Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Township Council President James J. Byrnes lost his home in Superstorm Sandy
When Township Councilman James J. Byrnes was a young Army medic in Vietnam, he was used to triage and rescuing his fellow veterans. So when Superstorm Sandy roared into Bayville on Oct. 29, Byrnes went on autopilot. This time, he rescued his fellow residents. Never mind that his Dogwood Drive home was virtually destroyed, with a foot and a half of water and a cracked foundation. He spent Oct. 30 driving a bus up and down Butler Boulevard, ferrying storm victims from the flooded streets of Glen Cove to safety at the Bayville Firehouse on Route 9 North. "Call it the medic in me," he said with a smile. Although stunned by the loss of his home, Byrnes, 64, wasted no time feeling sorry for himself. He still spends many days driving around Glen …
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr., Police Chief Karin T. DiMichele and Township Council President James J. Byrnes recall the terrifying hours during Superstorm Sandy
The frantic call for help came from a Dogwood Drive resident as Superstorm Sandy bore down on Bayville. He had not heeded the call to evacuate. "We had a man crying on the phone," Township Council President James J. Byrnes said. "That's when Karin looked at me and I looked at her. She said we had to go get him." Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr., Police Chief Karin T. DiMichele and Byrnes sat down with Patch recently to recall how they tried to hold the town together after Sandy roared in. Four months later, they are still trying. "It doesn't feel that long," DiMichele said. "It doesn't seem like it's been four months." Prepping for the unimaginable DiMichele, Amato, Byrnes and Emergency Management Coordinator George Dohn had held meeting after …
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Suggested elevations don't accurately reflect the risk, Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. says
Berkeley officials will travel to Trenton on Wednesday, to protest the new FEMA advisory base flood elevations Township Council President James J. Byrnes describes as "nuts." "This is just crazy," Byrnes said at the Feb. 11 Township Council meeting. "You get a little water in your house, all of a sudden you're in a V zone." Berkeley officials have yet to approve the suggested elevations -introduced by FEMA in December after Superstorm Sandy and mandated by Gov. Chris Christie two weeks ago. "We have over 4,000 waterfront homeowners," Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. said. "Over 40 percent will be affected one way or another. We don't agree with them. We don't want to have lagoon homes in Bayville that would be in the same flood zone as the Outer …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Amato, council members say suggested elevations inappropriate in some areas of town
No way. That pretty much sums up the reaction of Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. and some Township Council members to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's recently-released advisory base flood elevations guidelines. "Hopefully FEMA will reduce the V zones to A zones," Amato said. "We had a storm that is one in 300 years. It's not fair to force our residents to rebuild to V zones, or face astronomical flood insurance costs. We are going to continue to voice our opposition." "To take a house that got two feet of water and have to raise it, slide it over, put pilings underneath, slide it back - that's a $50,000 hit," Council President James J. Byrnes said. Amato and Byrnes object to some sections of Berkeley Shores, Glen Cove and South Seaside…
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Berkeley Township residents are in for a 'marathon,' Township Council president says
More than 300 people came in from the cold last night to learn more about FEMA, advisory base flood elevations, demolishing or raising their houses and how to get the money to pay for it. They came from Good Luck Point, Glen Cove, South Seaside Park, Pelican Island and Toms River Shores. They came because they want to go home again, one way or another. "This isn't a sprint, it's a marathon," Township Council President James J. Byrnes told the crowd gathered in the auditorium of the Berkeley Township Elementary School. "People are wearing down. I haven't gotten any insurance yet. I'm tearing my house down. We are all in this together and we are going to get through it." Unlike many neighboring towns, Berkeley Township officials have held …
Friday, December 28, 2012
Owner can still appeal fines, Township Council president says
The meter is running. Beachwood Shopping Center owner Priscilla Oughton is now facing fines of $40,000 a day for the condition of the battered plaza on Route 9 South in Bayville. The entire perimeter of the shopping center is now fenced in, so vehicles and pedestrians cannot get near the battered stores and parking lot with sinkholes. "There's a lot of challenges presented by that particular structure," Township Attorney Lauren Staiger said after a resident asked about the status of the shopping center. The shopping center - a longtime eyesore off the busy highway - has been vacant for years. Township Fire Official Jack Wiegartner ordered a number of corrective actions be taken after a vacant store in the strip mall caught fire during the …
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Township professionals need more time to study advisory base flood elevations, mayor says
Not so fast. Township Council members voted unanimously to table the public hearing and adoption of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's new Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps at the Dec. 27 meeting. "We want the planner and the engineer to review the maps and make sure the data is accurate," Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. said. "Residents have expressed concerns." "It will impact a lot of people," Township Council President James J. Byrnes said after the meeting. Byrnes said many residents are still confused about how to handle repairs and rebuilding. "So many people really don't know what direction they are going in," he said. "There's people out there that are still very confused." "It's just an unprecedented situation," Amato said. …
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Township's immediate focus for Route 9 South eyesore is code compliance, mayor says
Thanks, but no thanks. The redeveloper of record for the dilapidated Beachwood Shopping Center on Route 9 South has walked away from the project, Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. said. Township Council President James J. Byrnes was informed by Donato Donofrio that he was no longer interested in redeveloping the site because of the poor economy, Amato said. "I asked him if he's still interested, he said they are done," Byrnes said. "With the economy and the amount of money they would need to invest..." The news was a blow to ratable-poor Berkeley and its massive redevelopment plan. The long-vacant, battered shopping center was ground zero in the redevelopment plan. It's been an eyesore on Route 9 South for many years. "It's unfortunate," Amato …
Thursday, December 13, 2012
No more reliance on outside shelters, mayor says
When Hurricane Sandy hit, Berkeley residents who needed shelter had to travel to Toms River, Pinelands Regional High School or Barnegat Middle School for refuge. But as the shelter at the Pine Belt Arena in Toms River High School North filled to capacity, some Berkeley residents had no place to go. It's a situation Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. doesn't want to see happen again. "Some residents were turned away at the Pine Belt Arena," Amato said at the Dec. 11 Township Council meeting. "It forced us into opening up an emergency shelter." No more, Amato said. Township officials are moving to purchase several emergency generators that could be used in different sections of Berkeley as needed, he said at the Dec. 11 Township Council meeting. "We…
Sunday, November 18, 2012
'Only the crazy people stayed,' one resident says
There's a reason Berkeley Township police officers are still stationed at checkpoints into the Good Luck Point and Glen Cove sections of Bayville. Almost three weeks after Hurricane Sandy roared onto the Jersey coast, the two bayfront areas are still scenes of devastation. A blackened tree stands like a sentry next to a Good Luck Drive home that burned to the ground during the storm. Firefighters were unable to reach it. The power has been cut to most homes in Good Luck Point. Many are tagged with neon-red "unsafe structure" signs on their doors. Houses sit in places they don't belong, washed off their foundations. Overturned boats are everywhere. Some sit in the tidal marshes off Bayview Avenue, blown far from where they were once …
brokeninbayville
9:55 am on Wednesday, April 3, 2013
We gotta do what we gotta do. This was an event beyond our wildest imaginations. Sit home in your cushy house while others are living in shelters... more ›