Highlands Seeks to Remove Concrete Sandy Monument

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By Joseph Sapia
HIGHLANDS – One year ago the Borough Council, in a 4-0 vote, approved a plan by the Tilt-Up Concrete Association to build a monument honoring the community for dealing with 2012’s Super Storm Sandy and its aftermath “at no cost to the borough.”
The 1,104-square foot concrete gazebo – four partial walls, roof with three holes, benches underneath – went up on borough property between the Robert D. Wilson Memorial Community Center and Sandy Hook Bay, or at the corner of Snug Harbor and Recreation Place. A plaque mounted inside says, “In honor of the spirit of our community: Hurricane Sandy / October 29, 2012 / Dedicated October 1, 2015.”
About a month later, the state Department of Environmental Protection started getting inquiries from the public questioning whether the monument had proper permits, said DEP spokesman Larry Hajna.
In its review, the DEP found that the monument required approval through the state Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) because it sits in a coastal zone.
DEP’s Michele Kropilak, regional supervisor for Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement, sent a letter to Highlands on Dec. 4, stating, “The purpose of this warning is to advise you of the potential violation to provide you with an opportunity to voluntarily take corrective actions and to engage in discussions with the department.”

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The monument on Highlands to Super Storm Sandy survivors. Photo: Joseph Sapia

Highlands can go through the channels and obtain a CAFRA permit – or remove the structure, said DEP’s Hajna. The cost for the CAFRA permit alone would be $3,000, Hajna said. “It’s up to the municipality what they want to do next,” he said.
On Jan. 4, Borough Attorney Bruce W. Padula sent a letter to Tilt-Up Concrete Association, an Iowa-based trade group.
“It has come to the borough’s attention that this construction was performed without obtaining the proper (DEP) permits,” Padula wrote. “The borough demands that Tilt-Up immediately and unconditionally remove the structure.” Tilt-Up must also pay for any related costs incurred by Highlands, Padula said.
“We’re in the process of replying to the borough,” said Tilt-Up’s managing director Mitch Bloomquist earlier this week. “We’re in the process of working with the town on a resolution.” He declined to comment on who approved the building, or how the memorial came about.
Mayor Frank L. Nolan could not be reached for comment and Borough Administrator Tim Hill was on vacation earlier this week. Newly elected Borough Council President Carolyn Broullon said the mayor and council have not had a chance to discuss the matter since organizing for the year.
The Borough Council is expected to discuss the matter in open and closed sessions when it holds its first public meeting of the year, at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, at the Robert D. Wilson Memorial Community Center.
Members of the public are expected to voice their feelings about the unusual monument that suddenly rose up on their shore, which some have jokingly tagged “Shorehenge.”

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A view of the monument from Snug Harbor, next to the Community Center. Photo: Joseph Sapia

“I think it looks like a storm drain,” said Wayne Hamilton, 69, a borough resident who was walking his dogs by the memorial on a recent day. “All in all, people look at it and think it’s very strange.”
But he didn’t begrudge the monument a compliment. “Nothing could knock that thing down,” he said.