By Donald Wittkowski
Sea Isle City’s updated master plan, a blueprint for growth, zoning regulations, land development and other key community issues, will be the focus of a public hearing in September.
The hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12, at City Hall, Councilman John Divney announced. The Planning Board will give its final review of the master plan at its next meeting, 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 8, at City Hall, Divney said.
Divney, who represents City Council on the Planning Board, explained that final revisions are being made to a draft version of the master plan before the document is presented to the public. He described it as a “rolling process.”
Following the public hearing, the Planning Board will consider additional revisions before formally adopting it and sending it to City Council for action.
Sea Isle’s master plan was last updated in 2007. In New Jersey, the state requires municipalities to update their master plans every 10 years.
“We must do this every 10 years, so we’re actually a year ahead,” Divney said of Sea Isle’s timetable.
The city held a master plan workshop last October to collect public input as it began the process of updating the document with the help of Maser Consulting P.A.
Since then, a draft version has been submitted to a Planning Board subcommittee for review. The subcommittee will incorporate its comments before presenting the document to the entire Planning Board for its scrutiny in August.
The updated plan will cover an array of issues, including zoning, planning, economic development, transportation, housing density, commercial construction, coastal storms and parks and recreation.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio emphasized the importance of the master plan during his State of the City address in February. He said the updated version will reflect the collective efforts of the community to create “our blueprint for the future.”
Sea Isle also gathered public feedback on the master plan last summer in a municipal survey that generated more than 3,000 responses.
Traffic congestion, parking problems and fears about another Hurricane Sandy-type storm were all high on the list of concerns in the survey.
Sea Isle’s year-round population is about 2,100, but can swell to more than 10 times that amount during the peak summer tourism season, putting strains on the roadways and other infrastructure.
The updated master plan is expected to explore ways to balance the needs of year-round residents with the demands of the beach town’s summer vacationers
