CAPE MAY – In the latest phase of a long term partnership, Temple University is conducting an internet survey of local residents’ concerns about tourism in their community.

“The survey just went up this week,” said Mayor Edward Mahaney. “It’s part of our overall planning to market tourism in the city. Temple had previously surveyed visitors and businesses, but the information is incomplete without consideration of the views of residents.”

The university’s School of Tourism & Hospitality Management created the survey, which is open to those 18 years of age and older who reside in the city.

According to the mayor, the results of the previous studies of visitor and business attitudes have been factored into the planning process.

In December, city officials announced the award of almost half million dollars in grant money to preserve open spaces, along with the city’s vaunted and valued quality of life, and to promote sustainability. The plan that netted the grant money was created with Temple University’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture.

“We have been working with Temple, its faculty and students for two years now. The initial investment was $48,000, which included funding for internships. But what we got back includes construction ready plans for Rotary Park, Harbor View Park; digital and print walking tour maps of the city; preliminary studies for the Sewell Point tract east of Pittsburgh Avenue and this conceptual plan for Lafayette Park,” said Mahaney.

“We spent $48,000 and have a return of $450,000. Anytime we can spend money and get that kind of return, I’m pleased with the result,” he said.

Under that program, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection granted Cape May an initial $450,000 to acquire property at the Lafayette Street Open Space through its Green Acres program. The city can apply for further funds under the same program.

“We were told by the Green Acres coordinators at the DEP that our plan was comprehensive and, most importantly, long range,” said Mahaney. “That is what distinguished our application; the plan is not just about acquisition, but about the preservation and enhancement of open space for the municipality.”

“Sustainability is long term and interdisciplinary,” according to Mahaney. “We want Cape May to retain its quality of life, its historic appeal, and to be able to support our residents and businesses.”

In addition to the newest grant of $450,000, the city won funding for its intertwined long range land use planning and long term capital and financial planning. The city received over $100,000 in grant monies for energy efficiency upgrades to City Hall, the Public Works Complex, the firehouse, and the Franklin Street School, which should cut the city’s electricity bills by nearly $17,000 annually, according to city officials.

The city also earned a $26,000 grant for an energy audit of a dozen city-owned buildings.

Late last month, in a joint meeting of the council and planning board, the city entered the homestretch for its overall planning endorsement process.

The progress toward satisfying the state planning requirements puts Cape May in the front of the line for state, federal and private grant programs, according to Mahaney.

“This meeting, this memorandum of understanding, represents the last three month leg of what has been a three-year process to bring all of our planning documents up to current standards – approvable and certifiable,” said Mahaney.

The three-year process the mayor alluded to includes the city’s master plan reexamination and floodplain management plan revisions.

“When we complete the final leg of this overall process, the city will be totally in compliance and compatibility with all state planning and redevelopment planning requirements,” he said, noting that the process should conclude by April 1.

“We will also be eligible for priority status for any county, state and federal grant or low-interest loan program. This will once again restore the city to a leadership role in the state of New Jersey,” Mahaney said.

Craig Hurless, the professional planner retained by the city to guide the process, said the city had reached “the last step of a 10-step process,” which included synchronization of planning activities in land use, housing, economic development, recreation, urban and suburban redevelopment, historic preservation and intergovernmental coordination.

According to Hurless, the city can credit its planning process acumen for funding used to make the beaches, promenade and public restroom facilities more accessible; for the ongoing beach replenishment program; and for the construction of the new Convention Hall.