house said three of her four chil-dren had escaped, but said that her eight-year-old daughter was still in the house, and so with complete disregard for his own safety and to get the child out of the house immediately foremost in his mind, Mr. Ratti entered the home through the now com-pletely engulfed in flames front

door and began searching for the child.

Once inside the house, flames were all around the living room but especially intensified on the ceiling above him. The smoke was intense and made visibility poor and breathing very hard. He called out the girl’s name and after what seemed like an eternity, but was actually only 30 seconds, he heard her voice coming to him from an adja-cent room. After making his way to her and finding her, he took her by the hand and tried to make it back out the front

door, but the flames had already engulfed that whole area and they were unable to exit through the front door. With visibility now extremely poor, he knew he had to find another way to exit quickly. He miraculously caught a glimpse, of all things, a street-light coming through a sliding door in the kitchen that was ad-jacent to the living room near

the rear of the house. Upon making his way to

the sliding door he opened it, exited the house and narrow-ly escaped the fully engulfed home and was able to reunite the eight-year-old girl with her mother.

Mayor Kelaher stated that he felt Mr. Ratti was a role mod-el for all Toms River citizens, and commended his mother for raising him to have such values and honor as to selflessly risk his life for that of a child.

Late last year, Mr. Ratti was also awarded a Citizens Hero-

ism Award at the Toms River Fire Department’s 2011 Officers Swearing In and Awards Cer-emony, held at Ocean County College.

The next township council meeting will be a special meet-ing held on Tuesday, March 29th at 5:30 pm for purposes of introducing the 2011 municipal budget and other potential ac-

By Erik Weber

Silent Film Comedy with Live Music

On Tuesday, April 5th at 7 pm, the Toms River Library will be hosting a screening of Buster Keaton’s 1928 silent film comedy, “The Camera-man,” featuring live piano accompaniment by silent film expert and composer Ben Model. Please register, 732-349-6200.

~Planning Board Meeting Toms River Township’s next

planning board meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 6th at 6 pm in town hall on Washington Street.

~Mayhem Poets

On Wednesday, April 6th at 7 pm, the Toms River Library will be hosting “Mayhem Po-ets,” a program featuring dy-namic young performance poets who will spoken word with hip-hop rhythms and theatrical techniques to revo-lutionize traditional concepts of poetry. Please register, 732-349-6200.

~Zoning Board Meeting The next zoning board of ad-

justment meeting will be held on Thursday, April 7th at 7:30 pm in town hall on Washing-ton Street.

~Flowerfest: A Gnome

and Garden Show Celebrate spring with exhib-

its, demonstrations, displays and workshops at the Toms River Library’s Flowerfest on Saturday, April 9th from 11 am to 3 pm. Learn gardening tricks, flower arranging, how to create a peaceful haven, ways to have an eco-friendly garden and more. No regis-tration required.

~Environmental

Commission Meeting The Toms River Environ-

mental Commission meeting will next meet on Monday, April 11th at 7 pm in town hall on Washington Street.

Do you have a Toms River community meeting, sports game, fundraiser or event you’d like to see here? Write us at P.O Box 93, Beach-wood, N.J. 08722, e-mail [email protected] or call 732-664-1043 and get it listed!


East Dover House Fire Hero Commended

ERIK WEBER the Riverside Signal Mayor Thomas Kelaher honored the mother of Wayne Ratti, who saved an eight-year-old girl from her burning house late last year.

Cattus IslandCalendar Continued on

Page 15


OCEAN GATE – Earlier this week at the borough coun-cil meeting, Cape May Avenue resident and Ocean Gate Se-niors Club member Mildred Shepherd approached the bor-ough council with an offer for the club to replace the trees removed from the Adrian Hall property earlier this month.

Mayor Kennedy replied that the club members would need

to submit a plan to the borough to determine what type of trees would be planted and where, as the property where the trees stood are now slated for pos-sible use as bocce ball courts.

Mrs. Shepherd said that the number of replaced trees would depend upon their price.

Council President Richard Russell, who is leading the ef-fort to install the recreation

courts, stated that he could in-corporate the planting of new trees within the plan.

And in other news from the public comment portion of the council meeting:

• Mrs. Shepherd also brought up issues at Adrian Hall that included the recre-ation closet, where the senior club records are kept, being blocked by a large coffee table, and that furniture had appar-ently been getting left in the facility by unknown individuals.

Mayor Kennedy replied that public works department em-ployees were steadily tackling the various issues at Adrian Hall, and have been on hand to clean up and clear out a lot of the random items present in the facility due to the additional time afforded by the borough’s recent switch to privatized gar-bage pickup.

• Joanne Hannemann noti-fied the borough council that she and a number of other par-ents in the borough were start-ing a petition drive to make the community aware that the Ocean Gate Market and Deli was selling smoking parapher-nalia that could be utilized to by local youth “smoke harmful substances.”

Ms. Hannemann further asked if the borough council could do anything to ban such devices from being sold in the area, and stated that she had asked the manager of the mar-ket to remove the items, which he had done, but that they had returned a few weeks later.

Mayor Kennedy said it was his understanding that the items were legal to sell in New Jersey, and that he didn’t think the borough government could do anything to restrict their sale.

“Can I ask the other parents and so forth to be in the peti-tion and maybe stop patroniz-ing the store as long as they’re selling these items and things of that nature?” Ms. Hannemann asked. “I know a lot of people are not going to patronize the store and not bring our kids in with us as long as they have them there.”

“I understand exactly,” said Mayor Kennedy.

“Can I go around with this petition?” asked Ms. Hannemann.

“It’s a free country,” replied Mr. Russell.

“You can go around as yourself but not representing anybody but yourself and your organization or group of par-

ents,” said Mayor Kennedy. “You’re not representing us.”

Ms. Hannemann also pre-sented the borough council with a sheet titled “Petition to stop the sale of Hookahs and bongs at Ocean Gate Deli” and a packet of information printed from an unknown source detail-ing the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s efforts to stop the sale of drug paraphernalia in Detroit, Michigan.

Borough Attorney James Gluck advised the govern-ing body not to comment on the matter further, and Ms. Hannemann concluded her public comments.

• Ocean Gate Avenue resi-dent Stanley Moore reported that he was progressing with his effort to establish a youth bas-ketball league in the borough and had submitted a detailed plan to the governing body for review.

“It’s a bright beginning and [could] make a workable plan,” stated Mr. Russell.

Councilman Tony Digironi-mo commended Mr. Moore on the intricate work included in his plan and asked that he ap-proach the finance committee to “streamline” the potential costs associated with the league.

• East Bayview Avenue resi-dent Lou Purcaro approached the governing body to request that they “revisit the curfew is-sue we talked about the past several years.”

“I’d like you to consider changing the present 11 pm curfew during the summers to 10 pm to be consistent with Berkeley Township, who sur-rounds us,” he said. “I would also like you to consider chang-ing the wordage [of the curfew ordinance] from ’17 and under’ to ‘under 18.’”

Mr. Purcaro also requested that the borough look into hav-ing the recycling bin at the pub-lic parking lot on East Bayview Avenue emptied, as it had been full for “several weeks.”

Mayor Kennedy said that emptying the bin was the re-sponsibility of the county and that he would contact them the following day regarding it.

The next meeting of the borough council will be on Wednesday, April 20th at 7 pm in borough hall on Ocean Gate Avenue, at which time the pub-lic hearing on the 2011 borough municipal budget will be held. A previously scheduled coun-cil workshop meeting for April 13th was cancelled.

OCEAN GATE

Senior Club May Replace Removed Adrian Hall Trees By Philipp Schmidt

Ocean Gate Community Calendar

Free Karate Classes Free karate classes are of-

fered every Friday from 6 pm to 7 pm in Adrian Hall on East Cape May Avenue to all borough residents.

~Seniors Club Meeting

The next meeting of the Ocean Gate Seniors Club will be on Friday, April 1st at 12:30 pm in Adrian Hall on East Cape May Avenue.

~Teen Dance

The Ocean Gate Recreation Committee will hold its next teen night dance on Friday, April 1st from 7 pm to 9 pm at Adrian Hall on East Cape May Avenue. Open to teens no older than 17, refreshments will be served and entertain-ment provided by DJ Walkure and DJ Robbie Robb from Lazerline Entertainment. Admission is free. Parents of teens attending from other towns must be on hand to pick up their child at the end of the evening.

~Municipal

Alliance Meeting The next meeting of the

Ocean Gate Municipal Alli-ance will be held on Monday, April 4th at 8 pm in Adrian Hall on East Cape May Av-enue.

~Loin of Pork Dinner

The Civic Club of Ocean Gate will be hosting its annual “Loin of Pork” dinner on Sat-urday, April 9th from 5 pm to 8 pm in Adrian Hall on East Cape May Avenue. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. Din-ner will include loin of pork slices on sauerkraut, garlic-buttered mashed potatoes, string beans, applesauce, bev-erage and dessert. For more information, call Terry at 732-269-2019 or Maria at 732-237-9121.

Meals on Wheels with the Mayor

ERIK WEBER, the Riverside Signal Longtime borough resident Adele Hanusey is was brought her Meals on Wheels meal by Ocean Gate Mayor Paul Kennedy during that organization’s annual mayoral promotion earlier this week.


ed the fact that this was a Single School District (SSD) that has been in existence since 1914 to be respected and preserved, [and] since Ocean Gate was the first town to consciously do something about renewable en-ergy sources and our students can learn about conservation of resources, Go Green became the theme.”

Mrs. Dillon, a Beachwood resident and member of that borough’s environmental com-

mission, began to collaborate with another teacher on apply-ing for grants.

“We were awarded the Mary McMullen grant, from the Na-tional Art Education Founda-tion,” she said. “[The mural] was called the Ocean Gate School and Community Spirit Mural, [and] the concept was to survey the students, staff and commu-nity as to what they would like to see put in the mural.”

The resulting choices, she continued, resulted in it featur-ing an overall environmental collage, including “the unique

one-room schoolhouse, where kindergarten is still taught, with children interacting; the beach, which is so much a part of the community; the special wind turbine; a rainbow; gull; monarch butterfly; boats on the bay [and] a crab, too.”

“Works of art naturally in-spire and compel the viewer to draw upon the meaning of what they see from their own experiences and feelings,” said Mr. Vanalesti. “The overall en-

vironment in which children learn and spend their days is important. It needs to be a hap-py place, and having a special work of art that speaks about the place they live and learn en-riches the experience of all who gaze upon it.”

Besides allowing for just the conceptualization and creation of the “Great Mural,” the grant also provided for teaching post-ers, the installation of a school art club and a series of “mini-murals” around the school, said Ms. Dillon.

In the club, “we first learned

about the history of murals, social studies used as artistic message, and what elements and principles of design make strong murals,” she said. “Most classes sketched their own ideas for mini-murals [and] club members voted on the strongest designs and after breaking into groups proceeded to paint mu-rals throughout the school.”

“Some creative parents as-sisted, too,” the art teacher added.

While that was going on, through the early and middle part of 2010, “various students helped me paint the large mu-ral, which I later finished off,” she said. “Students and staff were very enthusiastic watching the mural slowly come to life, [and] one little boy exclaimed, ‘Hey, I didn’t know my art teacher is an artist!’ The funni-est comment was a first grader who observed that ‘Mrs. Dillon is drawing right on the walls!’, something he thought was very naughty of me.”

“It was done in time for the new school year, 2010,” Mrs. Dillon stated. “It was a labor of love.”

Mr. Vanalesti couldn’t be prouder.

“The students, staff and parents love it,” he said. “The students were able to see it as a work in progress, but they react with happy faces [and] joy in be-ing part of a beautiful thing.”

“It accomplishes the goal of making this an environment filled with spirit and pride and being part of something special here in the Ocean Gate School as well as community,” the su-perintendent added.

The murals, he continued, were just another way that the

Ocean Gate School values tradi-tional academics alongside the arts.

“The Ocean Gate School is an educational environment where all the arts are respected and celebrated, from music and drama to fine art and poetry – our school believes that art en-hances the students’ academic success in many ways,” he said. “It’s typical for all our students, teachers and even staff and ad-ministration to perform music together by singing songs at concerts.”

The Ocean Gate School band is a regular part of the borough’s Fourth of July parade and festivities, with Mr. Vanal-esti contributing on guitar.

“We have had hundreds of family members on their feet

participating in sing-alongs,” he continued. “Research has proven over and over again how the arts help to enrich academ-ics. Music has mathematical connections. Art clearly has dimension and design connec-tions and, of course, science aspects. Poetry is part of lan-guage arts literacy.”

“Any school or state cut-ting off financial support for the arts is missing the key to academic success,” stated Mr. Vanalesti. “Arts inspire us all and help students to see [and] feel the beauty in culture and in their lives. They also can make the logical academic connec-tions.”

We are a National Blue Rib-bon School,” he added. “I rest my case.”

OCEAN GATE – This is the real estate report for single-family homes in Ocean Gate for March 2011.


There were four new listings carrying an average list price of $198,450 for this March. The number of new listings for March of last year was 12, and they carried an average list price of $283,308.

Seven homes are presently pending with an average list value of $214,950 after an av-erage 142 days on the market.

During the same month last year, two homes were pending with an average list value of $214,950 after 156 days on the market.

There was one home sold this month, at 98 percent of its list price of $123,900, or $121,000. It was sold under an FHA loan after 81 days to close. This matches last March, when one home was also sold. That single-family home was sold for 89 percent of its list price of $550,000, or $490,000.

Judging the numbers, my opinion is that Ocean Gate continues to have an excessive inventory that has increased in the past month. With only one sale this month, I foresee prices dropping further.



OCEAN GATE


Marles Bingo Benefit Held

ERIK WEBER, the Riverside Signal Borough Police Chief Reece J. Fischer concentrates on his bingo cards during a fundraiser event for the children of slain Ocean Gate Officer Jason C. Marles at the Ocean Gate Yacht Club earlier this month.

Photo Courtesy MICHELLE DILLON Ocean Gate School art teacher Michelle Dillon poses before the completed mural.

Ocean Gate School’s “Great Mural”, continued from front


Barnegat Bay has the unfor-tunate distinction of being the second most heavily polluted bay in the United States. Learn how to help the bay by training and volunteering as a Barnegat Bay Volunteer Master Natural-ist. This spring, Ocean County College’s Continuing & Profes-sional Education Department is offering this program for the first time. Classes begin on April 12, 2011 and end on May 21, 2011. The instructors are Dr. Stan Hales, Director of the Barnegat Bay Partnership, and Dr. Jim Merritt, Director of the Sedge Island Natural Resource Education Center. The pro-gram consists of both classroom sessions held on Tuesday eve-nings at Ocean County College and Saturday field sessions, where participants will get hands-on experience within the watershed. Participants will re-ceive 4.2 CEU credits for com-pleting the course. To receive the Barnegat Bay Volunteer Master Naturalist certificate, they must complete 40 hours of volunteer environmental ser-vice at an approved site. For additional information and to register, contact Ocean County College at 732-255-0404, or vis-it www.ocean.edu/cpe.htm.

PINE BEACH – This is the real estate report for single-family homes in Pine Beach for March 2011.

There are 23 active listings with an average list of $322,134 spending an average 72 days on the market. A figure for average months of inventory is unavail-able due to a lack of home sales.

There were three new list-ings carrying an average list price of $321,266 for this March. The number of new list-ings for March of last year was much higher at 10, carrying an average list price of $332,608.

There are zero pending sales this month, which is a drop from one pending sale in March 2010. That home sold for $200,000 after spending 46

days on the market.There were no homes sold

this month, which is a drop from March 2010’s four home sales. Those sold at 96 per-cent of the average list price of $292,087, or $279,125, after 121 days on the market. One sale was cash, another was conven-tional and two were FHA loans; the four spent an average of 53 days to close.

Judging the numbers, my opinion is that Pine Beach is showing no sales this month and with three more homes coming on the market, the home prices are going to have to drop to stimulate sales within the borough.

Robert Suarez is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Flanagan

Realty and an independent real estate correspondent for the Riverside Signal. For more in-formation, he can be reached at Coldwell Banker Flanagan Re-alty’s Toms River office, located at 1541 Route 37 East, 732-270-6100 or through e-mail at [email protected] and online at www.robert-suarez.net.


PINE BEACH

A Barnegat Bay PartnershipPress Release

Pine BeachCommunity Calendar

Council MeetingThe next work session meeting

of the Pine Beach Council will take place on Monday, March 28th at 7:30 pm in borough hall on Pennsylvania Avenue.

~Author Visit

Author Donna Zappala will visit Beachwood Library, Beach-wood Boulevard, which also serves Pine Beach, on Monday, March 28th at 6:30 pm to read from her book, “Albert’s Perfect Pet,” then do a related craft with children ages 4 to 7. Limited to 15 participants, please register, 732-244-4573.

~Teen Mom Support Series

A program focused on address-ing the needs of the teen mom will be held on Thursday, March 31st from 6 pm to 8 pm in the Beachwood Library, Beachwood Boulevard, which also serves Pine Beach. The first in a four-part series co-sponsored by the Beachwood Municipal Alliance. For more information or to register, please call Beachwood Branch Manager Nancy Voitko at 732-244-4573 ext. 3308.

~Land Use Board Meeting

The Pine Beach Land Use Board will hold its next meeting on Thursday, April 7th at 7:30 pm in borough hall on Pennsyl-vania Avenue.

~Friends of the

Library MeetingThinking of volunteering your

time to a worthy organization? The Friends of the Beachwood Library provide its branch with a means to support future pro-grams and improvements. All are welcome to attend their next meeting on Friday, April 1st at 10 am in the Beachwood Library, Beachwood Boulevard, which also serves Pine Beach.


Become a Barnegat Bay

Volunteer Master Naturalist

Borough Resident Celebrates 100th Birthday

ERIK WEBER, the Riverside SignalLongtime Pine Beach resident Mali Hilseth celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday, March 19th in her home with daughters Sylvia (l) and Gerd (r). Ms. Hilseth was honored by a proclamation by Mayor Christopher Boyle that declared March 19th, 2011, ‘Mali Hilseth Day’.

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PINE BEACH – The follow-ing are club news updates from the Pine Beach Yacht Club for March 2011:

• Commodore John Parks invites any former PBYC mem-bers and their friends to con-tact club membership director, Larry Nulle, regarding possible renewal and to attend the club’s open house on May 15th, which is also open to the general pub-lic.

“I promise that you will make new friends, become closer to members who you may already know, and create memories that will last a lifetime,” he said. “As beautiful as our club is, it’s just a building without all of the won-derful people who do so much to make it such a special place.”

• Rear Commodore Susan Washington reported that pri-vate rentals of the clubhouse have gone well, and that the revenue has helped offset year-round club expenses. A former club steward, Eric Walters, has also been permitted to act as private contractor for private parties not wishing to set up and cleanup events themselves and feedback has been positive.

Ms. Washington also thanked club members Bob Ru-nyon, Joe Washington, Pat and Larry Nulle, Bob Mackey, Jeff Adlin, Doug Borup, Mike Bis-sell and John Parks for main-tenance work and upgrades around the clubhouse through the winter. An annual workday cleanup will be scheduled for April or May, and many volun-teers will be needed.

• Kristi Shirey has placed a call for six and seven-year-olds interested in joining this sea-son’s Junior Sailing Program, which will be held two morn-

ings a week for six weeks. In-terested parties may e-mail her at [email protected] for more information.

• Kim Cuneo has requested that anyone interested in join-ing the club’s kayaking group suggest a night for Kayaking and Kocktails, in which the group would spend an early evening kayaking the river be-fore returning to the clubhouse for self-supplied drinks and snacks.

• All members should be aware that membership dues must be in by April 1st.

- Carolyn Runyon is current-ly seeking a social network ma-ven to build PBYC an identity on Facebook. Interested parties may e-mail her at [email protected].

• Ms. Runyon is also urging members to read the current is-sue of the Raft-Up and attend a Social Committee meeting, held the first Wednesday of each month, to learn methods for better event planning and execution to enhance current and future seasons at PBYC.

For more information, please visit www.pbycnj.com.

PINE BEACH

Pine Beach Yacht Club Highlights Teen Advisory Board

The new Teen Advisory Board (TAB) will hold its next meet-ing on Monday, April 4th at 7 pm in the Beachwood Library, Beachwood Boulevard, which also serves Pine Beach. Share ideas on teen programming, help plan teen events, talk and work on a fun activity. Refresh-ments will be served. For teens ages 12 – 17. Please register, 732-244-4573.

~Library Book Discussion

A book discussion on Pearl S. Buck’s Imperial Woman is scheduled for Friday, April 8th at 10:30 am at the Beachwood Library, Beachwood Boulevard, which also serves Pine Beach. Recounting the story of Tzu Hsi, the last empress of China, the author recreates the life of one of the most intriguing rulers during a time of intense turbu-lence. Copies are available at the branch. No registration neces-sary.

~

Do you have a Pine Beach com-munity meeting, sports game, fundraiser or event you’d like to see here? Write us at P.O Box 93, Beachwood, N.J. 08722, e-mail [email protected] or call 732-664-1043 and get it listed!

Pine Beach & Beachwood Respond to House Fire

ERIK WEBER, the Riverside SignalMembers of the Pine Beach and Beachwood fire companies responded to a kitchen fire on the 200 block of Ocean Avenue in Beachwood on Thursday afternoon.


Business / Service Directory

around the clock, which Mr. Prince confirmed.

Board Member Brandon Gallagher noted that conditions present when unsupervised boarding house occupants were present at the site the previous summer did not necessarily present a better option for the property if the applicant was denied.

“There were three people there – one was drunk and one had a gash on his leg and he said he got 15 stitches that morning,” he recalled, adding that they were sitting outside because there was no air condi-tioning present in the building.

“There are going to be peo-ple there whether the house is redone or not,” agreed Mr. Prince, but he added that ap-proving the variances for ex-panding the use of the property would translate into more peo-ple than can presently utilize the site.

“We have a number of hous-es in town that have special needs people in them that I know of, but none are done this way as a multi-family dwelling,” he continued.

The third prong asked whether the detrimental effect could be reduced by reasonable conditions placed on the prop-erty by the board.

Board members alternately revisited their previous state-ments and dismissed each one from having any potential for compromise by the placement of conditions that would allow the approval of the application.

Mr. Prince stated that “the only change that could be made even close to giving a variance” would be for HABcorp, Inc. to utilize the two structures on the property as individual single-family homes.

Stating that he felt HAB-core’s mission and work to date

was “noble,” Mr. Ely reiterated his concerns for expanding the use of the site and agreed with Mr. Prince’s idea to allow for the two structures to be utilized as single-family dwellings.

As to the application in its present state, he added, “I just don’t see how it’s a benefit to Beachwood.”

Mr. Prince and Ms. Barndt agreed.

“I think it’s the scale of the operation and the sheer amount of people is the biggest concern more than just HABcore as an entity,” stated Mr. Ely.

Following the completion of the three prongs, board mem-bers moved forward with the fourth prong with Mr. Merola making a motion to again deny the application, which was sec-onded by Ms. Barndt.

Voting board members, in-cluding Mr. Prince, Mr. Ely, Ms. Barndt, Mr. Merola, Mr. Galla-gher and Wendi Higgins, unan-imously denied the application. Beachwood councilman and land use board liaison, Gerald W. LaCrosse, and Board Mem-ber Robert DiBella recused themselves from hearing the application and therefore did not vote.

Following the decision of the board, HABcore Executive Director Steve Heisman com-mented on the board’s decision by responding to the concerns held by board members.

On the board’s safety con-cerns regarding the lack of onsite parking as a result of potentially more tenants on the property, Mr. Heisman stated the site reconfiguration would lessen the impact of potential vehicles.

“Currently, the rooming house has a certificate of occu-pancy allowing 10 people, in ad-dition to the single family house and two apartment units,” he

said, pointing out that renovat-ing the multiunit structure into five studio apartments would “decrease the potential for traf-fic,” and that “traditionally, our percentage of tenants owning cars is low. For example, out of the five tenants across the street, none of them own cars.”

“The bottom line is the po-tential maximum amount of people would decrease from 10 to 5,” the executive director added.

Responding to Mr. Prince’s concern that the property could change hands following the variance approvals, Mr. Heis-man stated that the organiza-tion had not sold a property since forming in 1988.

“Additionally, the funding for this property mandates that the use must remain the same for 25 years, or all of the money must be repaid,” he continued. “So should the property change hands, the tenant property must remain the same.”

Regarding the onsite park-ing plan, the executive director stated the board had not previ-ously listed it as a concern even during their appeal in superior court.

On the lack of a concrete plan for supervision, Mr. Heis-man responded that “in the screening process we determine that this person is capable of living in the community with-out constant supervision. If we feel they need more supervi-sion, then this program is not appropriate for them and we then refer them to our board-ing homes.”

“Second, the reason for lack of a concrete definition is be-cause we tailor the plan to the individual and base it on their needs,” he added. “As far as the security cameras, I believe I made it clear to the board, which can be evidenced by

checking the transcript that the cameras would feed to our 24-hour facilities so HABcore staff could be viewing in real-time.”

Responding to board mem-bers’ concerns that problems had arisen in the nearby single family home operated by the organization and that they had concerns with increasing the number of people with needs in a single-family dwelling neigh-borhood, the executive director stated that particular problem tenant was “an exception, not a rule” and that police chiefs from other municipalities had stated their facilities “were not a nuisance.”

“I question whether the board is losing sight of the fact that while the land use [board] attorney keeps referring to the variance for an expansion of a non-conforming use, the fact is the application decreases both the density and intensity of use,” he said. “Traditionally, rooming and boarding houses – HABcore owns two larger ones serving 51 people – are home to a more transient popula-tion and many of the residents have heightened special needs. Should HABcore purchase the property as-is, they could house 16 special needs people on the site, as opposed to the 11 proposed in the application. However, the goal is to create a nicer, safer building, which serves as a permanent rather than transitional housing that fits in better with the neighbor-hood because of the decrease in maximum tenant allowance.”

Earlier this week, Lar-ry Meegan, a former Ocean County Observer reporter and current assistant public infor-mation officer with the Ocean County Library System, posted an update regarding HABcore’s further appeal to have the de-cision on the multiunit Beach-

wood property overturned on his blog, “Homeless in Ocean County,” located at http://ochomeless.blogspot.com.

Under a post titled, “HAB-core’s letter writing campaign,” Mr. Meegan stated that Mr. Heisman was asking that lo-cal organizations and church groups write to New Jersey 9th Legislative District Senator Christopher Connors regard-ing the issue.

In the post, Mr. Heisman is quoted as stating the 305 and 307 Capstan Avenue prop-erty has had a “history of be-ing a home for drug use and violence,” and that the borough land use board is instead “con-cerned about the prospect of housing people who have spe-cial needs because of the per-ceived threat to the neighbor-hood’s children.”

He is further quoted as stat-ing that if the decision to deny the proposal is not overturned, HABcore, Inc. would want to acquire the property and in-stead operate it as a transitional rooming and boarding house, rather than a permanent home for special needs individuals. Funding for such a change may not be continued under the New Jersey Housing and Mort-gage Financing Agency, how-ever, and therefore “HABcore is encouraging people to rec-ognize the importance of this project and help advocate for its completion.”

More information on HAB-core, Inc. can be found on their website, located at www.hab-core.org.

The next meeting of the Beachwood Land Use Board will be held on Monday, March 28th at 7 pm in borough hall on Pinewald Road.

Special Needs Housing, continued from page 2


Continued From & Letters to the Editor

Jakes Branchcontinued from

page 3

Cattus Island continued from

page 9

Published by

Riverside Signal, LLCP.O. Box 93Beachwood, N.J. 08722

Erik J. WeberPublisher & Editor

[email protected]

Lisa ProthersToms River Beat [email protected]

Jeri MorrisCalendars & Blotters

[email protected]

Advertising732.701.SELL

News Room732.903.TIPS

Wendy KonarAccounting

[email protected]

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Events [email protected]

Letters & [email protected]

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Sally DracikiewiczDesign

[email protected]

Steven J. BaeliHeritage Writer & Research Associate

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Frank Domenico CiprianiColumnist

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Philipp SchmidtAssociate Publisher & [email protected]

Annual Beachwood Snowman Contest Winner!

Photo courtesy BEACHWOOD RECREATION COMMISSIONBeachwood’s Patton Family recently won the annual snowman contest.

Recycled Bird Feeder Birds need more than seeds.

Using recycled materials, par-ticipants will make different types of bird feeders to attract a variety of birds to their yard on Friday, April 8th at the Jakes Branch Park Nature Center from 6 pm to 7:30 pm. Bird seed is not included. Partici-pants are asked to inform parks employees if their child is aller-gic to peanuts. Please register. Cost is $8 per person, ages four years to adult, maximum 12 participants.

Registration Information Unless otherwise stated, all

programs require registration along with payment in full at time of registration. Anyone attending a program or trip, without registering in advance, must pay by check or money or-der (cash is unacceptable). Par-ticipants will only be permitted upon availability.

Registration for programs designated as “FREE” may be placed by calling Cattus Island County Park at 732-270-6960 on or after the registration date listed.

Special assistance/accommo-dations available upon request.

For program availability or a newsletter please call Jakes Branch County Park, Beach-wood at 732-281-2750.

and interactive look at the wilds of the park. Take a break from the daily grind and get back to the basics with a short jaunt through one of Ocean County’s best-kept secrets on Saturday, March 26th or Sunday, March 27th for a “Signs of Spring” walk.

South Jersey Basket MakingBasket making has been a

tradition in the Pine Barrens since the Lenni Lenape first settled our region. Baskets were used for gathering food and carrying supplies. Join in for a two-part class in the Cooper Environmental Center at Cattus Island Park on Thursday, April 7th and 14th from 6 pm to 10 pm as Mary May, a local bas-ket maker, speaks about South Jersey basket traditions and demonstrates how to make bas-kets. Participants should pack a snack, are required to have $55 in exact change to cover instruc-tor fees and material costs and should be prepared to weave as they will be creating their very own Easter basket! Registration fee is $5, ages 9 years to adult, maximum 15 participants.

Registration Information Unless otherwise stated, all

programs require registration along with payment in full at time of registration. Anyone attending a program or trip, without registering in advance, must pay by check or money or-der (cash is unacceptable). Par-ticipants will only be permitted upon availability.

Registration for programs designated as “FREE” may be placed by calling Cattus Island County Park at 732-270-6960 on or after the registration date listed.

Special assistance/accommo-dations available upon request.

have a relatively unique situa-tion here, we have, dare I say, an older population,” and asked the planning board to “proceed with caution.”

“Us older people [would] rather be sitting in the waiting room and make sure we’re on time,” he added.

“Speak for yourself,” joked Mr. York.

Board member John Re-uther asked whether the site variance would remain with the property or its occupant once approved.

Mr. Lynch stated that while variances remain with the prop-erty, but that “you can qualify an approval based on the way a practice operates – make sure that if there is a change the practice operates… they have

to go back through the board to go through the process of checking the parking.”

Following the close of the public portion of the meeting, Board member Bill Suchodol-ski stated he felt the “project would be an improvement to that area.”

Mr. Ruether made a motion to approve the application with the condition that if the practice changed hands it would need to return to the planning board for review. Board member Den-nis Filippone seconded it, and the board voted unanimously to approve the application.

The next meeting of the Toms River Planning Board will be on Wednesday, April 6th at 6 pm in town hall on Wash-ington Street.

true co-op downtown was be-coming less and less probable, and the remaining members decided to restructure the group temporarily to reflect the economic and physical aspects.

This coming year, TRACx81 has planned a very full sched-ule, including an ongoing pres-ence at the Huddy Park Farm-ers’ Market every Wednesday from June 8th to October 26th. They will be attending the Toms River Art and Music Fest on Sat-urday, May 14th from noon to 5 pm, and individual members are attending many art shows and exhibits over the course of the next few months.

Beyond the river, the co-op was invited to hold a group ex-hibit by Idiosyncrazies, a gallery and boutique located in Point Pleasant, during the month of April. Artist reception for that show will be on April 9th from 2 pm to 6 pm.

In an effort to invite the public to find out more about TRACx81 and the impact of art in the community, Vice Presi-dent Mark Retacco is planning several interviews with local media, including one recent-ly broadcast on 92.7 WOBM, which can be heard by clicking http://www.wobm.com/Down-town-Toms-River-Unfurls-Wel-come-Mat-As-Shore-B/9233718.

Mark’s own work within TRACx81 was instrumental in obtaining an empty storefront on Main Street in Toms River to showcase several members’ paintings. In keeping with the spirit of the organization’s original concept of involvement and revitalization of the down-town area, his plans to further involve the community include forming coalitions with area banks and businesses to allow the hanging of original art by local artists in their lobbies and

general building spaces.TRACx81 members share

a passion and commitment for the arts that is evident in their camaraderie and varied inter-ests, and in their willingness to reach out to other local artists for friendship and networking. Currently comprised of about a dozen members, seven of whom are original charter members, the organization requires no annual dues and is open to anyone interested. To find out more information on meeting dates and times, check their Facebook page (TRACx81) or call Jean at 732-674-2486. TRACx81 also maintains a re-volving gallery at 218 Main Street, in the office of the Toms River Business Improvement District, and thanks that entity for their ongoing support and generosity in providing a space for TRACx81 to hold meetings and exhibit their art.

Art and Artists with Jean LeBaron, cont. from page 8

Fischer Blvd. Dentist ,cont. from page 8


continued...

Building Beachwood, continued from page 2A week later, January 8th,

1915, the New Jersey Courier ran with an article titled, “Start Several Buildings at Spiles Point, Beachwood”. In it was heavily detailed the first build-ings constructed by the Tribune under supervision of Nickerson.

“The Beachwood tract is the busiest along shore just now. Besides laying out streets and avenue, cutting off timber on these avenues, blasting stumps and cleaning out underbrush, the New Year was marked by the starting of at least four new buildings. Three of these are at the Spiles Point, the other, a union railroad depot, at the crossing of the Central and Pennsylvania railroads.”

“On the high bluff, just above the point of the Spiles, a dining room has been built, in the shape of a one-story bunga-low, 30×60 feet, and a kitchen annex in the rear. This will have a view down the river.”

“In front of it, to the north, has been started a hotel or rooming house, 73×100 feet in size, built in the old Spanish style, one story high, and, with a patio, or courtyard, in the centre. This will contain thirty-seven sleeping rooms, and will be run in connection with the dining room. From its point of vantage on the brow of the bluff the eye can sweep up the river to Toms River village, or down the stream to Island Heights. The location is superb.”

“On the lower ground, at the foot of the bluff, in the filled in spot where the pond was, and where Toms River boys for gen-erations have waded to pick wa-ter lilies and kill water snakes, the bathhouses are started. There will be three rows of them, covering a space 32×46 feet.

“The building of the bath-houses here is particularly sat-isfactory to Toms River people, who had been fearing that the development of Spiles Point meant that their ancient bath-ing privilege would be taken from them, and the point be-come hedged in as private property. It is understood that the beach front at the Beach-

wood tract is to be kept open to the public and that all lot own-ers will have an equal share in its use. With bathhouses there many Toms River people will avail themselves of the conve-nience.”

“The depot will be 20×40 feet in size, and will be used by both railroads. It is located at the crossing of the two roads and also of the main north and south avenue of Beachwood.”

“Plans are prepared for a large clubhouse, which is also to be started in the spring on the bluff overlooking the river.

“The station is expected to be built very soon. None of these buildings is to be pretentious or costly. They are being built to supply present day needs, and as the resort grows probably be displaced with more permanent structures. But they go to show that Beachwood means business and that something is coming of the new development. The work is also giving jobs to many local people who would other-wise be sitting around stoves and wondering how they could get through the winter.”

“Scores of streets are be-ing laid out on the tract. So far about all that is done to this line is to clear up the street of all traces of underbrush and re-move the stumps with dynamite and stake off the lots. Some grading has been done, how-ever, and more is contemplated. The Beachwood proposition,

backed by a big daily paper, is making quite a furore in New York, and it is said by New York-ers who come down this way that the lots are going fast.”

The progress in Beachwood did not go unnoted in other lo-cal papers and municipalities. On January 29th, the Ocean County Review printed beneath its Pine Beach section that, “It is pretty quiet here this winter, but we can hear the dynamite charges exploding at Beach-wood without paying admis-sion.”

Indeed, Nickerson and his crew weren’t the only ones busy that winter. February 1915 saw the release and distribution of a 38-page pamphlet very modestly titled, “The Greatest Subscription Premium Ever Of-fered and the Reason Why”.

Interspersed between pages of ad copy determined to make the average reader jump at in-vesting were a number of pho-tographs depicting the natural waterfront, sailboats both on the Toms River and docked at Huddy Park, cleared roads, the Central Railroad of New Jersey Toms River Station, and the At-lantic City Boulevard complete-ly devoid of any development.

Meanwhile, Watson and the postal inspectors were them-selves hard at work questioning those who wrote letters of en-dorsement for the Tribune pro-motion which had appeared in subsequent materials.

One of these letters came from E.P. Robinson, M.D., later profiled in Butler’s 1924 Beach-wood Directory as being born of English parents on St. James Island in Barbados, who later followed his dream of coming to America as a teenager, working first a pharmacist in Philadel-phia before continuing his ca-reer and education in New York City. By the time of the Tribune promotion, he was married and had a son in his late teens.

In the letter he wrote, which was published by the Tribune as part of its promotion cam-paign, the accomplished doctor praised the newspaper in detail for the advantages of the Beach-wood tract and stated that not

only did he plan an extensive summer residence but that his wife and son purchased their own lots, as well.

Testifying about this letter and Robinson’s later statements regarding it, Watson admitted he could not find his original notes and instead recounted the conversation from memory:

“I visited Dr. Robinson my-self, in company with one of my investigators, and interviewed him, and I swear that endorse-ment is not on the level. The doctor said – I have a report which I made within an hour after the interview, and I will stand on that report rather than on what I say now, but I will try to recall what he said. It was to the effect that he did not know where these lots were, and he had changed his mind, and he did not think he would ever build there, and he gave this endorsement to the Tri-bune, but he had not expected that people would come run-ning in there and asking him about it, and that he had since requested the Tribune to take it out of the booklet, and that he might some time use his lots for a public garage down there; and he told me where they were, and I asked him if he realized that that was about a mile off the main road and that you could not drive an automobile in there unless it was equipped with an aeroplane on top of it to lift it over the roads. In other words, it was too ridiculous for consideration.”

Oddly, on a later day of tes-timony following statements by the postal inspectors them-selves, Watson recanted and requested that this statement and all matter of the letters be removed from the record as he could not find his records on the matter and it had been over a year from the conversation so his memory may be incorrect.

Neither postal investigator had any testimony regarding these letters.

Stranger still is the fact that the lots Dr. Robinson ulti-mately built upon are just one block from the waterfront and on Beachwood Boulevard, the

original resort’s main road. It is unclear at this point of research whether this was the original plot of land purchased through the initial Tribune promotion, or if he purchased it at a later date from a second party, or some other event we are un-aware of.

Adding to this odd matter is the fact that the New York Tri-bune made a point to specifi-cally advertise Dr. Robinson’s building plans in early March 1915 with an article titled, “To Build at Beachwood – Plans Be-ing Prepared for New Cottage at Resort”:

“Architects’ plans for the erection of one of the first bun-galows to be built at Beach-wood, N.J., are being prepared for Dr. E.P. Robinson, of 116 West Thirty-ninth Street, New York. Dr. Robinson, who was one of the first to obtain lots at the new beach resort which the Tribune is establishing, will build a cottage for occupancy throughout the entire year.

“The new cottage will stand back from the beach some little distance and will be artistic in its surroundings. Construction work on the house is contem-plated with the coming of warm weather. It is planned to have the cottage ready for occupancy this summer.

“In addition to Dr. Robin-son, lots are held at Beachwood by his wife and son.”

We may never know the true events surrounding Dr. Rob-inson’s lots or his involvement with the Tribune promotional campaign, but what cannot be denied is that the doctor had a very well built, attractive bun-galow constructed at the corner of Barnegat Avenue and Beach-wood Boulevard, which stands to this day.

Next Issue:Read about investigator’s

secret trip to the incomplete re-sort, alleged scandal within the Tribune offices and the road to the Memorial Day opening, in the next edition of the Building Beachwood series.

Gatherer Institute, continued from page 7

could implement a program, a big one, and carry it off, but to administer paperwork, to keep track of numbers, to apply for grants – none of this had any-thing to do with the quality of the program. To top it off, we discovered that our youth-based farmers’ market was not making enough money to stay afloat, even if it offered entre-preneurship opportunities for

our young people.Today, the Gatherer Insti-

tute has temporarily suspended operations as it awaits the next generation of leaders to come of age. We have many good pro-grams we can operate. We have a proven track record of suc-cess. In 2009, I accepted Ocean County’s Volunteer of the Year award on behalf of all those who had worked hard to keep

our organization growing.We need someone with the

skills to help raise the money, handle the accounting and take on the increased burden of pa-perwork to keep our programs running. Until that day, the or-ganization will take a cue from the ol’ bears on the other wide of the state – we’ll be hibernat-ing.

On the other hand, if you

would like to help us, all we need is one or two energetic people in our management team. Those interested can feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]. I can’t prom-ise you won’t regret your deci-sion to join us, but what I will promise is this: Your experi-ence with us will be… wild!

riverside signal - march 25th - april 7th, 2011

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