MANCHESTER – Proving that public input is important, remarks made during the latest Township Council meeting led to the tabling of an ordinance and further review of a township bill.
An ordinance that would further regulate mobile homes and trailers was put on hold (a practice referred to as “tabling”) after a resident questioned its content.
Keith Forgue of Madison Avenue told the governing body he wasn’t comfortable with some of the verbiage of the ordinance and that it provided too many loopholes. He asked for the Council to table ordinance 23-08.
“One of the things here was the description of the building and I noticed in here they were going to change it to any structure and there is a whole list of stuff, tents, trailers, lunch wagons basically anything with a roof on the property is a building. That sounds a little extreme.”
“Regarding places of assembly there also seems to be some things that are leaving too many loopholes. It is mentioned that any building that is devoted to gathering up persons would allow any building as long as they can see it is not devoted to a place of assembly even if it is a residence,” he added.
He noted that in temporary unused storage structures “it seems that you have to get permits for a Dumpster or a Pod type of structure. Seems like an extra burden on the taxpayers. I’m assuming a temporary zoning permit comes with a cost.”
Keith Forgue said, “I did come up with some constructive language here if you are interested in looking at it or passing it along.” He also noted that no language had been added to the ordinance about the number of parking places needed for a place of assembly. “Would that require a parking place for every four persons?”
The Council voted unanimously to table the ordinance. “We are going to take further review of this ordinance,” Council President Roxy Conniff said. That action drew applause from the audience.
Looking at the bills
Resident Karen Perry questioned the cost of a bill “that was almost $12,000 for the repair of a 2013 truck and it doesn’t say what that repair was for. Was that looked at and is it really cost effective?”
Council Vice President James Vaccaro and Councilman Joseph Hankins prepared the payment of bills and noted that the repair was for the vehicle’s transmission.
“There are some other ones that are grouped in with some repairs for EMS and police cars that were in a collision,” she added. “I thought that was a lot of money so I wanted to see what that was all about.”
“The bill was $22,510.50 and it was various items and each item was looked at by Councilman Hankins and myself and the bills were normal. The repairs were quite substantial in each case,” Vaccaro said.
“I thought that was a lot of money,” Perry repeated.
“It is. We were concerned ourselves when we saw it,” Vaccaro responded.
Council President Conniff thanked her for bringing the matter up. “We are going to have our township clerk look into this and get some information for us.”
Rent Control
During a prior council meeting, residents of Silverwoods called for rent control, describing actions by the development’s management as unethical.
Salvatore DelCollo said, “we need rent control for Silverwoods and all senior citizens.” He said he liked what the governing body did for the residents with trailers – referring to a rent leveling ordinance passed earlier in the year.
Township Attorney Lauren Staiger noted there were departments within Ocean County that could put him in contact with Senior Services and Consumer Affairs. “They could get you in touch with people that could help you.”
Fellow Silverwoods resident Greg Malko said he felt what management had done regarding lease increases “was extortion, and blackmail.”
“Most folks are on fixed income, and some people are using their savings to get by. Think about what you would do if it was you or your family members. My neighbors are my family and I worry about them all. We need to do what’s right,” he added.
A third Silverwoods resident agreed with DelCollo and Malko’s remarks. “We are being bullied.” She did some research and found paperwork from code and standards regarding rules about raising rent which she presented to the council.
Staiger urged residents who feel they are facing unfair treatment to “follow up with county services.”
