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This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Open Public Records Act request 'Correspondence from Twp. Regarding flooding mitigation on Channel Drive'.

Hi Bill,



Please give me a little time to review and digest this email before I get back to you. I am attaching a survey of the property that the club paid for recently as well as an email to some of the club members about the strip of land that I found a couple of weeks ago.



Be cautious. Be free. Be well.



Elissa C. Commins PE CFM
Township Engineer & Floodplain Manager
Township of Brick
401 Chambers Bridge Road
Brick, NJ 08723

732.262.1040



From: William Farnkopf <[email address]>
Sent: Thursday, February 8, 2024 3:10 PM
To: Elissa Commins <[email address]>
Subject: Channel Drive Documents



Dear Elissa,



I hope you are well. I am writing today to ask a favor. I am hoping you might look over the attached documents, and if it's possible, provide me with any advice and recommendations you have regarding this matter. As you already know, the Channel Drive bulkhead project has turned into a rather contentious issue, and your professional advise might go a long way in preventing me from putting my foot in my mouth with my neighbors and friends at the Shore Acres Club (the Club).



To begin with, several weeks ago I volunteered to assist the Club in answering a challenge they were facing to their ownership of the bulkhead property on Channel Drive. In quest of a deed to the property, they provided me with some paperwork that concerned Channel Drive bulkhead projects in 1962 and 2005.



* From the material provided, I was able to come up with three deeds that relate to the property in question. They are attached above. The first is a 1936 Deed to the Shore Acres Corporation that gives them the initial acreage on which they would build Shore Acres. The second, and most relevant, is a 1939 deed (begins on page 8) that carves out of that Shore Acres Corporation land, a 4 ft. by 800 ft. "Spite Strip" so that the beneficiary, the Club, would have sole access to the water off Channel Drive. Importantly, page 8 of this deed also contains the exact geographical coordinates for the Club's strip of property. The third deed, from 1962, removes a Reversion Clause in the second deed so that the Club might use its properties as collateral for a bank loan for their bulkhead projects.



* The material I was given also contained a Profession Engineers Survey of the Clubs Channel Drive property, done in August of 1962, presumably for the upcoming bulkhead project on Channel Drive. I ask that you examine it.



* The material further contained an interoffice communication between members of the Club's Board of Directors in November of 1962. You will find this on pages 13 thru 17 of the third attachment. While the letter raises some important and troubling questions, it also points out that a possible solution, via a Riparian application, was being considered. I have no idea how this all turned out, for the paperwork needed to determine that was not provided to me.



* Finally, the material the Club gave me also contained a Plot Plan of the Channel Drive bulkhead done by a Certified Professional Engineer in 2005. You can see on that plan that its creator ties the property he drew both to the 1939 Deed, and its Brick Township Tax Map designation, namely Block 283, Lot 104.



I must admit that I remain somewhat baffled by all of this and so I turn to you to help me sort this out. I have no wish to be the bearer of bad news in this situation, but I do feel compelled not to simply ignore it. As I understand it, the material contained here would be of significant use in producing a current survey of the bulkhead property which our contractor is seeking.



Your friend,



Bill Farnkopf

(732) 966-0922











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