TIMES
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
THE SOUTHERN OCEAN
Vol. 4 - No. 28
Inside This Week’s Edition Business Directory ........................... 16 Classifieds ........................................ 15 Community News ......................... 8-11 Dear Joel ..........................................14 Dr. Izzy’s Sound News .................... 14 Fun Page ......................................... 17 Inside The Law ................................. 19 Letters to the Editor ............................ 5 Wolfgang ......................................... 19 WWW.MICROMEDIAPUBS.COM
Your FREE Weekly Hometown Newspaper | Serving Lacey, Waretown, Barnegat, Manahawkin, LBI, Tuckerton and Little Egg
School District Re�erend�m A�ain P�rs�es $53.6M In Pro�ects
December 31, 2016
Barnegat Settles Affordable Housing Numbers
By Chris Lundy BARNEGAT – The Township settled part of its affordable housing obligation, amounting to 121 units that township officials said are already accounted for. Several Ocean County towns recently settled in court with the Fair Share Housing Center. This is the latest incarnation of the Supreme Court-designated party that is responsible for ensuring that towns build a realistic portion of low-to-moderate housing. Previous versions referred to this obligation as the Counsel On Affordable Housing and the Mount Laurel agreement, after that town was accused of zoning its entire town for large homes only, essentially zoning poor people out of the town. According to the settlement, the township’s obligation for the years of 2015 through 2025 is 121 units. The settlement is 30 percent less than the (Housing - See Page 7)
–Photos courtesy Pinelands Regional The school district has released photos of some infrastructure conditions that it hopes a passed referendum would fix. Residents are faced with several ballot questions January 24, totalling $53.6 million in projects. By Chris Lundy TUCKERTON – After a referendum for school renovations failed in November, the district is putting the same three questions out to voters on January 24. The infrastructures of the buildings are aging, interim Superintendent Maryann Banks said. Pinelands Regional High School is older, and the steel beams beneath the bricks are corroding. “We are encouraged and we are hopeful” that there will be a different outcome this time, Banks said. The challenge in putting a referendum out on the November ballot is that it shares space with a lot of other political causes. There was a very heavily contested presidential election. Those often bring voters out who do not know about local issues. There were also a few state questions on the ballot. One was
about dedicating the gas tax for transportation issues. The other was about allowing gambling in other areas than Atlantic City. Both were controversial. “It’s conceivable that if there were not a favorable opinion of the previous questions that they would vote “no” on ours,” she said. Three Questions The three questions going out to voters will be the same as they were in November. If all three pass, the total is $53.6 million, of which 40 percent will be covered by the state. The district will bond for the money, and pay it off over 25 years. The first question has to pass in order for the other two to pass. In other words, if Question 2 passes, but Question 1 fails, then the whole package fails. The first question involves the following improvements at the (Referendum - See Page 4)
Pinelands Commission Seeks Comment On Pipeline
OCEAN COUNTY – The Pinelands Commission will hold a special meeting for the public to comment on whether the South Jersey Gas pipeline project complies with the rules that protect the Pinelands. The commission argues that it does not - in fact the Commission already voted on this project in 2014 and failed to approve it. In November, NJ Courts ruled that the Executive Director of the Pinelands Commission did not have the authority to rule (Pipeline - See Page 4)
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