BERKELEY – After Memorial Day, tourists flock to the Jersey Shore, but some neighborhoods weren’t built for month-long parties.
As people move out of waterfront homes, the new buyers are sometimes companies renting the property out on sites like Vrbo or AirBnB.
Shore resident Barbara Christie warned the governing body at a recent Township Council meeting that “the season is here,” and asked what protections are in place to keep neighborhoods safe and quiet.
She noted a recent instance where a home near her had a revolving door of people coming in all season. When she reported it to the code enforcer, she was told that she needed to provide proof that this was a property being used in this way, so she forwarded them the AirBnB listing.
Business Administrator Jay Delaney said that there is guidance from the state on how to deal with situations like this, and that a town has to follow those rules.
Township Attorney Lauren Staiger said the town has ordinances to address issues such as noise that would impact neighbors. After a certain number of violations, the town can pursue action against the homeowner to put up a bond. It costs money to send police or code enforcers to the same location over and over again, so the town would draw money from that bond. The idea is that it would make it costly for a homeowner to impact their neighbors – or to rent to people who would.
Christie also had a question as to emergency services in her neighborhood now that South Seaside Park has left.
Decades ago, Berkeley Township used to be much, much larger. Over a century ago, Seaside Heights and Seaside Park left at different times, each becoming their own towns. As situations like this happened, Berkeley was left with strange borders. For example, Pelican Island is a small piece of land just over the bridge from Toms River toward Seaside. It’s part Berkeley and part Toms River. South Seaside Park was a section of Berkeley that was literally south of the borough of Seaside Park. This year, the courts granted them the ability to leave Berkeley and join Seaside Park.
Christie was concerned because, as a resident of Pelican Island, Berkeley police would at least pass through on their way to South Seaside Park. Now, there’s just a few dozen Berkeley homes on that side of the bridge and she worried that there would be less police presence.
Delaney said that they are still working out the de-annexation with Seaside Park. There are a number of services that Pelican Island will continue to receive, such as trash removal, police, fire coverage, and EMS.
Township officials are looking at all options to determine how to continue to give Pelican Island residents the services they need while doing so in an efficient way, he said.
Open Space
In other news, the Council voted to support the county buying a 50-acre parcel for open space. The land is listed as Block 837.01, Lot 6.
Mayor John Bacchione said the parcel, located north of the Wawa on Route 9, is “dead set in the middle of Ocean County property and not likely to ever be developed.”
The Ocean County Natural Lands Trust is fueled by a 1.2 cent tax. They try to buy land in environmentally sensitive areas. This piece is on the Mill Creek. The trust requires the town where the land is to support the purchase, because it would take land off the tax rolls.
