CAPE MAY — After running unopposed and securing a new term, Mayor Zack Mullock is entering 2025 with energy and a fresh perspective on the previous year’s accomplishments and plans for the new year.
“The last couple of years have been so strong and successful for our island, financially and tourism-wise, and the financial strength has helped us get so many important things done for our community,” Mullock told the Star and Wave.
While well-known for its Victorian architecture, beaches, restaurants, theater and shopping district, Cape May has a lot going on behind the scenes.
From tackling significant issues such as a new water desalination plant to reinforcing the Beach Avenue seawall and addressing the affordable housing crisis, Mullock has a full plate for his new term.
“They’re all opportunities, even if they’re tough issues,” he said.
Mullock believes the Beach Avenue seawall project is No. 1 on the list of tasks to address.
“If we don’t have necessary protection from the sea, you’re not going to have a town to have the other issues about,” he said.
Increasing the wall’s height above the base flood elevation requires elevating structures 11 feet.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), “the planned work also accounts for a 500-year storm with waters that rise 13 feet over the BFE where the seawall would still have an extra two feet of freeboard if this type of storm occurs.”
“FEMA has committed $25 million to this huge project, and we’re [working] to get the permits in place in the next month,” the mayor said
Mullock said that FEMA funding is expected to pay for most of the project.
Water from the sea is not the only issue that needs addressing as plans for a new desalination plant are in the works.
“We need to have clean water and of course that affects the other communities on the island, not just Cape May City,” Mullock said.
City Council is seeking federal grants for the project. Under state guidelines, the current plant does not have enough water capacity to meet the area’s needs, especially during the summer months when the population increases exponentially.
“We’ve worked with congressional and Senate partners Jeff Van Drew and Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim on the Water Resources Development Act,” Mullock said. “It was done in a nonpartisan way, with a significant amount of money for the desal plant, so that will be huge.”
Affordable housing
The lack of affordable housing in Cape May has continued to be a highly discussed topic.
“The affordable housing issue is really difficult,” Mullock said. “Most importantly, our community is not one of the many shore towns that close down in the off-season. Cape May is much smaller in the wintertime, but it’s always had a [busy] community, and it’s important that we do everything we can to maintain that.”
When he reflects on what makes Cape May stand apart, Mullock said the wonderful beaches, beautiful natural environment, small businesses, restaurants, hotels and cultural aspects all come to mind.
“Housing the workforce [of our economy] is going to be crucial over the next 10 or so years,” he said. “Our lifeguards, police officers and firefighters are having more and more of a difficult time finding housing as more homes are sold. It’s only going to become more of an issue.”
As he enters his new four-year term, housing is another topic at the forefront of Mullock’s mind. It is a problem without a simple solution.
“We have a Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) account that is made up specifically to pay for low-income housing,” he said. “If I handed you $2 million to fix the affordable housing situation, you could probably buy two smaller houses in Cape May, but that’s not fixing anything.”
The city has a partnership with the Cape May Housing Authority that Mullock believes will be a great collaboration.
“Sixteen new family houses are planned at the existing Housing Authority site, and I think that will be huge,” he said. “We still have more to do to look at what we can do for our workforce housing.”
Other upcoming projects include Lafayette Street Park, which has progressed in stops and starts for year. It will include a dog park, playing fields and nature trails.
Looking back
Last year was busy for Mullock, with the city undertaking several projects of large magnitude.
“2024 was a good year,” he said. “The library in the Franklin Street School was an amazing accomplishment of the entire community, and working with the county, the state and community groups.”
After four years of work on the former Franklin Street School, the new Cape May County Library branch opened in June 2024. A ceremonial book brigade was held as the public passed books from the former library on Ocean Street to the newly restored building.
“The book passing was such a beautiful and historic opening,” Mullock said. “The school was recently on the list of New Jersey’s 10 most endangered historic properties. Just last month, we were given an award from Preservation New Jersey for the best preservation project, which was such a flip to take a property from endangered to a reward.”
Another town project Mullock considers successful is the placement of ADA-accessible beach mats that stretch more than a mile from the Cove beach to Convention Hall.
“That [project] was heartwarming, and it’s not often as a mayor that you do a project that gets a 99% approval rating,” he said. “I heard from so many people who couldn’t take their parents on the beach, or had wheelchair-bound family members, and this was the first time they’d been on the beach in years — all were just beautiful stories.”
Many roads were resurfaced, including Lafayette and Washington streets.
“More than just the road surface, we did a lot of lead pipe removals and replaced a lot of storm drains, which is so important during floods,” he said. “We also installed new water and sewer lines.”
Looking forward
City Council consists of Deputy Mayor Maureen McDade, Councilwoman Lorraine Baldwin and councilmen Shaine Meier and Steve Bodnar.
“I have a lot of trust and faith in every one of them; they’re all there for the right reasons and they love Cape May,” Mullock said. “With that basis, you know you’re going to disagree on different issues now and then, but that’s just like friends and family. You’re going to have disagreements, but when we’ve had them, it’s been extremely respectful, and people are willing to compromise.”
By RACHEL SHUBIN/For the Star and Wave