Brigantine’s Mayor Simpson Faces Heat Over Private Dune Hacking Permits

Brigantine City Council voted to allow another group of homeowners to hack away at the local dune system, in order to have a better ocean views.

Under the guise of the craftily worded title: ‘Dune Maintenance Program’, these $300 permits were awarded to:

407 23rd

406 23^rd street

405 24^{th Street}

#10 Ocean Drive west.

Councilman Delucry: Why are we letting private owners make adjustments to public land?

Hope you have your waders on. The BS is really flowing in this video.

VIDEO > Brigantine City Council, Jan 16 2019

How this process works: Zoning officer Mark Coyne surveys & inspects area. Takes photos, before and after the dune cut. All this info will supposedly be placed in a public file.

Here’s how it works: Private residents pay $300 in order to submit an application. This will allow them to carve out a direct view to the ocean. Presumably, all blessed by the almighty Stu Farrell of Stockton’s Coastal Research Center.

Why a zoning officer like Coyne is involved with environmentally sensitive activity like this, has yet to be explained. Coyne reports to City Engineer, Ed Stinson. With Coyne’s background in Real Estate, some think this is nothing more than a scheme to create ocean views for a select handful of homeowners. Better ocean views increase the value of the property.

For those who asked, ‘stumping’ is also allowed. This could including cutting bushed and trees down to it’s stump, or removing the stump all together. The downside of ‘stumping’: introduces all types of thorny issues to this environmentally sensitive area of Brigantine.

Of course, City Council would prefer people see this as a Public Safety issue.

According to Sera and Simpson: Brigantine has been doing this for over 30 years. Fact-checkers have yet to find evidence of that statement.

Councilman Mike Riordon, chimed in to remind everyone how awesome everybody is. You see, this wins points with Mayor Simpson, who prefers to be surrounded by YES MEN.

SERA: This is a practice we have done for over 30 years. It’s about the safety of our island. Those black pines are getting too big. It’s putting the entire island at risk.

Stockton Coastal Research Center’s Stu Farrell supports & blesses it too.

Most locals are hiring Steve Thistle & the Hell Fighters to do this work.

Councilman Sera: this ‘dune maintenance’ protects the island from danger. So why not maintain the entire dune system? Why are we doing this piece meal, via private homeowners? If the safety of our island is at stake, why not maintain the entire dune system? Sera and Simpson had no comment.

Simpson yes-man, Councilman Mike Reardon, says this dune maintenance stuff has been happening for the past 30 years.

Stu Farrell of Stockton’s Coastal Research Center, who gets paid by Brigantine, supports these efforts.

Safety of our island. Black Pines. Kill vegetation. Putting the entire island at risk.

CFO Tosto awkwardly supports the ‘Dune maintenance plan. She ‘feels confident’, it’s good and solid.

Brigantine new Mayor, Andy Simpson is facing heat from homeowners who have applied for these permits. They’re not comfortable having their names & addresses shared at public meeting, and published in news websites BrigantineNOW.

Simpson: ‘No need to have dune maintenance permits come before council. This is not a practice we should follow. A waste of time.’

The real truth? Homeowners who are hacking up the dunes, HATE that BrigantineNOW shares that public info. Of course, it is PUBLIC information. But Brigantine City Council hates having news reach the 75% of taxpayers who are prohibited from voting. Most Brigantine taxpayers call that voter suppression. We just call it Greenhead Politics.

Gotta amend the ordinance. A public hearing must be held.

Tosto: confident in this program. It’s working well. Coyne has the skills.

Councilman Rick DeLucry has been the only NO vote. ‘this was a big selling point before adopting. Comes before council.

What’s the public purpose? This dune activity happens on PUBLIC property, with no identifiable public benefit.

Not so long ago, most local communities had news organizations with robust staffs, and politicians knew someone was watching. They had good reason to worry that if they did something wrong, the public would find out.