Commission Chairman Joseph Dender and members of the Atlantic Highlands Harbor Commission were not shy in promoting the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Harbor as the best asset the borough had to offer when submitting their annual report in November 1955.
“It is with justifiable pride,” the official report began, in announcing that the local Yacht Harbor “is one of the finest yachting marinas along the East Coast from Maine to Florida.”
As evidence of their conviction, the Commission report said it was the harbor that brought so many new home buyers and business interests to the borough, boaters, sailors, and non-boaters alike who heard about the excellence of the harbor, visited and decided to invest in the community and settle their roots here.
The report also cited the number of capital improvements that were made during 1954 and 1955, the two years covered by the report, including construction of the harbormasters office along with rest rooms, a plaza with benches, a storage and lighting building, pier lighting on every pier as well as water to every berth, and paving of both roads and the parking area.
The report also showed the funds the harbor success has meant in donations from the Commission to the borough to offset taxes and how the amount rose each year. In 1953, the report said the harbor gave $2500 to the borough $5600 the following year and $7500 in 1955. The $7500 donation, the report said, represented a $2 per $1,000 tax deduction for borough taxpayers.
The Commissioners are prudent with their expenses, the report continued, highlighting the entire facility is maintained and operated by a harbormaster, two part time seasonal men on the gas pier and one part time handyman. Any damages from high seas or storm damage have been covered by insurance because of the excellence of their policies, and the sea wall built by the US government in 1941 is in excellent shape, and would cost $2 million in this market to repair.
Members of the 1955 Harbor Commission in addition to Dender were Everett Curry, Dominick Caruso, Jack Gawler, Harry Murtha, Harvey Bowtell and Andrew Lynch.
