Sep 1985 - On-Line Newspaper Archives of Ocean City

1
" The Sentinel-Ledger
editorials/comment
Fire code
surprises
Sea Isle City officials believe the city can do it
on Its own. Ocean City officials believe just the
opposite. Officials in Somers Point are still
looking into the matter while in Upper Township,
officials have yet to decide which direction to
take.
At issue are the new safety requirements being
imposed under the state's Uniform Fire Safety
Act — a new regulation designed to maximize
fire safety in buildings such as restaurants,
amusements, hotel and motels, guest houses and
similar structures where gatherings are likely to
occur.
Under the code, fire inspections wiU be
required each year. Cost of the inspections wiU
be covered by new fees which owners of inspected
buildings will have to pay. The propertyowners
themselves will also have to come up to
the new code, mandating fire safety materials
and devices which go beyond those heretofore
required.
As effective date for the code draws near, (it's
scheduled for adoption Sept. 18) more and more
property owners are beginning to understand
how expensive the new code may be to them
because of the costly retrofitting that most likely
will have to take place in older structures.
One surprising aspect is that the expected hue
and cry against the tighter code hasn't
materialized. Also surprising is how officials in
Ocean City seem willing to give up home rule by
allowing the state to undertake local inspections.
The state will enforce the code in all
municipalities which don't opt to do it themselves.
Surprising too is the difference of opinion
among area officials regarding ability to enforce
the cole using local manpower.
But then, too, the code itself has been pretty
confusing.
VIEWPOINT
A proposal to
Jun4 beach
protection
projects
By State Senter
JAMES R. HURLEY
(R(Gtp»OnmbtHaad)
For several years now,
state and leal officials have
proposed various ways of
providing a stable source of
.tending shore protection
projects. Each one has had Us
abare of supporters and opponents.
Aj a result, nothing
ou bean done.
I am now offering a
We need a constant
source of funding for
this ongoing problem*
proposal that I believe will
break this stalemate and will
raises much as$16 minion a
year to protect our 127-mile
coastline. It calls for a small
increase in the real estate
trawls' tax Oat would be
X**ttrted to shore protection,
? Under this proposal, which I
plan to introduce at the next
Senate session, the transfer
tax would Increase by SO cents
Based on the tax revenues
collected in fiscal year ISM,
Iflw extra tax could generate
^around $16 mflllon a year.
Wfor home buyers, the to-
??creaee would raise closing
| M ««1100,006 home by
If.
l Even with the additional SO
oenU, the real estate transfer
Itttt in New Jersey would
^remain a barsain eamoired
M SJIH~- flHS^QIOfl^^liH flEHEfiS*~ ^^^afi
few lor proporty tola far
; and In Delaware It US
Page Four
Tuesday. September 10,1985
where|o,g!9/
what to do
I The
Sentinel-Ledger
features
Tuesday. September 10, 1985
Page Five
Touring the place that prepares people who are 'always ready'
Airplane pilot's view seconds before landing at Ocean City Airpcirt.
A stable source of funding
•bore protection is long
overdue.
Our put record of funding
beach protection has ben
poor. From 1959 to 1980, only
Everyone in New Jersey has a
Make In Iti continued vitality.
Several members of the
real estate profession nave
told me Oat they do net Keeping the sharks away is a
believe the small Increase
would be a problem.
major effort for this tough cookie
Having summered hire for resort city with a steady tough, very competent cookie manner that the nets in the
over 60 years and made Ocean population of over one million who runs it, Beulah Davis. second row overlap the gaps
aty home for over 18,1 well but on any given day InSUM
INT, there have been between those in the first row.
recall some of our shark season, that number swells by 10 shark attacks In Natal, ieukh Davis, a former
•cares down through the a quarter-million more, TIM where Durban ta located, and university lecturer who holds
years. I recall the showing of swimmers are no problem; a of these were fatal. Jn MM • master of science degree in
the movie lam, coincident on the sharks are.
alone, there were seven at- wology was, Indeed, the first
one occasion with a school of
186 million was spent on shore
tacks, five fatal, in just 107 employee of the NASMB. As
porpoises just off snore that Durban's vacation industry
protection In New Jersey. In
days. Theae were so frequent such, she drove a Land Rover
really had summer visitors In nets over one-half billion
the late 1970s, beach
and grisly, that coastal and went out In ski boats to
• Utter.
dollars a year, and sharks are
protection funds began to dry
tDurjsm virtually closed down catch iharks. vBiw now
to that Industry what stapb
up to the point when in 1977
and that period Is still oversees a staff of over 200,31
Just thank your lucky stars infection is to any hospital.
New Jersey spent only $42,000
referred to locally as "Black vehicles and 28 ski boats. Her
that you don't bathe In the Enter the NASMB (Natal Antl
to protect its coastline.
December.?
staff services 3M gill nets
Indian Ocean Just off Durban, Shark Measures Board) for By April 1KB (when a » which protect 43 beaches.
In 1983, the voters of thJa South Africa. Durban Is a South Africa and the very year-old woman was bitten In
state approved • ISO million
half) m«a shark hysteria had Let not the word "service*"
bond issue, which I sponsored.
eenfirtejT hoMar resorts hill you; that word means that
However, this amount is still -OCEAN CITY GOVIRNMINT- Into ghost towns' hotels and an ana of 100 miles of
not sufficient to handle the
massive Job of protecting our
MAYOR
seaside amusement parks oceanfront playground is
COUNCIL PRESIDENT'
went bankrupt. In 19M, the Jewed off
beaches from constant JackBittner Henry S, Knight National Provincial. Ad-
erosion. Relying on one bond 18 Sweerwater ct. 2217 Haven Av. ministration was prodded into
Issue after another to fund
beach repairs la the wrong
399-6111 (City Hall) 3W-55J5 (Work) combatting shark attacksapproach
to take. We need a 399-6_204'(Homa) 399*4646 (Home) .nterthoNASMB and IU first
employee, the aforemen-
constant source of funding for COUNCILMEMBER COUNCILMEMBER
this ongoing problem.
AT-LAROI
AT-LAROE
Considering the state gets
almost HO billion annually Herbert Brownle» Jeanne Clunn wmcid gill nets^bff some of
its beaches to combat tharki
from tourism — a large part 530 W, Surf Rd. 315 Central AV. WKI after "Black December"
of which U generated at the i 399-4040 (W)
399=6232
the« controls had been ex-
(bore — we cannot •fiord to 3991407 (H)
tended by the resorU them,
sit Idly by and watch a
1
valuable economic and en- POUNCILMEMBER
selves. Enticing fearful
COUNCILMEMBER
swimmers back to the
vironmental resource be
fit WARD
2nd WARD
beaches, however, was a slow
•wept away by the tides.
MarkVldetto William Mils andcostly.busuieBs.' 'v ;
We must establish a stable 824 Seacrest Rd. 400 E, 9th St. The net defense, now that it
source of beach protection 3981157 (W) 39H78O{W) was under NASMB, was
ftmdtag before nature solves 398-7229 (H) SWJimH) enlarged. The nets are WOfeet
the problem for us by eroding
long and 10 tot