Crackdown on speeding pulls over 115 in one month

By Neil Schulman
Oceanport — The Oceanport Police Department wants motorists to know they’re serious about enforcing the speeding laws.

At the July 20 Borough Council meeting, Borough Administrator Raymond Poerio reviewed the anti-speeding measures the police had been taking. Over the course of a month, 115 motorists have been pulled over at special stops, he said.

Police have been monitoring parts of Oceanport where speeding appears to be the biggest problem, including sections of Comanche Drive, Main Street, Burnt Mill Circle, Port Au Peck Avenue, and East Main Street.

Since June 20, police have conducted 162 radar details as part of this initiative. Those have resulted in pulling over 115 vehicles.

“If you speed in town, you’re going to get caught. you’re going to get a ticket,” Poerio warned.

“We’re serious about this speeding initiative,” said Mayor Jay Coffey.

He said that if people are thinking about getting around it by speeding down roads not currently being covered, the police will be changing where they monitor.

Paper street vacations?
The borough is considering changing its policy on requests to vacate paper streets from a blanket no to a case by case basis.

Oceanport has recently received a couple of requests to vacate land which has been marked as a public right-of-way but has never been used by the borough.

In the past it’s always said no to these requests, but some officials say they’re open to reconsidering that. There may be some advantages to the borough to releasing these right-of-ways. Since the nearby residents get bigger properties, they will likely wind up paying slightly more in taxes.

Sustainable Jersey is back
Councilwoman Ellynn Kahle would like to bring back Sustainable Jersey. A new committee has been formed, and she is asking the council to recognize it.
Sustainable Jersey launched in 2009. It is a program that gives training and financial incentives such as grants for green programs.

“Oceanport was one of the first communities to become Sustainable,” Kahle said. That was in 2009. During that time, she said, the program helped with an energy audit for the then-borough hall, installing better, more energy-efficient lighting there, an environmental audit which is still used by the Planning Board, and the creation of the Oceanport Community Garden.

The title of a Sustainable community must be renewed every three years, but while work was being done in 2012 to get that designation, Superstorm Sandy hit, and people’s priorities changed to “getting everyone back in their houses,” Kahle said.

Now she wants to re-form the group. Unlike last time, which required significant work from borough employees, the volunteers will be able to handle most of the paperwork and other time consuming efforts associated with Sustainable Jersey, though borough officials will still be able to participate.

The program has never cost Oceanport anything, she said.

“Even the community garden, we did for free.”

Kahle said that Sustainable Jersey will have a table at the End of Summer Festival.

While several resolutions were on the agenda to recognize Sustainable Jersey’s role in Oceanport, some council members asked to hold them until the next meeting, sometime in August, saying they had just seen them. Council voted 4-2 to postpone the votes.