A group of homes directly within feet of a New Jersey bay can now manage the man-made waterway how it wants after acquiring the inlet from a municipality.
The sale of Anchorage Poynte Lagoon in Egg Harbor Township ends several years of setbacks by a local homeowners association to gain control over the channel off Stern Drive.
Bob Stankovitch, a leader of the nonprofit coordinating the sale, told NJ Advance Media the sale will save the association hundreds of thousands of dollars on the inlet’s upkeep and management, calling the move a removal of “bureaucratic red tape.”
“We’ve got control of our own destiny,” Stankovitch said.
The lagoon creates a picturesque view for 34 homes, 16 on each side of the waterway, Stankovich said. One row beside the lagoon was built about 20 years ago, he said.
Most are multi-story homes towering above the inlet, which ends at a bulkhead off Stern Drive. It’s a secluded neighborhood in the marshlands off Longport Somers Point Boulevard.
The waterway is lined with docks for personal boats, which can use the lagoon as a pathway to the Atlantic Ocean and intercoastal waterways behind several shore towns in Atlantic and Cape May counties. Several boats were in the lagoon on Monday.
Several homeowners formed a nonprofit to acquire the lagoon. Egg Harbor Township Committee passed an ordinance at its May 8 meeting for a $1 transfer to the nonprofit. The strait’s value was assessed at $1,700, according to the ordinance.
“The lagoon should have always belonged to the neighbors,” Township Mayor Laura Pfrommer told NJ Advance Media.
The sale, Pfrommer said, was delayed because of a residential bulkhead installation. Stankovich also said some residents also opposed the association owning the lagoon citing liability concerns.
Maintenance of the lagoon proved costly for the township, which provided $710,000 for a $922,000 dredging project in 2018.
The association agreed to bear the remaining cost to the township, which was disputed that year by an attorney representing some homeowners considering the split unfair. Others, however, lauded the project, saying the inlet was in dire need of being deepened, becoming too shallow following Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
“The things that the neighbors are concerned about is if we ever had another major storm,” Pfrommer said. “Some of their boat docks could be rendered useless because the lagoon would be too shallow.”
The mayor said the township benefits from the sale because it releases the municipality from owning the lagoon and having to maintain it. “The town looks at thinks dollars and cent wise,” Pfrommer said.
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Eric Conklin may be reached at econklin@njadvancemedia.com.
