Welcome to Holgate

Prepared by Long Beach Township and the Holgate Taxpayers Association

To enrich your visit, Long Beach Township (LBT) and the Holgate Taxpayers Association (HTA) would like you to be aware of the following important items:

Boulevard Safety Tips

  • This narrow main road, shared by vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, gets busy in the summertime, especially on weekends.
  • For your safety, all bicyclists and skaters must go in the direction of travel and pedestrians travel against traffic.
  • If we all follow these simple rules, accidents will be eliminated and everyone can take pleasure in the beauty of this paradise on earth.

Keep Off the Sand Dunes – $500 Fine!

  • The sand dunes are NOT JUST A PILE OF SAND. They are a vital protection system for all the homes in Holgate. During Superstorm Sandy the homes protected by well-developed sand dunes suffered far less damage than elsewhere.
  • Trees, sand fences and dune plants can build dunes with time. All three catch sand in the wind while their roots spread below the sand surface stabilizing the dune.
  • Stepping on the plants, even lightly, damages them and leaves them open to infection especially in the hot summer months. When they die they weaken the dune and therefore the protection.

Keep Holgate Clean and Watch Your Garbage

  • LBT does a very good job of providing recycling and waste containers at beach entrances and in the parking lot at the south end of the island. Please use them.
  • Always securely cover your garbage cans. The seagulls are quite aggressive in the summer when it comes to garbage.
  • LBT outlawed smoking on the beach in 2015 and you will be fined if caught smoking (or worse improperly disposing of cigarette butts) on the beach.

Watch your pets

  • Dogs are not allowed on the beach from May 1st to October 1st.
  • Please be sure to pick up after your pets and properly dispose of their waste.

Greenhead Traps

  • There are approximately 140 greenhead traps placed throughout Holgate. LBT and the HTA invest heavily each year to build, maintain and bait these large black four-legged boxes.
  • These box traps provide an ecologically safe, inexpensive and effective means of greenhead fly control. Remember, For Every Fly That Is Trapped, there Is One Less Female Fly to Bite or Breed. Please do not damage the greenhead traps.

Printable version of the information

July 2016 Update

I attended the regularly scheduled meeting of the Commissioners on Monday, July 11th. I also attended the pre-meeting, which is also open to the public 30 minutes prior to the scheduled meeting. At the start of the public meeting, a proclamation recognizing the birthday of a Township resident, Mary Leonardi, was read. On July 27th, she will celebrate her 105th birthday. Amazing! She can remember WW I.

In the portion of the agenda addressing special events approval, the Bowker Deli Beachside Social, scheduled for July 21st from 7pm to 10 pm in the south parking lot, was approved. We are also in the process of submitting the application for approval for our annual fall BBQ to be held in the Bond’s Park tennis court on Saturday, September 10th at 5 pm.

There was also a reminder from the Police Department (PD) that we were now in hurricane season and that each resident should make sure they know the location of their re-entry placards. Obviously it should be with you and not left in your Holgate home. New residents should have received their re-entry placard by mail shortly after the purchase of their home. If not, I suggest contacting the PD soon.

The PD also invited the public to attend two separate police sponsored events in Bayview Park at 68th Street on the Blvd.: Bike Safety and K-9 Demonstration on July 20th from 9AM to 10 AM and National Night Out from 5 PM to 9 PM on August 2nd. With all the anti police rhetoric and actions in recent years and apparently continuing to deteriorate, it might be an opportunity to show your support. A member had raised the subject of police presence in Holgate with the Mayor during our June 4th annual spring membership meeting and we have seen the PD patrolling our neighborhoods more since then. I thanked the Mayor for the PD’s increased presence during Monday’s pre-meeting.

The Mayor invited the public to attend the dedication of the new park at the Township complex tonight, Wednesday, July 13th, immediately following the Land Use Board meeting at 7:00 pm.

Commissioner Lattanzi reported that the audit of the Township’s financial books came back clean and thanked Chief Financial Officer, Lisa Jones, for an excellent job. He reported that bus ridership was over 20,000 users as of July 4th. He did point out that the Governor has suspended all grant monies from the Transportation Fund due to current inability for the State government to resolve the gas tax increase issue. The Township was expecting a $300,000 grant for the bus service this year. He was hopeful that the state leaders could resolve their difference so the Township taxpayers would not be responsible for the shortfall. They will be working on a future referendum on how to fund the bus operation.

Commissioner Bayard reported that due to a change in State regulations, the Township garage (at 79th Street and the Blvd.) will not longer be accepting e-waste. Residents will need to bring these materials to the Stafford Recycling Center. However, residents will still be able to call the Township for pickup of computers, monitors, laptops and televisions.

Mayor Mancini stated that beach replenishment in Holgate was completed and by contract, the contractor has 14 days to complete the walkovers after the pumping had stopped.

Angela Andersen gave a brief presentation on the recently completed Hideaway Bay Nature Area at 105th Street (Louisiana Avenue – new traffic signal just south of the ACME) and invited all to visit. She also stated that the nature area slated for the bay side of Osborn Avenue in Holgate will be completed in 2017. I requested that the HTA and interested Holgate residents be kept in the loop as plans were being developed. Angela was also looking for feedback from residents regarding the new recycling app.

Lastly, thanks to member Marc Slovak, the HTA web site (holgatetaxpayers.org) has been updated to include a new main menu item entitled “Dune Vegetation Project”. Since we are very concerned that we show how our members’ generous donations into the dune vegetation fund over the past several years are being used wisely, all the minutes and notes from the dune vegetation committee and other meetings will be posted for all to see. There are a couple of items posted there already. Please let us know if you have any comments. I have a meeting with Angela Andersen this afternoon as we continue to work up a plan for the fall planting.


Dan Macone

President’s Remarks at Meeting with CommissionersMeeting Notes (link at bottom)

Opening Remarks – Saturday, June 27, 2015

Firstly, I want to thank you all for being here today and being part of the Holgate Taxpayers’ Association and actively demonstrating your support for your community. I want to thank those of you who actively participate in our scheduled activities. This coming year we do need some volunteers who can care for the new plantings we will complete in the parking lot and the Bond’s Park. Until the plants take root, we need some volunteers to keep them watered and weeded. If you live close to those locations, we really need your help.

Introduce Board of Directors and Trustees

  • Daniel S. Macone President
  • Tom Beaty 1 st VP
  • Ted Stiles 2 nd VP
  • Bill Cannon Treasurer
  • Marianne Hurley Recording Secretary
  • Yanni Kaloudis Corresponding Secretary

Trustees

  • Al Callese
  • Bill Hutson
  • Eileen Bowker
  • Bob White
  • Frank Lowry
  • Lucille Benedetti
  • Rand Pearsall

Over this past year, the Association has worked on several initiatives and I am pleased to say that several have been realized. First, the signs along the boulevard indicating the proper direction of travel for pedestrians and bicyclists have been installed. Second, working with the County and the Township, a stop sign has now been installed at the intersection of McKinley and S. Long Beach Blvd. This is a good safety improvement. Following last year’s spring membership meeting, we contacted
the County and got information about its land conservation program. Subsequently, letters were sent to the owner of the Rosemma – Beck property to see if they were interested in participating in the conservation program. Since December, we have been working with the residents at the west end of Janet Road and the Township to try to make some changes to the design of the new pump station so that a look more conducive to the characteristics of the surrounding area would be used.

The Holgate Taxpayers’ Association is determined to make a difference for our community. Together we will accomplish more.

CLICK HERE TO SEE NOTES FROM THE MEETING

Meeting With Commissioners

Our meeting with Commissioners Mancini and Bayard is scheduled for next Saturday, June 27th at 10:00 am in the Township Municipal Building in Brant Beach. Commissioner Lattanzi is unable to attend. The meeting will begin promptly at 10:00 am as our guests have another Taxpayers Association meeting to attend following Holgate’s meeting. I hope you all can attend this very critical meeting next Saturday and that you will continue to support the Association’s work by renewing your membership. We have some additional activities planned for later this year and we are continuing to build up a fund for dune vegetation plantings that will be utilized upon completion of the beach replenishment project. As you may know, the beach replenishment project does provide for some dune vegetation. However, the HTA will plant other plants to further strengthen the berm. We will see you on Saturday

Beach Dune Projects

(1) Christie Administration and United States Army Corps Announce Schedule to Move Forward on Beach and Dune Projects. Read about these plans

(2) Sand for Beach One

It was reported yesterday, Friday, October 18, 2013 that the Holgate Marina will be dredging soon and that the 15,000 cubic yards of sand that they will be removing will be taken to Beach One.

In a conversation with the Holgate Marina, it was verified that AshBritt will begin dredging starting on Oct. 24th or 25th. This is certainly good news to help protect the remaining dune and get us through the next six months until the replenishment project begins.

After Storm 10/11/2013

We received several inquiries today regarding the condition of the beaches as a result of the slow moving storm. We have attached three photos of beach one taken at 12:30 pm this afternoon. We looked again at 5:00 pm and the tide had receded. Some of the snow fence has been washed away and the water had been lapping at the top of the dunes. We’ll take another look in the morning.

20131011-3

20131011-2

20131011-1

Dune Grass Planting Postponed

Due to the expected poor weather conditions, this Saturday’s scheduled dune grass planting is postponed for one week. The new date is Saturday, October 19th at 10:30 am. Please let Bill Hutson know if you intend on participating in next Saturday’s dune grass planting. His phone number is 609-492-6363. We need to have a good idea of the number of people attending so proper arrangements can be made. Thank you for your help in this regard.

In addition, camping on the beach at 68th Street (which requires an insurance certificate) is also being postponed due to poor weather conditions until Friday, October 18th.
Please let us know if you have any questions.