Library? and Green Acres?

[Mr Inside Says]

What am I hearing about Ventnor having a problem with DEP because we demolished the ice rink to put up the Coral Elephant on Atlantic?

[VENTNOR eVOICE ADMIN]

If you go to this Atlantic County document from the year 2000,

http://www.aclink.org/Planning/opens..._space2000.PDF

you will find all municipalities in the county listed along with their open space and recreation acreages and uses. At pages 55 and 56, the following was listed for Ventnor.

VENTNOR
1. Municipal Park: Surrey Place and Balfour Avenue 3.56 Acres
Tennis Courts

2. Municipal Park: Derby and Fulton Avenues 0.04 Acres
Playground

3. Municipal Park: Lafayette Avenue 8.32 Acres
Football Field, Track

4. Municipal Park: Somerset Place and Atlantic Avenue 2.93 Acres
Beach, Tennis, Volleyball, Playground

5. Municipal Park: New Haven and Atlantic Avenues 2.93 Acres
Beach, Ice Skating Rink, Miniature Golf, Playground

6. Municipal Park: Surrey Place and Calvert Avenue 7.19 Acres
Recreational fields

7. Municipal Park: Dorset Avenue and Bay
Ski beach park

8. Undeveloped Lands Held for Recreation Beach Thorofare,

Ventnor West 175 Acres
Atlantic Coast Public Beach 48.4 Acres

If you go to the agenda items for the last Commission meeting

http://www.ventnorcity.org/uploads/A...010-6-08ws.pdf

you will find this entry on page 2.

9. ANNOUNCEMENTS:
A) BILLBOARD SIGN TO BE POSTED AT VENTNOR CITY LIBRARY - NOTICE OF PROPOSED AMENDMENT USE OF RECREATION AND OPEN SPACE INVENTORY (ICE RINK)

B) HIRING OF APPRAISER TO DETERMINE VALUE OF ALTERNATE SITE IN SUBSTITUTE OF ICE RINK - GREEN ACRES FUNDED

C) PUBLIC LETTER RECEIVED: 1) EMT’S; 2) WILLIAM MELFI, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

D) PROCLAMATION: “PUT THE BRAKES ON FATALITIES DAY” OCTOBER 10, 2008

Due to Green Acres consideratons and requirements, it appears that the demolition of the ice rink to put up the new Library and Cultural Arts Center should have been accompanied by offsetting and simultaneous plans to provide some form of comparable recreational space/facilities elsewhere in Ventnor. The new administration now has to attend to legal requirements which were either overlooked or ignored at the time the plans for the library were developed, expanded and ultimately constructed. Taxpayer dollars now must be spent on surveys and appraisals needed to correct the problem, and it is likely that the municipally-owned land in Ventnor West is a "saving grace" that will allow for a substitution. The new Mayor and Commissioners are working with DEP to get the situation straightened out, to assure legal compliance.

[VentnorMod]

Bump thread ...

[normkling]

Look at the last item on the Green Acres list:

"8. Undeveloped Lands Held for Recreation Beach Thorofare,

Ventnor West 175 Acres...."

Remember the claim by the last administration that Ventnor West was only 1.75 acres in order to justify the Sludge Dump?

A Reprise

For those who missed it, the Kelly administration passed a resolution killing the sludge project and the Department of Environmental Protection wasted no time striking it from its list of projects. And, it confirmed that the idea for the dump came from the former Ventnor Commissioners, who kept pushing it. It almost slipped right by the public until the DEP ordered large signs to replace the tiny ones that were washed out by rain and blowing in the wind.

Not to be too dramatic, but it is worth remembering Thomas Jefferson's injunction:

""The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

Norm Klinger

[LouJahn]

Wow - Ventnor certainly was not paying much attention to their Green Acres reporting duties.
1) Ventnor has a Boat ramp near the Rowing Club building that existed even before Ventnor took Green Acre funding...not on the list.

2) Ventnor has a second boat ramp at the end of Dorset Avenue, which also should have been recorded and those two ramps provide valuable public access to the waterway.

3) Also missing is the public riparian fishing access along the old dump area of Ventnor West land area. This access is from Fredericksburg Ave back towards Atlantic City for about three blocks. As I took my boat by the area I always found between 5-12 people fishing along those waterfront embankments.

Again, public riparian right of way is critical and only a skeptic might think the prior administration failed to note them so they could remove them without alerting NJ Green Acres.