To All Strathmere
and Whale Beach Homeowners and Visitors,
Last night the US Postal Service held a "Town Meeting" at the
firehouse to review the results of their survey, discuss proposed changes in
service and receive feedback from the community. In addition to the two USPS
representatives (and Gene), there were 23 Strathmerians in
attendance.
The USPS representatives, Rosemary Fox of Marketing and Judy Herrick
of Bellmawr Operations, said that because of the extreme financial pressures
facing the USPS due to declining volume as a result of the Internet, they had
first considered wholesale closing of post offices. Instead, they have elected
to keep most post offices open but reduce the "window hours" of smaller offices
to two, four or six hours. Based on volume (revenue), Strathmere qualifies for
four hours daily. Other choices could be home delivery or closing the office and
providing service at a nearby post
office.
There were 62 surveys returned (of 115 mailed). Of those 62, 49 chose
to go with a reduction of hours, five chose to have mail delivered to home, one
chose the "nearby post office" option (presumably SIC), and seven returned the
survey but made no selection. Thus, of those making a choice, 89% chose reduced
hours.
After reviewing the survey results and looking at their operational
needs, the Postal Service is proposing to change our Monday to Friday window
service hours from the present 8:00 to 4:30, to 12:30 to 4:30. Postal boxes
would continue to be accessible from 8:00 to 4:30. People picking up packages or
purchasing stamps or other products would have to do it in the afternoon. No
changes were proposed for Saturday. By having no postal employee in the post
office until 12:30 on weekdays, the current day's mail would not be sorted and
available until around 1:30 pm, as opposed to 9:00 am now.
Discussion from attendees indicated that most people preferred to
have the ability to receive that day's mail in the morning, with a consensus
quickly building around the hours of 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. The office would close
at 1:00 pm but a "time lock" on the door would permit access to boxes until
4:30. It was suggested that if there was to be a time lock provided, that access
to boxes be extended to 6:00 pm, to accomodate people coming home from work.
There seemed to be no disadvantage to extending the hours, except possibly to
the Vandegrifts (landlords), and Debbie Vandegrift, who was in attendance, felt
that this extension was acceptable.
One disadvantage to choosing morning hours for window service is that
once the postal employee closes up at 1:00 pm, there will not be any way to
collect outgoing mail until the next day. Nevertheless, the consensus felt that
incoming mail was more important to them than outgoing and continued to prefer
morning window hours.
The USPS representatives thanked everyone for their input, said that
the whole purpose of the meeting was to collect feedback and promised to do
their best to see that our preferences were
met.
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You may recall that at the September 14 SIA Meeting, Township
Engineer Paul Dietrich
discussed the reduction in flood insurance rates (now a discount of 15%)
obtained by an improved rating from FEMA, and said that they would be pursuing
ways to gain an even better rating and larger
discount.
The Township Committee is now considering a revised ordinance (copy
attached), that would raise the Base Flood Elevation and provide the Township
with sufficient points to lower the CRS Class rating to Class 6 and provide
an additional 5% discount (to 20%) on flood insurance premiums. In addition
to lowering premiums, the proposal would encourage additional off-street
parking.
Paul has asked us to pass this
proposed ordinance along to members of the SIA.
The Township Committee
would like to hear comments about this ordinance before they introduce it in
November.
Paul says, "I have reviewed numerous flood elevation
certificates from homes constructed during the last three years, and of those
that elevated their house to provide parking beneath the structure, all would
meet these new standards for raising the base flood
elevation.
"The one additional provision
that would change how homes are built would be the new requirement to limit the
size of enclosures below the base flood elevation to 299 square feet and that
space could only be used for storage, garage and utility uses. No habitable
space would be permitted below the base flood elevation. Additionally, for any
enclosure below base flood there would be a requirement to provide a deed
restriction saying that the (present and subsequent) property owner would not
convert that space to habitable living space.
The sections regarding
substantial improvement and substantial damage are being revised to make
properties eligible for grant money from their flood insurance company. The
grant is called an ICC grant and properties would be eligible to receive grant
money to raise their home if they have had flood damage to their home over the
last 10 years such that the aggregate of the damage would exceed 40% of the
value of the structure (not including the land value)."
Note that houses now under
construction and those with approved permits would not be affected (except for
the reduction in insurance premiums).
Paul asks that anyone who
has comments or questions regarding this proposed ordinance please contact him
as soon as possible at engineer@uppertownship.com or 609-628-2011, ext. 244.
Thank you - they would really like to
get some feedback!
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Remember to follow and "like" us (click the "Thumbs
Up" box ) on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Strathmere-Improvement-Association-SIA/184810134906201
Upcoming Events - mark your
calendars:
Election Day, Tuesday, November
6
SFEC Meeting Saturday,
November 10, 4:00 pm
Strathmere Community Christmas Party,
Saturday, December 8, 6:00 pm
SFEC Meeting Saturday,
December 15, 4:00 pm
Let us know of additions or
corrections!
And again, check out Carol Baker's wonderful
Strathmere History website at http://www.strathmere.net/
******************************************************************************************************
Thanks for Celebrating Our Strathmere
Centennial!
1912 - 2012
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Thanks very much for your continuing support of
the Strathmere Improvement Association!
Linda Bateman
Elaine Holsomback
Donna Diefenderfer
Dorothy Addario
Ken Weaver
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