CREST HAVEN – For the fifth time in 21 years, Cape May County’s governing body passed a resolution endorsing a plan to expand Route 55 into the county.
As its former Board of Chosen Freeholders did Feb. 8, 2000; July 10, 2001; March 25, 2003; and Feb. 14, 2006, the Board of County Commissioners passed Resolution 128-21 Feb. 9, seeking the highway’s extension chiefly as an evacuation route.
The resolution passed recently noted the board “has consistently recognized the need to improve the transportation infrastructure, particularly the completion of Route 55.”
Motorists who seek respite from the heat of metropolitan Philadelphia during summer, and who speed along Route 55, get dumped onto two-lane Route 47 in Port Elizabeth. When a hurricane threatens, and an evacuation is ordered from Cape May County, that exit is quickly clogged, as it is routinely on summer weekends.
Legislators have toured the highway. Press conferences have been held.
Fatalities and serious non-fatal accidents occur, yet the state Department of Transportation, which must give its consent before federal funds can be sought, remains neutral.
Copies of the most recent resolution were sent to Gov. Phil Murphy, Sens. Menendez and Booker, First Legislative District legislators, U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd), as well as the state Commissioner of Transportation Tom Berryman, and Jennifer Marandino, head of South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization.
Commissioner Director Gerald Thornton noted that the Feb. 9 action was being taken at the request of the Herald Newspaper.
Thornton said the newspaper had “asked where we were about this, and I told them we would do another resolution. The bottom line is we can keep passing resolutions, but until the state comes online about extending Route 55, it’s not going to go anywhere. We all agree we should extend it, and we certainly have the background. It’s up to the state to start that project.”
The document urges “coastal counties to form a united coalition for the purpose of securing funding to improve coastal evacuation routes.”
Fishing Loan OK’d
At the Feb. 9 meeting, the board also approved a commercial fishing revolving loan for $115,000 to John’s Fishing, on Shunpike Road, in Rio Grande. The funds will be applied to the purchase of a new fishing vessel.
The loan is for seven years, at 2% interest, and is secured by a first mortgage on F/V 2004 34-foot South Shore.
The loans are provided to bolster commercial fishing in the county. Funds repaid enable other loans to be made.
Workforce Board Appointments
Local members of the Cumberland-Salem-Cape May Workforce Development Board were named in a resolution. They are Elizabeth Reed, state Department of Labor and Workforce Development; Dr. Barbara Gaba, president, Atlantic Cape Community College, three years; and Ed Galetka, OceanFirst Bank. All three have three-year terms that started Feb. 28, 2020.
Leslie Gimeno, county planning director, three years, started June 30, 2020.
Animal-related Items
The board passed other resolutions involving animals.
The first was the renewal of a sublease with the Animal Alliance of Cape May County and established terms in connection with its spay-neuter clinic in space provided at the county Animal Shelter. The term was for one year, for $1 for rent, with three, one-year renewal options. The Animal Shelter is responsible for the enforcement of the sublease.
In another resolution, the board approved the Animal Shelter’s participation with PetSmart for its adoption clinics and programs. The chain has a store in Rio Grande.
