All three Republican Township Council candidate cruise to easy victories.
Carmen F. Amato Jr. was handily re-elected to a second four-year term as mayor, beating out Democratic opponent Anthony Mazzella by a nearly three to one margin.
Amato carried his three running mates, incumbents L. Thomas Grosse Jr., John Bacchione and newcomer Keith Buscio to victory.
BERKELEY – There is good news for township taxpayers in the 2015 budget: no increase in taxes.
The tax rate for municipal purposes will remain the same, at 60 cents per $100 of assessed value, under the $45.1 million budget, which the Township Council introduced Aug. 10.
Here are five budget facts:
• The total budget is $45,194,095, up $1,212,248 over the 2014 spending plan. That’s a 3 percent increase.
• The main reasons for the increase? Employee health insurance is up 11 percent, from $6,052,000 to $6,750,000. The reserve for uncollected taxes is up 10 percent, to $3,451,355. Tax appeals have increased in the wake of superstorm Sandy, officials have said.
BERKELEY — Add Berkeley to a growing chorus of official voices asking the state to roll back new Coastal A zone requirements that local officials say could be a burden to homeowners attempting to rebuild or elevate their houses.
The Township Council voted Monday night to adopt a resolution asking the state to rescind the new Coastal A zone regulations, which went into effect last month under the state’s newly adopted Uniform Construction Code.
“These regulations are now going to put several of our homeowners in a precarious position,” Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. said. “To impose these harsh restrictions is unfair.”
Councilman James Byrnes agreed, saying the new regulations are “a hardship on people who have already rebuilt.”
About 400 homes in Berkeley fall in the new Coastal A zone. Last week, Toms River’s Township Council adopted a similar resolution asking the state to repeal the Coastal A zone requirements.
BERKELEY – Demolition day arrived at last for the Beachwood Shopping Center.
As he had long promised, Mayor Carmen A. Amato Jr. donned a hard hat and drove a backhoe to begin demolition of the Route 9 shopping center
’s rotted awning. In a spitting rain Tuesday, the mayor used the machine’s claw-like excavator to tear down pieces of the awning as a small crowd of onlookers applauded.
Township officials and media members looked on as pieces of rotted wood were ripped from the building and fell to the ground.
“The weather is not stopping us,” Amato said before climbing aboard the backhoe. “This is the culmination of a lot of hours of work. It’s a great day for Berkeley.”
The demolition started at the site of the old Wickery store.
BERKELEY It’s been described as breathtakingly beautiful, with pristine grasslands, dense woods and several sparkling lakes.
The 775-acre site off Hickory Lane in Berkeley will soon belong to Ocean County.
The county will pay $11.2 million for the New Jersey Pulverizing Company site, which is located adjacent to the Ocean County Utilities Authority’s central treatment plant off Hickory Lane. The money for the purchase will come from the county’s Natural Lands Trust Fund.
K. Hovnanian once planned to build as many as 4,500 homes on the property, which has been owned by the sand mining company for nearly 100 years.
“The site is absolutely breathtaking in its beauty,” said Freeholder Director John C. Bartlett Jr., who serves as liaison to the county’s Parks and Recreation Department. “It’s quiet, it’s serene, it’s beautiful and it’s unique.”
The purchase was greeted enthusiastically by Berkeley Mayor Carmen A. Amato Jr., who attended Wednesday’s public hearing on the purchase. The freeholders voted 5 to 0 to buy the property.
TOMS RIVER – An estimated $8 million has been earmarked by the Ocean County Board of Freeholders to rebuild Berkeley Island Park, which was destroyed in superstorm Sandy almost 20 months ago.…
The five-member, all-Republican governing body introduced the funding ordinance on Wednesday. The measure authorizes the reconstruction of the shoreline, bulkheads, beachfront, playground, pavilion, restrooms, underground utilities, road, parking lot, exterior lighting, landscaping and the purchase of equipment for the county park. A public hearing will be held at the next regular freeholder meeting at 4 p.m. June 18 at the Ocean County Administration Building at 101 Hooper Ave.
“Berkeley Island County Park was severely hit by superstorm Sandy,” said Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr., who is chairman of parks and recreation. “It was overrun by water and the real damage was done as the water receded, as it rushed through the low points of the park and created gullies, undermined walkways.”
BERKELEY — Want to help save Bayville’s iconic dinosaur?
You can make a donation — or buy a “Restore the Roar” t-shirt – to help preserve the legendary beast.
The Save The Bayville Dinosaur Committee — Chairman Steve Baeli, of the Facebook group, the …
BERKELEY – A Sandy-ravaged playground in Glen Cove will be rebuilt in June with help from a nonprofit group that has erected play areas all over the country.
New York-based Alexandra’s Playground has selected Berkeley as their next playground recipient, township Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. said. The nonprofit group helps to build playgrounds in economically challenged areas.
BERKELEY – A bayside play area at the end of Butler Boulevard used to be a hidden treasure for the township’s children, Mayor Carmen F. Amato said.
That was until superstorm Sandy came along in October of 2012 and decimated the playground, leaving behind only a hobby horse or two uprooted from the ground, the mayor said.
But on Saturday, almost 100 community volunteers pitched in to fill the void left by the devastating superstorm. With shovels and other implements in hand, 
members of various organizations set about building a new playground on the sandy banks of Barnegat Bay to replace the one destroyed in the storm.
The effort was boosted by Alexandra’s Playground, a New York-based charity that helps to build playgrounds in disadvantaged neighborhoods in memory of the Alexandra Vitale, who was killed in a boating accident in 2008, when she was 3 ½.
The young girl’s parents, Dr. Michael and Andrea Vitale formed the organization to honor their late daughter because she loved to play, said Trish Heywood, executive director of Alexandra’s Playground.
“They wanted to do something in her spirit,” Heywood said.
“We as an organization focus on communities in need — communities that would not get playgrounds otherwise,” Heywood said.
The township applied about seven months ago to become one of its next sites to build a playground, Amato said.
Dr. Michael Vitale, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York, said the playgrounds cost between $50,000 and $100,000 to build, and Alexandra’s Playground asks the recipient community to kick in 10 percent of that and provide volunteers for the build.
Among those converging at the end of Butler Boulevard Saturday to assist in the effort were members of the U.S. Army Junior ROTC program from Central Regional High School, volunteers from St. Barnabas Knights of Columbus, Council 8603, Boy Scout Troop 76, township police officers, township committee members and residents, Amato said.
Katelyn DiMichele, 10, and her twin sister Kelsey were among those helping out.
“I like helping,” Katelyn said, adding that she looks forward to spending time at the new playground.
“It’s fun, and I built some of it,” she said.
“This is going to be their playground, too, because we live near here,” said the twins’ mother, Police Chief Karin DiMichele.
“Our job was to move all that mulch,” said Joe Bello, 16, one of the Junior ROTC members helping out.
“When we first came here, we raked out this entire area and put out the mulch and the dirt and planted plants,” said Gordon Petry, 16, with Boy Scout Troop 76, said of a sandy patch where volunteers were setting up to install a pirate ship, complete with slides and bridges.
“And we cleaned up the beach area,” Petry said.
Vitale was helping to install a swing set nearby. The playground also will include a spinner ball, which Vitale said is like a little merry-go-round, and a supernova, a rotating wheel to run on.
This is the 18th playground worldwide the organization has helped to build, Vitale said. Most of the playgrounds are in the tri-state area, but some have been in Haiti and one was built in Kabul, Afghanistan, he said.
The playground equipment came from Komban, a global playground manufacturing company headquartered in Denmar.
“We provide innovative playground solutions,” said Ken Dobyns, the company’s national sales manager. “We also firmly believe that playgrounds build community, and that’s why community builds are so critical.”
The mayor said he believes the playground will lift up a community that was squashed down by superstorm Sandy.
“Our community is still feeling the effects from superstorm Sandy,” Amato said. “A lot of people are still rebuilding. People see this and it gives them hope.”
BERKELEY
The township will receive a $130,593 Clean Communities Grant from the state, Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. said. A portion of the grant will offset salaries of employees that clean and maintain the township’s parks and beaches, and will fund mini-grants to local non-profit civic and community groups that take advantage of Berkeley’s “Adopt a Spot,” or “Adopt a Road program.”
Community groups can receive a $500 grant for their organization if they sign up for either program, Amato said. Nonprofit organizations in Berkeley that want to participate in the program, should call Township Clean Communities Coordinator, Mark Vanella at 732-341-1022.
