No Action on Loch Arbour’s Merger Proposal
By DON STINE Interlaken and Loch Abour residents will have to wait until after the first of the year to see if the Interlaken Borough Council will proceed to study a proposal to merge to two small communities together. The council last week split three-to-three on approving a request for proposals to be issued to hire an independent company to further study the merger issue after a larger, joint meeting was held on the matter earlier this month. Mayor Michael Nohilly, who could have broken the tie, abstained from voting so the matter. It will be carried on to…
Interlaken, Loch Arbour Residents Would Have Final Say in Any Merger
By DON STINE Merging neighboring Interlaken and Loch Arbour together was the sole topic during a joint meeting of the two small communities held on Wednesday, November 12. About 200 residents from both towns packed the Allenhurst fire house on Hume Street to hear the first public presentation about a merger plan for the two adjacent towns. Some residents, from both communities, said they either felt that the presentation was very thorough and professional while others said they thought it was a hard-sell that made them nervous. Loch Arbour is seeking the merger to reduce its school tax rate…
Interlaken and Loch Arbour Will Meet to Discuss Proposed Merger
By DON STINE Merging neighboring Interlaken and Loch Arbour together will be the sole topic of discussion during a special joint meeting of the two small communities to be held on Wed., Nov. 12. The meeting, which will begin at 7:30 p.m., is being held in the Allenhurst fire department, Hume Street, since neither other town has a large enough space to handle the expected crowd. Interlaken will hold its regular Borough Council meeting at 6:45 p.m. on Nov. 12 so the council can then get to the joint meeting. There will be no other council meeting in November…
Allenhurst/Loch Arbour Merger Proposal Derailed After Vote Reversal
By DON STINE A proposal to consolidate neighboring Loch Arbour and Allenhurst was derailed Tuesday night after a member of the Allenhurst Board of Commissioners changed his vote. The proposal as it stands now will not be officially submitted to state officials for review and possible approval. Allenhurst Commissioner Christoper McLoughlin said at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting he was reversing his previous vote after contacting state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) officials and getting no concrete answers to questions he posed about the possible merger, especially on issues about creating a special tax district in Loch Arbour and…
Loch Arbour/Allenhurst Merger Plan Goes to State for Review
By DON STINE A proposal to consolidate neighboring Loch Arbour and Allenhurst is being sent to state officials for review and possible approval after more than 100 residents from both towns attended a special public hearing on the matter last week and officials approved it. “We need a binding plan and we need to start the process. (The state) has to have something in their hands to make a qualified decision,” Loch Arbour Deputy Mayor Alfred J. Cheswick said during the Jan. 9 meeting at the Hume Street fire house in Allenhurst. Loch Arbour officials unanimously voted that…
Public Invited to Meeting on Merger between Allenhurst and Loch Arbour
By DON STINE A proposed merger between neighboring Loch Arbour and Allenhurst is moving forward and a public meeting on the issue will be held Thursday, Jan. 9. “We have made substantial progress,” Loch Arbour Mayor Paul Fernicola said earlier this week. In a Dec. 20 letter sent to both Allenhurst and Loch Arbour residents, the governing bodies said that they plan to present a consolidation application to the state Department of Community Affairs for review and possible approval. “This public meeting will determine if we move forward, depending on the feedback we get from residents,” Fernicola said. The Jan. 9 meeting…
In Loch Arbour: Receving a Gift That Keeps on Giving
By DON STINE Loch Arbour just got the ultimate gift that will keep on giving for years to come. Deal residents Jack and Joyce Kassin, owners of 3.5 acres of privately-owned beachfront in Loch Arbour, have donated about 1.1 acres of their property to the village in a deal to prevent the village from undertaking efforts to seize all of their property. “A really fair agreement by both parties was ironed out,” Deputy Mayor Alfred J. Cheswick said. The deal also creates a beach easement which will allow Loch Arbour to participate in the upcoming federal beach replenishment project…
No Action Planned on Proposed Allenhurst, Loch Arbour Merger
By DON STINE Any action on a proposed merger between Loch Arbour and neighboring Allenhurst to help ease the village’s school tax burden will not take place in the near future. Loch Arbour Mayor Paul Fernicola said at last week’s Board of Commissioners meeting that fiscal issues due to Superstorm Sandy remain unresolved for both. “At this point it is impossible to do a fiscal impact study,” he said. Each municipality is to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency management Agency (FEMA) for damage caused by the storm, which was almost one year ago. Fernicola said Loch Arbour has…
Loch Arbour Plans Beachfront Purchase
By DON STINE Loch Arbour hopes to acquire privately-owned beachfront property through purchase or by using the power of eminent domain. An ordinance scheduled to be introduced by the village’s Board of Commissioners at press time seeks to acquire the beachfront property of Jack Kassin, who purchased a commercially-operattract in 1995 to use as a private beach club. The public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for Aug. 19. Mayor Paul Fernicola said acquiring the property is in the best interest of the village and its residents and the timing is right to obtain funding for the purchase. An…
