Date: August 1, 2026 | Issue: 166

The AHLOA Nominating Committee, chaired by Vice President Dan Donohoe, has presented a slate of nominees for the five open Trustee positions for the 2026-27 fiscal year starting September 1st. These positions include four Trustees who will serve a three-year term ending in 2029 and one Trustee to fill an unexpired term ending in 2027. The nominees, who were unanimously approved by the AHLOA Board, will be presented for approval by the members in attendance at the Annual Membership Meeting on Saturday, August 8.

As has been the custom and practice, the four current AHLOA Officers are up for reelection to a second consecutive one-year term in their respective positions.

Nominated for three-year terms as Trustees ending in 2029 are Lynn Cruser, Ron Fairman, Debra Noll and Ken Wensel, each of whom has previous experience as an AHLOA Board member. The newcomer is Sue Houser, who is nominated to fill an unexpired term ending in 2027. Below are brief profiles of the five nominees.

Lynn Cruser

Lynn is delighted to again be asked by the Nominating Committee to serve as a Trustee of AHLOA. She has been active with AHLOA since 2017 and has served as President, Vice President and Chair of the Public Relations Committee. She currently organizes the AHLOA Community Open House and the AHLOA Bike Safety table at National Night Out.

Lynn and her husband George grew up coming to Avalon, and they built their home on 23rd Street in 2013. They spend their summers in Avalon and enjoy their time at the shore with family and friends. Avalon is a special place for them, and Lynn looks forward to continuing her service to AHLOA and the Avalon Community.

Ron Fairman

Ron and Julie Fairman bought their first home in Avalon on 10th Street back in the early 1980’s. They have since built two homes there and as of 2022 became full-time Avalon residents. While they never anticipated retiring here, they decided to give it a try and they love living in Avalon, even in the winter!

Together, Ron and Julie have made many new acquaintances and are looking forward to contributing to the community in a variety of ways. Ron and Julie are both Emeritus Professors from the University of Pennsylvania where they spent their entire careers.

Debra Noll

Debra’s grandsons Gavin and Tanner Noll represent the family’s fifth generation growing up on Avalon’s beaches, and her husband Chris has been coming to Avalon since 1956. Avalon is considered a very special place for the entire Noll family. Debra is originally from Newfoundland, Canada. She moved to New Jersey in 1986 with her husband and their two sons, Jeremy and Craig.

Debra serves on the Board and Executive Board of Acenda Integrated Health, which has an office in Cape May County. She is also a member of Impact 100 of South Jersey, a women-empowered nonprofit organization. Debra has served as a Camden County and Cherry Hill Democratic Committee member for over 25 years. Debra is following in the footsteps of her parents, who were great believers in giving back through community service.

Ken Wensel

Ken is a current AHLOA Trustee. He has been a seasonal resident of Avalon since 1982 and a full-time resident since 2012.

Ken graduated from Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD, as did his wife Joan, their two sons and their daughter-in-law. He recently retired after working 44 years for Global Supply Management, Logistics and Transportation in Philadelphia, where he was responsible for sales, marketing and product development.

Since his retirement, Ken has found time to give back to the community, including service on the Avalon Planning and Zoning Board. Ken’s “happy place” is the beach at 49th Street, where he and his wife enjoy the sound of the ocean and the smell of the salt air.

Sue Houser

As a full-time Avalon resident since 2021, Sue lives in the home her family originally purchased in 1960. Having spent nearly every summer of her life in Avalon, Sue feels privileged to reside in a house that has hosted generations of her loved ones. She and her husband Wes Winant moved to Avalon from Wayne, PA, and their children also grew up enjoying this community.

Professionally, Sue dedicated her career to fundraising and development. She began her journey with the March of Dimes and eventually served as Director of Development and Major Gifts for the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, PA. Now retired, Sue remains active in the community as a member of the Avalon Lions, where she serves on the Executive Board as Service Chair. Sue is also a founding member and administrator of the Atlantic Cape Runners, a South Jersy running group for all ages and abilities.

Sue looks forward to serving her fellow Avalon owners and their families through AHLOA.

by: Erin Brown, Library Director

We invited the Avalon community to weigh in on a proposed new direction for the Library & History Center - and are grateful for the response. This process included a postcard mailing, emails, webpage, community meetings, and community outreach.

Homeowners reached out by phone, email, and in person, attended meetings, and submitted questions and comments throughout June and July. The feedback spanned the full range: enthusiasm for what the project could offer, concern about cost and fiscal responsibility, attachment to the current library and its location, and a range of questions about traffic, parking, and community space.

What we heard

The responses that came in reflected how much this community cares about its public spaces. They understandably needed more details about funding and opinions on the expenditure varied widely, from support to concern. They told us the current library matters to them, not just as a building, but as a part of their routine and their connection to Avalon. We understand - as shared in the community meetings, we spent years trying to develop plans that would achieve a similar end-result by expanding the current library, to no avail.

We heard from many people who were excited about the potential of both new spaces, and were happy to support this concept. Some reached out to share how grateful they are to be down the street from the current library and would miss it dearly if it were to move, while others shared that they felt a new facility wouldn’t be the right fit for their neighborhood. We received questions about whether the investment is proportionate, and whether the alternatives we raised had been fully explored.

Where things stand

Community input gathered through this process, including questions raised at the June 20 and June 23 meetings and the feedback submitted throughout recent months, is being reviewed.

The status quo is not an option. Investment in these facilities will be necessary to allow the organization to continue serving the community in the decades to come. This proposal highlights many of the challenges we were aiming to address – including improved and expanded library spaces, museum storage and enhanced exhibits, improved operational efficiency, expanded community event space, and minimal disruption to library and school services during construction.

The feedback submitted throughout this process will help the Board of Trustees and Borough determine the best way forward.

A reminder of what's proposed – Two New Community Spaces

The concept calls for a new two-story 18,000 sq ft combined library and museum on 39th Street, adjacent to the site of the current History Center. Construction of this facility would free up the 9,000 sq ft the library currently occupies, allowing for the creation of an additional community space, an approximately 6,000 sq ft flexible event space for shared Borough, library, museum, and school use. Activities at this space could include concerts, performing arts, children’s programs, art workshops, lectures, fitness, community meetings, and more. (The former library site will also house a new dedicated school library, independent from the event space.)

Added on-site parking at 39th Street would support typical daily library and museum use. Larger events would continue to be hosted at 32nd Street in the new event space to prevent excessive traffic at the 39th Street site. Clearly defined traffic flow would be added to provide improved and flexible access at the new site at 39th Street.

The project was designed to be funded within the existing municipal library appropriation structure, with no additional tax burden to Avalon homeowners. Additional project details, including a Q&A, and a recording of the community meeting from June 23 are available here.

Stay connected

We will continue to share updates. Sign up for the library newsletter here, or reach us directly at 609-967-7156 or via e-mail to director@avalonfreelibrary.org.

After a pre-construction meeting on July 27, the Borough announced that the start date for the hydraulic beach replenishment project has been pushed back to mid-September. It is now anticipated that mobilization of the contractor’s equipment to Avalon will begin on September 14, with sand pumping to commence on September 20. These dates are still tentative, and depend on when the contractor completes the beach fill project in Strathmere. Updates on the project will continue to be posted on the Borough’s website homepage.

At its July 22 meeting, the Avalon Borough Council unanimously passed an amendment to zoning ordinance that creates an overlay zone in the B-1 Business District and permits a boutique hotel as a conditional use within the overlay zone. The full text of new ordinance No. 908-2026 is available here on the Avalon Borough website.

The annual National Night Out will be held on Tuesday, August 4 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm in the Surfside Park parking lot. AHLOA will again host a Bike Safety table.

The Avalon Beach Patrol will be going for a “three-peat” when it hosts the South Jersey Lifeguard Championship competition on Friday, August 14 at 6:30 pm at the 35th Street beach.

Visit us on the Web at AHLOA.com or call 609.796.2491

The Avalon Home & Land Owners Association

Warren Faulk, President