Steve Jasiecki/Plastic bags, a constant nuisance are all to commonly found on the beaches.
MARGATE – After statewide legislation to ban the distribution of single-use plastic and paper bags failed to garner full support in the NJ Assembly, Sustainable Margate volunteers have asked the city to reconsider its prior request to institute a ban on plastic bags.
“We were one of the first. We started on this in 2013 and then we sat back and watched all of our neighbors take the lead and pass the appropriate ordinances,” former Sustainable Jersey Chairwoman Monica Coffey told commissioners at their meeting Thursday, Jan. 16.
Since the green team recommended the city pass the ordinance, Longport has instituted a 10-cents fee on plastic bags, the first municipality in the state to do so, and Ventnor has also imposed a fee for plastic bags.
In a bipartisan vote of 21-14, the NJ Senate passed a comprehensive bill (S-2776) on Jan. 13 before the end of the 2019 legislative session, but the Assembly failed to vote on it. Instead, it forwarded the bill to the Human Services Committee for further consideration.
According to a recent communication from the Association of NJ Environmental Commissions, “The real holdup is making sure that the bill is written so it doesn’t cause additional environmental justice hurdles for those already struggling economically and part of that conversation includes paper bags.”
Current Sustainable Margate Chairman Steve Jasiecki, who was appointed to the Planning Board, said shore towns are “the gatekeepers of the ocean” and should work to protect fragile marine life that are harmed by plastics entering the ocean.
Green team member Ginny Gormley said 12 states and many countries have banned them and that a ban could be cost-effective.
Although no bag ban ordinance is perfect, the city could look to ordinances passed in Somers Point and Brigantine when they fashion one for Margate, she said.
“Somers Point ShopRite has saved money. They used to buy three pallets of plastic a week, now they buy one,” she said. “Some businesses don’t realize they can actually save money.”
“Our preference would be a ban on plastic bags with some exceptions, and a fee on paper,” Coffey said. “Without that fee there is not a disincentive for people to remember their own bags. We feel the fee is important. We would like the city to agree to take another look.”
“Consider it done,” Mayor Michael Becker responded.
Some businesses try to circumvent the ban by providing plastic bags that are thicker and can be reused, Coffey said.
“No system is going to be perfect but even if it makes a 60% improvement” it will make an impact.
Coffey said that as a result of their community education outreach, businesses in Margate support the ban, and visitors from other areas have already adjusted to the bag bans.
“They get it,” she said.
The Margate Business Association has taken another approach to helping reduce plastic bags. Instead of supporting a ban, it paid for and distributed thousands canvas bags in its “Bag It Forward” program.
Commissioner Maury Blumberg said he would like to learn more about how to develop an effective ordinance.
“If you could, forward to us a model that you want us to take a look at,” he said.
Allowing people to purchase plastic bags may not “meet the goal” of eliminating their use, he said.
“It’s a hard thing to ask to pass an ordinance, but we have to change our behavior,” Jasiecki said.
Steve Jasiecki/Temperature readings show the benefits of shade trees.
Jasiecki also said the green team would like to see the city improve its tree ordinance to protect some of the older trees, many of which are being cut down as homes are razed and rebuilt.
Jasiecki said the planting of Bradford or Callery pear trees should be discouraged because they are short lived and split during storms if they are not properly maintained.
Jasiecki took a heat reading on an asphalt street during a heat wave last summer that registered 150-degrees. A subsequent reading on a shady street was only 105 degrees.
“It’s important to preserve and protect the trees we have left,” he said.
Administrator Richard Deaney encouraged Jasiecki to bring the issue to the Planning Board, which can recommend ordinances and ordinance revisions.
Blumberg said he was open to an ordinance revision to “get rid of” the Bradford pears. “We don’t like seeing them come down. Just last week there were trees removed that could have been saved,” he said.
“Find something that’s nicer, better, more healthy and indiginious,” he said. “I’m sure the Planning Board would be open to that.”
The city received a $5,000 grant for arborist Mickey Riggin to prepare a Community Forestry Management Plan.
However, Commissioner John Amodeo said Jasiecki should first present it to the Planning Board, which can make a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners to revise the ordinance.
Sustainable Margate obtained a $5,000 to have forester Mickey Riggins prepare a Community Forestry Management Plan for the city.
In a somewhat related matter, the commissioners discussed the many beach chairs, umbrellas and kayaks that litter the beach in the off-season.
“There’s 50-100 of them,” Blumberg said.
“We already have a dozen kayaks in our Public Works yard that have been there for five years,” Amodeo said.
“That’s something we’re going to have to look at,” Becker said.
Margate – CFMP – Revised July 24 – 2018
Every NJ municipality to receive a tree seedling from the mighty ‘Salem Oak’
