LBI News - WIlly Kahl, Broker Associate

Beach Haven Elects Five to New Council

By JESSICA INFANTE -covering Beach Haven’s change in government since 2007 and here’s her story from APP.com

BEACH HAVEN — Voters turned out in large numbers today to elect Edward Kohlmeir, Nancy Taggart Davis, Robert Keeler, S. James White and Charles E. Maschal Jr. to the new, five-member Borough Council to take office July 1.

Kohlmeir received 250 votes; Davis, 326; Keeler, 317; White, 303; and Maschal, 339. James C. Vogel received 177 votes, and Theresa A. Kyriss, 165.

Steve Steiner, chairman of the Charter Study Commission that selected the council-manager form of government that voters approved in November, said he’s “very pleased” that change has arrived. He was impressed with the collegial spirit during a recent candidates’ forum.

“This new government, I think, is going to foster cooperation a lot more than the old one did,” Steiner said.

The three-member commission form, under which the borough has operated for decades, fostered little discussion among officials. Each commissioner oversaw specific municipal departments, such as public works or revenue.

“In the old form of government, each commissioner was in charge of a certain portion of municipal government and they could do whatever they wanted,” Steiner explained. “If one of the other commissioners didn’t think it was a good idea, it didn’t matter.”

While none of the three current commissioners opted to run for the new council, Mayor Michael J. Battista offered to assist with the transfer of power.

“We’re here for a smooth transition and to help any way we can,” he said during the Board of Commissioners meeting Monday.

Is Long Beach Island Your Favorite Beach?

Vote Long Beach Island as New Jersey’s Top Ten Beaches

Use the links below to cast your vote now!

There are 48 shore communities represented, from Sandy Hook to Cape May. In your opinion, which represents the best beach? Once again, there are four categories in which to rate your best beach. We’ve given you some tips to get you started. Let the competition begin!

Family Destination | Day Trips | Ecotourism | Shore Events

The results of the 2010 New Jersey’s Top Ten Beaches Survey will be featured during NJMSC/NJSG’s annual State of the Shore Media Event which will take place on Thursday, May 27, 2010, just before the Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of the summer season.

Surf City –Long Beach Island Fertilizer Rules

Surf City joins Long Beach Township, Ship Bottom and Harvey Cedars in adopting a fertilizer ordinance. Beach Haven is currently drafting one.

Excess fertilizer runoff into the bay damages the bay. The ordinance chapter is called “Chemical Application Requirements” which regulates the use of fertilizers especially those high in phosphorus. Phosphorus is less desirable than nitrogen because nitrogen-based fertilizer is available in slow release formulas and are not as a big of a problem that propagate algae blooms in the bay.

The ordinance will hopefully lesson the effects of chemicals that get washed into the local waters. Some common sense points are: Don’t fertilize in the winter when melted snow washes the chemicals out to the bay. Don’t leave fertilizer products outside where rain can contaminate runoff.

To prevent excess fertilizer and runoff, feed the soil by working compost and plant food thoroughly into the soil before you plant. It makes polluting run-off just about impossible.

Compost is available at the Ocean County Recycling Center, on Recovery Road off Route 72 in Manahawkin. It is available to Ocean County residents. Bring your own containers and a shovel. Top soil, peat moss or mushroom soil or a combination can be used instead of compost.

Surf City’s code enforcement is handled through its police department. The borough’s penalty code provides for fines ranging from $100 to $2,000 determined by the municipal judge.

Keep Long Beach Island Beaches Clean

The idea of protecting our Earth is slowly catching on with the increase in green products and services. There are so many small things that each individual can do to contribute to keeping Earth healthy.

This time of year on Long Beach Island is exciting as the warm days increase and the cold ones disappear. Many people start cleaning up their yards and cleaning off the lawn furniture so it’s ready when those warm days arrive.

Living and raising a family on Long Beach Island is special. It’s early spring and the kids already had some beach playtime. Let’s face it…Sand is fun! The kids can’t wait to run around on the beach and plop down and play in it.

My concern arises when my little ones start shoveling sand into their buckets and there are more cigarette butts than seashells in their little beach pails.

Keep LBI beaches clean

How big is the problem?

It is estimated that several trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide every year. That’s billions of cigarettes flicked, one at a time, on our sidewalks, beaches, nature trails, gardens, and other public places every single day. In fact, cigarettes are the most littered item in America and the world.

Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate (plastic), NOT COTTON, and they can take decades to degrade depending on environmental conditions. The toxic residue in cigarette filters is damaging to the environment, and littered butts cause numerous fires every year, some of them fatal.

But beyond the plastic, the filters contain trace amounts of toxins like cadmium, arsenic and lead. When smokers discard their butts improperly, they are essentially tossing these substances into the environment.

What are the dangers of littered cigarette butts?

When it rains, the water carries cigarette butts and trash via storm drain systems and waterways right out to the ocean, where currents wash it up onto the beach.

In addition to polluting streets and beaches, plastic pieces, such as cigarette butts can pose a health hazard to animals. Marine animals can mistake butts as food. If plastic blocks their digestive track, animals may become ill or even starve. Animals can also become entangled in trash, which restricts their ability to eat, breath and swim, often with fatal results.

“ Cigarette filters have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales and other marine creatures who mistake them for food … Composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic, cigarette butts can persist in the environment as long as other forms of plastic.”–Clean Virginia Waterways

People need to be educated of the negative impacts that cigarette butts have on the environment and animals. Each cigarette butt is so small, people don’t even think about the consequences of littering butts.

There is legislation that would ban smoking at beaches, amusement parks and racetracks in New Jersey but it is on hold and it’s not known when a vote may be scheduled. State Sen. Andrew Ciesla of Ocean County wants to prohibit smoking on state-owned beaches.

So, when you visit Long Beach Island, do your part in maintaining our beautiful beaches and keep them clean!

References:

Cigarette Litter.org

The Daily Green – A Consumer’s Guide to the Green Revolution

N.J. beach-smoking ban is on hold

Earth 911

Ocean Conservancy

Adopt a Beach Program

Environmental Research and Public Health

Cigarette Butt Litter

Long Beach Island Oceanfronts in Harvey Cedars

Oceanfront homes in Harvey Cedars on Long Beach Island have new height exceptions. Refer to the ordinance below for details.

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Price It Right The First Time

If you are considering selling your Long Beach Island home during this sluggish market, you need to price your home right the first time!

A new listing should be correctly priced on the first day. A brand new listing is exciting, is shown more and, generally, SELLS FOR A HIGHER PRICE than older listings. Later, fair or not, prospective buyers begin to wonder why it hasn’t already been sold.

Price it right at the beginning, when most of your showings will occur. The prime marketing time occurs during the first few weeks. Make sure your home is priced right from the very beginning.

The Advantages of Proper Pricing

Higher Net Sales

Attract Better Offers

Better Response from Advertising and Sign Calls

Faster Sale

Increased Agent Response

Avoid Your Home from Becoming “Shopworn”

If You Overprice…

The right buyers won’t see it

The higher priced buyers won’t want it.

Buyers shop by price ranges… if your home is priced even $1 higher than their targeted price range, it won’t be on the show list.

Supply vs. Demand determines what your home is worth because it is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Homes priced below market value often will receive multiple offers, which will then drive up the price to market. Pricing strategies vary with the market. If it’s sluggish, price lower; if it’s active, price close to your expected selling price to stimulate competing offers.

Get a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a REALTOR®.

A CMA compares homes that are currently available and those that have sold in your neighborhood in the past year. The more similar the features — square footage, number of rooms, lot size, etc. — and the more recent the data, the more accurately it reflects the current market. Don’t confuse listing price with sold price — the most important factor in the CMA.

Sellers that are realistic and have a desirable property priced competitively will most likely succeed in a sale. Like many investments, the real estate market is cyclical, and we are now in a buyer’s market. The serious seller realizes the importance of being realistic and has a comparable listing price.

Long Beach Island-LBI Real Estate…Location, Location, Location

Joe Pop’s Shore Bar in Ship Bottom on Long Beach Island will have an outdoor dining area with a tiki bar this summer. The plans of the outdoor area include an eight foot-high bamboo fence to surround it in order to help protect neighbors from noise, lighting, and smoke. They will be open for business at 11 am and everybody must be out by 10 pm.

The owners think it is an opportunity to turn a less desirable area into something nice for the community and tourists. It is planned that the area will create a family oriented place by the beach to take the kids to get a quick bite to eat and relax for while.

That news got me to think about…

The phrase location, location, location and how it emphasizes the importance of resale value and the ability to appeal to the largest number of homebuyers possible.

Long Beach Island is a year round community of about 10,000 people but during the summer, population increases to over 100,000 with part-time residents and tourists.

Long Beach Island is a barrier island and all the homes are no further than blocks away from either the bay or the ocean. Even in a resort community, there are still better locations than others. Besides the obvious, oceanfront and bayfront homes, which are the most desirable and therefore, sell for the most money; there are some locations that have higher resale value. Towns on the north end of Long Beach Island have larger standard lot sizes so, of course, sell for more money.

When residential homes are next to commercial buildings that have late hours, it is inevitable that there is going to be a lot more traffic on the street, noise, late night car noise and pedestrians on the street loitering and therefore, usually sell at a lower price.

When most people buy a home, they don’t visualize that home to be the only home they will ever own. In the future, they know that they will want a different home, maybe a larger home or one in a different neighborhood. That’s why, location is so important if you plan on selling your home someday in the future.

If you know you are definitely going to re-sell your home then you should buy your home with location, location, location in mind. You need to consider resale factors when buying your initial home.

Long Beach Island is 18 miles long and Long Beach Boulevard runs down the length of the island and homes are either on the bay-side (west of Long Beach Blvd.) or the ocean-side (east of Long Beach Blvd.). Ocean-side homes have higher sale prices than bay-side homes. Homes with a view of either the bay or ocean demand higher prices than homes near commercial lots or the boulevard.

The homes next to commercial properties on Long Beach Boulevard will sell for lower prices than homes closer to the beach. Most homes on LBI are second homes and used for vacations and investment. Although, it may be undesirable to live year round in a home next to a commercial establishment, it could provide a nice rental income. It also may be a way to be able to afford a house at the beach.

A Photo Story of Our Day at the Long Beach Island Barnegat Lighthouse

View of Barnegat Lighthouse from Forest Trail

Our family lives on Long Beach Island year round and we never get tired of visiting Barnegat Lighthouse especially on a beautiful warm spring day. We got in the car and drove to Barnegat Light (it is much too far for our 4 and 5 year old to bike to but that is also a lot of fun). We pulled into the parking lot, parked the car, unloaded the kids, camera, and water.

“What should we do first”, chant the little ones. Should we climb the lighthouse, walk on the rocks, or walk the forest trail. Well, after a little back-and-forth, we hit the trail.

The forest trail starts off sandy with a stunning view of Barnegat Inlet and the Lighthouse. After a couple of stops to empty the sand from the kids’ shoes we are off again.

There is a staircase to enter the middle of the trail. This is the part where you enter the forest. It is shady and the trail is dirt packed. I recommend shoes or sandals in this part because the ground is usually covered in holly leaves and they are prickly. If you want to make it educational, read and learn about the natural vegetation along the way.

As we continued on our trail, which is a big circle, the kids ran ahead and mom and dad followed. As we went up the steps to the sandy walkway we got a gorgeous view of the lighthouse. As we approached our starting position, the kids started around again and then again. By the third time, we caught up to the little explorers and we convinced them that it was time to do something else…the lighthouse climb! We ate a quick snack at the picnic tables to energize ourselves for the 217 steps.

We entered Barnegat Lighthouse and started to climb. A nice slow climb would have been nice with rest stops in-between. Most visitors take breaks on the landings and read the history mounted on the walls. Not us! Our 4 and 5 year old were on a mission…to get to the top! We were climbing fast with no rest stops, not even a slowdown and they are so small they don’t even have to slow down on the stairs as other visitors pass. What a workout!

When we got to the top, we took pictures and enjoyed the view. Luckily, there was another circle that the boys could run around. They ran around and around on top of the lighthouse viewing circle giggling the entire time. A fishing boat was going out the Inlet and for a moment, it seemed like summer. Our way down the narrow spiral staircase was just another race. It’s much easier to climb down without a break.

View of Forest Trail and Visitor Center from Barnegat Lighthouse

LBI Fishing Boat in shadow of Barnegat Lighthouse

Our race continued down the jetty walkway to the end and then a walk along the rocks. While walking along the rocks, we kept our eyes open for birds and sea life. We almost made it to the end but we thought if we kept going we might be making the trip back with an extra 40 pounds on our backs.

As we walked back to our car, we passed the forest trail so it was one more time around and we called it a day. Happy Spring!

What do you do when you go to Barnegat Lighthouse State Park on Long Beach Island?

Re-entry Plan to Long Beach Island after Evacuations

An article in the SandPaper summarized how evacuation placards (window hangers) will be used during re-entry to LBI. If you missed the article, I summarized the main points below.

A Long Beach Island re-entry plan was completed this March and submitted for approvals from the municipalities. The plan will limit access during an emergency situation. Long Beach Township and Harvey Cedars approved the plan on March 5, 2010.

A placard will be sent to every resident and business- one per household, one per business, and one per renter (non seasonal). A renter can show a copy of their lease to obtain a placard. The placards will be color coded for the three areas of LBI. The Central area is Surf City, Ship Bottom, and Cedar Bonnet Island. The North area is North Beach, Harvey Cedars, Loveladies, Barnegat Light, and High Bar Harbor. The South area is Brant Beach down through Beach Haven and Holgate.

Cars without placards are not getting on. Resident property owners with proper identification who do not have their placards will be directed to an area to obtain one but identification may require a tax bill or utility bill with a driver’s license.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 and emergency re-entry placards may be mailed out as early as June 1, 2010. Each municipality is responsible for mailing out placards to its residents.

Evacuation is a stressful event and it’s likely that you may forget your placard and I find it hard to believe that someone would remember to take a utility bill with them under those circumstances. At any rate, that is the plan and officials will hold at least one meeting outlining the plan to the public. When you get your placard, keep it safe…it’s $50 to replace it.

I listed some Long Beach Island township emergency links if you need a list of things you need in an emergency since it may be several days before you are allowed back home to allow enough time for emergency responders to deem the area safe.

Harvey Cedars Police-Emergency management

Long Beach Township Police –Emergency Management

Beach Haven police Emergency Management

My LBI Green Side…Practice makes Perfect

Take One Green Step at a Time

In a previous article, Living Green , I wrote about how to remodel your home the green way. You might not need to remodel your home but there are numerous little things a family can do each day to live green.

I listed some classic setbacks when going green but remember to keep trying and eventually the green way will become routine. We have been doings things poorly for a long time and we can’t change everything overnight. It will take time, practice and patience to change our old bad habits into greener good habits.

Setbacks, Tips, Thoughts and Ideas on the road to Green:

Using the green shopping bag- a great idea if you remember to bring them in the store.

Change your light bulbs to energy efficient ones but then forget to turn them off…leaving the lights on all day won’t help.

Forget to put your computer on standby because you just might feel the need to tweet something at any given moment.

Save your kitchen water for watering plants-that’s a good idea but in a reverse living house with the kitchen two flights up…is that one you are going to do? Try something you know you will do-Don’t let the water run while brushing your teeth or washing the dishes. When you scrub the inside of a pot, it’s not necessary to let the water run on high pressure.

Keep up with vehicle maintenance… How many times do you bring the car into get serviced and only to get it back and then one thing after the next falls apart on you…the car was fine when you brought it in for routine check-up. I know it’s disappointing but keep the big picture in mind. At least, keep tires properly inflated.

Walk, Bike, or Carpool whenever you can.

Make your own eco-friendly laundry detergent…what busy parent that is getting the kids ready for school, working all day, cooking dinner, helping with homework, driving kids to soccer, cleaning up the kitchen is then going to make laundry detergent. It’s more realistic to try one of the eco-friendly detergents on the market.

Grow a vegetable garden… sure a couple of tomato plants, strawberries, peppers, herbs… but live off my garden?? Buy Jersey Fresh-shop at a local farmers market.

Make sure the dishwasher is full before turning it on-with a family of four, it’s full…twice a day. Try just keeping the same glass on the counter for the day to cut down on the dish washing!

Use cold water in the washing machine. Use your bath towel more than one time to dry off from a shower. After all, you are clean.

Unplug all electronics when not in use…we have so many, I would have to quit my day job. There are some that can be easily unplugged.

Turn off lights, computer, TV, and electronics when not in use. How many times do you walk in a room with the TV on and no one is watching it?

Raise your thermostat in the summer and lower it in the winter.

Paper Towels…we are all guilty of this one. How many paper towels do you use in a day. Try using a kitchen towel more.

You are watering your plants and then notice that the sidewalk is dirty…put the hose down and sweep-not water, the sidewalk.

Water yards and plants in the early morning hours and use mulch and soaker hoses to conserve water in the garden.

Sign up to help in beach clean-ups. Annual ALO on Long Beach Island is having a beach clean-up on Saturday April 17, 2010 and the 2nd Annual Earth Day Green Up Clean Up on Sat. April 24, 2010.

Instead of using chemical filled cleaning products in the kitchen use eco-friendly cleaning products

Green Take Out- if you know you always bring home a doggie bag from restaurants, bring a container from home instead of using the foam ones provided at restaurants.

Reduce, reuse, and recycle

Recycle plastic bags at local ACME food store on Long Beach Island

Recycle clothing –drop off in bins by ACME food store on Long Beach Island

Remember, it takes practice to turn better ways into habit.

Please share (in the comments below) your family green ways that have andor have not worked for you

Donate to Habitat for humanity of Southern Ocean County

Recycle at Southern Ocean County Recycling

Green Information:

NJ GREEN

Ecofriendlydaily