Sustainable

The borough of Atlantic Highlands not only retained certification but received it at a higher level and topped it off with also receiving the Small Town Champion Award from Sustainable Jersey, a major accomplishment that seems to have gotten little recognition and certainly no fanfare.

The borough doesn’t know yet whether Councilman James Murphy or Councilwoman Lori Hohenleitner will be the next Mayor. Nor does it know whether Ellen O’Dwyer and Coach Whitehead or Allison Forbes and Jon Crowley will be the council members for the next three years, though Councilman Crowley seems almost certain to be selected for another term. Hopefully by sometime next week, the results will be finalized and announced.

But aside from the politics of the situation, let’s take a look at Ellen O’Dwyer and what her quiet, unannounced, little-talked-about efforts have done for the borough’s image.

Literally.

Sustainable Jersey is a state-wide organization that certifies municipalities who are the nation’s leaders in implementing solutions for challenges to reduce waste and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Municipalities also must certify they have taken measures to improve public health among other things, which also stimulates the local economy and offers grants to accomplish even more for a borough. Just about every municipality in New Jersey is registered with Sustainable Jersey, but not many have achieved the successes that Atlantic Highlands has.

Awards this year were presented by Christine Guhl-Sadovy, President, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Enter Ellen O’Dwyer, one of the candidates waiting to see if she has been elected to council.  Currently, Ellen chairs the borough’s GREEN TEAM, a quiet but hardworking group of dedicated residents following Ellen’s penchant for getting things done.  That’s why the borough has been certified for several cycles and last year got the Bronze award, no small accomplishment.  She is also a former Environmental Commissioner and former Shade Tree Commissioner, both of which she feels were important experiences in order to have achieved what she did with the Green Team.

This year this ambitious group aimed for the silver award it received, an award that mandated achieving more than twice as many points as the Bronze award.  But they also were awarded the champion Award for being the very best Small town; a community under 5,000 residents in New Jersey …. for sustainability.

Sustainable Jersey, under the Sustainability Institute at The College of New Jersey, doesn’t make it easy to achieve their awards. They set a high bar and have an entire team of professionals who verify what each town says it has done.

Ellen and her team could have simply settled for their bronze award. Each award is good for three years, so maintaining bronze is in itself an accomplishment. But she’s a driver and passionate about the environment. She served for a year on the Beautification Committee and Environmental commission before Mayor Loretta Gluckstein had faith in her enthusiasm and named her to the Shade Tree as well as the Green Team Committee, an advisory group to the governing body.

In the past, the borough was interested in maintaining its certification as a member of Sustainable Jersey, but Ellen strove to go higher. She did a lot of research and found that as far as recycling and reusing goes, the borough has done an awful lot over the years, thanks to a great Public Works Department and residents who take pride in their neighborhood. But moving higher and better seemed like a better idea, so Ellen did more research and documented all the accomplishments and memorialized them into programs. That is what earned the Bronze medal last year.

This year, rather than simply being recognized for maintaining the bronze status, taking the silver award also enabled the borough to receive the Small Town Champion award.

“We could have rested on our laurels for three years, but we didn’t.,” the chairman said.  “Atlantic Highlands deserves the credit for all the work that it is already doing, and with a community whose heart is in it.  We went for Silver and achieved it in one year by completing some innovative projects, like being the first community to adopt a ban on plastic straws and bags and partnering with a local company on biodegradable packaging solutions.  We applied for and received two grants, educated on native species, shared wildflowers and milkweed, and encouraged green solutions to anything and everything,” The Captain of the Green Team explained.

At the League of Municipalities annual event in Atlantic City, Sustainable Jersey had a luncheon to honor all the municipalities who received honors. In her acceptance talk, in which she praised both Sustainable Jersey’s efforts and her own team and borough residents Ellen said  “We’ve got a real “walking” town where the sidewalk outside your door can lead you to anywhere you would want to go in the borough, and our tree-lined streets are the result of our Tree City USA commitment of 42 years. We also established new and innovative ways to reach and educate the public, having a column in the local Atlantic Highlands Living magazine, hosting our first “Envirossance Faire” and an “Earth Day Walkabout” where visitors walked to various “Green Stops” throughout town.

She explained that with limited resources, “we networked beyond the borough teams and commissions to collaborate with the local arts council, the library, the schools, scouts, Chamber of Commerce, Garden Club, and even the Historical Society. With a new organization called “Wild About Atlantic Highlands”, the entire town is a Certified Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation.  This involved 100 residential and business gardens. “

Ellen added, that “with other programs like “No Mow May”, “Grass – Cut it and Leave It”, “Don’t Spray,” and Leave the Leaves”, we’ve got the public to learn, engage, and commit to being stewards of our beautiful town.”

Lest anyone think she is content with simply garnering the Best Small Town and silver swards, Ellen put the League on notice that “We are now aiming for “Gold Star”, which will set a new precedent for small, historic communities with classic infrastructure.  I will leverage this status and other tactics to elevate Atlantic Highlands as a unique entity to preserve this unique ecosystem of mountains to bayside beaches to forested lands in the face of potential overdevelopment.”

Looking towards the future, another of Ellen’s aims is to save and protect the water utility through grants and other support.  Municipalities can play a significant role in creating a comprehensive approach to the management of water, she believes. Each municipality in the state has its own water profile, shaped by its geography, infrastructure and local concerns. The gold star in water identifies specific actions and level of performance for municipalities to achieve improvements in water quality, quantity and use.

There are only four municipalities in the state with a gold star: Maplewood Twp, Princeton, Readington Twp, and Woodbridge Twp, which has two Gold Stars.

The Sustainability Champions this year, in addition to Atlantic Highlands, are Madison for populations from 5,000 to 40,000 and Woodbridge for municipalities with more than 40,000 population.

Members of the borough’s Green Team with O’Dwyer are Ashely Cruz, Blake Deakin, Morgan Spicer, Ellen Bollinger, Jim Krauss and Sara Colasurdo, with Councilwoman Hohenleitner the council representative.

Knowing Ellen O’Dwyer, knowing how hard she works once she sets her mind on a goal, and knowing the Green Team’s efforts, it’s a prediction that next year, Atlantic Highlands will be honored with the gold award.

Judging from her energy level and the hard-working GREEN TEAM, together with residents proud of their community, it will not come as any surprise when Atlantic Highlands reaches the gold next year.

Bayshore Pharmacy Card and Gift Shop will host a Holiday Open House on Saturday, December 2 from noon to 2pm with a guest appearance from Santa!  It’s the perfect time to grab your holiday list, visit Santa for holiday cheer and shop local this season for toys, gifts and clothing for the family all with complimentary gift wrapping.

Meet local author Lori Herschkowitz-Skala for a book signing of her new book The Road to Rosie from Ruff to Rescue!  Lori is a cancer survivor and donates proceeds of her book to cancer research and animal rescue.

Visit the Sister Squad Crafts table for handmade holiday ornaments for the whole family and have your gift personalized in time for the holidays!

Bayshore Pharmacy Cards and Gifts, located in the Foodtown Plaza in Atlantic Highlands, is a locally owned, full-service pharmacy, specializing in compounded prescriptions, immunizations, and insurance billing. Serving the area for 60 years and two generations, Bayshore Pharmacy also provides the area’s largest card and gift shop, offering plenty of parking and delivery service 7 days a week.

  Happy Anniversary!

Thanksgiving is a joyful and happy day for everyone but Nov. 27 is an even more special day for Pat and Dick Stryker. The former Atlantic Highlands Mayor and his wife Pat are celebrating their 71^st wedding anniversary this year and still delight in telling the story of how they met.

Congratulations to one terrific couple who raised a great family, established a most popular and well-run store in their Bayshore Pharmacy in the Foodtown Mall on Route 36 at First Avenue, and contributed so much to the Bayshore they both love.

Speaking of Bayshore Pharmacy, congratulations also to Ellen who does all the planning and ordering for the fantastic gift section of the shop that is as busy as the Pharmacy section. Love the way she has arranged the hundreds … or is it thousands…of items they have for all their unusual gifts. It’s probably the largest collection of Irish-themed ideas outside of Dublin, and the collection of fun and  educational toys for kids is unique. Of course they also feature lots of books by local authors, and plenty of things for the newly married couple, the sports fan and so much more. Rather than battling crowds and parking cars far from the entrance to a huge store, Bayshore Pharmacy offers close parking and when you’re in there with a crowd, they are your neighbors, the friendly people you like to meet and greet.

Kalian Building Falls Short

At the end of a planning board meeting that was adjourned at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Planning Board voted to deny Kalian Associates the necessary variances to construct the high rise on First Avenue adjacent to the current Kalian building nearing completion. Only planning board member Dave Kupinski voted against the motion.

Members heard both from the professionals for the owner as well as local residents who stayed until past the 11^th hour to hear the results and express their own opinions.

Planning Board Chairman John McGoldbrick was generous with praise and thanks to the Kalian team, the residents and the planning board members for their professionalism, hard work and interest in the four-story building that would have changed the face of that end of First Avenue considerably.

Planners made the determination that the presentations failed to meet the specifics of the Master Plan both for its positive and its negative impacts on the borough.

The applicant was charged to meet both positive and negative stands, and the planning board members apparently did not feel they met both when the matter was fully evaluated and all presentations and impacts were considered.

Andrew Thomas, whose firm is in Brielle, explained he had helped write the borough’s Master Plan which was adopted in 2019, “not too long ago in planning time,” he said. He pointed out the goal of the Plan was “to limit future development and population density”  A primary goal to protect and continue the small town character of the borough.  The theme of the Master Plan, he continued, is to limit future development and noted the number of areas in which the applicant was seeking variances, from a higher elevation, to increasing parking issues, and increased density.  He pointed out among the negative criteria that the proposed building only offered approximately 5 per cent use of the first level for retail shops, with the vast majority allocated to parking and a gym for the residential units.

At least three persons spoke during the public hearing which did not start until 11 p.m., with James Krauss, chairman of the environmental commission, calling on the board to “slaughter the hog,” using Wall Street terminology that includes bulls and bears make money, an analogy that brought criticism from a local resident who is also employed by Kalian.

Resident Mark Fisher, who, like Krauss, has attended every meeting on the application and is known for researching all his information, also thanked Kalian for the beauty of the architecture and the design, but added, “This is not beautiful for Atlantic Highlands.” He agreed that if approved, “people would get used to it,” but reminded the property owner that “something more traditional for Atlantic Highlands would be better.”

Board members gave their reasons for their opinions, McGoldbrick called for a vote, and the possibility of this Kalian project being constructed on First and East Gatfield Avenues was put to rest.

Want to Read All the Stories on the Kalian Project?  Click HERE

Ordinance Tabled

After recommendations from local residents, including a Councilman’s wife and a member of the Planning Board and at least two other residents, Councilwoman Lori Hohenleitner, saying she felt residents at the Council meeting expressed concerns that should be addressed, made the motion to table the proposed ordinance that amended development and design of new construction in the business and historic districts.

In voting to study the proposed ordinance rather than approve it that this meeting, Hohenleitner also told Councilman Brian Dougherty “I can’t look at you right now.”

Dougherty, who is the council representative to the planning board, had presented detailed explanations and reasons for the ordinance earlier, after also announcing what he termed six “immaterial” changes to the ordinance since it was advertised and introduced.  Two of those six changes took out the word “Shall” as advertised and replaced it with “should.”  The change means the specified regulations are merely a recommendation, not a requirement for approval.

The vote was the first time Democrats split in their decision making, with Council members Vito Colasurdo and Eileen Cusack voting with Hohenleitner to postpone final approval, and Councilman James Murphy, the only Republican on council, voting with Doughtery indicating both wanted final action at the meeting.

According to the advertised ordinance, amendments were being made due to “recent developments in the area regulated by the Historic Business District and the Commercial Business District zones that have been contrary to the goals of the Master Plan.” However, Dougherty said there were no specific developments that came to mind that brought about the proposed amendments.

Residents also pointed out several sections that were not clear in the proposed ordinance due to apparent insufficient proofreading or close reading by any council member before voting on it for introduction or public hearing.

Planning Board member Katrina Majewski also asked that approval be delayed. She recommended changes and called the current proposal “vague.”

“The design portion really misses the mark,” Majewski told the governing body, “a lot of the ordinance is subjective….we can do better.”  She also recommended that regulations for regulating density and specifics in design should be separated, and her preference to see a code more “people-centric” than building-centric. She explained people have expressed concern about safety, transportation, and other safety and local issues that are not addressed in the building code.

Mark Fisher did not get any response to the e-mail he indicated he had sent to each council-member prior to the meeting, questioning several portions of the proposed code and asking for more specifics in some areas, “There are still too many questions,” Fisher said, “it should be postponed. Why create problems for the Planning Board?”

Sara Colosaurdo, whose husband is a member of council, also requested the proposed amendments be postponed for further study and also asked that more attention be given to public concerns including comfort in walking in the area. “The planning Board is trying to figure out what they don’t like about a construction.” They are worried, she said, about size and corners and other aspects and said the borough is putting on “a bunch of band aids” rather than seeking out root causes for residents’ concerns, describing the residents as the stakeholders in the borough.

Dougherty said, “We are not Princeton, we are not Cape May….” indicating there are no hard and fast regulations for specific types of construction in an area. “This is the first step.”

With only one more Council meeting before the new administration takes place January 1, the ordinance will not be reviewed again until the new Mayor and Council, as well as the new Planning Board and its recently named study committee review it sometime in 2024.

More on the Atlantic Highlands Governing Body HERE