VENTNOR – At the request of a city resident who lives bayside, the city attorney will review an ordinance that would regulate houseboats. According to Mary Samberg who lives in the Ventnor Plaza area, someone has been living on a houseboat and discharging sewerage into the bay.
Samberg said the person caused damage to her automobile to the tune of $3,700 in damages that are not recoverable. She said the boat also broke loose from its mooring during a storm and caused damage to a pump station located in the Ventnor Plaza area, where it stayed for five days.
Samberg said she researched how other New Jersey communities regulate houseboats but found only one ordinance from Long Beach Township. The ordinance specifically states that boats should be moored to prevent any damage to surrounding property; discharge of sewerage, garbage and oil into the water is prohibited; and it limits the mooring of houseboats to 24 hours.
According to City Attorney Nicole Curio of Blaney, Donohue & Weinberg, PC, the Ventnor City Police Department investigated the incidents and took appropriate action.
The resident noted that houseboats are not permitted anywhere in NJ except for a marina on the Route 57 causeway, and that another individual is planning to moor a manufactured boat at the site, which she said is becoming “homeless harbor.”
“More people will be coming because we won’t do anything about it,” Samberg told the commissioners at their Dec. 19 meeting, while sharing photographs she took of the area.
“I pay high taxes, and this is my view of their boats,” she said. “You can’t moor a boat and live there happy go lucky. My property is being attacked.”
Curio said the city would explore its options, including reviewing the Long Beach Township ordinance and state regulations to see if anything could be done locally about regulating them but state navigation laws govern boat traffic on navigable waterways.
“We can’t let this become homeless harbor,” Samberg said.
In other business, the Board of Commissioners awarded a $230,085 contract to Shore Top Construction to completely rebuild the basketball court at the recreation complex on Suffolk Avenue. City Administrator Tom Ciccarone said the job includes removing the existing concrete and replacing the subgrade before constructing a new surface, and installing backboards and fencing.
Revamping the tennis and pickleball courts is currently in the design phase, he said.
The board also awarded an $832,876 contract to Fred M. Schiavone Construction of Malaga to replace the sewer line on a portion of Somerset Avenue that is in “bad shape,” Landgraf said. Schiavone offered the lower of two bids received for the project.
It also approved a $131,628 change order for the project that will synchronize timing of the traffic lights and improve pedestrian safety on Ventnor Avenue between Dorset and Jackson avenues, bringing the total cost of the project to $3,069,992.
Landgraf said the new design is “much better” than originally proposed and that work would continue through the new year and be completed by spring.
The board also approved a resolution opposing Atlantic City Electric’s request to the Board of Public Utilities for an 8% rate increase to cover the cost of providing reliable service, especially in storm-prone areas. Landgraf said the utility should be using funding it already obtains from rate payers to improve its infrastructure. The cost to ratepayers would be $12.96 more per month to cover the increased cost of delivering electricity to homes.
On Dec. 18, the BPU opened a four-month review of the utility’s request, which would come following an estimated 13% increase imposed earlier this year. Additional public hearings will be held before the BPU votes on the request.
Landgraf said residents, especially struggling families and senior citizens on fixed incomes, cannot afford another rate increase.
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