The federal government revived support for outdoor recreation. Will it help us here at Money Island?

Over the past few months, the federal government reactivated the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR), that will work to create more safe, affordable, and equitable opportunities for Americans to get outdoors. This council is made up of federal government leaders from the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense.

The federal program originally launched under the Obama administration but was suspended under the Trump administration. recently the Biden administration announced bipartisan support for funding in several priorities that could affect us here at Money Island:
– Resilient infrastructure like breakwater to slow erosion, stronger boat ramps and sustainable docks
– Rural electric vehicle charging stations for road vehicles and boats
– Bolstering education of the public and career opportunities
– Cooperation with local governments

Here in New Jersey the state’s new NJDEP commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette promoted similar priorities earlier this year in connection with Earth Day activities.

The difficulty we anticipate here in Money Island is that government has not actually delivered here on its promises of tangible support for boating infrastructure in the past. Some suspect that federal and state officials see the rural communities as out-of-sync with larger priorities. Tony Novak, leader of recreational program outreach here at Money Island, reports that this is a common belief among many people in government, consultants and lobbyists. “We are just too small and too red for them” is how he phrases the challenge. Novak points out that none of the local community’s strategic planning or economic redevelopment plans over the past several decades have been adapted by state or federal government. As a direct result, we see that with the daily political rhetoric in social media is often hostile to federal and state government programs like this. Until recently we had local elected officials who even denied that climate change impact was out top economic challenge for the future. Even now, residents of other South Jersey shore towns continue to fight the conversion to renewable energy underway by state and federal government agencies. That translates to denial of funding for us here in South Jersey commercial and recreational fishing and other outdoor industries.

Money Island is called the “diamond in the rough” of South Jersey. Private investors and businesses are eager to revitalize a recreational activities if the government support the necessary infrastructure improvements including a breakwater, boat launch extension, docks, and facilities for larger transient boats.

Baysave, a 501(c)(3) that runs Money Island Marina investment programs and most current operational programs is committed to serving all stakeholders and plays a balancing role between the often competing interests.

Recent history of Money Island New Jersey

Money Island was built on the shore of the Delaware Bay in Cumberland County, New Jersey, from the 1930s to the 1970s mostly without the benefit of permits, surveys, licenses, etc. That led to regulatory compliance problems today because of the decades-old missing paperwork. We propose to address these paperwork deficiency issues with legal redevelopment that accounts for future use, higher water levels, frequent flooding, and increased wetland erosion. Research on sustainable infrastructure and restorative aquaculture is already underway here by a handful of educational and environmental groups.

Water level rise is a major factor in the redevelopment plans. While more water is good for the proposed future aquaculture uses, it is not good news for traditional human uses. It could also be devastating to the grass marshes that are washing away at an alarming pace. By 2050 Money Island will likely be completely underwater except for the reconstructed infrastructure designed with this expectation.

Money Island is primarily a seafood landing port. Money Island is New Jersey’s second most productive seafood landing port worth millions of dollars to the local economy every month in oysters, crabs, and fish. The larger regional seafood companies have proposed expanding here and are quietly acquiring more of the waterfront space. Eventually Money Island will be the primary site of the region’s expanding oyster nurseries. A growth in Delaware Bay oyster production of 1,000% to 2,000% is possible within a decade. In 2019, however, some of the commercial watermen moved out of Money Island because the state closed their docks.

The residential houses are disappearing. This is a voluntary choice of the owners based primarily on the observed effects of water level rise. Buyouts are exacerbated by threatened government legal actions against homeowners. Most find it more economical to move out than to spend the money to meet government demands. Less than 10 houses are currently occupied on a regular basis. Some of the few remaining residents stayed because they can’t afford to sell and relocate to a new location, especially not a waterfront location. As of mid 2020, almost all of the remaining residents state an intention to remain here.

The recreational marina had such a low level of utilization in the past decade that continued operation as a commercial entity was impossible. From 2016 to 2018 the marina averaged just one customer per day. The marina accumulated more than 10 consecutive years of financial losses and had to obtain supplemental funding by local nonprofits organizations since 2010. The property owner kept the marina business  open without charging rent to help accommodate the recently deceased marina manager. Despite the low usage, both public and private interests are committed to maintaining public access to the waterways here. Now the marina is a private use facility.

The local government and community groups created a redevelopment strategy for the bayshore region that specifically focused on a sustainable redevelopment plan for Money Island as the region’s premier aquaculture center and seafood landing port. That plan has not yet been formally supported by state policy makers. The business of saving one storefront community for economic reasons while abandoning other communities as the water level continues to rise will continue to be politically difficult. Still, we expect that the need for seafood production increase will eventually win in this political struggle.

Results of research by The Nature Conservancy and its partners is encouraging. We’ve shown progress on restoring species diversity, preventing shoreline erosion, rebuilding elevated infrastructure, and moving toward energy independence.

The government consultant for the Money Island Marina community met with officials at NJDEP in May 2019. They report that an agreement in principal has been reached to allow proposed restorative aquaculture and sustainable redevelopment. Meanwhile

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, however, permit approvals to make the necessary improvements to current infrastructure are currently stalled by state government actions.

The mayor of Downe Township government reports publicly that 30 million of dollars of private and public funding required for permitting and rebuilding of Money Island has already been identified but that these proposed sources are contingent on state government action of releasing property liens. The township passed an ordinance authorizing the purchase of properties at Money Island though eminent domain. While that action and timeline is outside of our local control

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, most doubt that government will be able to raise the money required for this redevelopment. We believe that a public/private partnership will likely be required. Money Island is now in a ‘waiting pattern’ for the state government action to complete past purchase contracts and halt current litigation over the remaining properties. That will trigger the availability of new funding to address these other issues and launch a new era of environmentally sustainable redevelopment.

Private redevelopment action is led by Nantuxent Corporation. The company’s focus is on built-to-suit commercial dock sales.

A book about Money Island was released in November 2019 and a follow up film is anticipated. No production schedule is established.

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Insightful climate change warning was published is 1912

This newspaper article published in New Zealand in 1912 made the link between burning fossil fuel, raising carbon dioxide levels and rising temperatures. A number of sources verified it.

Now we have better data on the topic:

The link is clear.

Planning for 2019 at Money Island

Looking ahead at the planned redevelopment of Money Island, we know that there will be many changes with an uncertain time frame. About half of the homes are recently removed and more will be removed in the future.

Some of the immediate changes on our campus focus on increased physical and operational security. Anyone associated with the marina in a position of handling transactions or equipment will be required to provide a background investigation report. Information will be provided on a case by case basis. Members will be provided with a bright ID tag.

The marina is currently closed for winter during this permitting phase. We do not have a reopening date

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, but a plan is in place to reopen Husted’s Landing Marina first, then Money Island later. Things will definitely be different here in the future and we don’t know those details yet. This list of changes will change as we get feedback from the state, developers, local government and others. But this is what we see so far for 2019:

Facilities expected to be open to members:

Beach

jetty

boat launch (defined as the concrete or gravel structures on the ground at various locations)

rafts

kayaks

boats

decks

picnic areas

nature walk areas

gardens

roadways

parking areas

refrigerator/freezer

Ice machine

Bait cooler

storage areas

recreational and commercial docks on sites not designated by the state

water service

Docks on sites not closed by the state

 

Facilities expected to be closed to all:

ramps on sites designated by the state

docks on sites designated by the state

walkways on sites designated by the state

fuel system

bathroom

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Grant proposals for Money Island

SBDC logoTwo weeks ago Tony met with the director of the NJ Small Business Development Center at Stockton University to discuss Money Island’s strategic planning for our various businesses. Tangible results are beginning to show.

First

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, our business plan went through a major update and is available in draft format for public comment. (If you want to see a draft copy

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, please contact us).

Second, since it is clear that our future depends on success in obtaining government and private sector grants, the SBDC is trying to help us with the grant proposal writing and management process. This is almost a full time job and Tony is already overwhelmed with the first five grant programs wehere we are currently being considered.

 

Update on Money Island buyout status

Money Island NJ

There is renewed hub-bub this week about the status of state buyouts of homes at Money Island. This post is not meant as a complete rehash of the topic but rather just a short bullet point summary of what’s going on from out perspective. In the short term

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, nothing is changed. In the long term

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, we are all underwater.

Money Island's cleanup after last weekend's storm was reported in the Daily Journal
Money Island’s cleanup after last weekend’s storm was reported in the Daily Journal

Storm protection improvements at Money Island Marina

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This photo shows new hardware and a safety chain connecting two sections of reconstructed floating dock. The safety chain bolts go through the 4″ beams of the dock below the deck. It the event of a severe storm the pin connecting the docks might break but the chain will likely survive.

Over the past 3+ years since hurricane Sandy we’re made huge progress toward improving our ability to withstand high winds, flooding and even flowing ice. You could say it’s almost been an obsession around here. Here is a partial list of our recent projects:

Storm protection is an ongoing project for us but we feel confident that we’ve come a long way in the past three years.

 

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