Matthew J. Doherty

Belmar OKs strict limits on eminent domain use

February 26, 2009

By FRAIDY REISS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

The borough now boasts the strongest anti-eminent domain law in Monmouth and Ocean counties, Councilman Matthew J. Doherty declared.

Belmar earned that distinction, he said, when the Borough Council voted 4-1 Wednesday night to prohibit itself from seizing any property in a redevelopment area and selling it to a developer - despite a state eminent domain law that allows municipalities to do just that.

“It’s wrong to take private property and turn it over to a redeveloper for private gain,” Doherty said. “It’s a power that shouldn’t be available to municipal, county or state governments.”

The borough already had banned itself from seizing owner-occupied homes in redevelopment zones, under the terms of an ordinance Doherty introduced and the council adopted in 2007. But Belmar wanted to expand that ban to any type of property, even though right now the recession is delaying the borough’s plans to redevelop its downtown, Doherty said.

“At some point, the economy is going to come back, and there is going to be redevelopment in Belmar,” he said. “So this (ban) will already be in place.”

Patricia Tecza, owner of Nostalgic Nonsense Vintage Clothing on Main Street, was among dozens of local business owners who supported the council’s limiting its own power of eminent domain. For the last decade and a half, she said, she has been stuck on a “roller coaster,” wondering whether the borough will seize the property her store has occupied since 1993.

The awning outside Nostalgic Nonsense should have been replaced six years ago, but she held off, reluctant to invest in a storefront that might get torn down in the name of redevelopment, she said.

“Why would I go spend a lot of money on an awning when I don’t know what the town’s going to do?” Tecza asked.

Only now that the council has committed not to invoke its power of eminent domain will she move ahead with improving her business, she said.

The dissenting council vote came from Councilman Richard J. Wright, the only Republican on the governing body, who called the eminent domain ban “silly.” The state Supreme Court recently issued a decision regarding Paulsboro in Gloucester County that “essentially ended” government’s right to seize land for redevelopment, he said.

“Since that court has already spoken on this issue, to pass a local ordinance saying we’re not going to use eminent domain is totally unnecessary,” Wright said. “I don’t believe we should be passing laws that are unnecessary.”

Doherty, his fellow councilman, countered that the Supreme Court decision helps only those businesses that can hire a lawyer to fight eminent domain proceedings, as Freedman’s Bakery and the Belmar Mall have done successfully.

“You have to have the money to go to court,” Doherty said. “If you’re a regular business owner in town and you don’t have those deep pockets, what do you do?”

Borough debates stronger smoking law for beaches, boardwalk

February 21, 2009

CHRISTINA VEGA
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

If smokers want to protect their right to light up a cigarette on the borough beaches and boardwalk, they need to pick up their butts.

The Borough Council is considering a smoking ban proposed by its environmental commission largely due to the high amounts of cigarette litter in the dunes, on the boardwalk and beaches.

“Go by any bench on the boardwalk, any bench, and count the butts. If you don’t see any, just nudge the sand with your toe and I guarantee you will find cigarette butts. It is virtually every single place and it’s unsightly,” Mayor Kenneth E. Pringle said at a special public hearing this afternoon.

Carol Davies, chairwoman for the environmental commission, presented the main concerns of the commission and offered facts from several resources about secondhand smoke and the effects of litter.

“Exposure to secondhand smoke within a few feet of someone smoking outdoors can be as high as exposure to secondhand smoke in an enclosed space,” she said. “Studies have shown that in beach cleanups that cigarette butts are the number one form of litter.”

Pringle added cigarette butts are one of two items that the beachraker does not pick up - the other being plastic straws.

In 2001, Belmar was the first Shore town to enforce a partial smoking ban on the beaches. The borough now has designated areas every 400 feet on the beach for smoking. Beachgoers are permitted to smoke within a 50-foot radius of the signs or face a $25 fine. Litterers can face a fine of $100 and two days of community service.

Changes to the smoking law that the council is considering include banning smoking on the beaches and boardwalk, limiting smoking to only certain beaches or just the boardwalk or amending the designated smoking areas.

“The issue is trying to balance rights. The hard part of this job is trying to strike the right balance between what’s fair and right and what’s not,” Pringle said. “I’m looking for some interim way to improve upon what we have and not an outright ban.”

Some 50 residents gathered in the municipal courtroom for the meeting to voice concerns regarding the ban. Most residents agreed a complete ban of smoking on the beaches is unrealistic and would be an infringement on the rights of smokers.

“The purpose of this smoking ban is not to protect the public from the fictional harms of secondhand smoke in open spaces. Rather, it supports smokers to comply with the nonsmoking majority’s view of the ideal citizen,” said Eileen Thiede, of Tenth Avenue, who added she doesn’t smoke anymore.

On the other hand, nonsmoker Bart Yarnold of Inlet Terrace said he lost his father to lung cancer, mostly from secondhand smoke, and thinks smoking on the beaches should be banned completely.

“We have to educate the smokers that their butts are litter. I don’t think they understand,” Yarnold said. “I believe in people’s rights, but when it infringes on me, my children and my children’s children, then I have a problem.” 

Belmar moves to amend dog beach ban

October 22, 2008

Belmar candidates squabble over tax increases, services

By FRAIDY REISS
ASBURY PARK PRESS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

Borough employees work hard to adhere to the budgets the mayor and Borough Council lay out for them, the Democratic candidate for council said Tuesday night.

“Sometimes, if all you hear is campaign rhetoric, you might think we have people working in our town who do nothing but spend money randomly,” said Thomas Volker, 67. “That’s simply not true.”

The proof of that lies in the municipal tax rate, which has risen at a slower rate than the county and school portions of the tax bill, he said.

But comparing municipal tax increases to those of the county and school district is not the right way to assess whether taxes are too high, countered Richard J. Wright, the Republican candidate for council.

“All families in town are having to do more with less,” said Wright, 57. “I think Belmar is going to have to do more with less.”

He pointed to regionalization of municipal services as the only way to save taxpayers real money.

The candidates’ disagreement came during the fifth annual Meet the Candidates Night, a debate hosted by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Belmar Homeowners Association and attended by some 100 people. The borough tax rate was one of several issues on which the two political newcomers disagreed.

“The first thing we need for the downtown is a plan,” Wright said when asked about the stalled redevelopment process. Belmar’s lack of a definite plan poses a problem for downtown property owners who do not know whether to invest in improving their buildings, he said.

Volker, though, said the master plan for redevelopment “has to wait until the economy improves.”

“That’s pretty obvious,” he said.

When borough resident Richard Hunt, 55, asked each man to explain why he would be the best person to fill the three-year term available on the five-member governing body, Wright spoke of his background in management and finance.

“I have a lot of experience, I think, in issues the town is going to be facing,” he said.

Additionally, Wright said, he would be the lone Republican voice on the council and would provide a “check and balance” for a governing body that for most of the last 18 years consisted solely of Democrats.

Volker responded to the same question by calling himself a “team player.”

“I love Belmar and working to help Belmar,” he said.

Both candidates did well in the debate, borough resident Joe Keosseian said later, but Wright was the winner, he said.

“It’s getting to be one-sided,” Keosseian, 44, said of the council. “We need some Republican representation on there to balance out all the ideas.”

ASBURY PARK PRESS

BELMAR - The two men vying for the one available Borough Council seat next month are set to debate each other at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Democrat Thomas Volker and GOP hopeful Richard J. Wright will face off during the Belmar Homeowners Association’s fifth annual Meet the Candidates Night at the Taylor Pavilion on Ocean and Fifth avenues.

Last year’s debate drew some 250 residents, said Douglas Sweeny, co-president of the association.

“It’s our version of the presidential debates,” he said.

Fraidy Reiss

October 17, 2008

Council seat at stake in Belmar race
By FRAIDY REISS
ASBURY PARK PRESS

COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

When voters head to the polls in November to choose a new Borough Council member, they should not focus on the national media attention Mayor Kenneth E. Pringle brought to the borough this summer with his local newsletter, at least one Belmar resident said.

“It shouldn’t, in my view, have any bearing on” the election, said Dennis McGill, 73, of Third Avenue. “It was blown out of proportion.”

But whether they should or not, voters probably will be thinking about that newsletter when they pull the lever, said Thomas Volker, the Democratic candidate and a political newcomer. He predicted, though, that voters will accept that the Democratic mayor was trying to help Belmar with his description of the “guidos” and “Staten Island girls” who visit the borough during the summer and flout its rules.

“He admits he went overboard and he apologized,” said Volker, 67. “I think it won’t hurt me at all.”

His Republican opponent, political newcomer Richard J. Wright, said he could not guess how memories of the newsletter will affect the election.

“I think the mayor was probably well-intended, but it has caused a great deal of embarrassment for the town and for the people in the town,” said Wright, 57. Still, he added, voters might not punish Volker for that embarrassment just because he hails from the same political party as the mayor.

Pringle said he doubted voters would make that connection.

“I don’t think people will hold my newsletter against Tom Volker,” the mayor said. “He had nothing to do with (it).”

From 1990 until 2005, all four borough council seats and the mayor’s seat were filled with Democrats. Then, in 2005, William Merkler snagged a spot as the lone Republican council member.

Merkler, 41, won the primary election in June but later announced he would not seek a second three-year term because he needed to focus on his landscaping business. He withdrew from the race, and Wright took his place as the Republican candidate.

So when voters head to the polls in November to choose a new council member, they will be looking for “another voice” to help govern the borough, local resident Pat Melango said.

“It’s always the same people voting the same way,” she said. “It’s good to have another voice and another point of view.”

Wright agreed. For too long, the council simply followed the mayor’s lead and never dissented on any issue, he said.

“An important part of my candidacy is to have an independent voice on the council that can make sure issues are addressed,” Wright said.

Volker countered that a mixed-party council is not necessarily in the best interest of the town.

“It depends if they can work together harmoniously,” he said. “If there’s going to be fighting all the time and that one opposing voice is going to be against everything that’s proposed, good or bad, then it’s not a good thing.”

Another issue on voter’s minds this election season is the borough’s stalled plan to redevelop the downtown, Wright said. The process has been dragging on for too long, leaving property owners unsure of whether to invest in upgrading their storefronts or to wait for their buildings to be torn down, he said.

“The first thing (we need) is a clear statement of where the redevelopment stands, so that people can begin to plan for the future,” Wright said.

But Volker said voters are not thinking about the downtown right now.

“Redevelopment is on hold until the economy improves, so I don’t see it being an issue,” Volker said. “We’re just going to have to wait until things get better.”