Rebuilding Margate’s Boardwalk. Good For Downbeach Property Values?

Ventnor Boardwalk Building Boom.

BUILDING BOOM! says Glenn Klotz of the Margate Boardwalk Committee, the crew spearheading efforts to rebuild Margate’s beloved boardwalk.

Witness the picture above. Just one of many multi-million dollar homes presently under construction along the Ventnor Boardwalk.

Klotz: one of the most galling LIES spewed by those opposing a rebuild of Margate’s Boardwalk: how property values will decline if built. It’s more likely that property values will rise.

Ventnor’s Boardwalk is bustling with new home construction. Beach block too.

Klotz: This kind of building boom in Ventnor, was been enjoyed by Margate for the past 10 years.

Dorset & Boardwalk

Ventnor is finally getting serious developer and investor interest. Real Estate execs like Sherri Lillienfeld from Apex Prime Realty agree.

A steady increase of those considering a Ventnor vacation home. ‘If you ever thought of selling, values are strengthening.’

‘Tax abatement for new construction boosting interest too’ says Lillienfeld, a Ventnor-based Real Estate broker with 20+ years of Downbeach experience. Got a question about stuff like this? Call Sherri at 609-487-9996.

Downbeach Social Media Buzz

Teri Green: Geez. Just watch, the building boom is just really getting started after the financial downturn and Hurricane Sandy, low interest rates will generate building. Margate is / was a beautiful beachy town as we remember. Local officials need to listen to the locals, (good luck with that) and manage the development in a respectful / mindful way. Thank you Glenn for all you do trying to maintain the lifestyle and environment of Margate that works for all.

Glenn Klotz: Margate has to decide. The beachfront few want a gated community for themselves. A public boardwalk gets in their way. The beach is technically a public park. Beachfront owners want control of it. That’s really what it boils down to.

Barbara Zelmanoff: I agree, a boardwalk will increase value of Margate. A wonderful bonus to our town.

Stefanie Zucker Bloch. When will our Margate Commissioners take a poll of ALL Margate taxpayers to see if majority want a boardwalk?

apex prime homes for sale margate ventnor
Click to See Downbeach Homes for Sale

22 thoughts on “Rebuilding Margate’s Boardwalk. Good For Downbeach Property Values?”

  1. 1. I don’t think any of us know what the BW will do to property values – we can only speculate.
    2. I do think we all know that the BW will increase taxes – no speculation there. And, the ESTIMATED $150 per average homeowner (if I understand the calculation correctly), will scale quickly for high value properties. Especially properties that are beach-side (mine, BTW is not).
    3. The cost for maintenance, security… in subsequent years, insurance, replacement in event of another 1962-type storm should absolutely be factored into the equation. I have to wonder what Ventnor is paying?
    4. ALL Margate taxpayers/homeowners’ opinions should be considered. Otherwise, I fear we’ll have two wolves and one sheep voting for what to eat for dinner 🙂
    5. I love the civil discourse.

    1. 1. I agree we can only speculate and that’s all I’m doing.
      2. I agree again, however, let’s not forget the reason property taxes scale up. The people that have the highest valued properties pay the most in a progressive tax system which NJ and every other US State have. This kind of system assumes they also have the most resources to pay the higher taxes.
      3. The cost of maintenance is something we looked into. It’s not even a separate line item in most towns with BWs. Ventnor couldn’t even break it out for us. We can assume it would be very low at first since our BW would be new. Then it would increase. I do not think it’s fair to assume the cost of a 62′ level storm since in 62′ no Army project berm existed to protect that BW. Let’s use Hurricane Sandy more recently as a measure instead. Ventnor’s BW had near ZERO damage in that storm.
      4. The Margate BW Committee has in its recent petition asked the City Commission to conduct a poll/survey of all the Taxpayers not just the voters. However, let me make a personal note here as regards the “two Wolves” statement. I find it a sad commentary on the belief of some in this country that democracy itself which it attacks is somehow a bad/unfair system. Come up with a better one Churchill would have said and once did. He couldn’t.
      5. I agree we can have a civil discourse and agree to disagree.

    2. What is the motivation to build a boardwalk? And the owners of the beachfront properties should have a greater input into that decision.
      They are paying premium taxes to be there!

      Mike fox

      1. The Beachfront owners should have no more input than anyone else. The Beach is a PUBLIC PARK not their private property just because they pay more in taxes.


    This is problematic in so many ways…..

    1) It’s a NJ State level issue, not a local issue. So unless you’re lawyering-up for a NJ Supreme Court battle with all the vacation towns in NJ, we should stop pushing this. It’s just working people up.

    2) This would allow non-US Citizens to vote in the US.

    3) This would open the doors for investors to vote. Would you allow Walmart or Starbucks or an Oil company to make decisions for your home town? Corporations are not people.

    4) This could mean an end to our current school, police, and fire funding during off-season months. Why would people that stay 16 weekends a year vote for year-round funding of these things?

    Let’s vote on the boardwalk. People that have Full time residency and part time people who own a residency as taxpayers should have the right to vote.
    If the PEOPLE vote for the boardwalk then we need to move forward with plans and financing.
    If the people who live on the boardwalk lose and still do not want the boardwalk after a positive vote they and the three commissioners can move to Brigantine.

    1. State law in NJ excludes non-full -time residents from voting. That’s not going to change without a change to the State Constitution. The Margate BW Committee has a way around that. The City of Margate can hold a poll/survey of all the town’s taxpayers & voters. We would recommend it be a third-party variety. Stockton, Pew or other third party polling Orgs. could do the whole thing for Margate. Such a poll would guide the City on how to proceed on this issue. If it turns out positive for a BW then a binding referendum of the local voters would hopefully be considered by the Commission.

  4. > If it turns out positive for a BW then a binding referendum of the local voters would hopefully be considered by the Commission.

    We could do that. But what happens when you disagree with the polling methods? Is there recourse for this?

    A binding referendum system would essentially design a voting system less strict than our currently accepted voting system.

    Working around voting laws that have been around since the beginning of NJ Statehood is an extremely slippery slope. We must have foresight. For example, I don’t want to see off-source drilling pollute our beaches because we loosened voting laws and oil company X’s team of lawyers figured out a way to steal the land…

  5. I do not want a gated community, nor do I have one. The Washington Avenue beach has become a dog park, with people bringing dogs on the beach all day, many unleashed, and many leaving waste behind. Also, the 10:00 curfew does not apply to the young people of Margate. I hear screaming and foul language way past 10:00 P.M on weekends. The police do come and chase them when called, but I’m wondering, if this is occurring without a boardwalk, who will enforce the rules and pay the police to patrol? Please do not tell me my property value will increase.

  6. The corrupt 3 Amigos will only move forward if their respective pockets are lined, don’t kid yourself, they clearly don’t care about what the full time or part time residents think or say. Any project at any level of government will take 2X as long to complete at 2X the cost. Eyes wide open folks!

  7. Please, let’s vote on the boardwalk.
    Personally, I do not want it. My opinion has nothing to do with the aesthetics and property values and everything to do with increased taxes — in reference to construction and maintenance, especially patrolling the under the boardwalk environment. I know Margate residents are often of a higher economic class than those of Atlantic City and Wildwood but that would not restrict the boardwalk from becoming an underwood motel.
    Feral cats liked living there in Atlantic City.


      This is pretty elitist. And a terrible argument IMHO. Ocean City has a boardwalk and higher price/sqft than Margate.

      You just cherry-picked two data points to make your case.

  8. Mr Klotz and associates have done a great job of raising a small vocal group in support of the boardwalk. Please do not assume this represents the opinion of all taxpayers.
    Many people, locals or not, may be part of a silent majority who nevertheless pay their fare share of taxes.
    There are many aspects of this discussion. Cost of police and fire protection. Repair and maintenance of the structure. The changing face of a small beach community.
    A wise man once said” be careful, you might get what you ask for.”

    1. > Cost of police and fire protection.

      There it is! This is why non-residents can’t have a voice in local elections and decisions. Police, fire, and school funding will be gutted during the winter months.

      To be clear, I understand Perry’s comment is solely about the boardwalk. But it is a slippery slope. The residents have more than enough reason to be concerned.

    2. If you’re so sure you know we are only a small vocal minority then you shouldn’t be concerned about having all the taxpayers polled on the issue? We aren’t that’s why we are asking for such a poll. If it turns out that your right that a majority of them do not want a BW then the issue will be settled. If we’re right, at least the issue of the taxpayers being for it or not will be settled. For any BW to be built a binding referendum of the local voters would still need to be held.

  9. I’d like to understand how the approx avg $150 per individual homeowner was calculated and need some help. If this is based on an annual cost of $1,080,000 per the report (with avg home value of $534,800), then how many individual tax-paying homeowners are factored into the equation? Is it indeed 7,200? Just want to do a sanity check, and also see what I would likely pay.

    Also, may we assume that annual cost over 20 years does not include the cost of annual maintenance, insurance, security…?


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