Okay. All right. Good afternoon everybody. We have a regular meeting of the city council of the city of Kate May. We are here in the Cape May City Hall Auditorium. Today is Tuesday, August 4th, 2026. The time is now 2 1 p.m. Please join me for the pledge of
allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.
>> Thank you. Under the open public meetings law, notice that this meeting was sent to the Kate May County Herald and the press of Atlantic City and a copy of the agenda was delivered to each member of city council and posted on the city website and city hall bulletin board. Notice hereby provided that city council meetings are audio recorded and video
streamed live. Live video streams are posted to the Kate May city website. City of Kate May is not responsible if audio recording or live video streaming of a meeting is unavailable. Roll call. Council member Baldwin >> here. >> Council member Bodner >> here. >> Deputy Mayor McDade >> here. >> Council member Meyer
>> here. >> Mayor Malik >> here. >> City solicitor Gillan Schwarz >> here. >> City Manager Dedric >> here. >> Deputy Manager Riggs >> here. >> Deputy Clerk Turner >> here. >> Any additions or deletions tonight? Council, >> any additions or deletions? Council? >> No. >> No.
>> Okay. >> On to updates and old business. Mayor, >> city manager, any updates or old business? Thank you. Um, first I just wanted to uh give an update on the First Avenue pedestrian bridge project. Um, uh, West
Kate May did hear back from the D on the review of the permit. Uh, they had some administrative changes uh to the permit and application that needed to made to be made and I believe the burough engineers made those changes and made those submissions back
up to the D. And so it's just kind of a a waiting game for them to deem it administrative administratively complete which would then move them on to their technical review. But um if we get anything further, it's but it's kind of no no real news update except it's going
through the process. Um I did get a request uh from a contractor that's working at 1505 Yacht Avenue. Uh they're constructing some new um condos and they're asking to do an emergency street opening for their water sewer connections for that project. I know
we've we've authorized that one other location uh previously. Um but I just wanted to, you know, put that in front of council. If if if you're so inclined, I can uh have uh work with Aaron to do a resolution at the next meeting if you're so inclined to do a resolution.
Otherwise, what we're going to probably have to do is have them go back to a certain location and then kind of have to do paving full width for a period of time just to make it, you know, it's almost at the end of Yacht Avenue at Washington, so they may have to do a little more extensive paving full width
of the road as opposed to doing that uh enhanced pavement restoration that we've discussed. Um I I know I talked to uh Councilman Baldwin about that. Um, so the one that we did the test on, we won't do that test patch until probably
later late September, early October because we need to have saw the settlement period of the patch um like that. So I don't have a good thing. I I can send you some pictures. So we did do one of those treatments up on the prominade where we had some settled you
I'll say some bird bass. So after we did the finished co-paving, he did come up and do the same kind of treatment and analysis. Um, and I can send those pictures over to you because I know that that was what council was concerned about is is the appearance of how it marries in and how it looks. Uh, B, you
know, from new paving to old paving. >> I know as part of that email chain, when are they um, uh, asking for that street opening >> ASAP? >> They have time, but it still would not be outside of the moratorum period. No,
I understand that. But time for us to take a look at the one that's going to be done in September or October. >> I can find out, but I think that they're looking to be able to >> get that done sooner rather than later. >> Three to four weeks. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> I don't think I don't think it's I don't
think they want to get it done before, you know, that time period that we would have that other work done. >> Well, if we can confirm that and know Okay. >> Yeah. When Yeah. And then um is where is it going to be opened up? Is it on >> on yacht avenue
>> on yacht? So back that in that. Okay. >> Yeah. So I mean if if you're looking at >> traffications >> it's minor. I mean >> okay >> just want to have understanding in the >> different than any other street opening that Yeah. That that is >> it's the the request is purely because
the street is under a moratorum. If if this had not been under a street under moratorum, it would have been approved and they would have done traffic control as as in due course. >> Yeah, we can all appreciate that's an area trying to get out of town. So, it
becomes quite challenging at times now without adding a street opening. So, that's the only >> it's it's not on it's not affecting the normal it's it's up on Yacht Avenue away from Washington. Okay. Street. >> All right. Um and then just a two comments on two
of the resolutions on uh for this evening. Uh comment regarding resolution 290. Uh that's a um that is the grant for coastal resiliency. That is a grant that council applied for under resolution uh 28309 2025. So last year
we applied to the Ocean Wind uh trust to get it's a residency grant and we applied for the grant to be applied towards uh the Seaw wall extension. Uh so that's we received that uh $500,000 grant and um you know even though the
I'll say even though the wind project itself is not moving forward at this point it really when that project when the wind project started they set aside funds for um you know to do grants to various municipalities uh and we were
just one of the lucky recipients to to get that money you know so that money is still set aside and really has no direct tie um that was a separate board of directors that was set up to administer that. So it really had zero tiein with the ocean wind developer itself. Um
resolution 293 uh that is from the department of interior uh historic preservation. Um that is $750,000 grant we received from the department of interior uh and that is funding the repairs that have already been completed
at the AM church. um this this is not funding in no part uh any future addition that you know that the Eastland Theater Company may be contemplating for that project. I just wanted to make the public aware of that and that that's all I had this evening. Thank you.
>> Thank you. City solicitor >> wanted to give uh council a heads up. There there's a recommendation from the HPC uh going through the development ordinance review process right now and the recommendation pertains to roof
pitches. We have a minimum standard for roof pitch minimum and maximum standard for roof pitches in our design uh standards in the zoning ordinance. And we've run into I've seen uh personally a few occasions where the HPC
wanted to exercise some flexibility but was sort of tied to a strict roof pitch standard and that pertains to additions and you know different elements that might go in a building. And one of the recommendations that came out of that that issue was
allowing in the historic district if the HPC finds a better alternative for roof pitch or wants to go beyond or below those standards in appropriate cases that they should have the flexibility to make that call, but that we should still stick with this minimum and maximum
standard generally, but allow the HPC and appropriate cases to deviate from that where they think it's appropriate based on the historic district and the unique property. property conditions. So that uh recommendation is in the form of an ordinance amendment allowing that flexibility. The planning board will be
considering that for master plan consistency and then once that review is completed, I imagine it will be presented to council for potential uh ordinance adoption to become part of the zoning ordinance. So I just wanted to give council a heads up and the public a heads up if you see a discussion about
that the planning board and eventually at council, that's where that's coming from. That's great. City Council, any other updates or old business? Okay, with that, I have a proclamation from the office of the mayor recognizing
August 4th, 2026 as Coast Guard Day in Cape May. Whereas the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, guided the United States Congress in establishing the Revenue Marine and in authorizing a fleet of revenue service cutters to
enforce tariff laws. And whereas President Woodro Wilson merged the Revenue Cutter Service with the US Life-Saving Service under the name the United States Coast Guard, thus creating a single maritime service dedicated to saving life at sea and enforcing the
nation's maritime laws. And whereas the 236th anniversary of the founding of the United States Coast Guard is commemorated on August 4th, 2026. And whereas today's Coast Guard men and women are described by Admiral Kevin E.
Lundai, comedant of the United States Coast Guard as phenomenal in their mission capabilities, saving lives, interdicting smugglers and illegal migrants, enforcing our nation's laws and treaties, and protecting our
ports and natural resources. And whereas the city of Kate May is proud to be the birthplace of the Coast Guard enlisted corps, home base of the training center Kate May, and the sole assession point for the entire enlisted force. And
whereas the city of Kate May values its relationship with training center Kate May leadership and the Coast Guard men and women. And whereas Training Center Kate May also provides services, rescue at sea, homeland security, and maritime law enforcement. Now therefore, I
Zachary Mollik, mayor of the city of Cape May, New Jersey, call on all residents and visitors of Cape May, will recognize August 4th as US Coast Guard Day and salute training center Kate May's officers, staff, recruits, and their colleagues wherever they may be
serving. Thank you very much. [applause] Okay. And now we are on for a presentation from the Kate May Housing Authority. Uh Dr. Keith Laughy is here with us today. Uh and please if you would Dr. Laughy, come on up and um you
can come to the table or the microphone, whatever's easier for you. Yep. Just make sure it's on if you would. Thank you. First, [clears throat] Dr. Levy, thank you to you for all of your hard work. um the whole board all of their hard work.
Kate May cares, we know your dedication to the people of the housing authority and and we thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Oh, he's gonna speak too. >> Okay. [snorts] Okay. See,
good afternoon. My name is uh Keith Laferty. I am the uh chair of the board for the Cape May Housing Authority, as many as you know. Um and uh behalf of the board on behalf of the board of the Kate May Housing Authority, thank you for this um opportunity to share a
low-income housing plan with the city of Kate May. >> Dr. Laferty, could you please speak a little bit? This can you can pick it up if you'd like. Oh, >> we're just having time here. >> How's that? >> Thank you. >> Okay. Do you want me to start all over? >> All right. Um, so what I'm going to do is just set
the table a little background on the lowincome housing in the city and uh the Cape May Housing Authority and then I'm going to turn it over to our executive director, Ron Miller. Um, someone once said, "Great moments are born from great
opportunity." And what we believe we have here is a phenomenal opportunity uh today. We think this plan is long overdue and we think this endeavor that we're about to talk about uh goes handinhand with uh the city of Kate May
and city council and the beautifification and the preservation of Kate May. Everything that's been done up until this point as everyone knows the structures in the homes at the Kate May Housing Authority
simply do not reflect the best of Kate May. More importantly, they do not reflect the best of the families of Kate May. That is the mothers, the children, the senior citizens, and the disabled that live there. Now,
our plan is a five-year endeavor. We think it's time for resolution, and we think it's the right thing to do. Just a little further background. Next slide. I'm sorry. Currently, there's 85 homes in the U.
Kate May Housing Authority. And just further background, out of the 85 homes, there's 55 homes for the senior and 30 homes for the family. That's how the Kate May Housing Authority sits. Now, all 85 homes are subsidized. So, there
is no affordable housing there. Every one of the 85 homes, again, 55 senior and 30 family are subsidized. Sociology studies do show that if you mix homes, that is if you take low
income, very low income, and you mix it with affordable income homes, there is a benefit. It lifts the bar of expectation to everyone. We think it's important that many of our most important people regarding the affordable homes get a
chance to live on the island such as police officers, firefighters, school teachers, hotel, restaurant, nurses, and alike. Next slide. Forgive me for the obvious right now, but it's worth highlighting a little bit more on the potential victories of this
endeavor that we're talking about. We can encourage year-round shopping, providing businesses year round, keep the local school filled with children, bring the kids back and the youth back to Kate May. We'd like to beautify the property, way, way long overdue.
Increase the year-round population, increase parking, um, and that's something the executive director, Ron Miller, is going to talk about with the parking. Um, and also just driving into town. We we're so proud of Kate May, all of us. We want the housing authority to
embrace and reflect our proudness and the way Kate May looks. Next slide. Kate May is a seaside town in New Jersey, famous for its charm, beautiful mansions on the beach and busy summers. Across the island, we strive for a sense
of community. Wonderful, kind, vibrant families live in the housing authority, some of which who struggle just to put food on the table, with the average family income being around $24,000 a year. Those of us who are lucky enough to live in Kate May year form a
tight-knit community, which is the foundation that Kate May cares built upon along with the principles of sharing our time, talent, and treasure with other. >> So, there's obviously a discrepancy in our our beautiful city and that's what we're looking to do. We can do better
than this. We will do better than this together. Keith, if I if I can just, you know, in in that video there today, due to the work of the people of Kate May Cares, you would see a beautiful park there, which which I I just want to highlight that and say how wonderful
that was. Am I giving something away? >> No. >> No. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, um I'll probably be five more minutes. I'm going to hurry up. So, um income limits. I want to just get a little more background and uh again finish setting this table for Ron Miller.
Again, there's 85 units there. Now, every one of those units is subsidized. And this gets a little confusing, but basically, if you look at the area median income or AMI, that's what all this is about. So, anyone who makes
below 50% of the AMI is eligible for subsidized housing, and that's who lives there. Now, we want to add 24 units of affordable housing units. That's low income which is 50 to 80% of AMI and
it's representative of the professions we just talked about. Next slide. As everyone knows, living on this wonderful, wonderful island comes at a cost with a premium. It's expensive living here anymore. No, no doubt. We now have an opportunity right
now to allow many who teach, protect, and serve to live here as well. This is the affordable housing uh income where folks can live um on the island in the 2440 uh affordable housing units.
Realize this these numbers fluctuate. They're somewhat fluid. Next slide, please. These current homes in the Kate May Housing Authority, as everyone knows, are old. They're so old Eisenhauser was uh the president talking the late late
1950s, early 1960s. Um it's time they're dilapidated. Many of you on the city council and I'm looking so many have visited our housing units and very graciously has done so and we're touched participated in Kate May cares and many
of you including the audience has actually come inside the units to see where these people live in a visceral way. It's the only way there can be a change if you see the way these wonderful people live. It's upsetting sometimes if you if you look at the
senior units. Uh again, 55 senior units, 30 family units. If you look at the 55 senior unit, senior units, if you're leaving Kate May, if you look on the left, leaving on the Lafayette courts and a little more up the road on Osborne, look at the end units. Just the
there's 21 end units in these two courts. The end units are 330 square ft and there's one room. So, they're senior citizens now living in a dorm condition. We don't think that's right. We're very appreciative they get to live here. But
we can do better. Think of this. Let's kick out the end units. Let's kick every one of those end units and let's put a bedroom on them. So now the senior citizens can have a bedroom, but they should have a bedroom. They can
have guest over. So, um, that's for the seniors. Besides those 55 units, we want to add eight more units for the seniors. And we'll show some pictures uh uh to give a a total of uh what's that? 63 units on the family units. There 30
family units. We're looking to redo all those units and add 16 affordable housing units. Next slide, please. Okie dokie. So, this is going down Lafayette Street on the left. That's the way it looks now. Everyone can see that
beautiful blue sign. Kate may cares. Yes. Okay. Um [laughter] so on the on the on the right side that's a conceptual architectural drawing. Um next slide please. So this is Osborne Court. Um
that area right there besides the revitalization of the 55 units again um of the senior units. We want to put a quad there for four one-bedroom units on a campus-like style and then put a quad on the other side. Next slide, please. This would be a quad. This would be four
bedrooms. Again, this is a conceptual architectural drawing. That's the front and back. Next slide, please. This is a um a bird's eye view of a sketch, and you can see the two quads on Osborne Court, each representing four one-bedroom units, and those will be
affordable. The other 55 again will be uh revitalized. Next slide. Okay, this is Broad Street. Um and to the left is Broad Street now. And to the right, this again, this is a sketch and we had this uh through uh HPC who was
kind enough to go through these sketches and then give us some recommendation and we resetched them with our architect. And this what this is what Broad Street can look like. Next, this is a a drone view obviously of uh Broad Street. You can see this is the back and then uh if
the top of the screen parallel to the the homes is Lafayette Street just to give everyone some orientation. Next slide. Uh this is uh with uh Broad Street Homes behind us to the left and that's the parking lot and and that's the right corner of the parking lot. Next slide.
So we think this is representative of Kate May and uh of the people who live there. Um these will be eight family units here. Next slide. Okay, next slide. This is a uh bird's eye view of an architectural sketch. You can see that building K at the top.
That's the the homes on the wetlands and the beck parking lot that you just saw the different colors. And then there'll be eight more homes scattered in the units for a total of 16 more family units which would take us from 30 to 46 families. [snorts] Next slide.
Okay. So, in review, with the collaboration of the Kate May Housing Authority NHPC that has already happened and we're so appreciative of, we think we're ready to do an action plan. We want to revitalize
the 85 subsidized units in the Kate May Housing Authority. We want to add 24 affordable housing uh uh units as well all under the affordable housing umbrella of income AMI. And we want to
potentially add some parking spaces which again Ron Miller is going to talk about. Next slide. [snorts] Kate May Housing Authority is now on the map. With your help, we can and we will continue to lift some of the most
vulnerable and special people in our town. And so I think everyone's going to find out that we're going to lift the entire community. Next slide. The board of Kate May strongly supports sorry the board of Kate May Housing Authority strongly supports this
endeavor. There's a sense of urgency as we want to do this project now. We want to do what's right. prosperous and beneficial and we think the city of Kate May does as well. Next slide. So what is our ask? What has all this led
up to besides Ron Miller in two minutes? What we're asking is for the city of Kate May to help give us the gap money needed to start this project seeding money of $7.5 million. The total project would be $52.4 $4
million, which leaves this Kate May Housing Authority uh about $45 million, which we're going to pay in a mortgage, uh low-income housing tax credits and other uh sources, which there's a track record uh in Ocean City, which we share the um executive director. Next slide,
please. If you look at the $7.5 million and you divide it by 109 homes, because we're going to go from 85 to 109 homes, increasing 16 families on our island, the city of Kate May is going to
contribute [clears throat] for these homes, each home $69,000. We think that's a win. We think it's pragmatic. It's doable. Next slide. I will now turn this over to the executive director of the Cape May Housing Authority, Ron Miller.
[applause] >> Thank you, Dr. Laferty, and thank you for members of council for hearing me today. I wanted to first introduce myself. I am a new face in front of many of you, but I am not new to public housing and I am not new to Kate May. Um, I've been in the public housing
arena for 23 years. Um, I started with the Kate May Housing Authority in 20 uh 2004. Um, so I've actually been working down here for about 22 years on and off. Um, behind the scenes most of the time and have had breaks. Um, but I've worked
for seven different housing authorities in the state of New Jersey and I've worked in four different counties. Um, overall I've done about hund00 million in redevelopment work across South Jersey and I'm currently the executive director of the Ocean City Housing Authority, the Kate May Housing
Authority, and the Buuna Burough Housing Authority in Atlantic County. Um, through those shared service agreements, um, I'm actually currently working on um, two redevelopment projects in Ocean City. One's currently under construction where we're building 60 units of family
housing uh between Bay Avenue and West Avenue and between Third and Fifth Streets. Um that pro project's actually about 40% done. Anyone would like to see it can drive by and see what we're we're doing there. Um
we characterize this as a partnership. Um, we've worked as a partner with the Ocean City House, uh, the city of Ocean City and and every other redevelopment project that I've worked on, we've always partnered with the city or the entity in charge um, to get that done
and we've been very successful at that. Um, I wanted to uh, bring to your attention a few things. Have the residents been informed? Yes. Um, the residents have been informed as uh, late as last night. Uh we held the resident
meeting yesterday at 6 pm. Uh we filled the the room over at the office at the housing authority. Uh our housing consultant along with myself and my staff uh presented this entire plan to the tenants. We explained and went through it in detail. We answered all of
their questions and generally received positive feedback from them. Relocation. I know this is a huge concern for both council and the tenants alike as it is our staff. I have extensive experience with relocation.
This will be governed under the section 18 um program or the United States housing act along with the New Jersey uh relocation assistance law. The tenants uh will be required to sign off on a relocation plan. That relocation plan is
about 60 pages long typically and it outlines every step um of the process. Our plan is not to dislocate anyone off the island. It's sort of like a Jenga game, right? You have to remove the blocks and put
the blocks back in place in the tower without it falling down. We're very good at this. Uh we use an example is I renovated a 10-story high-rise building where we replaced 100% of the plumbing and 100% of the bathrooms in the units and didn't move a single person out of
the building while doing it. Um we have done this. We are very successful at doing this. Our goal is not to relocate or move anyone off the island. Will they have to move out of their apartment? Yes, they will very likely have to move out of their apartment, but temporarily
they'll be relocated on site into either a hoteling unit or they will be permanently relocated based on bedroom size. Um that is to allow the renovations to take place and the construction to happen. [cough and clears throat] Parking, I know parking is a challenge
in Kate May. It is in all the shore communities. Our plan is to um develop infill parking on our properties um in conjunction with our development partner. Um the goal is to try try to get 35 parking stalls. Um
we will see. We have to go through a development plan and a process. Obviously that will be uh approved by your zoning um your planning and zoning. So that will all be very transparent and uh we have a a plan worked out for that
[snorts] oversight. What oversight is the city going to have on this project? Obviously you're going to not just hand over a check for $7.5 million. Um we are very good at this as well. So it's all about checks and balances and
we are very transparent. We're a government entity just as you. Uh we have open public meetings and how that works is um the city's funds will be used to fund soft costs. What are soft costs? There are architects, our legal
fees, our engineers, our environmental um professionals and such. Any balance of that $7.5 million will be used to go towards construction. How does the reimbursement work? As part of the shared service agreement, what we
would propose is that there would be a point of contact at the city and we fund or supply draw requests. Essentially, if you do construction projects, you're very familiar with draws. We submit a draw request to the city. Um, we get the
check from the city and then we pay the professionals. If there's any question, concern, we address them right then and there withdrawal request. The vendor doesn't get paid until both sides are satisfied. So that means the housing authorities board is satisfied and the
city leaders and the city professionals are satisfied. So that's sort of the basics of how this would work um as far as oversight. We also have a clause in our shared services agreements very typically that
the city will assign a professional um during construction to oversee if they have any questions to act as a liaison with the housing authorities project manager. Uh we do fully intend to use a housing consultant um in conjunction with our staff to oversee this project
and it is a five-year timeline. What does the five-year timeline look like? It takes about three years to get to mortgage closing. Um, so this is going to be uh a project that's going to involve low-income housing tax credits. Um, and we also have to get approval
from HUD. Uh, these projects have deed restrictions on them and those deed restrictions have to be removed before we can move forward. So, as part of that, it it takes about three years. Um, what I would encourage you all to do, there's actually a great
article posted today. um WHY posted it and it's about the Philadelphia Housing Authority and why it costs so much money to renovate and develop in public housing. It's a fantastic article. Um I would encourage you all to read it because it's very much in line with what
we're talking about today. It outlines why it costs so much and why it takes so long to do. Um it'll answer a lot of the questions in the same manner as I'm doing for you now. I'm happy to take any questions from any of you. Um, and I
thank you very much for your time, [applause] >> Ron. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Uh, any questions or comments, council? >> My only comments are I I appreciate you going through I think some of the questions that we had regarding
notification, the process, the timeline, how the city's funds would be spent. I think that all of that information is really helpful for us to hear, but also for the public to hear and understand. So, I just appreciate you addressing those concerns that we Yeah.
>> Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you. Um, with that, we will move on to Gohead. >> So, I have my if you will, if you council wants I can go through a kind of how we can move how this how I would recommend how we can move forward with our process. If if you want to
>> Yes. go through with that process. >> Can you go through? >> I'll go through it real quickly. >> Thank you. >> This will be a large discussion moving forward as well obviously. >> So, so obviously uh KMA has a affordable housing obligation. Um if you recall
last year we uh submitted a and completed our fair share plan and updated our housing plan, got it certified and uh went through the special master and got it approved through the courts. And really we have an obligation of upwards of 306 units that the city has to provide for
affordable housing. Um in that plan we identified this project that came housing is doing as one of the projects that can help us meet our obligations. So this is something the city has to do. Um so over the years we've been uh
paying you know as properties go through development process whether it's a new home additions new construction they pay a development fee. that development fee is paid into our affordable housing trust fund and it can only be spent on projects like this. We currently have $3.1 million in our affordable housing
trust fund. Um thank you >> in looking at, you know, maintaining 20% of that aside for our professional fees and different things that we have to do as well as the accessory apartment program that is part of our affordable housing plan. that that leaves us about
$25 million left out of that to be able to utilize. Um annually we receive about $300,000 a year on average. Um we also get an annual pilot payment from KME housing of around $18,000 a year. That
though currently that does not go into the affordable housing trust fund that currently just goes into the current fund the same way um anybody else pays their taxes. It kind of goes in that same kind of pot. So, Kimmy Housing has requested a $7.5 million uh request from
the city. Um if we use 2.5 million of our current housing uh trust fund to pay for that, that leaves us a balance of $5 million. Um that annual bond cost to carry that mortgage payment, if you so to speak, um is around $380,000
a year. Um as I previously said, we collect about 300,000. So 300 out of the 380,000 comes on on an annual basis and covers that. So that [clears throat] leaves us about $80,000 that okay, how are we going to kind of create that gap
within our budget? Um we kind of looked at two different possible scenarios or alternatives. Um the first one that I would recommend would be, you know, currently we appropriate $200,000 as for a dedication for open space fund. um that if we have an open space funding,
we haven't really utilized that. So, it kind of it's in our budget and then it goes away and then we just it's not used. Um, if we instead appropriated $100,000 to go towards affordable housing and have 100,000 left over for potential open space project, it still
leaves us, you know, some I'll say some wiggle room with that 100, you know, between the 300,000 of development fees and that I think we'll have plenty sufficient funds to uh pay for the um this project. Uh, another alternative is obviously with increased parking, you
know, if council wanted to look at um, you know, metering that parking. It's it's not an area that's currently metered, but you know, that would be a potential where you could potentially realize, you know, potentially 50 to $60,000 for those types of parking. So, that that would be another way that you
could make up a portion of that um, funding gap. Um but but in either case, I think we have ways to be able to move this project forward with really no new impact to the budget. Um you so I think that's an important thing to to to talk
about. >> And we had also talked about the fact that based on the timing of this and when it starts and when we have to be able to give some of the funds over for the soft cost, we would be potentially recouping another, you know, $300,000 if this was a year out from when it
started. So yeah, that that sort of even lessens that amount overall. So >> great. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I think I think that's a good good news and and a good plan. >> Yep. So I mean the next steps would be if council's okay with moving this
forward um you know we would have Chris would talk with their um attorneys and we would look at developing an agreement between us and Kate May Housing. We'd probably have to have a discussion with that in close session and then that would have to come back to council for consideration for authorization for that
agreement. And I and as I think Ron had mentioned, you know, they they have similar agreements with, you know, Ocean City for similar types of projects. So, we kind of have a draft and and I you know, if we're okay, we can start working on that process to bring it back here hopefully before the end of the year.
>> That's great. Paul um real quick, could you talk about the COA um uh units that we need to be providing as well for um for our obligations? >> Yeah. So, all of these units that that they've proposed, the you know, it's a total of 109 unit counts. So, not only
the new affordable housing units that they talked about, but the rehab of the existing units all count as a unit of credit. And also because they're rental units, we get bonus credits because some of them are very low income. We'll get some bonus
credits. So this is, you know, participating in this project will almost clear out our entire obligation um you know, for the next 10 years. So it's it's it's a it's a good it's a win-win project for for for us and the
city and the residents of Kimmy Housing. >> A great opportunity for people who are already residing in Kate May. So, it's I mean the fact that it's offers a new element to bring some new families into town to um in an area that's walkable to
add new children to the schools, new potential employees to the workforce um is a is a great opportunity. But the fact that we have families that have been living here for a long time in housing that is candidly substandard in
need of modern modernization. Um and to be able to have this type of opportunity for for this for this plan is really um I think fair to me fairly unique. um you know so it's I think it's
a you know the component that you know everybody wonders about is how do you pull off something like this something so grand on a financial scale and what I'm hearing is there's a really sound plan to be able to do this sound from um
sound from from um what is being being proposed by uh the housing authority and what uh what Ron outlined but also from the city standpoint as well. >> Yeah. Thank you for everybody for for working on this >> and this has been something that we've been reviewing for several years now and
I you know I just want to say thank you for you know Kimmy housing you know when we last met probably a year and a half ago maybe two years ago and you know we just were trying to figure out how to make this work I think they went back to the drawing board to be able to to show to the community how we could make this
work financially for both them and the city. So I just I do want to say thank you to them for hearing our concerns and coming back to us with a a proposal that you know I think that we can really work and have a good partnership. >> Yeah. The the last thing I just wanted to add I should have mentioned is the idea that actually there there can be
like a true city planning component in involved in this as well. You know, we talk about parking all the time in Kate May and and adding um parking in the in the the city core. Uh the opportunity for 35 additional spots um in that
location if it were to come to pass is really a wonderful opportunity as well. And it's a collateral benefit for for the city in addition to um it as as this project moves would move forward. >> Just one other comment. The vitality of
this the opportunity is tremendous. I'm just really happy to see that people currently living in both uh the families and the seniors are going to have an improved quality of life. To me, that's the most critical component to this and I'm very happy we came up with a plan um
that addresses that and um that the city is able to partner with you on. Um so, thank you for your time and effort and energy on that. Look forward to moving this forward. Yeah, I just agree with all the comments that were made and and just say thank you to the housing
authority and um for the board for their great representation for for everyone there. And um just to remind the public, you know, it is surprising that you they don't even have laundry facilities uh on on campus, right? So, a lot of those
folks are going to uh the laundry mat on their own. Um it's uh it's it's in desperate need of of revitalization and and I I it's always been how can we actually do it financially and I think the plan that you've come up with now is
is we are at let's do it territory and just to comment to the public too um reiterating that we are required to do this by the um um yeah the constitution. [laughter]
>> Thank you. Couldn't think of that word. No. Um but the um >> uh not not Mount Laurel. >> The Mount Laurel decision. >> That's it's Mount Laurel decision. >> It's a constitutional obligation to case law. >> We we're required to do this. Um and I think the [clears throat] plan that
we've come up with makes a ton of sense for for the community, for the people who live there. Um and I I'll just reiterate too talking about from pure financial statistics for a second. you know, 35 parking spots in downtown Cape May is a big deal. Um, we we always use
the number of and it updates of course, but a parking garage estimates each spot at $50,000. So, at $50,000 per parking spot, that's over a million half dollars. And just just think of that in terms of cost and
revenue that that would be coming to the community. So, I I think it's frankly a great partnership. It gets a lot uh of things done necessary and as you pointed out bringing families to Kate May I think should be an absolute goal of everyone up here on the city council of
course you folks and and I I just can't thank you enough for all the hard work. Um with that we will move on to ordinances for introduction. Um city clerk >> yes we have ordinance
>> can I can I interrupt for one second? I I noticed that we have both of our harbor masters sitting in the front row here right now and you're making me nervous. So is is are you all here for a particular issue? >> Okay. Why don't I'm I'm going to give you a moment to to go ahead so you don't
have to wait. Would >> Oh, okay. Okay. So, this has nothing to do with the harbor. We're not in trouble. [laughter] Okay. I just wanted to make sure. Okay. here for the uh national the day recognition >> for the Coast Guard. Okay, good. Okay.
Okay. >> When the harbor masters are sitting there, I I get nervous and I I don't know if you guys are allowed to have a badge and gun yet. So, okay. [laughter] >> We're still training. >> Okay. On to ordinances for introduction. >> Sure. We have 606-2026,
an ordinance amending city code regarding prohibited acts on the prominad and beach and amending curfew for introduction. Do I have a motion for introduction? >> I'll make the motion. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. I'll second. >> Um, Chief Chief, would you like to give
a brief explanation on this >> or >> or Captain? >> Captain >> Captain, >> mayor, council, [clears throat] mayor, council, thank you very much. Um about two weeks ago, our um members of the public and some of our officers had
given us some feedback that they had noticed an increase in juvenile activity throughout the city. So the chief had asked the command staff just uh all of us to come in. Let's take a look and evaluate the situation as it stands before we jump to any conclusions. Um some of the things that we noticed when
we had worked was it was on Thursday the 23rd. Uh we had come in, we had seen large groups of juveniles, but they were not at movies at the beach. They were tucked away on the beach behind beach boxes, in beach tents, basically anywhere where they could be out of
sight from like the prominade area. So that was one issue we found. And then when it did come time for beach curfew and we moved them off the beach, we started to notice clusters on the prominade where the prominade wasn't passable in some areas because there were that many groups of kids and kids
from all over. Kids from Lower Cape May regional, from middle, from, you know, from out of the area. They were all in different groups and pockets throughout the prominade. Um that night, um we had noticed like piles of vomit on the prominade. We had had assaults. We had
one assault in town that evening with involving the kids. Um and we had just after action report determined some changes needed to be made or or at least recommended um so that way you could entertain them. Uh one is that we just came up with the fact that after 8:00
p.m. on the beach in the dark, we would just recommend not allowing juveniles that are unaccompanied by their parents on the beach at that point. There's no they're not out there for any purpose other than to hide and stay out of sight. Um the other was that on the prominade we need to have the ability to
navigate the prominade. We you know we need to make room for families for everybody else that wants to walk and this new ordinance would give us that that ability to just you know tell the kids hey you got to move over. You got to make space and it just gives us a little bit more of an enforcement arm to
address these problems when they're coming up. So those were just some of the recommendations some of the problems that we noticed when we had worked that evening. Um if anybody has any questions or you know if we could provide any feedback we'd be we'd be happy to do so if there's any questions. >> So as well as enforcement I would think
it would give you an opportunity to it's another tool for deescalation of any uh specific circumstance that you may come across as well. Would that be correct? >> Yeah, agreed. It just gives us the opportunity to to get out in front of these problems
before before they're taking place. >> Mr. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh has there been any discussion about the you know the wheelies no wheelies in traffic and you know >> Yes, we we we currently have the bike and pedestrian safety committee. We meet
we discuss um Lieutenant Chrisinger is heavily involved with that. We have details that are out specifically targeting bike safety. So anywhere where we could address those violations, we're actively addressing those violations. Now, are you going to see them? I'm I'm sure you're going to see them out and about, but but we are taking enforcement
action to make sure that they're being addressed. >> Thank you, Captain. >> And and the other thing, and I just wanted to touch on it, Deputy Mayor, the curfew. We wanted to drop the curfew. That's one of our recommendations from from midnight down to 10:30. Um we're seeing a lot of these problems take place after 10:30. Specifically, that
assault was like right after 11:00. We think by reducing the curfew down and maybe also getting that more in line with other municipalities throughout the county, I think that'll be a huge help for us as well. >> You have my full support on that. Um, absolutely. And I would just ask Mr. Gillan Schwarz, can you just for the
public highlight the changes that are in the ordinance? That would be >> sure >> helpful. Thank you, Captain. >> So, the there's two two amendments. Uh the first is to prohibited acts on the prominade and this is really just to
it's really geared towards avoiding obstructions on the prominade. If big groups are gathering and other people that are trying to get through or can't get through it's to make sure that people there's a walking corridor and it's not being blocked. That's for safety. That's per for general
pedestrian use. So that's to avoid obstructions to the prominade. I'm not going to read every word here but that's what it's geared towards. It's not to prohibit people from assembling or gathering. Of course, people are going to go up on the prominade and do that. It's to avoid
assembling to such a degree that people can't get through. And it's as uh Captain Walker stated, it's and and uh Councilman Bodmer, this is really intended to be a tool for the officers to be up there to say, you know, we have an ordinance in place. Can you make room
and break it up a bit? So, uh, the second part is the curfew. And, um, so the the curfew as it stands now is 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. from October to April
30th. Um, and between the hours of 12 midnight and 6 a.m. during the period of May 1st through September 30th of each year. So, you'd be dropping that down to 10:30
10:30 p.m. as a general citywide curfew for juveniles. Um, and there may be some adults that you would want that to apply to as well, but um, this we're only talking about juveniles. Uh, and then the beach would have an even lower threshold, which would be 8:00 PM. And
again, I I think some distinctions to be made because we did talk about this, consider this, I think back in 2023, but it was more in the context, I think at the time. It was more kind of a general worry and a hypothetical at that time. the uh police department had brought
this up based on actual instances that they had encountered this year and and wanted seemed like ripe to have this tool available to them. But also recognizing that if a parent's walking up there with a juvenile with an ice cream cone in the hand, the officers are not taking that person, you know, like
the if you're with a parent, you're with an adult, you're with your family, that's not what this is geared towards. It's geared towards the what are you doing up here at this hour? Um group. So these are intended to be reasonable tools to be at the disposal of the police department to use when these
instances come up and it'll it'll be another tool in the toolbox. >> Chris, I have a question on this on this line. I mean, I know that I know the officers um have discretion and I have total faith in our police department exercising their discretion, but I
remember it being a 17-year-old kid coming finishing up my job as a dishwasher and biking home as well. So I mean technically under this I I was um biking home from the middle of town. Um I would
>> unaccomp this this yes this doesn't necessarily technically that would be in violation of this curfew statute and I know that obviously is not our intent to address that. I don't know if there's if that's something that needs to be incorporated in a language in some way
um or if we leave that to how do we address that? >> I would say that the the spirit of this restriction is not to capture those that are just getting off work and in transit to their final destination which is home. This is more for the hanging out
in a particular location for and you're not in transit, you're just there. >> Okay. So, um, and I think that's where officer discretion can come in. And that that would be consistent with, you know, the accompanied by parent legal garden or other adult having lawful custody. I
mean, you're really going from A to B. If if it's not A, B, and C, um, then I think you're not really being covered by this restriction. Yeah, that's that's why I said look, I know it's it's impossible to like address every variable and that's why I was mentioning discretion, but it just in case the
issue were to come up or as in the form of a question from from somebody else who may be in that that circumstance, you know, do I have to pick up my kid now or can they just bike home from work? Um, you know, we're certainly not discouraging that, you know, that and
we're not looking to do anything along those lines. It's for the circumstances that the Captain Walker described. >> And I think it's probably better from an enforcement standpoint that we don't try and carve out an additional exemption for that and allow the officers to evaluate those facts and circumstances
as they present themselves. Otherwise, we would have everybody claiming that, oh, it was just leaving. >> Yeah. >> You know, >> and I think that's where we got stuck the last time on this. And so I think now that we're seeing some activity, I would refer you my my uh view is leave this in the judgment of the
professionals um to assess what they're witnessing in front of them um and allow them the the tool to be able to uh manage what's happening. >> I'll just say thank you for doing this everybody because I've been noticing these issues especially on the the
beach. You know there are a lot of places to hide. >> Yeah. And and we did notice that. I can't tell you how many people stopped us on Thursday night when we were working and were just like, "Thank you for being out here. Thank you for trying to control this." So, we, you know, the families that were accompanying like the
little kids, that's who we noticed like the most positive feedback from. >> Well, it's intimidating. >> Yeah. You know, >> you also took care of that very fast on Thursday night. >> Thank you. >> I noticed it and then I turned around and it was taken care of. >> Yeah. Good. >> Yeah. So, Captain, um, just a another
quick scenario situation because, you know, I take a look at I I was the one that was a little bit opposed to this at first, but now we're seeing a shift in, you know, social media, um, kids meeting up and and wreaking havoc. Um, you know,
and and most of this is going to be, of course, during the summertime. And I'm looking at the way our current ordinance is written. it distinguishes between summer and winter um where you don't have those meetups really happening too much in the wintertime. What about you
know like a pickup game at you let's say if if the new park on Lafayette Street or you know a basketball game is going to happen um the same thing would that be discretionary uh without a parent there? >> I I I think there's discretion throughout all of police work I think.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. I I think I mean technically would it be a violation? There would be. I think a lot of the times late night basketball games yield noise complaints from the residents on Lafayette Street. But I think by 10:30 I think it's a pretty reasonable hour where it's if you
keep it like that all year round, it's consistent for the kids. They know what the rule is. There's no confusion over, you know, when does it switch over? Yeah. So I think there's continuity all year round and if we keep it at one time and I think at 10:30 you're starting to shift over from the the town starts to
transition over to night life at that point. >> We just thought like 10:30 was the happy medium for >> for a changeover. >> I just say to it in speaking with the chief earlier about this I thought the most compelling issue that he brought to my attention is you know we don't want
to be the afterparty from some of these other towns that have a stricter rule. Um, so if that's the case, I think it makes sense to get in line with, you know, the other municipalities. >> Yeah, agree, mayor. >> Yeah, >> especially with social media and yeah, kids are >> Yep.
>> finding other places. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Captain. Appreciate it. >> Uh, council, any other questions or comments on this ordinance? We have a motion and a second. Is that correct, Clerk? >> Correct. >> Uh, uh, roll call, please. >> Council member Meyer, >> yes.
>> Deputy Mayor McDade, >> yes. Council member Bodner, >> yes. >> Council member Baldwin, >> yes. >> Mayor Mullik, >> yes. >> Moving on to public portions on resolutions only. Mayor, >> anyone wishing to speak on any of the resolutions on the agenda this evening, please come or this afternoon, please
come to the microphone, state your name and address for the record. Hi everyone, I'm Trudy Gatler. I live at 608 Washington Street. Okay. May um hear about resolution 290. Okay. First, congratulations on getting those funds.
I know it's really needed. And I didn't learn about this until last night where the funds are coming from and I am so upset. I was near tears. And I know Paul that you stated that we're under no obligation to Ocean Wind or any other company, but I feel like we're sold our soul to
the devil by taking those funds from offshore wind. This county fought long and hard, okay, to stop offshore wind and we had bulletin boards all throughout the county, electronic ones telling people about the the hazards of
this. There's so many groups fighting this and we've been sleeping for the past year because we feel safe. I no longer feel safe now that I know that you've taken these funds. We know that the national politics is going to change. We know that our governor wants
offshore wind. We know it's going to come back and bite us. And I just wanted to voice my displeasure and fear of what's going to come in the coming years because of these funds. Thank you. >> Thank you.
I I'll just say make sure everyone's aware that this has no obligation whatsoever. Zero obligation. Dozens of communities in Kate May County in all of South Jersey have accepted these. Um it's a grant. It's free money. Um and
just so everyone knows, this grant is going toward our seaw wall. It's $500,000 for free. Um with no strings attached whatsoever. It's going toward our seaw wall project which is I believe estimated somewhere around 30 >> 35 million
>> 35 million. We've received 20 close to $25 million in FEMA funds. Uh $4.3 million from the county and now another 500,000 from this fund that would otherwise be exhausted by anyone else who wants to make an application to to
um for the funds. But again, I just be very clear there's no strings attached whatsoever. I have heard this but what guarantee do we have? >> Well the the >> legal guarantee the trust is not is totally separate from the uh
>> ocean you know the the developers it's it's a total separate entity. It has no connection to >> it was started by them. No, it was it was it was started by the state in order for them to get the lease, the lease required them to set up a trust to make
benefits back to the communities uh for resiliency projects. So, they were told they had to give x number of dollars, I forget it was like probably $10 million in funds and it had to be put in a trust. The trust is administered by a board of directors that has no
connection with wind development. whatsoever. And they have to, you know, they they we had to, we did an application process. Uh we had an interview with the board of directors and, you know, we were in a line of probably 20 other applicants and, you
know, they they they chose people that were trying to put resiliency money back into their community and, you know, it's it's a process. So it's it has no tie to yes the fund was established because of the ocean wind projects but it has no
connection to them whatsoever >> and executives for Ocean Wind are now working for our governor. >> It but it's nothing to do with the trust. >> It's all tied together. Sooner or later it's going to bite us. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Anyone else on resolutions
this evening this afternoon again? Sorry. Seeing none, we can close public comment on resolutions. Um, >> anything to remove from the cons consent agenda this evening, council? >> Anything to remove, council? >> I just want 290 to take be taken
separately, please. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Anything else? Okay. Roll call. >> Uh, do we have a motion to uh adopt the consent agenda? >> I'll make the motion. >> Thank you. >> Second, >> Council Member Meyer. Yes.
>> Deputy Mayor McDade. >> Yes. >> Council member Bodner. >> Yes. >> Council member Baldwin. >> Yes. >> Mayor Malik. >> Yes. >> All right. In 2908 2022, resolution providing for the insertion of a special item of revenue in the budget pursuant to chapter 159 2025 2026 coastal
resiliency grant. >> Do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Roll call. >> Discussion. >> I just wanted I'm not in favor of offshore wind. uh it's too important for our our community and our um tourism and
in my opinion the the ecology of the ocean. So you know if anything goes forward with that I would not be in favor of it but because we've already earmarked this money for the prominade I am voting yes. >> So can I make a comment as well because
a couple years ago um we as a council uh put a resolution on our agenda opposing offshore wind >> and that went to the state. So that's, you know, >> our position was stated. >> That was our position. >> Mhm. >> So, >> thank you for saying that. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? Council,
>> roll call. >> Council member Meyer? >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor McDeade? >> Yes. >> Council member Bodner? >> Yes. [clears throat] >> Council member Baldwin? >> Yes. >> Mayor Malik? >> Yes. >> Uh, on to new business. Mayor, >> new business. City solicitor, any new business? >> Nothing tonight. Thank you. City
manager, any new business? >> Nothing. >> City clerk, any announcements? Uh just the obvious that tonight is National Night Out in front of Convention Hall beginning at 5:30 to 8:30 on Beach Avenue. So we encourage everybody to come and participate and attend. >> What What time is the drone show again?
>> Uh immediately after, right? >> 8:30 8:30 to 9:00 when it gets dark. >> Yeah. >> And it's uh I got a little sneak, you know, preview about it. So it's very Kate May themed. [clears throat] >> So definitely come out and see that. >> Very cool. And that's that's all
council. Okay, Councilwoman Baldwin, >> the only thing I want to um mention to uh to council and to uh the public, the beach safety committee, we're going to have an open house for headquarters um either on the 15th or 16th. Uh rain date
of course pending because of the construction that was happening. Uh we decided to, you know, wait and hold it towards the end of the season. Um that's going to be from 3 to 4:00 on whichever day. Uh there'll be some social media things out there for that. But then um
uh that will end at 4 o'clock and then at 5:00 uh we're going to have uh you know kind of celebrate our um first responders um at headquarters and and do uh so come out council um and do like a uh a celebration for them.
[clears throat] >> Excellent. >> And that's all mayor. Thank you >> Councilman Bodner. >> Nothing tonight mayor. Thank you. >> Deputy mayor. >> No nothing tonight. Mayor. >> Councilman Meyer. >> No, thank you, Mayor. >> I just encourage everyone to come out to a national night out. Enjoy it. I've seen a flurry of activity coming out of
our police department during this meeting. So, I looks like it's going to be a very exciting and and fun event. I'd also mention that I think the Philadelphia Flyers and maybe Gritty might be in town uh apparently in near Congress Hall for the next couple hours.
So, go check that out. And uh while we're here, I do want to thank our harbor masters. Uh you guys have done a wonderful job and keeping uh order in in our harbor which which has not always been the case but since you guys have taken over it has been excellent and
making sure that we don't have boats sinking in the harbor and all that kind of stuff. And so we appreciate your attention to it and and I just want to again compliment uh Cap Captain Walker, Chief. Um you guys have done an excellent job this summer and we're excited to go have a little fun with you
tonight at National Night Out. And and I I we're running out of time a little bit, but Captain Walker, uh, in the last thing of the night here, can I ask you to just give a 30 second update on the
um the new law in regards to ebikes? >> 30 seconds. >> 30 seconds. >> I'm I'm putting you on a timer. >> I I'm I'm putting you I'm kind of calling you without any preparation, but >> it's okay. Um just let people know
>> Lieutenant Chriser is our resident ebike expert working hand in hand with uh bike and pedestrian safety committee but we are enforcing it now. It's more of an education campaign. Um, we've done a really great job of putting together some like triole uh trifold pamphlets that we're giving out for educational
purposes and really our focus is on just maintaining safe passage, safe travel, educating the kids as to what is and what is not allowed to be done and just spreading the awareness and really just trying to have a positive impact that way. We're obviously we take all of the
violations, the wheelies, you know, the speeding, not going the right way on the oneway streets. I know everybody sees that throughout town. So really, we're just trying to stop as many people as we can. We have one whole squad that's dedicated every month to really their focus of going out and enforcing bike
safety and pedestrian safety. And then we've also got some grants that were available this summer. So if anybody sees our monthly statistics report this month, you're going to see it reflected that we've done a lot more enforcement this month. So we've really been out in the community trying to keep it safe. And like I said, we're mainly focusing on education, but we're always
addressing the the unsafe operation of vehicles. >> That's 35 seconds. Thank you. Thank you. >> Sorry. [laughter] >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Thank Thank you everybody. >> Um open it up for public portion. Anyone wishing to speak on any and all matters, please come to the microphone. State
your name and address for the record. [clears throat] >> Good afternoon, council. My name is John Becker. I live at 1114 Lafayette Street, licensed architect in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and permanent resident of KMA. My comments will be very brief. I'm
simply here to support the presentation and the project being proposed by the KMA Housing Authority. From my perspective, affordable and workers housing arguably is perhaps one of the most important elements that we need to
engage in order to ensure the long-term viability and systemic economic vitality of Kate May. Furthermore, the visual improvements that are being proposed are right smack in the heart of Kate May and they're consistent with the historical context. And that location also provides
walkable access for those inhabitants to schools and workplaces. and uh given that it is all completely within the budget and there's minimal impacts, it seems to me both a worthy and critical investment in the future of Kate May. >> Thank Thank you, John. Anyone else on
any and all topics [clears throat] Tom >> speaking? I'm also on the HPC. I've actually served uh council on the mayors for uh over 50 years being appointed by Bruce Minik to the planning board. Uh
after a mayor told me, "You're fired." uh I did get back onto the HPC and [laughter] uh and and went back to historic preservation as my biggest interest. The project that you're looking at, I think, is really a
excellent thing we to do. uh in all the years of looking at plans, watching this city grow, uh we've really gone up that bellshaped curve, and I don't think we've ever going to hit the top. We really are doing fine. Uh people refer
to this as one of the most beautiful uh beautiful communities in the that they are aware of. Um but all that beauty and everything is also bringing a lot of very very wealthy people into town. uh which in one way is making our
population grow down. Homes are becoming not used near as much. Uh council members are struggling to find uh applicants that will serve on all the different boards we have. We need a lot of those people living in town. Um we
this is one way to really help them out. I know a lot of the people who work for the city do not live in in the city. Uh Cape May Mack has about 300 volunteers. Way over half of them do not live in Cape May, but they like it so much they
come in to help us. Uh we've done an incredible job with historic preservation and we're really known all over the world for that. Uh just to give you an example, as you look at the drawings of all these buildings around
the room, those drawings were done over 50 years ago by the historic American survey uh team and every one of those buildings is still here and most of them are in better shape and and in full use.
So we we're doing everything right. this uh this option that we have to really take on the plan for the housing authority I think is absolutely excited would be one of the best things that we could do at this time. Uh from the reactions that I'm hearing I think
you're going to do it. Thank you. [laughter] >> Thank you [snorts] Tom. [clears throat] >> Good afternoon. Jack Lord Nine Harbor Cove. I think most of the comments I was going to make have already been made. Um, so I thought maybe I'd offer a
perspective from a part-time or seasonal resident of Cape May from all all my life, 65 years. And um, and I'm also really glad to hear so many of you say and and understand the importance of
having local young families here in KMA. Um, as a young child, uh, I'm going to take you back to maybe the 1960s. Uh, I used to really enjoy coming to Cape May in the offseason. I had a lot of friends in the neighborhood. Um, our family house was on the east side of Cape May,
New York Avenue, and there there were just a ton of kids in the neighborhood when we would come down. And a lot of those uh those families and those kids are lifelong friends of mine um today. And uh just that integration of having
local families and seasonal families together, building relationships, lifelong relationships, I think is invaluable and it it certainly was to me and still is today. Um now I drive down New York Avenue in the wintertime and it's very quiet. A lot of those families
are gone. Um those homes have been replaced with seasonal residents um vacation properties um and retirees which is great but we've lost that family feeling in my in my uh opinion. I
think this uh project for uh public housing I think uh that's not the total solution but I think it is um a step in the right direction. So I support it. Um, I also just briefly uh want to say uh how proud I am to be a lifelong
member of Kate May and how proud I am of all the accomplishments that we've had uh in the last few years. Um our fire department, our police station, um the improvements we've made to the lifeguard
uh headquarters, uh our parks. There's so many things we can be proud of. How many of us can really say that we're proud of our housing authority situation today? And I think this is a great opportunity for us to add it to the list of proud accomplishments that we have
here in Kate May. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jack. Anyone else? Martin. >> Martin Van Walson, 329 Congress Street. Um I think most of council knows that u my wife Deb and I founded along with
Cape May cares the beach tag scholarship program. Um that gave us the opportunity to interact with the families that are currently living in the housing authority. Um of the 30 units that are non senior I think there's 65 children that live in in the housing authority.
These children are amazing. They're just incredible citizens parts of our community. Um, for those of you that saw the video that Ted Ted Greenberg did last year, uh, one of the children that spoke on the video, um, Zayn, seven
years old, talked about the fact that Cape May cares has helped him to realize he needed to improve his grades. Seven years old, was concerned about his grades. Okay. Um, through the work that we did this year, uh, we've helped to bring the two
communities, the family community and the senior community together. So, the way that some of the children earned their beach tags this year was that they made Valentine's for the seniors and they helped to clear the walks um during during the snowstorms. Um so, this is a
part of our community that we I think most residents and visitors of Cape May know very little about. Um >> what does the community do for them? We all know how generous Cape May is. We all know especially you know several of the people that have already spoken the
the contributions that they make to to as as charitable um organizations. Um these children are being given the opportunity to um learn to sail, learn to play tennis, learn to act. Um so there's there's there's a community
spirit that when we talk about the right thing to do, that's what we're talking about doing. Uh, city council member Bodner, I think, used the word substandard. These families are living in substandard conditions. These are these are cinder block walls that are uh
that are are the basis for these units and this proposal is designed to improve that environment. Uh, I'll close with uh why does environment matter? Um, Keith Dr. Laferty had recommended a book to me called the other West Moore. I encourage you all to pick it up. It's a light
reading. Um it talks about the fact that during the 90s there were two children both named West Moore coincidentally um living in inner city Baltimore both in single family homes uh single parent homes both struggling both living as I grew up without enough food on the table
and um the book is about the fact that their paths diverged and they diverged because of environment and so where are they today? Um the the author of the book is the governor of Maryland. Um the other West Moore is in prison for felony
murder of a police officer. >> So you know when we talk about the kinds of things that Cape May Housing Authority is doing to help these children to recognize a path in a different direction. Um that's what we're talking about doing and that's how dramatic the impact can be from this
project. So Dr. Laughy, thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you Martin. I I would add to that, Martin, just the the simple fact that uh Kate May Elementary School is rated, I think, in top 93% in in the state. Um and that certainly has, you
know, when you have a seven-year-old who's concerned about their grades and you have people who can actually help them with that makes a big difference. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. >> Hi, Jules. >> Good afternoon. Jules Rous 1010 New York Avenue. uh a small item, but it's not
very small. Actually, when you walk out of the building and you look at the back end of the firehouse and and you see a number of the windows with air conditioning units, where do we really stand with the correction of the HVAC system?
They are our contractor for Alaska has about 70% completed the corrective measures that we feel will correct some of the HVAC issues. We're waiting for Johnson Controls to come down to kind of hook everything up and
then we'll be able to turn the system back on. >> Will will we do a uh a health examination to make sure that the mold and mildew is is does not exist in the building? We've already done that. >> So, the health of our firemen is
>> we've we've already done that. Okay, that's been done. >> Um, as I noticed in Mr. Dre's uh report last month, there was a comment of 8 to 10 lawsuits. Uh, is it is it appropriate for city council to um make that make
those lawsuits uh the basic information about them available or is that confidential? the basic information's available but not the contents or where they stand in the how we're defending them.
>> I mean the details of any public filing are a matter of public record. If they're on e courts it's it's public record but I can assure you that council gets briefed on that by annually >> on the status of those matters. >> Um one other little item was brought to
my attention are There's some rust spots appearing on the new prominade uh surface. Is that an issue or is it just something that's occurred um naturally? >> I if you tell me where they're at, I'd have to go look at them. I haven't
noticed any rust spots because it's asphalt and asphalt doesn't typically rust. So, I got a I don't >> Could be an ice It could be a drop of ice cream that looks like rust. I'm not sure. So, I'd have to go look at it and you tell me where they're at and I'll go take a look at it to see what I think the cause is. But, but I know it's not
rust from the asphalt. I can tell you that for sure. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else this afternoon? >> Hi everybody. I'll be brief. My name is Wendy Collins. I'm here just to speak briefly in support of the housing authority as well. Um, I currently work
for Kate May Stage at 405 Lafayette in one of these beautifully restored buildings. Um, but I am not an actor, so I do have a script. Um, [laughter] as someone who works for a local nonprofit arts organization, I do know firsthand how difficult it has become to recruit and retain talented people um
because of the housing issue. Um, we compete for dedicated professionals who want to be part of this wonderful community but can't afford to live here. Um, the arts are one of the things that make Kate May a special place. We've got Kate May, we've got two wonderful theaters. It's just it makes it uh a
destination. Um, but behind every performance that you go to, there's actors, stage managers, technical folks, designers. They don't live here. They can't afford to live here. And hopefully, uh, some of the additional units might give people an opportunity
to be part of this community. Uh, Kate May is rightly celebrated for the beauty of its historic architecture. Thanks, Tom, Carol, uh, and Mac. Um, it's vibrant arts and culture in this area. But I believe the true beauty of any
community lies in the people who live in it. I was sitting over on the side during this meeting and I'm staring at this red sign, our future is in our past. I would add a second sign, our future is in our people. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Wendy. Anyone else?
>> Good afternoon, council. Uh, Peter Cole, 1075 Michigan Avenue. On behalf of the taxpayers association of Cape May, I just like to announce that we are having our annual meeting uh, Thursday the 20th of August, 1:00 p.m. here in City Hall
and um, one of our topics will be on water and sewage. Uh, we have two new board members and we'd love to see our taxpayers attend. I look forward to seeing. Thank you.
>> Anyone else? Yes. Uh Ble 1313 Massachusetts Avenue. Um there was a um lifeguard boat out in Perry, not on you know at the end we signed this. Do we take liability? I
mean especially with the water, you know, with rain and stuff. I've seen kids go in there slip and not just rain. You know, >> you're talking about it at the end of the mall. >> Yeah. That was removed. You know, I you know, don't I mean I see a liability
issue because I I worked on the side with businesses and myself and >> I'm sorry. I'm not even sure what you're referencing. You >> Well, there was a lifeguard boat. >> We had the boat up there >> with Perry. >> Yeah, we had the boat up there for Christmas on the mall. There was some
delay in the beach patrol removing it and it's been since taken off the mall and it's part of what we did with the the Washington Street Mall business association uh to uh promote the Christmas in July. So >> it was a temporary installation. >> It was temporary installation. Yes.
>> Uhhuh. But don't you think in the future I look at liability big time. Don't you think, you know, should be a sign because people don't take accountability for their actions? >> Any response? >> No. No. >> Okay.
We we take your comments for certain and we'll look into it and and it should be a discussion on liability to make sure you know we're not liable >> you know because you know I'm sure you see Morgan Morgan and all these other you know and you know >> we weren't really a part of that decision but I I I take your comment and
we'll we'll definitely look into it. >> I don't think there were any incidents >> no you know I I just look at potential >> Yeah sure the possibility. >> Yeah the city's going to look at that too. I just I was not really sure what you were talking about a second. Got it. We'll take a look at it. >> Thank you. Anyone else
[clears throat] Trish Turny, 719 79 721 Franklin Street. I just want to give everybody a history lesson. In 2011, I bought my house at 20 at uh 719 721 Franklin.
I don't think that many of you know the history of that house. It was I bought it from the Nicks family. And if any of you are familiar with the Nicks family, you know that the Robert C. Nicks federal building in Philadelphia was named after Robert Nicks. He was the first African-American
chief justice of any state high any state's highest court. His father was the first African-American representative in the United States Congress. His grandfather was born in slavery.
But eventually he became a minister and the academic dean of the South South Carolina State College. That the house that I have was in that family for over 75 years.
And because of this history of the house, it was not torn down during urban renewal, which many many of the houses were. The Oddfellow's lot, the Oddfellow's home was torn down and many, many others. He was also friends with
Martin Luther King, the reason Martin Luther King came to Kate May. It took me when I bought that house in 2011, it took four years to renovate. Not part-time renovation, it was full-time renovation.
I went before the HPC board in 2011 and 2012. And I will tell you that they told me exactly what I had to do. And I accepted that because I love Victorian Victorian uh architecture in Kate May
like everyone else does. Like all of these other photographs are around your entire um council uh building. So from and then we came to 2023 2022. So from 2022 to 2026, I'm not
going to bore you with all that. You know what went on in my street? I had the firehouse. I had the AM church. I had the library across the street. I had the bricks that were done during my Christmas house tour, which I will add
that I got the most beautiful private home decorated house from the United States Congress. Major renovations went on in the street. Then we put the bricks. We put the gas lights down because it was a Victorian.
They wanted to bring this Victorian feel to that particular street as mayor as the mayor said is going to be the most beautiful street in Cape May. Okay. And if you look at the Sandborn maps and you go back, you're going to find that many
of those homes stayed the same. We have the Macedonia church. We have the Franklin School from the 20s. We have the AM church from 1988. My house is is older by 8 years. And then we have the Franklin Baptist
Church on the corner which has been turned into condos still retaining its architectural Victorian feel. On June 15th of 2026, I watch every meeting. Now, I have not
been around because I've been under the weather. I was absolutely shocked when I saw that every single part of this building had been reconstructed
and now we're going to put some glass building next to it. I want to tell you I have nothing against theater. I love theater. I was in theater all my life. I was a high school teacher and I go to Broadway at least three times a year. I have nothing against theater. I love it.
It's in my blood. However, I don't feel that this building is theater. And my point of reference here, Mr. Mayor, you have worked on that. Harriet Tubman, I saw you many nights working to
make sure that every architectural every everything was perfect. And I know that's in your blood. I know that you grew up on historical accuracy. You grew up for a love of Victorian Kate May just as your father did.
By approving this building that you want to put next to me, which never part of the plan, you're going to set a very dangerous precedent in Kate May because the next thing we know, I have nothing against the mainstay, but what's to say they
might not want to do something like that, >> mayor? It has. And what's to say that the Washington end may not want to see do something like this? And what's to say that the Queen Victoria may not want to do something like this? Or the NFK
may and I could go on and on and on. Honestly, I I'm not sure where these plants came from. Early in May, I saw them putting these big bores in on my um on the parking lot that was
next to me. I had no idea what it was. Somebody told me that it was so to make sure that the ground was stable. I was thinking that it was stable for the parking lot. >> Trish, can can I I'm sorry to interrupt you and and I don't typically >> I'm just I just just have one more
sentence. Okay. Anyway, these plans were in the works for a while and I don't want anybody to be fooled by that because you don't get an architecture an architect to come and make a presentation in front of HPC
um that it was it only happened or you only had these plans for um you know a week. These are very they were very elaborate plans. Trish, can I >> I'm going to say I hope you >> I appreciate I I appreciate everything you're saying and I want you to know that I believe everyone up here at this
table has their concerns. Um so um nothing has been approved by city council. Um and especially in regards to your notice and things like that, that's going to be so important. Um so please
know that you know people want to work with um our you know uh nonprofit organizations in town but we want to make sure it's done right and I I have heard concerns from everyone sitting at this table right now. So I believe me
nothing has been approved and it would be a long uh journey to get to that approval. >> Yes. Good afternoon, mayor, council, city solicitor, city manager. [laughter] Uh, >> not used to that. Thank you.
>> I'm Paul Loier. I'm the other half of this combo at 2019 21 Franklin Street. Um, I spent a lot of hours in that house recreating woodwork and fireplaces and
you name it >> to make it the house that it is now. So be it that when we went before council, I went before the uh the >> historic >> historic preservation committee, they were back and forth and back and forth
on what our siding was going to be like and what our windows were going to be like and what our roof materials were going to be like. And I said to them, "Excuse me, sir." And can I show you these pictures from the interior? Because we had completely done the interior right down to the draperies and the wallpaper. And I showed him the
pictures. And since he was the listing agent at the time of the property, he said to us, "Oh my god, this is the inside of that house. I vote that we let them do whatever the hell they want to do." Okay, that was Dave Clemens at the
time. God rest his soul. Anyway, uh it seemed to come up awful fast. No one knew about it. Mr. Meyer, he was kind of upset that he hadn't heard anything. You stated on record that >> you knew nothing either. And it seemed
like >> in review of the HBC meeting again last night on video that it was kind of like they were cheering them on. >> Mhm. >> And I can understand that. But they were making concessions. They were making
statements that were were inaccurate. Oh, well, where's the parking going to go? Oh, well, we're going to just park behind the building now in those spots that are there. Well, that's the housing authority. >> Okay, that's their parking spots. You can't assume that you're going to park, you know,
cars for for wedding venue. And the other thing that disturbed me, they talked about they were nowhere near what's required of a Victorian property. They talked about metal railings. And then someone said, "Oh, maybe we can put wood railings. Oh, maybe we could put a flat top so we can put our drinks on
them when we're out on the ver drinking." Mhm. >> What do we have in here? What what are we creating? >> I mean, you gave them the church. >> Mhm. >> For a minimal fee a year. >> Now, we're going to take over the parking lot, which we sorely need
because we built the library. Okay. And other things that are going on, and we don't have enough parking for that. >> As you know, I am a councilman in the city of Brigantine, but I also have set 15 years on the planning and zoning
board. Here's the New Jersey code. And the main thing in this code is air, light, and open space. And I don't believe that that project is going to provide that. I think it's going to be
just too large a building, too large of what they're trying to do to stick it on that lot >> beside the church. Not to mention, what are they going to do about the new height elevation regulations, you know? I I just want you to know that I've
heard privately from every member of council with concerns and so you know I I want to give the theater their opportunity to come up with some ideas and thoughts certainly but every one of us is concerned about that project. >> Thank you.
>> Yeah. >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Okay. Motion to adjurnn. Oh, [laughter] >> yes sir. >> Have you adjourned?
>> No, please. No, you you I tried. >> Still moved. >> No. Go ahead. Go [laughter] ahead. >> I'd like to thank the Harvard masters for keeping the straits of uh Kate May open. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. >> Without taxation. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. >> Keeping us on course. All right. Um,
one of the things I've been asked to do on behalf of the uh, taxpayers association was to write a letter to council requesting that any uh, proposals that are coming from uh, the AM church regarding the theater should
be made uh, very much in full. In other words, the obviously that there are no plans yet. This I understand this is pretty premature. So when they do come to council, we would like to know that we're going to get a full explanation
from them, from the from the um theater group, etc., etc. I understand agree >> this is way ahead of the time, >> and um >> I I don't >> I don't I don't know that people really realize how much premature this is,
>> but thank you very much for just taking two seconds. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Motion to adjurnn. So moved. >> Thank you. Have have a wonderful have a wonderful day everybody. Please go enjoy National Night Out.