some thoughts about the fort

[gilhop]

twin you are so right about the wind and the ice if we have a cold winter and when you think about it i guess a lot of people who live there full time would not be to happy about all the increase in traffic and i have been in the fort for 20 years i am not a home owner but you can see that the full timers like it just the way it is they dont want it to get to modern they have moved there because they like to be away from it all it has changed some but is still considered to be out of the way and in some ways that is good ;)

[BLUEFINN]

Fred I hope Fortescue never changes! I like the Quiet thats exactly why I moved there! developement and traffic chased me from the Villas and Wildwoods.

There is a lot to be said for living in a rural location but the Shore is pushing people to the out of the way places and driveing property prices thru the roof!

The property in Fortescue has doubled in one year,The Tax's are already high and the water situation will only get worse, Downe Twp already has one of the highest tax rates in the state and the lowest income per capata.

There are no services for the tax money and schools are eating away at the homeowner. The TWP Is almost 50 sq mi with a population of less than 1600 and over 75% of the land is owned by Land and Trust which will forever limit Industry and ratables The Twp road dept consist of 2 full time and one part time employee There is no trash collection An Inconvienance ctr And when you devide 50 sq mi of road work and maintance by three things sometimes just don't get done.

To clarify a few things The Capt & Boat owners Assoc have nothing to do with the Bulkhead area, They administer the State Marina thru an agreement with the DEP The NJ ave Bulkhead falls under the TWP who are responsible for it's upkeep as well as the trash containers road and shore line rip rap.

There is much room for improvement, However I still think the Fort is a GREAT place to live Fish and Spend time.

[MISTYLADY2]

Originally posted by BLUEFINN:
Fred I hope Fortescue never changes! I like the Quiet thats exactly why I moved there! developement and traffic chased me from the Villas and Wildwoods.

There is a lot to be said for living in a rural location but the Shore is pushing people to the out of the way places and driveing property prices thru the roof!

The property in Fortescue has doubled in one year,The Tax's are already high and the water situation will only get worse, Downe Twp already has one of the highest tax rates in the state and the lowest income per capata.

There are no services for the tax money and schools are eating away at the homeowner. The TWP Is almost 50 sq mi with a population of less than 1600 and over 75% of the land is owned by Land and Trust which will forever limit Industry and ratables The Twp road dept consist of 2 full time and one part time employee There is no trash collection An Inconvienance ctr And when you devide 50 sq mi of road work and maintance by three things sometimes just don't get done.

To clarify a few things The Capt & Boat owners Assoc have nothing to do with the Bulkhead area, They administer the State Marina thru an agreement with the DEP The NJ ave Bulkhead falls under the TWP who are responsible for it's upkeep as well as the trash containers road and shore line rip rap.

There is much room for improvement, However I still think the Fort is a GREAT place to live Fish and Spend time. IF CHANGES ARE FOR THE BETTER YOU SHOULD WELCOME IT. MORE TOURIST WILL BRING IN MORE DOLLARS. A FISHING PIER, PUBLIC RAMPS WILL NOT HAVE MUCH OF AN IMPACT BUT AT LEAST IT IS A START.

MISTYLADY

[MISTYLADY2]

Originally posted by gilhop:
twin you are so right about the wind and the ice if we have a cold winter and when you think about it i guess a lot of people who live there full time would not be to happy about all the increase in traffic and i have been in the fort for 20 years i am not a home owner but you can see that the full timers like it just the way it is they dont want it to get to modern they have moved there because they like to be away from it all it has changed some but is still considered to be out of the way and in some ways that is good ;) GILHOP YOU PAY TOP DOLLAR FOR A DOCK THAT IS FALLING DOWN WITH NO RESTROOMS OR A CLEANING TABLE. MAYBE ALIITLE COMPETITION WILL BENEFIT. CHANGES WILL COME LIKE IT OR NOT. GET INVOLVED AND HOPE FOR THE BEST.PS YOUR NOT HAPPY CAUSE YOU WONT BE ABLE TO WALK AROUND TOWN IN YOUR UNDERWEAR.

MISTYLADY

MISTYLADY

[Ron Redington]

Long Live The Fort http://www.binaryrhyme.com/ubbicons/flagwaver.gif

[BIGGESTJACK]

bluefinn---mike i just read where the taxes are high and you get nothing for it.exactly where is this money going??

[TWIN D'S]

Took one of my neighbors fishing years ago at the Fort. 95 degree day, humid as heck, dead calm on the water. Well, he got so sick I thought he was gonna' have a heart attack. I put a bag of ice on the back of his head to revive him. It was the only time he was at the Fort, but on the ride home he said, Ya' know, that place would be a resort if not for them damn greenheads. :D

Phil

[BLUEFINN]

Originally posted by BIGGESTJACK:
bluefinn---mike i just read where the taxes are high and you get nothing for it.exactly where is this money going?? In a word School's

[elbowroom]

Hey Bluefinn, I am a year rounder at Gandy's and I think Fortescue is Great, Higbees Al's and there is nothing better than listening to WSNJ on friday to hear the Capts on Georges Sportsmans hot line. I feel like I'm a little kid again. Fortescue is like a 40 year step back in time.

But since I work for a developer in PA and NJ a little develpoment wouldn't hurt either. And as far as the schools go DTS is ranked second in scores in the county. Additionally compared to where we are building the taxes are not that bad. Gloucester, Burlington and Camden county are all seeing their taxes go way up. The town also could benefit from more visitors. Also would you be willing to ante up $20 to $40 more a year if trash was picked up?
The town needs sewer facilities not only for the development side but the impact of people and god knows what goes down the drain. Home chemicals can have an impact on our fishing. If you had 100 more homes and we had 40 more, they would be assesed at a higher level than what you or I are currently have been assesed. The newer homes would actually pick up more of the tab and since they would more than likely be seasonal homes the traffic Impact would be minimal. This would mean more people in the boats. More customers for us. The main worst thing about our area is those greenheads. It sure would be great if we could get rid of them I hope the hurricane cleaned out where a lot of them lay thier eggs. It seemed they we not around after the hurricane.

[BLUEFINN]

elboroom:On the outside there are maybe 12 buildable lots in Fortescue I own one of them Lot size is presently 50'x 100'. The rest of the open ground is Wetlands and land and trust.

Water is a big problem The Fortescue water co is owned and operated by Momuth co water and currently the water rate is 118.00 a quarter 472.00 yearly it is expected to go to 750.00 as soon as the water tower is completed at the mouth of the creek.

The majority of the people who live on the island are weekend people who use very little water, the 28 or so year round familes consist of elderly people on fixed incomes.

As i stated in an earlier post Downe Twp is 50 sq miles with a population of less than 1600 and 70+% of the land is tax exempt and forever preserved by Land and trust.When you consider Downe as a whole with Divideing creek Cedarville and the rural roads It is overwelming for a Municipal work force of three and tax dollars will not go very far.

As far as a fishing resort With no weekfish and the strict regulations on limits there is no draw for vacationers, The jersey shore has a board walk many good restaurants and swimming beaches to draw the crowds. Fortescue is a birders heaven and fishermans paridise when there are fish to be had.

The issues are much more complex than the picture you paint! High water bills High Tax's Little or no available land to build for improvement and the limited diversity of the population make up of the island. Look at how some have allowed there properties to detoriate, if you talk to them they tell you they are afraid it will rase there tax's.

I Still LOVE the place it's People, Location and most of all the Quiet!!! I pray it never becomes like the jersey shore and with the current state of the state in deficit I see little money comeing our way.

With regards to a sewer system, Takeing into consideration all of the above Who will pay for it??? In all fairness I have to State That Fortescue has a Fire /Dive And Rescue Squad that is 2nd to none And We are thankfull for them!!! smile.gif

[ 01-29-2004, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: BLUEFINN ]

[MISTYLADY2]

Originally posted by BLUEFINN:
elboroom:On the outside there are maybe 12 buildable lots in Fortescue I own one of them Lot size is presently 50'x 100'. The rest of the open ground is Wetlands and land and trust.

Water is a big problem The Fortescue water co is owned and operated by Momuth co water and currently the water rate is 118.00 a quarter 472.00 yearly it is expected to go to 750.00 as soon as the water tower is completed at the mouth of the creek.

The majority of the people who live on the island are weekend people who use very little water, the 28 or so year round familes consist of elderly people on fixed incomes.

As i stated in an earlier post Downe Twp is 50 sq miles with a population of less than 1600 and 70+% of the land is tax exempt and forever preserved by Land and trust.When you consider Downe as a whole with Divideing creek Cedarville and the rural roads It is overwelming for a Municipal work force of three and tax dollars will not go very far.

As far as a fishing resort With no weekfish and the strict regulations on limits there is no draw for vacationers, The jersey shore has a board walk many good restaurants and swimming beaches to draw the crowds. Fortescue is a birders heaven and fishermans paridise when there are fish to be had.

The issues are much more complex than the picture you paint! High water bills High Tax's Little or no available land to build for improvement and the limited diversity of the population make up of the island. Look at how some have allowed there properties to detoriate, if you talk to them they tell you they are afraid it will rase there tax's.

I Still LOVE the place it's People, Location and most of all the Quiet!!! I pray it never becomes like the jersey shore and with the current state of the state in deficit I see little money comeing our way.

With regards to a sewer system, Takeing into consideration all of the above Who will pay for it??? In all fairness I have to State That Fortescue has a Fire /Dive And Rescue Squad that is 2nd to none And We are thankfull for them!!! smile.gif MIKE YEARS AGO THEIR USED TO BE A TOLL BRIDGE WHEN YOU ENTERED THE FORT, IF THE WEAKFISH COME BACK $5 OF EVERY RAMP FEE COULD GO TO THE TOWN.

MISTYLADY

[elbowroom]

I AM SUPRISED THAT YOU SAY THERE ARE ONLY 12 OR SO BUILDABLE LOTS.
IF YOU FOLLOWED THE ISSUES IN THE TWP AS CLOSELY AS YOU PROFESSED TO YOU WOULD KNOW THEY EASED SET BACKS THIS SUMMER.
IF FORTESCUE HAD SANITARY SEWERS AND CAPACITY THE AMOUNT OF LOTS THAT ARE BUILDABLE WOULD SKY ROCKET TO MORE THAN YOU THINK. MC gREEVY'S WETLAND RULES DO NOT APPLY TO LAND THAT HAS ALL READY BEEN SUB DIVIDED.
MANY OF THE LOTS ARE GRANDFATHERED BUT CAN NOT BE BUILT DUE TO THE COUNTIES 1 ACRE RESTRICTION ON SEPTIC SYSTEMS. YOU MAKE MY POINT BY STATING THAT MOST RESIDENTS ARE OF THE WEEKEND VARIETY. THERE ARE MANY MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND I THAT WOULD APPRECIATE THE CHARM OF THE TOWN.

SECOND CEDARVILLE IS NOT PART OF THE TWP. THE NANTUXENT CREEK IS ROUGHLY THE BORDER IE THE BULL AND THE BARN IS IN LAWRENCE TWP. IF THERE WERE A LITTTLE INGENUITY APPLIED FROTESCUE AND GANDY'S, AND DYERS COVE COULD BENEFIT GREATLY. BY THE WAY MY PROPERTY HAS DOUBLED IN VALUE SINCE I BOUGHT IT IN 2000.

[BLUEFINN]

I AM SUPRISED THAT YOU SAY THERE ARE ONLY 12 OR SO BUILDABLE LOTS.
IF YOU FOLLOWED THE ISSUES IN THE TWP AS CLOSELY AS YOU PROFESSED TO YOU WOULD KNOW THEY EASED SET BACKS THIS SUMMER.
It was tabled and never voted on after CAFRA was studied!I ment NewportNot Cedarville!
Elboroom.> I would love to see city sewers in Fortescue it's an engineers nightmare with pumping stations tareing up roads ect,And I submitt who would pay for it? It costs an state wide avarage of 750.00 per house hold to hook in to sewer lines and then there would be a quartly charge,this has been discussed with Port Norris and is presently on paper planning. Your not getting the jist of my post! If you burden the people to the point of being chased out with costs of liveing there only the Rich will be able to live there and Fortescue will loose it's charm as we know it.

I make every TWP meeting that Im able to and stay abrest of the issues as best i can, If you attended them you know that there are barley enough there to hold a meeting
. Except when they proposed voteing on the land use and there was a large Gandy's beach turn out and it was tabled. Im hopeing that the new committee man just elected holds true on his election plans. Mike