JUNE 2004

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Buena Vista Township

News Clips 2004

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Veteran educator honored as Collings Lakes teacher of year (The News, by Ben Meritt, 6/30/04)

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Chiarello says UEZ would put Buena area on equal footing (Press of Atlantic City, by Johanna Duerr, 6/30/04)

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Van Drew seeks UEZ for Buena,  Buena Vista (Press of Atlantic City, by W.F. Keough, 6/29/04)

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UEZ plan a 'good day' for Buenas (The Daily Journal, by Giselle Sotelo, 6/29/04)

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Buena Vista courthouse tenant to move out (The Daily Journal, by Giselle Sotelo, 6/24/04)

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Boost gives first aid to ambulance purchase (The Daily Journal, by Giselle Sotelo, 6/22/04)

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Richland man's study is dry work ~ Arborist says development draining southern NJ bodies of water (Press of Atlantic City, by Derek Harper, 6/21/04)

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Pinelands-MUA dispute snarls school proposal ~ Quandary could add up to $1M to cost of Buena Regional's plan (The Daily Journal, by Giselle Sotelo, 6/1/04)

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Founding father, historian earns tribute from Buena (The Daily Journal, by Giselle Sotelo, 6/1/04)

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Competition heats up for new head of county Dems (Press of Atlantic City, by Thomas Barlas, 6/2/04)

Veteran educator honored as Collings Lakes teacher of year

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Van Drew seeks UEZ for Buena,  Buena Vista

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chiarello says UEZ would put Buena area on equal footing

The Vineland-Millville Urban Enterprise Zone has been benefiting the two cities for years, creating an alluring package for businesses looking to relocate or expand.

Vineland Economic Development Director James Lelli said Vineland could not have rejuvenated the way it has without the UEZ, which has aided the expansion of the Cumberland Mall and the city's industrial parks.

Meanwhile, neighboring Atlantic County municipalities Buena Vista Township and Buena Borough say they are being overlooked in the ratables game; they cannot offer Vineland and Millville's financial incentives and they are greatly hindered by Pinelands Commission regulations.

City officials are hoping legislation recently introduced and announced Monday by Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, will boost their appeal.

Van Drew said it looks promising that they will be approved.

"I think it'd be great," said Robert Orlandini, a co-owner of Orlandini Tile Supplies in Richland. It's a "long, long time coming."

The UEZ allows municipalities to charge 3 percent sales tax and reinvest the revenue generated from that tax back into the community.

Orlandini said he gets countless calls from people inquiring whether they have 3 percent sales tax. When nearby places like the Home Depot in Vineland offer 3 percent sales tax, it adds up with large purchases, he said.

But Orlandini said they are not about to move from Richland to Vineland, which is a prime fear of local officials trying to improve the economy.

If Orlandini Tile did move, it wouldn't be the first.

Richland Glass bought 29 acres in Vineland in 1997 after they realized it would be cheaper than adding on to their operation in Buena Vista Township.

Former owner John Carson said the UEZ wasn't what made them come to Vineland, but it made a difference.

Carson wanted to stay but "certain regulatory agencies" made the company decide to move.

"It was a very good opportunity, and we bought into it," he said.

Now Richland Glass is in a 92,000-square-foot headquarters in Vineland, and he said it costs less than if he had built a 30,000-square-foot addition in Buena Vista Township. When the building in Vineland became available, the company grabbed it, he said.

Lelli said the UEZ is almost never a prime motivator, but it is always the tiebreaker.

"That's why everything is booming like it is now," he said. "No question about it, it's great."

The Vineland-Millville UEZ has been in effect since 1986, and in 2003 was renewed for another 16 years.

And in the meantime, it has hurt Buena Vista, Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.

Chiarello looks at the possibility of becoming a UEZ area as the chance to play on an "equal footing," or closer to it. But they still will have to deal with Pinelands regulations, which cover 90 percent of the township, he said.

"I don't want to sound overly optimistic, but right now we're going from not having a lot to seeing some real potential," Chiarello said.

Both the borough and the township need ratables, which offer tax revenue that would go toward paying school and municipal costs.

Buena Vista is also working to fix up Richland. While they will never build a mall or host a major retail center, the UEZ could offer Buena Vista Township the chance to fix up the busy shore corridor and occupy the empty buildings.

"There's a lot going on here, and (the legislation) couldn't have come at a better time," Chiarello said. "All of this together, I think is going to make this very attractive."

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UEZ plan a 'good day' for Buenas

BUENA VISTA -- Unveiling a plan that would add Buena Vista and Buena to the state's growing list of Urban Enterprise Zones, Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew spoke of vast possibilities for the small, neighboring farm communities.

New jobs.

Retaining businesses that might look to relocate elsewhere.

A reduced sales tax whose proceeds would go back to the community rather than the state's coffers.

"It's a good day for the Buenas," said Van Drew, D-1, in what would quickly become the catchphrase of the evening here Monday.

If the legislation passes -- and officials are optimistic it will --the municipalities would receive a special designation afforded to economically depressed areas with high unemployment.

It could bring a windfall of business-friendly benefits. Two nearby cities, Vineland and Millville, already have designated UEZ areas and say they've brought tens of millions of dollars in economic investment.

Buena Vista and Buena, meanwhile, are hampered by growth-restricted Pinelands areas within their boundaries, putting them at a competitive disadvantage, Van Drew said after a press conference in the Municipal Building. He cited the departure of Richland Glass, which left Buena Vista for Vineland several years ago, to illustrate his point.

The legislation already has key support. The N.J. Commerce and Economic Growth Commission, which administers the state's UEZ program, backs the two bills that would add Buena and Buena Vista, said Van Drew, who hopes to push the legislation through the Legislature in six short months.

If approved, The municipalities' UEZ designation would last 31 years, a figure based on the estimated life span of existing UEZs in places such as Vineland and Millville, the assemblyman said.

"The difference to the communities over all those years will be extremely significant," he said.

Buena Vista Mayor Chuck Chiarello said "there is not anything that would help more" than for the community to achieve UEZ status.

In Buena Vista, the Route 40 corridor is tentatively a top contender to become a UEZ zone as is Landis Avenue.

The zones' boundaries would be hammered out once legislation passes, with the municipalities and state working together to determine them.

Buena Mayor Joseph Baruffi, in a press release, said the legislation "can only enhance opportunities for our current and future business owners as well as the people who live in our town."

If awarded the UEZ designation, the Buenas would follow in the footsteps of Vineland and Millville.

In Vineland, the UEZ has generated $59 million in sales tax revenue since the program started in 1986 and created about 5,300 jobs, said economic development director Jim Lelli.

Sales tax revenue has allowed for 174 business development loans totaling about $40 million.

Through the UEZ-funded revolving loan fund, the city loaned about $4 million toward the expansion to Cumberland Mall that included Boscov's and Home Depot, said Lelli. The mall is a "great generator of sales tax revenue," which is then returned to the municipality through the UEZ program.

In Millville, where the number of full-time jobs created is estimated at 6,023, the recent arrival of a Lowe's was accomplished thanks largely to UEZ funds the city used to make infrastructure that accommodated the retail chain, Economic Development Director Don Ayres said. Lowe's, in turn, is expected to contribute an estimated $1 million annually in sales tax revenue that can help fund other economic development projects.

UEZ funds also were behind dozens of façade improvements along High Street and the introduction of downtown walking police patrols. City officials intend to make further infrastructure improvements that would facilitate creation of a 600-acre industrial park at the airport.

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Buena Vista courthouse tenant to move out

BUENA VISTA -- A neighboring municipality that spent the last 11 months running its court operations from Buena Vista's municipal building and parking lot is finally heading home.

Hamilton Township plans to hold its final municipal court session here on Tuesday, the same day its Mays Landing facilities are scheduled to reopen.

Mold and flooding problems last year at Hamilton's municipal building forced the township to temporarily relocate its court operations. In a gesture of goodwill, Buena Vista offered use of its courtroom and a parking area, where Hamilton established an office in a trailer. Buena Vista went so far as to redesign its parking lot to accommodate the visiting community.

The arrangement was a good one for Buena Vista, although it wasn't hassle-free, officials said.

"While there were definitely some inconveniences with the parking and the people at the building, as long as the township didn't lose anything in the process then we succeeded," said Mayor Chuck Chiarello, who noted Buena Vista taxpayers came out winners in the arrangement.

Of the $3,000 monthly fee that Buena Vista collected, it spent about half for utilities, cleanup and custodial services, Township Administrator Ron Trebing said.

Regular court sessions that averaged 110 to 120 people presented an inconvenience because the municipal building and parking lot became crowded, he said. Still, Trebing added, Hamilton did modify its court schedule to meet Buena Vista's needs.

Originally published Thursday, June 24, 2004

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Boost gives first aid to ambulance purchase

BUENA VISTA -- The township's annual contribution to the Buena Vista Township EMS squad got a big boost this year, and officials suggest the extra generosity could continue.

Instead of its regular $12,500 contribution, the township committee is giving $22,500 to the BVTEMS at a time when the volunteer organization prepares to purchase a new ambulance.

The 80 percent increase means the squad has to finance less of a $124,833 E-450 Ford ambulance, which it hopes arrives in time for the community's Independence Day celebration.

Buena Vista has generally made it a policy to give extra contributions to its EMS squads when they buy new ambulances, Mayor Chuck Chiarello said.

Officials see increased financial commitment as a way to maintain volunteers' interest in serving and to repay the squad for its stellar performance.

Committeeman Pete Bylone said this year's extra $10,000 could signal the start of a new trend, with the township possibly providing slightly lesser amounts in the future. He suggested, for example, offering $5,000 more than the normal contribution next year.

"You've got an early signoff that what you'll get next year is substantially better than $12,500," Chiarello said at a recent township committee meeting.

Just as the Buena Vista squad would receive additional funding, so too would the township's other rescue squad, in Collings Lakes, he added.

BVTEMS representatives agree the township has always been supportive of their needs. The squad serves the southwestern half of Buena Vista -- an area roughly 22 square miles -- and responds to about 365 calls a year.

The new ambulance will double the size of the squad's fleet.

With just one ambulance currently, two concurrent calls require the squad to call for mutual aid from EMS agencies in Collings Lakes, Minotola or Dorothy.

Having one vehicle also meant none was available to run calls when it was under repair, squad Chief Wayne Corsiglia said.

The new, larger ambulance will include safety features such as better interior lighting, and windows that darken for privacy at the push of a button. The squad has also purchased $15,000 worth of new equipment to furnish the new vehicle, including a stretcher and stair chair.

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Richland man's study is dry work ~ Arborist says development draining southern NJ bodies of water

BUENA - Mark Demitroff puts his green station wagon in park and gets out at Wawa.

The landscape at the intersection of U.S. 40 and Route 54 is nothing to get excited about. Two busy roads converge. Around it, builders have sprinkled the detritus of modern life: a couple of motels and a convenience store. A dump truck from Levari Trucking beeps as it backs into a parking space nearby.

The real story is behind the Wawa, Demitroff says, and in his shorts and worn leather boots, strides off quickly to Route 40 and around the side of the store.

"There," he says, pointing.

It's a nondescript grassy field, overgrown with weeds and plants. Wawa has zoning approvals to expand there.

But a century ago, it was the reason the roads converged, Demitroff says. A century ago, it was a shallow pond, he says, one of several similar ponds in the Pine Barrens.

Travelers watered their horses when they stayed at a tavern now taken over by the Ye Olde Inn motel. Workers used it at the charcoal mill across the street, now a private home. And in the centuries before them, American Indians knew about it and traveled to it looking for water, and animals that drank there, Demitroff says.

And like many of the similar ponds across the Pine Barrens, it's gone.

While there is no scientific consensus, Demitroff and others are all but certain that a century of well-drilling to satisfy the farms, golf courses and a growing number of residents in southern New Jersey have taken their toll. They have drawn enough water out of the ground that the ponds, cripples and blue holes that distinguished the Pinelands are slowly, inexorably and relentlessly drying up, he says.

The problem starts with southern New Jersey's geology, Demitroff says.

The soil is sandy, porous - the result of time spent under surging and retreating seas, and as a polar semidesert, desolate and windblown during glacial periods.

As the Earth warmed, the water soaked away into sandy soil, accumulating in aquifers deep below ground over the millennia. By the time the first settlers drilled wells in Atlantic City in the late 1800s, the pent-up water pressure was great enough that anecdotal reports said they spouted water three and four stories into the sky.

That pressure dropped slowly over the century as people drilled well after well into the region's aquifers, he says. And as pressure fell, small ponds like this one, at the edge of where a major aquifer surfaces and refills itself, vanished.

It's an intriguing yet controversial theory, not conclusively proved. Demitroff, 44, of Richland, a professional arborist and amateur geologist studying independently with the University of Delaware, has not yet published his findings to be reviewed by others.

"Mark's on a good trail there but it hasn't been scrutinized professionally," said Rutgers Professor Emeritus John C. F. Tedrow, who has written about both New Jersey and polar soils.

A report on the water in southeastern New Jersey, issued last year by the state Department of Environmental Protection, seems to validate at least some of Demitroff's beliefs. It said, in part, that the water supplies are interconnected and the region's growth seems to be overtaxing the supplies.

The Pinelands Commission is also interested in tracking the Pineland's water, but there just are not any conventional records from a century ago that can be compared with today, chief scientist Robert A. Zampella said.

Their records over the past decade or so show that streams are more affected by rain than other sources. But they are interested in what he has to say.

"He may be on the right track," Zampella said, "but there is no empirical evidence."

Earlier, at his country house down a long gravel path, Demitroff unfurled a black-and-white aerial photograph of the region on his wooden kitchen table. These are his records.

Without scientifically measured records charting the streams and ponds from a century ago, Demitroff has to rely on what he has at hand: historic photographs, old maps, journals and the records of mills that used the once-strong streams to power their waterwheels. These documents are anecdotal and not entirely scientific, but it makes his case, he says.

When airplanes flew over the area west of Vineland, Cumberland County, in 1930, they recorded the land as a series of charcoal and light gray squares, bisected by neatly drawn streets and slashing railroad tracks.

But that's not all. Demitroff points to a series of light streaks across the surface: ancient sand dunes. But more importantly, he singles out the black dots and blots that are sprinkled across the photos: water.

"Now you have to remember you were in a drought," Demitroff says excitedly. "You were in the worst dust bowl drought."

Now, in a time of plentiful rains, few, if any, of those holes remain, he says.

He unfurls a similar map of southern Cape May and goes to work.

"There's Lake Lily," he says, pointing to a longish black mark on the map.

"But a lot of people don't know Lake Lily also used to have a sister lake next to it right ... there," he says, his index finger sliding over slightly, touching a smaller black mark above a spot labeled "Cape May Light" in an old-fashioned block font.

With a note of triumph in his voice, he describes what happened after years of human intervention.

"And now, it's dry."
 

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Pinelands-MUA dispute snarls school proposal ~ Quandary could add up to $1M to cost of Buena Regional's plan

The Buena Regional Board of Education finds its attempt to build a new middle school caught in the center of an age-old dispute between the Pinelands Commission and a sewerage provider.

And it's a dilemma that could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the proposed school's price tag.

The school district hopes to seek voters' approval in a September referendum so it can build a 92,000-square-foot school along Weymouth Road.

The Pinelands Commission, however, won't allow that school to access municipal sewer lines unless the Buena Borough Municipal Utilities Authority stops discharging processed sewerage from a wastewater treatment plant into a local stream.

If the MUA doesn't abide, the district would have to spend an additional $700,000 to $1 million to build its own wastewater treatment center at the middle school site, Buena Regional Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo said. That's above the estimated $23 million cost for school construction and furnishings, she noted.

"That's not our most favorable option," DeGiacomo said.

School officials say this latest wrinkle caught them by surprise. When the Kimberly-Clark Corp. donated 200 acres to the district late last year, school officials thought they had cleared the scope of Pinelands requirements. The additional land was needed to meet water quality standards set by the Pinelands Commission, which governs the area where the new school will be built, near Buena Regional High School.

But the dispute between MUA and Pinelands officials remains unsolved.

The school district has met twice with the Pinelands and MUA.

"We've been serving as a catalyst to bring everybody to the table but now that they are at the table, they need to solve the problem and we need to build this school," DeGiacomo said.

The problem is not new.

The MUA's Plymouth Road plant has not been in compliance with Pinelands regulations for about 15 years. At that time, the Pinelands Commission approved upgrades to the facility only if the MUA promised to stop its discharge into Deep Run Stream, a tributary of the great Egg Harbor River.

The Pinelands Commission set a June 1995 deadline for the MUA to enter into compliance, but that didn't happen. Although the MUA contends the discharge exceeds state standards, Pinelands Commission spokesman Francis Rappa said it alters the chemistry of Pinelands streams and disrupts the surrounding ecology.

The MUA says it already has spent about $1 million trying to find a new place to discharge the treated sewerage, but notes that's difficult because land is generally scarce in the area and the soil must be suitable.

One candidate for land application is an old orchard on Weymouth Road between the Boulevard and Friendship Road, commonly referred to as the Donato property.

The MUA already has spent about $10,000 investigating the site and has deemed the soils "fair." It would take another $2 million to develop the site for discharge, and there's no guarantee the soil is suitable, according to the MUA.

The MUA's noncompliant status has caused other problems. It's a key reason why the MUA can't run sewer lines in Pinelands-restricted zones along Route 40 West, from roughly Central Avenue to Brewster Road. That area includes the Padre Pio shrine, whose expansion plans hit a roadblock when the Pinelands Commission intervened last year.

Currently, the Pinelands and MUA are in the midst of trying to hammer out a memorandum of agreement to resolve the issue.

Ultimately, the agreement must win approval from the Pinelands Commission, MUA and school district.

An outline of principle proposed by Pinelands officials, the first step in drafting an agreement, would obligate the MUA to a $200,000 annual financial commitment if it fails to meet specified deadlines.

"We will continue to work with the Pinelands to conform with their regulations to remove our effluent from the stream," said MUA Chairman John Brunini. However, he said, MUA officials won't allow the agency to be put "in a position that is detrimental to its users by signing an agreement that will bring this dilemma to a conclusion, and so we need to continue to negotiate."

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Founding father, historian earns tribute from Buena

Photo
Staff photo/Craig Matthews

Bruno F. Renzulli, 93, receives a plaque honoring his lifelong contributions from Buena Borough Mayor Joseph Baruffi.

 

BUENA -- Bruno Renzulli, the borough's 93-year-old unofficial historian, made history last week.

His memoirs recounting the history of the borough, predating its separation from Buena Vista Township and its first years after forming as an independent municipality, became the first official historic document here.

Council members last week bestowed the honor and hailed Renzulli for his lifelong contributions to the borough where he was born and raised.

Handing Renzulli a plaque in his honor, Mayor Joseph Baruffi said he felt "compelled" to recognize the local sage, noting Renzulli was instrumental in the borough's 1949 founding. The plaque will be mounted in the council chambers on the so-called "wall of fame," a visual salute to other noteworthy individuals and businesses."I truly believe he is a historian of our town who played a part in the formation of what we know today as Buena Borough," the mayor said.

But Renzulli humbly deflected the praise directed at him to others, specifically naming Frank Dandrea and Alfonso Mercoli.

"The efforts and the time I put in to help form the borough was helped by a lot of other people," Renzulli said. Any recognition of him, he said, "should also be for the people who are not here any longer."

Dandrea, who at that time was president of the now-extinct Landisville/Minotola Chamber of Commerce, begged Renzulli to participate in the movement to separate the sections of Minotola and Landisville from the township.

The chamber spurred the movement for an independent borough, which saw success in a 1949 referendum put before voters. The movement began because residents of the Minotola and Landisville communities felt they were paying the bulk of the taxes in the township but not getting their money's worth, Renzulli explained. Dandrea and Mercoli went door to door soliciting votes. Voters from the entire township had to approve the change.

Officials said Renzulli is the lone survivor of the movers and shakers who helped form Buena Borough.

He started his memoirs on a lark -- to justify having a computer, he said -- but he would eventually spend several years writing them. He completed his magnum opus, titled "A Walk Back in Time in the History of My Town," in March 2002.

Police Chief Doug Adams secretly had Renzulli's history bound in a clear, plastic binder. A snapshot taken of Renzulli when he was grand marshal at Rowan University's 2003 homecoming was mounted on the first page.

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Competition heats up for new head of county Dems

Out of power for years. Short on cash. Much of the membership's unhappy. Little hope on the horizon.

It's the kind of situation into which someone might not want to jump.

But three people - Hamilton Township Committeeman John Sacchinelli, Galloway Township attorney James Carroll and Atlantic City attorney Joseph Gindhart - all want to be Atlantic County's new Democratic leader. One eventually will replace Buena Vista Township Mayor Chuck Chiarello, who announced last month that he won't seek a fourth term as the party's chairman.

Sacchinelli, Carroll and Gindhart are lobbying Democratic leaders throughout the county, pushing platforms that essentially would start a complete overhaul of the party on everything from attracting new members to raising funds. They also want a sort of peace summit to bring harmony to the party.

There also might be some negotiations between Carroll and Sacchinelli before the party members vote for a new chairman. The talks may focus on whether one of the two candidates will leave the race to prevent a three-way vote that could give the chairmanship to Gindhart.

Sacchinelli and Carroll supporters say electing Gindhart - the party chairman from 1985 to 1995 - would mean a return to old, unsuccessful politics. Gindhart supporters say the party needs a political veteran to remake the organization.

Time is running out. County Democrats will pick a new chairman sometime during the week of June 14.

Barring any changes, all three will continue to make their case right up until the vote.

"It's time to make a change to new ideas and different goals," Sacchinelli said.

"I care, and I have both the experience and the time and the energy to do it," Gindhart contends.

"I want to try and take the Democratic Party into another direction," argues Carroll.

It will take a lot of effort.

Republicans dominate Atlantic County and county-based state offices.

Bill Gormley has served as state senator for the 2nd Legislative District since 1982. Since 1984, the only Democrats to represent the district in the Assembly were Fred Scerni in 1990-91, and Tom Foley in 1994-95.

On the county level since 1976, Republicans have dominated the county executive and surrogate positions, along with all four at-large freeholders seats and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th district freeholders seats. The 5th District freeholder seat has been Republican since 1995.

The only two county positions under longtime Democratic control are the clerk and the 1st District freeholder seat, which primarily represents the Democratic municipalities of Atlantic City and Pleasantville.

Many party members also are upset about last November's general election, in which Democrats lost ground in municipal contests.

There's no contest when it comes to money: Quarterly financial reports filed with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission in April show county Republicans with a war chest of more than $35,000, compared to $5,015.25 for the Democrats. Even that's misleading, as Gormley is one of the biggest fund-raisers in the Legislature, capable of pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sacchinelli, Carroll and Gindhart all know what they're up against, and their basic plan to help Democrats compete contain three primary elements:

 
  • Build the party.

    "We have to go back and revitalize the local Democratic organizations, which are the key to the party," Gindhart said. "Basically rebuild from the grass roots up."

    Carroll said he wants to "bring as many new people into the process as possible," something that can be done in part by bolstering local parties and using extensive voter registration drives to attract many of the county's new residents.

    Sacchinelli contends that rebuilding the local parties would create a new pool of young, aggressive candidates who would learn about politics and governments on that local level so they're better prepared for higher office.

     
  • Raise money.

    "The county organization has sorely lacked funds," Carroll said. "It's almost impoverished. You can't run credible campaigns without sufficient financial resources."

    Carroll said he wants to use fund-raising professionals to build a solid financial base for the party.

    Sacchinelli said the party should reach out to better-financed county Democratic parties - including the wealthy Camden County Democratic machine and its powerful chairman, George Norcross - for help.

    "If Norcross is willing to help us, why not?" said Sacchinelli, noting Camden County Democratic money helped party candidates in other parts of the state. "A Democrat is a Democrat. Our issues are all the same."

    Gindhart said he was a successful fund-raiser during his decade reign as county Democratic Party chair, and there's no reason why he can't do that again.

     
  • Build party harmony, something that's been damaged by an ongoing struggle between Chiarello and Atlantic City Council President Craig Callaway.

    "I think that we've got to realize that each municipality has the right to control its own future, and the county needs to keep out of local issues until the call for help comes in," Sacchinelli said. "Especially in Atlantic City."

    Gindhart also wants to make peace within the party, saying disharmony plays into the hands of the Republicans.

    "I think we have to have a meeting of the Democratic leaders and set a course to rebuild the party with harmony and integrity," he said.

    "We have to stop the infighting," Carroll said. "One way to do that is to bring new membership into the organization."
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