This page lists the e-mails sent to members in chronological order. If you are a HCTA member and have not received these blast e-mails, please contact us so that we may ensure we have your e-mail address.
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sent 1/19/10
Dear fellow HCTA members,
Happy New Year- I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Holiday Season with family and friends. Here are a few updates on topics of interest:
LBI Consolidated School District:
Thank you to the HCTA members who attended the Dec 15th LBI Consolidated Board of Education meeting. The HCTA put out an email alert for a strong show of attendance at the request of the LBI Joint Council of Taxpayers, and many of you were able to attend. As always, numbers make us heard and the extent of voter interest obviously made an impression on the Board. It was surprising, yet encouraging to hear the Board of Ed state unequivocally that they are opposed to consolidation of LBI with the Stafford elementary system.
The HCTA encourages continued taxpayers attendance at these Board Meetings. There is still work to be done, including lowering the average pupil cost to the state's average. LBI Consolidated's cost is about $21,000 per pupil; the state average cost is close to $11,200 per pupil.
Beach Replenishment:
You may have read in the press or on our website that beachfront owners on 83rd street were awarded $480,000. It is the opinion of the HCTA that this is ridiculously large – implying the homeowner lost almost 20% of the value of their home when the new dune is only about 18 inches higher than the old dune, and received no value from the added safety of the dune, especially given that this house is one of only a few on the island allowed to be rebuilt that far out on the dune after the 1962 storm.
With this particular award, the town anticipated an appeal no matter which way the ruling went. The town filed the appeals paperwork and the court briefs were due on January 6th. Jon Oldham has said, “we’ll appeal and appeal until we can’t appeal any more.” The HCTA hopes that common sense will prevail in the appeals process, and that when the courts see this “impaired” view, the award will be overturned. The HCTA has posted the original article on this particular property, featured in the Press of Atlantic City, on our website home page, http://www.harveycedarstax.org .
Street-end dune walkovers – As we put out on the website, the town is doing their best to make sure that our street ends DO NOT look like Surf City. However, as anybody who has ever done a remodeling job knows, sometimes things have to look a lot worse during the project before the final product is done. Unfortunately that is the case with the street ends. The width of the Army Corp equipment requires that these have to be widened during the project. For the streets where the Army Corps is done, the Borough has already put up dune fencing to bring it back to a width of 8 feet. Additionally, the town will be purchasing a Bobcat so that they can maintain the walkover at a much narrower width than the current equipment they own allows.
Boulevard Safety:
Local politics at their best! It seems that the mayors of Barnegat Light and LBT have convinced the county officials Boulevard Safety model was a bad idea - even though they have never seen the simulations. The HCTA is evaluating how we should proceed and where we can be useful to the Borough in this endeavor. The Mayor has stressed to the Ocean County Freeholders that the situation on the Boulevard is unsafe, and that the status quo will not work, and is trying to get them all together to view the computer model - this is a county road, we need the county on our side. Since LBT and Barnegat light undoubtedly have more voters than Harvey Cedars does, we hope the County officials don’t pander to politics at the expense of another child being hit by a car. But to level the playing field in case politics do rule, please consider having one or more voting members of your household register in Harvey Cedars. There is a link to Ocean County Voting Forms on the HCTA website under the “Links of Interest” Tab. In the meantime the HCTA has asked for an increased police and ticketing presence on the Boulevard.
Upcoming events:
Please mark you calendars for the HCTA Second Annual Town Wide Yard Sale. It will be held on Saturday, May 29, 2010. Registration information will be forthcoming in the spring and will be posted on the HCTA website.
On behalf of the HCTA Trustees, I wish you the best this year.
Sincerely,
Bryan Lewis
President
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Update on Replenishment - sent on Dec 2, 2009
I hope you had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. The Holiday season in now upon us in full force! The pumping of sand resumed after the storm, and certainly not a minute too soon. The last Nor'easter took a significant toll on the beaches, especially on the southern end of Town. Erosion was significant enough that a portion of the road on East Atlantic was undermined and crumbled away, and several homes were almost completely undermined. The Town has had their equipment out and is repairing the damage and shoring up the beaches in advance of the replenishment.
The discharge unit for the sand is currently at 79th street. Sand is being pumped from that point heading north, then will proceed south to a point determined by the Army Corp. Then the dredge hook up will be moved south, and the north/south pumping will start again. We understand that this will occur three times to replenish the beaches through out the town.
It is a rather impressive process to watch, and is going on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The dredge is a hoper dredge. It steams out to the collection site, collects the sand, then comes back and connects to a platform with pipe that connects to the discharge and filter unit.
The sand is then pumped from the ship, through the screens and bulldozers push the sand around the beach.
There will be several differences between how the project was conducted in Surf City and how it will be conducted in Harvey Cedars. First, and most important, there is a much finer screen on the discharge unit to ensure that none of the munitions fuses end up on our beaches.
Second, the Mayor and Commissioners feel that the street ends/beach entrances in Surf City look too industrial or commercial, and are not in keeping with our town. They will be working with the Army Corps and the town work crews to make them look much more natural.
The third difference will be the material used on the walkways to and from the beach. In Surf City a material call I5 was used. While this creates a very hard-backed surface making it easy for people to walk, it is also subject to erosion. If you have seen these paths in Surf City, there are small gullies that form from rain run-off. In Harvey Cedars, we will use a material called "infield fill" which is similar to what is used in baseball parks. It forms a fairly hard-packed surface that makes it easy to walk on, but also allows for the water to soak in, not run off so quickly. Therefore we should not see the erosion/gully issues seen in Surf City.
The project is on schedule to be completed in March 2010. Several HCTA members will be taking pictures of the project as it progresses, will post these from time-to-time so you can follow the progress. Please visit our website at harveycedarstax.org for updates and to see storm pictures taken by Brian Devlin and replenishment pictures taken by Bill Clark.
Sincerely,
Bryan Lewis
President, HCTA
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*sent Oct 13, 2009*
Good afternoon HCTA members,
I want to inform you of an upcoming meeting to be held by the Borough concerning the forthcoming Beach Replenishment Project.
This meeting will be held on Tuesday, Oct 20th at 4:30 at Town Hall in the meeting room.
Some of the contractors participating in the Replenishment Project will be there to answer your questions, etc. The DEP, the Army Corps of Engineers and Weeks Marine(dredge) are confirmed attendees at this point.
As always, for information concerning Harvey Cedars taxpayers, please visit the HCTA website at Harveycedarstax.org.
Sincerely,
Bryan Lewis
President- HCTA
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*Sent Oct 5, 2009*
Greetings!
Now that the cooler weather of fall is upon us and the kids are back in school, we turn our attention to updating our records, the upcoming beach replenishment and the Boulevard Safety Survey.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support our efforts. We appreciate your prompt payment of our $25.00 annual dues and your important feed back. We try to tailor our efforts based on your responses at our annual meeting and on our website. Please continue to let us know how we are doing and what issues concern you. Additionally, we sincerely appreciate your continued financial support.
It is important to pay your dues, as this is a membership organization. I want to stress how vital membership and support is to our taxpayer group. The more members we have, the more influence we have with the town's administration. We only keep current paid members on our roster and mailing list. If you have not paid your 2009-2010 membership dues, please do so immediately. Your check can be mailed to: HCTA, PO Box 3065, Harvey Cedars, NY 08008. If you have decided to not renew your membership, please send me an email -I would be happy to hear why, and what we can do to improve the organization. We will be removing unpaid names from our roster on November 15th.
The beach replenishment is on schedule. The Army Corps are awaiting certain approvals - dredge inspection, survey verifications and the installation of the 'work line' on the dunes. Once this is in place- look for the sand! The replenishment is expected to be completed by a March - April 2010 time frame.
You should be seeing a survey regarding Boulevard safety and the proposed traffic pattern the County has introduced as a much safer alternative, in your mailbox within the month. To make sure it encompasses the opinions of all, it will be sent to all taxpayers, HCTA members or not. Please take the time to answer the survey and show your support for a safer Boulevard for all - cars, bikers, joggers and walkers. If you would like further information on the proposal, please see the HCTA position paper on our website.
On behalf of the HCTA Trustees, I wish you a happy fall. Enjoy the football games, changing leaves, time with loved ones, and hopefully some weekends in Harvey Cedars.
Regards,
Bryan Lewis
President- HCTA
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sent 8/25/09
It's a busy week with TWO important meetings!
1. County BLVD Safety Meeting: Thursday, August 27 at 6-8pm at the
firehouse. The Boro is sponsoring an 'Informational Forum' for all
Harvey Cedars property owners. At this meeting, the County engineer will
demonstrate the computerized traffic simulation of the current lane
configuration as well as the proposed configuration of a 10 foot wide
bike/pedestrian lane on each side, 1 traffic lane in each direction and
a dedicated center turn lane: both based upon the actual number of cars
counted on each of 2 weekends in July. The new configuration results in
a demonstrably safer Boulevard for vehicles, bikes and pedestrians with
only a 30 second increase in transit time for the entire length of town.
Please attend and let your voice be heard.
2. The HCTA Annual Meeting: Saturday, August 29 at 10:00 (doors open
at 9:30) at the firehouse. We will discuss our progress over the past
year with updates on taxation, the Boulevard, beach replenishment, etc.
as well as the challenges that lie ahead for Harvey Cedars. In addition,
there will be a Q & A session attended by the Mayor at the end of the
business meeting. We hope to see you and please encourage your friends to join.
Regards,
Bryan Lewis
President- HCTA
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sent 8/18/09
URGENT* URGENT* URGENT!!
On Thursday August 27 at 6pm at the HC Firehouse, the Borough will be presenting the changes the County and traffic engineer propose in order to make the Boulevard SAFER. We strongly urge you to attend this meeting so that you can make an informed decision regarding the changes.
At the Borough's request, the county did 2 additional traffic counts over July weekends to make sure the study accounted for peak volumes. In reality, the actual weekend numbers were less than used in the previous model presented to the town. The engineer will be presenting the computer simulation of traffic with the actual peak numbers under the proposed changes, so you can see the actual roadway in action.
It is the intention of the Borough to ask the homeowners their opinion of the model and if you are in favor of the changes. As we have stated, the HCTA Board is agreement with both the County and the engineering firm - this change is a much SAFER alternative to the current configuration, and only increases transit time through the entire length of town by 30 seconds, a trade-off we think well worth it. We believe that after you see the model in action, you will agree as well and when asked by the Borough, will let them know. PLEASE make every attempt to attend this meeting at the Firehouse in Thursday night, AUG 27th. Reminder: The HCTA Annual meeting in SAT, AUG 29th at the Firehouse.
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sent 8/18/09
Good afternoon HCTA members,
It's that time of year again!
Please join the HARVEY CEDARS TAXPAYER ASSOCIATION Board of Trustees at our Annual meeting on Saturday, August 29 at the HC Firehouse. Doors open at 9:30, the meeting will begin at 10:00. Coffee will be available.
We will review this past year and discuss the challenges that are before us. Most importantly outlining the HCTA's efforts to make the Boulevard safer for all, as Boulevard Safety has been a primary concern shared by our members at our past two Annual meetings.
Please remember to bring your $25.00 dues. Checks may be made payable to HCTA. Your generous support ensures we are able to continue our work. We look forward to seeing you!
Most Sincerely,
The HCTA Trustees
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Sent 7/28/09
Good evening,
Thank you to those who where able to attend the Commissioners meeting last week regarding the new water/sewer billing procedures. For a brief re-cap of that meeting and an explanation of the bill please visit our website at Harveycedarstax.org. Click on the "What's New" tab to view Charlie Gavers report.
Additionally, news from the County concerning the Traffic Count study has been received and posted on our site. To view the report generated by Phil Kunz and Bryan Lewis, please click on the "Issues-Replenishment and Blvd. Safety" tab.
Finally, it is not to early to mark your calendars with the date of our next Annual Meeting. It will be held on Saturday, August 29 at the High Point Fire House. More details will follow closer to the date.
Thank you,
The HCTA Trustees
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Sent 7/19/09
Good afternoon -
This Tuesday, July 21st at 4:30 in Borough hall, our Borough Commissioners will a second reading of an ordinance regarding the new billing for water/sewer usage.
If this is done, the new billing system will become 'law'. At this point, the HCTA Trustees believe there are too many unanswered questions regarding the accounting and implementation of this new billing system. Some of our members have seen their bill increase dramatically. While we are aware the the Borough has operated the water/sewer billing at a deficit for the past three years, we would like this issue tabled until a more through explanation can be put forth.
If you are in town, PLEASE attend this meeting- a large show of heads will help make the point that this issue should be put on hold until the many unanswered questions can be thoroughly answered.
We hope to see you Tuesday afternoon at 4:30,
The HCTA Trustees
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Sent 4/07/07
Attention Harvey Cedars Taxpayer Association Members and Friends!
The Harvey Cedars Taxpayer Association (HCTA), in cooperation with the Borough of Harvey Cedars, will be sponsoring a Community Wide Yard Sale on Saturday, May 23, 2009. We encourage you to get into that garage, attic or closet and do some spring cleaning! And while you're at it, take advantage of the FREE promotion we'll be doing on your behalf & the added traffic that our first annual town-wide sale will generate for you.
Here are the details:
Per household fee of $5.00 includes:
1.) An advertisement in May 20th issue of The Sandpaper
2.) Your sale location listing in our "Bargains Booklet" (Form & payment must be received by noon 5/16/09 to be included); list available to shoppers at 7AM on 5/23
3.) Colorful "locator" balloon to tie by the street at your property will assist shoppers in locating your great bargains!
4.) Colorful Yard Sale signage to post at or near your location
Note: Balloons and signs will be available for pick-up on Saturday 5/23 from 6:30AM to 10AM at Borough Hall, 76th St. & LB Blvd..
Please join us! It's easy to sign up:
First, print this page and complete the form at the bottom; then.
DROP IT OFF with the clerk at Borough Hall along with $5.00
-- OR --
MAIL IT along with your $5.00 check (payable to HCTA) to:
Harvey Cedars Taxpayers Association
P.O. Box 3065
Harvey Cedars, NJ 08008
Sale participation forms received by noon on Saturday, May 16, 2009 will be listed in the "Bargains Booklet" available to consumers. Forms will be accepted after 5/16; participants will receive a flag and signage on the day of the event.
Questions? Please email the event coordinators at kathleenries@gmail.com or bskcl@optonline.net .
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Sent 1/12/09
Members of the HCTA -
We have been asked to solicit our membership to see if we have any members who are willing to serve on the School Budget Review Team, since the JCTA cannot provide the total staffing. An ideal candidate would be a Harvey Cedars resident or someone who lives fairly close - and again ideally, has some government or school experience. However, the primary requirement is a willingness to work on the committee. This commitment will run from January up until the school elections in mid-April. Please contact Bill Knarre,President of the LBI Joint Council of Taxpayers (JCTA) as soon as possible at kknarre@aol.com. Also, please email myself, HCTA President Bryan Lewis at Bskcl@optonline.net to inform the HCTA of your willingness to volunteer. Your help is urgently needed for this short commitment.
Thank you,
Bryan Lewis
President
HCTA
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Sent 12/16/08
Dear fellow member,
Season’s Greetings to you and your family. A couple of updates for you all:
Harvey Cedars will be getting a new fire truck, but at a cost savings to the taxpayers. The township has secured and agreement with Long Beach Township to cover 1/3 of the cost since Harvey Cedars covers a portion of their Township.
Beach replenishment has not started yet, but is still expected to begin after the project comes back from a re-bid. At this time there is no information as to when the re-bid will commence. On a positive note, one of the major sticking points many people had over the beach replenishment project was the NJ DEP requirement for public restrooms every quarter mile and 24 hour beach access for the public. Avalon had sued the DEP over these and other rules and won their case. Here is a news article from the Cape May County Herald that details it pretty well: http://www.capemaycountyherald.com/article/37343-avalon-wins-beach-access-case-against-dep
In order to keep dues down, and to raise money to hopefully fund many of the project suggestions we have received from you, our membership, we have created an on-line catalog of Harvey Cedars and Harvey Cedars Taxpayer Association products. We have T-shirts, beach bags, coffee cups, even stamps. A portion of each sale goes to the HCTA to help fund projects. Please take a look at our catalog at http://www.zazzle.com/harveycedars. I am sure you will find a holiday gift there to make someone happy.
As always, for the most current updates of what is happening as well as the meeting minutes, visit our website at http://www.harveycedarstax.org.
On behalf of our Trustees, I wish you Happy Holidays and Happy New Year,
Bryan Lewis
President
HCTA
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Sent 8/28/08
Good evening HCTA members,
To follow are the meeting notes from our successful Annual Meeting held last Saturday at the firehouse. Sending them via e-mail was the idea of one of our members-thanks for the input! Be sure to check out our website at Harveycedarstax.org for more HCTA information.
We appreciate your ideas, comments and financial support. If you have not yet done so, please mail you dues to: HCTA, P.O. Box 3605, Harvey Cedars, NJ 08008.
Enjoy the rest of summer!
The HCTA Board of Trustees
The meeting summary can be found on the "What's New" page under Annual Meeting Notes
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December 2006
HARVEY CEDARS TAXPAYERS ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 3065
Harvey Cedars, NJ 08008
www.harveycedarstaxpayer.org
Dear HC Taxpayer and Property Owner:
Happy Holidays! This email is being sent on behalf of the Harvey Cedars Taxpayer Association (HCTA) and addresses some important news with regard to the Association since our meeting this past August in Harvey Cedars at the Firehouse. We ask that you take a moment to read through this note so you can better understand recent developments in Harvey Cedars and the activities of the Board of Trustees of the HCTA.
First and most importantly, we have just launched our new web site (www.harveycedarstaxpayer.org) which is now active and available for your use. We strongly encourage you to visit our new web site frequently as that will be where we provide the most up to date information on activities of the Association and the borough. We have made a strategic decision to rely substantially on electronic communication through email and through our web site as a means of increasing efficiency and reducing cost to the Association.
Through our current contact information collected via the Association website as well via US Mail and in person, we can now claim over 300 individuals, families, real estate trusts and other entities with an interest in organizing and advocating for property owner rights in Harvey Cedars, NJ. This is particularly impressive given the small size of our borough and we can fairly state that the Association already represents over 30% of the households in Harvey Cedars. We have been busy since our meeting in August and wanted to take the opportunity to review some of our progress with you:
• We have established board of trustees and appointed officers, responsibilities and service terms
• We have developed and adopted an Association Mission outlining our advocacy goals and priorities.
• We have developed and adopted Association By-Laws and Policies (including a privacy policy).
• We have established a bank account, a treasury function and a process for making financial and other records of the Association available for inspection and review.
• We have established five (5) sub-committees focused on specific areas of concern to you based on feedback we received at our meeting in August. These are currently chaired by board members.
These documents and other relevant information are all available for your review and comment on our web site. Importantly, at our August meeting we asked for your participation in setting priorities and accomplishing work for the HCTA. You may do so at this time by visiting the web site and joining a sub-committee of interest to you. In addition, you may email us or post any of your concerns, comments, remarks or questions on our web site as well.
Thus far, our efforts have been focused on two key areas of concern in Harvey Cedars:
• Proposed changes to residential zoning ordinances by the borough
• Beach replenishment project being coordinated by the NJ DEP and Army Corps of Engineers
We have seen progress in both of these areas and have created an open line of communication with the Borough Commissioners and the Mayor that has proved valuable. We have also posted comprehensive reviews and updates on our activities related to these two issues on our web site for your review. In addition, we have more information on other areas of concern to taxpayers there as well.
We hope you are pleased with our progress thus far and now look forward to providing more updated information to you in an interactive and valuable manner through our web site.
Please accept our best wishes for a healthy holiday season and a very happy new year!
Respectfully,
The Board of Trustees of the HCTA
John Cadmus
Tom Christopoul
Barbara Frank
Charles Gaver
Joe Krug
Phil Kunz
Bryan Lewis
Lena Nerri
Michael Pasnick
Kathy Reis
Samir Todros