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July 24 - July 30, 2021
Fate of Atco Dragway May Ride on Whether Auto Auction Lot Needs Variance to Replace It
‘TOOL IN YOUR TOOLBOX’
IAA Now Says Site Not Intended for Storage, Despite Past Claims, But Rather as ‘Inventory Area’ By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer
Photo By Douglas D. Melegari
Congressman Andy Kim, of New Jersey’s Third Congressional District, meets with the firefighters of the Indian Mills Volunteer Fire Company.
Congressman Andy Kim Visits Indian Mills Volunteer Fire Company to Announce His Support of Its Effort to Obtain Federal Assistance for Replacement of 18 Air Packs Due to Expire in February of 2022
By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
SH A MONG —T h e I nd i a n M i l l s Volunteer Fire Company, with its 18 air packs due to expire soon, in February 2022, has applied for an Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help fund replacement ones, and is anxiously awaiting a decision from the federal agency, which could come as
early as August. John Smith, chief of the fire company, which serves Shamong Township, told this newspaper in an interview that he hopes the third time will be the charm, as the local entity had applied to FEMA in 2019 and 2020 for funding to replace the air packs, also known as self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), but both those applications were denied due to the highly competitive nature of the federal assistance program.
“The urgency to receive a grant is higher for us this time around because they are nearing the age where they are no longer safe and usable,” said Smith, noting that Indian Mills could not afford to purchase the 18 air packs on its own, with an approximate total cost of $130,000. The grant would provide the local entity with as much as $117,000 toward new air packs. See FIRE/ Page 15
WATERFORD—According to those who are opposed to the prospective replacement of the iconic Atco Dragway with a lot for damaged and disabled cars, which would be auctioned off to online buyers, the issues that the Waterford Township Joint Land Use Board should be considering are whether the plan poses a threat to the area’s environment, as well as to the drinking water, safety, property values, quality of life and culture of local residents. But to the legal counsel for the company making the revised site-plan application, Insurance Auto Auctions (IAA), it all comes down to a matter of mistaken terminology – or to be more specific, the board’s categorizing as a “storage lot” what the firm wants to put on the property in question, a holding pen for more than 6,000 vehicles in various states of disrepair. According to the IAA attorney, Matthew Wait, it really is not going to be used for vehicle storage after all, despite descriptions to the contrary provided by the enterprise itself. How it should instead be described, Wait told the board at a July 19 Zoom meeting mostly devoted to the fate of the dragway that dragged on until midnight, is as a “vehicle inventory area” in which “vehicles are not stored, but actively sold at auction.” That corrected characterization, he contended, should exempt the proposed use from a requirement that gasoline be See DRAGWAY/ Page 6
INDEX Business Directory... 12
Marketplace.................14
Local News................. 2
Worship Guide.......... 10
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Saturday, July 24, 2021
Proposed Ordinance to Prohibit Cannabis Businesses in Pemberton Narrowly Voted Down After Protracted and Provocative Deliberation, Including About ‘Racism’ Mayor and Council President Were Strongly Opposed to Allowing Such Businesses, Concerned About Stigma Township Already Has in Regard to Being ‘Drug Capital,’ But Now Officials Scramble to Create Zoning for Them By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
PEMBERTON—A proposed ordinance that would have prohibited all classes of cannabis businesses in Pemberton Township (except for delivery) was narrowly voted down by Pemberton Township Council during its June 16 meeting, after several lengthy meetings of protracted and provocative deliberation, causing the all-Democratic legislative body to now scramble to pass a zoning law setting standards for such operations in at least certain areas of the municipality prior to an Aug. 21 deadline. Mayor David Patriarca, a former township police officer, and Council President Gaye Burton, heavily involved with Pemberton Township Alliance Group (TAG), which “envisions a community that promotes wellness and is free of the misuse and abuse of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs,” have been strongly opposed from the get-go in allowing cannabis industries to open in town, expressing doing so would only add to what they characterized as a “stigma” that Pemberton has as a drug capital (given it accounts for a substantial number of overdoses in the county), and that other projects in progress to stimulate the local economy were more deserving of municipal attention. “My position on it is we have a reputation in Pemberton Township as being a drug community, and I personally don’t think it sheds any better light on our community if we start having hemp shops popping up all throughout our (downtown) district and allow the growing of marijuana all over our districts,” Patriarca declared. “You will be able to get it in so many places, why does it have to be in an area that is already known as the ‘drug capital of the county?’ “We are already stigmatized with that reputation and then we are going to support it?! Again, I understand the fact it is legal, and people want to do it, but I don’t think of us as one of those communities that should be supporting the sale and manufacturing of the product.” Councilman Donovan Gardner, however, countered that cannabis has gotten a “bad rap,” the result of “racism,” and believes it is a “possible revenue generator” for the municipality, adding that in the event of a local prohibition, township residents would just travel outside of the municipality to obtain it, or have it delivered (delivery is a class of cannabis businesses permitted statewide that municipalities cannot outlaw), causing the town to lose out on revenue. Councilman Jason Allen, whose employer is the state Attorney General’s Office, meanwhile, urged council to wait until it has a chance to review forthcoming regulations to be issued by the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission, due Aug. 21, before deciding to allow any classes of cannabis businesses in town. As he pointed out, municipalities can “opt-in” at any time after the Aug. 21 deadline, but cannot “opt-out” after that time for five years. The competing deadlines have put mun icipal ities statew ide i n a rather difficult predicament. That is because the commission regulations would serve as a basis for any local provisions, and municipal ordinances cannot just be passed the next day, but rather have to be approved over a several week period, allowing for both a first and second reading and appropriate
advertising. And, depending on municipal structure, such laws also must be OK’d by the local planning and/or zoning board. If a municipality takes no action by Aug. 21, due to a sunset provision in the cannabis legislation signed into law by Democratic Governor Phil Murphy back in February, all classes of cannabis businesses are then allowed in that respective town, subject to only state restrictions, and if a decision is made to later reverse course when eligible, those businesses established during the waiting period are grandfathered from local provisions. With some municipalities nearby to Pemberton recently deciding to allow cannabis businesses, Councilman Paul Detrick contended that if it is the ultimate intention of Pemberton council to allow them, waiting until later will put the township at a distinct disadvantage. “We may find Eastampton has one, Shamong has one, and next thing we know, we are way behind and those businesses are already established,” Detrick said. “Then we will want one and can’t get one off the ground.” Assembly bill, A-21, established six “marketplace” classes of licensed businesses: • Class 1 Cannabis Grower License: for facilities involved in growing and cultivating cannabis; • Class 2 Cannabis Processor License: for facilities involved in the manufacturing, preparation, and packaging of cannabis items; • Class 3 Cannabis Wholesaler License: for facilities involved in obtaining and selling cannabis items for later resale by other licensees; • Class 4 Cannabis Distributor License: for businesses involved in transporting cannabis items in bulk intrastate, from one licensed cannabis establishment to another; • Class 5 Cannabis Retailer License: for locations at which cannabis items and paraphernalia are sold to consumers; and • Class 6 Cannabis Delivery License: for businesses providing courier services for a licensed cannabis retailer. Gardner said he was in favor of the township permitting classes 4, 5 and 6, contending such classes of businesses would “benefit the town.” (He later said, after doing further investigation, he was fine with permitting all the classes to operate in Pemberton.) He cited research he had done on Colorado’s legalization of cannabis and how it solved their issue of “low revenue” to the point that “today, they are raking in over a billion dollars in sales.” “It is a revenue source for the town that we could probably use,” he said. “Since it (cannabis) is now legal in the state, my thing is why, at our expense, should the revenue go to other towns?” Gardner pointed to establishments in town that are selling alcohol and cigarettes, contending cannabis “is no different.” “I agree with Councilman Gardner,” d e c l a r e d C ou n c i l wo m a n E l i s ab e t h McCartney. “We approve alcohol permits, and we know we have issues, in fact we have an issue now with one of our local places that sells alcohol. But people come in the district, buy alcohol and then leave.” McCartney added that while “yes, our township does have a reputation,” she See CANNABIS/ Page 11
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Saturday, July 24, 2021
Pemberton Levies ‘Community Contribution’ on Deborah, Utilizes Rescue Relief Funding to Help Offset Tax Increase Three Bond Ordinances to Float Money for Various Projects, Including Sewer Work; Results in Questions About Reserves from MUA Takeover and Need to Borrow with $29.4M Debt
By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
PEMBERTON—Facing a “substantial” revenue shortfall following the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, and having fewer sources to generate it, Pemberton Township Council has decided to impose an “annual community service contribution” on Deborah Heart and Lung Center for hosting a satellite emergency department in the municipality, Capital Health at Deborah, as well as incorporate American Rescue Plan relief monies into its nearly $25 million municipal budget for 2021, all to substantially reduce the increase in the local purpose tax levied through this year’s budget. This year’s township tax levy, “or the amount to be charged to the public,” according to Mayor David Patriarca at a recent council meeting, is some $15.8 million. In 2010, it was only some $12 million, he pointed out. The community service contribution, according to Business Administrator Daniel Hornickel, reduced the increase in the township tax rate from 3.73 cents to 3 cents, and using $313,000 of the rescue plan funds provided to Pemberton further decreased it to just under a cent, or “nine-tenths of a penny.” For this year, Hornickel noted, a home at the township average of $164,600 will pay about $23 more in taxes. “I have been boasting for several years about how, out of 565 municipalities, we were 16th lowest in the state in property taxes, and second lowest in Burlington County,”
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Patriarca said. “I don’t see that holding up much longer, as it is a tough position to hold because we are struggling to find revenue here in Pemberton Township, and expenses are not going down.” Hornickel pointed out that last year’s anticipated revenue was $3.8 million, and “we only brought in 2.8 million – a $1 million shortage.” Both the mayor and business administrator pointed out that as revenue has been on the decline, there have been various increases in expenses, such as with pensions, healthcare contributions, tipping fees for waste and engineering. Meanwhile, in the wake of a disclosure during a 2021 budget presentation that Pemberton is now some $29.4 million in debt (when including both the municipal debt along with the utilities debt), and officials are borrowing an additional $4 million this year, including to make sewer utility improvements, a few township residents inquired about how they plan to pay the debt down. They also asked why officials are continuing to borrow given the debt, and about the status of roughly $5 million in cash reserves that the Municipal Utilities Authority had at the time of its dissolution in January 2020 (and was subsequently transferred to the township). Hornickel, in response, contended that the township made a $3 million debt payment last year, and plans to pay off an additional $1.7 million this year (municipal and utility debt payments combined), with Township Solicitor Andrew “Andy” Bayer maintaining See FUNDING/ Page 8
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EF-1 Tornado Stays on the Ground for Nearly 8 Miles After Touching Down Just North of County Route 537
By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD—A little more than a week after Tropical Storm Elsa spawned a tornado in Little Egg Harbor Township, Ocean County, a bowing squall line of thunderstorms produced another one in Springfield Township, Burlington County. The one that touched down in Springfield late on July 17 had a maximum width of 800 yards, and was on the ground for 7.9 miles, concluded a storm survey initiated by the National Weather Service (NWS) Forecast Office in Mount Holly on July 18. It was given a preliminary EF-1 rating by the agency, with estimated peak wind speeds between 80 and 90 mph. A “narrow, discontinuous, path” of tree damage began just east of the Route 206 and Columbus-Jobstown Road intersection, according to meteorologists with the NWS, with “significant tree damage” observed in a neighborhood north of ColumbusJobstown Road. The tornado also “snapped off” several large limbs from trees on Island Road, with several other trees either “uprooted” or “snapped” on Juliustown-Georgetown Road and Route 68. “Nu merous large l i mbs were also blown on powerlines on Monmouth Road (County Route 537), near Tilghmans Corner,” meteorologists with the NWS said. “Additionally, scattered tree damage was observed in Jacobstown, in North Hanover Township. The tornado dissipated before reaching the Ocean County line.” The tornado is believed to have first developed at 10:25 p.m. on July 17 before dissipating at 10:36 p.m. that night. A tornado warning had been issued by
the NWS for northeastern Burlington, northwestern Ocean and southwestern Monmouth counties just three minutes before the touch down. The warned area had included Mount Holly, Wrightstown, Jobstown, Columbus, Jacksonville, Georgetown, New Egypt and the McGuire portion of Joint Base McGuireDix-Lakehurst (JBMDL). Chris Sowers, a meteorologist with WPVITV (6 ABC) in Philadelphia, contended that it was “very impressive” that the tornado stayed on the ground for 7.9 miles. “That hardly ever happens in this part of the country,” he pointed out. “Usually, we see quick hitting spin-ups around these parts. Those are the tornadoes that generally stay on the ground for a couple hundred yards and lift back up. They last a couple minutes at most.” No injuries or fatalities were reported from the latest tornado. Tor nadoes, however, are relatively rare events in the area, according to data compiled by the National Centers for Environmental Information. In 2019, there were two tor nadoes confir med to have struck Burlington County, with them occurring only days apart of each other, both in Mount Laurel Township. One was also confirmed to have struck Woodland Township in 2004. All the aforementioned Burlington County tornadoes occurred in July. A total of 18 tornadoes have hit Burlington County since 1950, killing one person and injuring eight others, and causing about $2.5 million worth of damage.
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Pinelands School Board Member Jeffrey Bonicky, Who Abruptly Quit Two Years Ago, Is Reinstated; Newcomer Selected to Represent Bass River Twp. Superintendent Says Remote Learning Will Not Be Option in September, Except ‘in Some Extreme Medical Situation’ By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer
LIT TLE EG G H A RBOR—Jef frey Bonicky, who quite literally walked off the Pinelands Regional Board of Education more than two years ago, claiming he could no longer be effective after having served on the board for 15 years, has now rejoined it in apparent hopes of picking up where he left off. Bonicky, who will again represent Little Egg Harbor Township, this time as a replacement for Patricia Chambers who recently left her post on the board just as abruptly, charging harassment and intimidation from unnamed sources, was one of two new members unanimously approved by the board to fill unexpired terms at its July 13 meeting, following an executive session. The new members were selected from a field of what Business Administrator Nicholas Brown described as four “stellar candidates,” al l of whom the board interviewed at the meeting. The other, Patty Barlow Martin of Bass River Township, was selected to complete the term vacated by board veteran Thomas D. Williams, Jr., who resigned at the beginning of last month after contracting COVID-19 and undergoing a subsequent lung transplant at Temple University Hospital (as chronicled in a July 17 Pine Barrens Tribune article). Both Bonicky and Martin would need to be approved by voters in November for full terms on the board, should they choose to run. The interim appointments to the board were not the only significant news to come out of the session, however. In her report to the board, District Superintendent Dr. Melissa McCooley announced that while “mask wearing this fall will be optional for students and staff members, who are “welcome” to wear masks if they so desire, “virtual (classroom instruction) is not going to be an option,” as “we want our students back in the building.” McCooley did indicate that an exception to that edict might be granted in “some extreme medical situation,” in which case parents “can fill out some paperwork with Miss (Karen) Kenny, our director of guidance.” But she added that “they (the students) are going to go through a series of assessments and discussions to see if they do qualify,” and that such allowances were “going to be few and far between.” Five of the board members present, following an earlier executive session, also voted to reject four unspecified grievances filed by the Pinelands Education Association, with one other member, Raymond Bartlett, abstaining. (A seventh board member, Christie Palladino, was absent.) In explaining his rationale for having left the board (in the middle of a meeting) in May of 2019, Bonicky reiterated that, “At the time, I just wasn’t being effective,” so “I decided to not do it anymore.” That decision, he contended, was “one of the toughest things I ever did.” “I don’t quit, but I felt it was right at the time to do that,” Bonicky added. As for his desire to be reinstated, he maintained that it was due to the “the complexity of the board” having since changed. “I could come back if elected to that vacated seat and see what happens in the November election and perform at a high level of civic effort and help our district continue to move forward,” Bonicky said.
Noting that he was a lifelong local resident who had attended Pinelands when it was first built and had no intentions of moving, Bonicky maintained that he had always believed “we should be pioneers” and put things in place that are “positive, advancing and enhancing” for the generations that follow. At the time he first became a member, he recalled having felt that as a business operator skilled at writing budgets as well as “a general good guy with a little humor,” that he could bring such a perspective to the board. Bonicky maintained that “it was nerveracking for me in that first couple of years” until he “got landed and figured out how to write policy, implement policy, let the administrators run the school,” and that during his previous tenure on the board, “we were very successful for a long, long time.” “I just feel that it’s the right time to come back and enjoy that endeavor,” he said. Bonicky, who is director of golf operations for the Linwood Country Club, also made a point of how he and a Pinelands classmate of his had come before the board of education in their junior year to suggest that the school organize a golf team “that is probably the winningest team of any sports team over those many years, which I’m pretty proud of,” and which he called “our legacy” to the school. Martin, when questioned about what makes her “a good fit” for the board during the interview, said she had been a Bass River resident for 21 years, her daughter having attended Bass River Elementary School, where she was “very much involved with PTO.” While she and her daughter both loved the school and she was sorry to see it close, she said, she also “absolutely understood that the right decisions were made” to move its students to Little Egg Harbor. In reply to a further query about her “objectives specific to Bass River,” she replied that she thought “the transition went really well,” with “a few bumps in the road,” and that she “would hope those issues were addressed if indeed there were any” and “the lines of communication … kept open in situations like that.” Her professional experience, she said, included having spent 24 years with Wawa corporate and having served for the past three years as parish administrator for the Church of the Holy Spirit in Tuckerton. Asked about her goals, Martin replied, “I’ve been doing a lot of reading regarding what the roles and responsibilities are” and believed that her “number-one goal is to represent all of the students, not just students from Bass River.” She said she also understood that there are rules and regulations that come down from the state and federal government and characterized herself as “a rule follower when it comes to absolutely following protocol.” “But I also 100 percent stand by my values,” Martin said. “I believe that kids come first … it’s all about the students and what’s best for them, and if I have to speak up and disagree with something I absolutely would.” In answer to follow-up queries, she maintained, “I can honestly say I haven’t met any of you before tonight” with the exception of casual encounters with Brown and Palladino. She added that she had been fingerprinted to become a volunteer, but “due to an unfortunate accident” followed by the pandemic, had never gotten the See PINELANDS/ Page 10
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♦ Page 5
Tabernacle Considering Package of Stringent Provisions Limiting Cannabis Use in Public Areas, Banning Industry
By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
TA BER NAC LE —T h e Tab e r n a c l e Township Committee is on track to take the toughest stance against cannabis businesses (except for delivery, which a municipality cannot outlaw), and the use of recreational marijuana by minors, of all the Burlington County communities in the Pinelands. T he gover n i ng body ha s not ju st introduced 5-0 an ordinance that would prohibit all classes of cannabis businesses in the municipality, but also introduced another by unanimous vote that would “prohibit the sale of marijuana, and marijuana products, to minors and consumption of marijuana and marijuana products by minors.” Additionally, yet another ordinance was introduced 5-0 that would “prohibit consumption of tobacco and marijuana products” in “certain public areas,” with its language contending, in part, that recent legislation signed by Democratic Governor Phil Murphy legalizing the use of recreational marijuana for those 21 years of age or older “does not preempt a municipal authority to regulate the smoking and/or vaping of these items in public areas.” So far, no other municipalities in our coverage area have gone that far. In itial ly, the gover n i ng body was entertaining going even further, with yet another ordinance appearing on the latest committee meeting agenda for July 12 “prohibiting consumption of marijuana products in municipal public rights-of-way,” but after Mayor Kim Brown questioned how it would be enforced, with Township Solicitor William Burns replying that it would be unlikely due to the municipality being patrolled by the New Jersey State Police, the measure was voted down for introduction by a 3-2 vote, with Brown, Deputy Mayor
Sammy Moore, and Committeewoman Nancy K. McGinnis voting in opposition. “As much as I want to vote for this, after listening to Mr. Burns and it probably not being enforceable, I want to say ‘no’ at this time,” Moore said. McGinnis initially “passed” in voting on the measure, asking to be called again for a decision after all other votes were cast by her colleagues. As she ultimately opposed the introduction of the draft law, she said it was “because of the litigation problems it makes.” McGinnis had asked Burns for “his recommendation,” but the township solicitor replied that “this specific ordinance was the topic of much discussion in prior meetings” and “it was actually also discussed in executive session under the context of attorney client privilege.” “It would be difficult for me to re-explain my opinion in this on public setting, as it would be releasing otherwise confidential information,” Burns said. “If the majority of the committee would like me to divulge same, because I represent an ‘entire committee,’ not an ‘individual committeeperson,’ I have no problem doing it.” The committee, in April, had discussed that the Legislature in New Jersey and gover nor sig ned into law a bill that legalizes marijuana, and the recreational use of marijuana, which also provides for six classes of businesses eligible for licenses in New Jersey for production of cannabis and cannabis related products.” “A significant portion of the regulatory scheme has not been developed yet and they are in the process of developing that,” said Burns at the time. Township Administrator Doug Cramer then advised the governing body that Aug. 21 is the deadline for it to make restrictions,
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otherwise cannabis businesses will be allowed in town through inaction for five years “before you can make a change, and anything that develops in that five-year period, you can’t outlaw or remove.” During that April committee discussion, Committeeman Joseph Barton expressed strong opposition to allowing the cannabis industry in Tabernacle, noting that the township had, thus far, not received any request from a cannabis business to open in the municipality. “I don’t think this is for the nature of our town,” he said. “We are 50 square miles, have 2,100 homes, and less than 7,000 people. People move to Tabernacle because we don’t have sidewalks, corner stores, and are not a suburb. We are more of a farming community with nice neighborhoods to raise a family and retire. We have decent rec fields, scouting opportunities, and also have many churches in Tabernacle. I just don’t see the need for any of these six classes in Tabernacle Township. One thing I am concerned about is the consumption in public.” The impetus for the other draft ordinances regarding use of marijuana in public areas came from Barton asking in April, “Can we also prohibit any consumption in public areas, township streets, parks, etc.?”,
pointing out that “we do ban alcohol in public places.” The other committee members had concurred with Barton’s thoughts at the time. Burns, when asked July 12 why the township was introducing a cannabis measure regarding minors when the state legislation only legalized use for those 21 years of age or older, replied, “this specifically makes it an ordinance violation within the Township of Tabernacle for any retailer or wholesaler to sell marijuana products to minors with the exception of those who have a lawful medical marijuana prescription,” adding that “it is also prohibits minors specifically from using or consuming marijuana products within Tabernacle.” “The state law, as it is passed, gives the authority to townships to regulate the use of marijuana and marijuana related products so long as it does not conflict with state law,” Burns maintained. “This ordinance, as it was written, does not conflict with state law. In fact, this ordinance was promulgated by the Joint Insurance Fund (JIF), our insurance carriers, and is similar to the one promulgated by the League of Municipalities.”
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DRAGWAY (Continued from Page 1)
drained from disabled vehicles before they can be stored, which falls under “a buffers, screening and scenic setbacks” provision of a municipal land-use ordinance, which was invoked by board member Michael J. Ward during the panel’s previous discussion of the matter on June 7. Wait also claimed that the phrase in the provision “where permitted,” means that it does not apply to the company, inasmuch as such draining is not permitted by IAA in its facilities. The IAA attorney also called that particular provision of the land-use law, 176-52, an obsolete one when applied to contemporary automotive technology that contains “out-ofplace language which appears to have nothing to do with screening at all,” and maintained that attempting to comply with it would further damage the company’s inventory of vehicles, cause undue hardship to the applicant and actually increase the environmental risk to the surrounding area that has been a source of considerable consternation. But “if the board continues to believe that that section is applicable to the site and the applicant,” Wait asserted, “then the applicant would request a design waiver,” which would be an “exception” to the screening requirement at issue. Whether what IAA really requires is a zoning variance rather than a waiver, however, is a matter that the land-use board’s solicitor, Stephen Boraske, said he would need more time to determine, and could well be resolved at a special session of the board that is scheduled for Thursday, July 29 starting at 7 p.m., when the next chapter in the dragway drama is due to unfold. (The Waterford Township zoning and land-use boards are essentially the same body, except that in matters involving a variance, the mayor and a council member who sit on them are disqualified from participating and need to be replaced by alternates.) The claim that a variance is indeed called for in a situation such as this in which “a proposed conditional use does not comply with each and every condition imposed by the ordinance” was made earlier in the meeting by Somers Point attorney Richard M. King, Jr., who represents two objectors to what IAA and the dragway’s current owner, Leonard Capone Jr., have been planning to do with it since announcing that the company had contracted with Capone to acquire the property last year. According to King, the need for such a variance also means the applicants “need to start over” in the process of seeking approval. To bolster his contentions that an IAA facility, similar to more than 200 currently operating in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, would be totally inappropriate for
WWW.PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM a locale as environmentally sensitive as the one where the raceway has sat for the past six decades, King also interviewed two “expert witnesses” (as confirmed by the board after hearing their credentials), a professional planner and civil engineer, as well as one of his clients, Thomas Stalba, a champion drag racer who operates an auto salvage yard and used car dealership in the Hammonton area. Additional opposition to the proposal was also once again offered by various members of the public, including environmentalist A ndrew Gold, legal d i re ctor of the Southampton-based Pinelands Preservation Alliance (PPA), who referred to the dragway as “part of the Pine Barrens culture.” Summing up the resistance that has become increasingly evident toward the IAA application (which has consistently failed to elicit any ostensible support from area residents) was Dr. Joseph Clements, an Atco chiropractor, who contended that for the local community there are “no pros in it,” but “only cons.” As happened at the previous meeting on the matter, however, the task of specifying precisely what those “cons” might consist of, especially from a legal standpoint, fell to King, who this time, quoting from a letter he had sent to the board, spelled out why in his opinion IAA did not qualify for the waiver it had requested—something he characterized as “another example of the type of issue that arises when an application is a lumpy piece of mush being shoved into the wrong size container.” “The more you try to make it fit, the bigger mess you make,” King added. King then pointed out that whereas “waivers are traditionally tolerated where appropriate” under the “General Provisions and Design Standards” section of the Waterford Township Land-Use Ordinance, Article VII, a variance, according to state law, would be required under another section on “Conditional Uses,” Article IX, should a proposed use not meet all the provisions set forth by the latter. In fact, he said, only two of the ordinance’s 59 “design standards” are specifically incorporated in the conditional uses section (in bold for emphasis), one of them being “this very same provision from which IAA seeks an illegal and improper ‘waiver’. “It is not surprising that the section covering buffers, screenings and scenic setbacks would be given special attention by the conditional use section, since its provisions go directly to the impact the nonpermitted use would have on the surrounding permitted uses in the zone,” King asserted, alleging that what IAA sought was not a waiver from a design standard, but rather from a “clearly defined and specifically incorporated” conditional use. He also contended that “It is not silly to have this (the gasoline draining requirement) in there,” as IAA’s lawyer had implied, since the screening and buffering section of the ordinance was “perfectly appropriate” to its intent of providing protections for a
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residential setting. Again, citing the legal language of the ordinance, King further maintained that a waiver can “only be granted for a requirement that is impractical or causes a hardship due to ‘peculiar conditions pertaining to the land in question.’ “The fact that it’s real expensive and really complicated to take the gas out of these cars in a safe way … is not peculiar to this land— it’s just that IAA doesn’t want to spend the money,” he said, adding that this was not a case in which an applicant is prevented from complying with the technical design provisions of the ordinance by some feature of the land itself. King also noted that at the previous meeting, he had invoked another section of the municipal ordinance having to do with new and used car establishments that the proposed use would appear to be violating—one specifying that “except for the sale of vehicles, no merchandise, parts, products or other equipment or objects shall be displayed or stored outside.” That means “they cannot have mechanical activities in their yards and they’re moving things (vehicles) around on forklifts,” as shown in the company’s own photographs, he pointed out, as well as storing cars at this site that they are selling remotely. King concluded his presentation by recapping previously stated points that the proposed facility was not “expressly permitted” by the ordinance and that, while exempted by the state from a junkyard designation, is “somewhere between a junkyard and a used car lot,” described by the IAA’s own traffic engineer as not falling within the new/used car dealership land-use category and would therefore not qualify as a conditional use. Fi n a l l y, h e p o i nt e d out t h at a n environmental study “did not support putting thousands of gallons of poisonous substances over gravel on top of an aquifer in a sensitive watershed” and a traffic study had been found by “a citizen who was paying attention” to have underestimated the volume of vehicles that would actually move in and out of the facility “by 100 percent.” King then called on Stalba, who said he has been ‘heavily involved” with Atco Dragway for many years, he and his family having long competed in and sponsored events there under its current and former owners, and who also spoke of having past familiarity with IAA’s business model as a tow-truck driver, to answer some questions about both. W h ile “not disparag ing IA A as a business,” Stalba contended that the property “should not become another IAA site for the legal reasons outlined by my attorney and because this area is comfortable with the track, livelihoods rely on the track, and it is something fun for the people to do around here that is part of their culture.” He also
maintained that the raceway “supports a lot of businesses” throughout the area, including performances shops, fuel companies and chassis builders, as well as retail businesses such as local delis, Italian restaurants, bowling alleys, and service stations. “A lot of people are going to be hurt by this,” he said of the proposed dismantling and replacement of the dragway. Stalba also emphasized that he and his family, along with several other racing enthusiasts, have been notified by Capone they are currently banned from visiting the dragway on account of their opposition to the planned sale of the property—something he claimed had been “very upsetting” to some of them. Asked to describe how IAA operates, Stalba claimed that it “sells unregistered, salvage, damaged cars for parts” over the Internet, with very few of them going back on the road, that its yards are “used for storage, not buying or selling,” and that vehicles “are stored there for a while” to allow for various issues to be resolved, with buyers even being assessed storage fees if they can’t pick up their acquisitions in a timely manner. “It’s not like they come in and leave right away,” he said. In response to another question, Stalba enumerated the various toxic chemicals that these cars contain when delivered, including not just gasoline, but antifreeze, brake, hydraulic, transmission, and washer fluids, which he indicated are especially likely to leak if the company is still picking up damaged vehicles at an angle, as he observed taking place when he did work for it some years ago. Stalba also concurred with King that the dragway may not be “a perfect use for that area,” but noted that “it’s been there since 1960, and people moved there just to race for a living.” When asked if it was now doing as well as it could be, he replied, “I think that with the right operator, the place would prosper again, the upgrades would happen, and the people would come back and race again.” He also maintained that Capone, upon taking possession of the track, had paid him unannounced visits on three occasions and promised that he would “move forward and do all kinds of things there,” but “didn’t do one of them, not one.” “I want to save the racetrack, and depending on who takes it over, I’m going to be there to make sure that place gets back to where it was, and I will definitely help the group or whoever it is that gets the track eventually,” Stalba declared. “I will make sure that that place runs the way it should and the upgrades and all the things that need to get done to that racetrack, it will happen. We want it, the racers want it, I have tons of people behind me willing to do whatever it takes to keep that place a racetrack. We want the racetrack, please.” See DRAGWAY/ Page 7
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Responding to questions from Wait, Stalba acknowledged that he had not done any work for IAA in recent years but denied that he had made a failed attempt to buy the dragway, saying, “I don’t know who told you that.” He also denied he was involved in a lawsuit with the current owner. When asked whether he was required to drain gasoline at his own auto salvage facility, he replied, “Yes, all the fluids.” King then called on his two expert witnesses, Andrew Schaeffer, of Mays Landing, a civil engineer who said he has been in practice for over four decades, and Vincent Orlando, a professional planner and a partner in the firm of Engineering Design Associates in Ocean View. Schaeffer, whose firm represents several municipalities with most of his projects being in the Pinelands, and who said has spent most of his career in stormwater management analyzing the transmissibility of water and other fluids through different kinds of soil, was asked by King to describe his concerns over the plan to put an auto auction lot on the dragway property. He replied that there were five things about this site that make it “particularly environmentally sensitive to the potential of pollutants coming from cars” that might leak. The first, he said, was that it has what is classified as “Type A soil,” which is very porous, almost like beach sand, “so whatever water or fluid would hit this soil would flow into the ground very quickly.” Second was its distance to the water table—less than two feet in some places—so that a liquid would not have to flow very far down before encountering the groundwater and dispersing. Third, he said, is the aquifer it sits on top of
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(the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer), which “a large population depends on for its drinking water,” making it ‘extremely valuable.” The fourth is the presence of an adjacent tributary of the Mullica River, which even a paved area could subject to the discharge of pollutants. The fifth source of concern, which is not intrinsic to the site, is the fact that “a paved surface is being converted to a gravel surface,” which would allow the pollutants to flow into the underlying water very quickly. This, he maintained, is not consistent with the type of review usually done in the Pinelands, where typically, when a paved area is involved in a design, preventive measures are taken to ensure that the water does not percolate into the ground until it’s been pretreated, “and that doesn’t exist here.” Schaeffer added that another fluid that might threaten the area’s water source but had not yet been mentioned is weedkiller, which would likely be used on the property once weeds start to grow in a gravel parking lot where there’s not a lot of traffic, remarking, “So now we have pesticides that can potentially leak (into the water table).” He also asserted that due to the use of heavy equipment, the gravel would eventually become compacted and result in stormwater runoff, with nothing to mitigate it and the pollutants it would contain. In addition, he said, leaks in such a situation are apt to go unnoticed, both because the cars are parked two feet apart and because the fluids would soak into the ground so quickly. Orlando voiced the opinion that the land-use board needs to look at whether the proposed IAA lot qualifies as a used-car facility as defined under the ordinance, which he thought it does not, considering it to be a hybrid that is actually “something in between a used-car facility and a junkyard.” But even if the board should decide it does, he said, there’s
the matter raised by King of its being “in direct violation of the conditional use standard as outlined in the ordinance” by virtue of having inventory stored outside and forklifts taking vehicles from one place to another. And as for the gas-draining requirement, “obviously if they’re seeking any waiver from this, it’s not a waiver, it’s a variance.” When asked by King whether he thought such a plan jibed with the intent of the ordinance, he replied, “Absolutely not – by no means in my opinion did the ordinance envision a 7,000-car auction storage yard as a used car facility.” Orlando also stated that he found it mindboggling that “they’re going to have any kind of visual maintenance of this facility” in regard to leaks. Earlier in the evening, in attempting to counter the claims that their proposal would run afoul of the local land-use ordinance raised by King and Ward at the June 7 meeting, the IAA representatives endeavored to demonstrate that the dragway is as environmentally risky as the proposed use, and that other businesses in the area are as well. Some of the pictures and promotional posters they displayed of dragway events showed vehicles racing while appearing to be on fire – a stunt achieved with chemicals that is often used for effect. The photos exhibited for the latter purpose, however, came in for criticism when Rich Hoopis, IAA’s vice president of real-estate development, had to acknowledge that they had been shot in communities other than Waterford Township (with Wait admitting that one was taken in Illinois). “How does a picture from Bridgeton (in Cumberland County) have anything to do with the IAA and the Atco Dragway location?” asked board member John Howarth, to which Hoopis, at Wait’s prompting, replied that their relevance was to show that local businesses that are similar to
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uses permitted by the ordinance in Waterford Township “have some environmental risks that are associated with them because of the nature of an industrial use,” and that “we (IAA) are not substantially more risky than alternatives” that might be permitted at the site in question. When Howarth responded by asking, “Is that business in Bridgeton over one of the largest aquifers in the world?” Hoopis answered, “I can’t say, sir.” Then, again prompted by Wait, Hoopis noted, as he has on previous occasions, that IAA has other facilities in environmentally sensitive areas, some of which use well water and are adjacent to “rivers, lakes, and streams all over the country,” and that the company doesn’t consider it a risk to them because “historically we have operated in a way that has protected these areas.” Howarth, however, further queried him as to how much insurance he thought would be required “if this aquifer is ruined for this whole town and surrounding towns that get their drinking water from it” and how long would be “a reasonable time … to leave people without drinking water?” Hoopis replied that many of the company’s employees have well water, a situation with which he was “perfectly comfortable,” and that he didn’t believe “those risks are as significant as they seem to be perceived in this area.” Howarth then noted that at the last meeting company representatives had maintained that “the vehicles (at IAA facilities) were not parked and now tonight you’re telling us that the vehicles are not stored.” He said he had Googled the definitions of both terms, and that stored meant “to keep or accumulate something for future use,” and asked if that was the definition they wanted to go for or if they would prefer “parked,” which means stopped longer than necessary for loading, See DRAGWAY/ Page 10
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that now is an ideal time to borrow because interest rates are very low, or, as he put it, it is basically “free money.” Hornickel added that about $3 million of the cash reserves remains unspent, but that due to the township finding that the sewer system was in substantial disrepair upon its takeover, all that remaining money will ultimately go towards the repairs. Council President Gaye Burton added that since what remains of the cash reserves will not cover all of what is required to be done, borrowing to fix the system is a necessity, whether it takes place now or later. “We want to stay closer to the lower 20s (in debt),” Patriarca said. “But we are not prepared to sacrifice necessary infrastructure projects to get our debt down, or sacrifice services.” The mayor maintained that making investments in equipment to resurface municipal roads, for example, “goes directly towards our debt” as the township is now “saving tens of millions of dollars” by doing such work inhouse. “The alternative to that is what was done here for many years: don’t pave the roads,” said Patriarca, noting that when he first came into office, one of the common complaints he heard from residents is that the township streets were in disrepair. Additionally, Patriarca pointed to the recent redevelopment projects that the township has been spearheading, along with the corresponding Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreements, in a bid to generate more revenue for the municipality. He also noted that spending in this year’s budget decreased by $31,000. “Every year is not a spending problem as much as it is a revenue problem here in town,” he said, adding that he is of the belief that residents want to maintain the services the township currently provides. Hornickel acknowledged this year’s budget “does not propose to decrease any services,” but “in fact increases services based on council’s recommendations,” including continuing to provide for a recently established tree crew in the wake of a “massive endeavor” posed by severe summer and winter storms, increasing the amount of brush and hazardous tree situations. The roster of code enforcement officers has also been increased, he added, to five people (four full-time, and one part-time) after “hearing from residents” regularly about quality-of-life issues and that the municipal code was not being enforced. “We also replenished our police force which saw a number of retirements and resignations in 2019 and 2020,” Hornickel said. Municipalities were given the ability to levy
WWW.PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM an annual community service contribution on satellite emergency care facilities, totaling $109,500 in the first year, or $300 each day, which then increases by 2 percent each year thereafter (and can be paid in quarterly increments), through recently enacted state legislation, according to both Hornickel and Bayer. But Councilwoman Elisabeth McCartney initially strongly opposed levying the community service contribution against Deborah, and, at one point, declared she could not support the budget because of it. “I have been in this community for many years to know what it (Deborah) contributed to it,” said McCartney, also a local nurse and educator, who pointed out that the hospital reaches out to the community in various ways, including by recently providing vaccinations against COVID-19 to local educators, and not charging for patient care under certain circumstances. McCartney pointed to a project the hospital is spending millions of dollars on to improve its facility and provide for “private patient rooms for infection control.” She said she understands how healthcare has been affected by the pandemic, and that the hospital’s “expenses are going up and one of the reasons are so they can improve the quality of patient care impacting our residents.” “I think it is pretty commendable Deborah did not hesitate (in signing an agreement with the township agreeing to the annual community service contribution), considering they are not a typical hospital in the state,” McCartney said. “… I know we look at the budget, and are needing revenue, but I just hesitate to make this something we are going to count on every year. “I know we want to keep taxes down, provide the same services, and want to improve infrastructure, and all that affects our quality of life, but if we are going to make it routine to look at our nonprofit hospital for revenue, the same hospital that provides patient care and employment to our residents, I think we need to look at other areas of our budget as well.” Hornickel, in response, clarified that the community service contribution was only for Deborah hosting Capital Health as the emergency room provider, and not for the specialty hospital ran by Deborah, and that Deborah can ask Capital Health to contribute toward it. McCartney pointed out, however, that Deborah is still being asked to “write the check.” “I can’t consciously support the budget with the way it is moving for ward,” McCartney said. “I am thinking about the residents who get healthcare, and/or who work at Deborah. I have been a nurse for many, many years and healthcare businesses do not make money. This one is also a nonprofit and I am concerned that if we are going to mandate this community service contribution, it (Deborah) might be less likely
to service the community with things such as screenings and vaccinations. They might not reach out to us for programs they currently do offer us. “I certainly would not want to see a loss of jobs, or changes in water, sewer or even road projects. And we do have beautiful parks. But I think there could be some things in the budget that could be changed, amended, or adjusted. … It is a principal thing for me. I cannot support that. I just can’t.” But McCartney later reversed course, maintaining that she did further research and found that certain nonprofit hospitals are exempt from real property taxation, and that the community service contribution is in lieu of that. “I didn’t realize it was being exempted from real estate taxation,” she declared in announcing that she was in fact voting to approve the municipal budget. “It is not really like an additional fee in a way, it is to the benefit of the municipality. Also, the senate and general assembly acted; it is not what the township enacted. We are just kind of following the Legislature.” Bayer pointed out that Morristown had taken a hospital to tax court “some years ago,” which had been claiming an exemption from real estate taxation, contending that it was a non-for-profit business. The court, he said, agreed with Morristown’s position and that municipality eventually settled with the hospital to pay a certain amount of money. Other towns, however, he noted, also faced the same predicament and that is why the Legislature acted. “If a hospital was taxable, it would owe millions in taxes to whatever municipality it is in,” Bayer contended. “I think it (the contribution) is a way to give some revenue to towns where hospitals are located, but it is far less than what would be paid under the normal taxation scheme.” Bayer noted that four municipalities are currently challenging the enacted legislation, due to their belief that hospitals have an obligation to pay real estate taxes, but that a decision is not expected in the near future. Hornickel noted that Deborah executed the community service contribution agreement with the township on May 19 and had already submitted payments for the first and second quarters of 2021. The debt of $29.4 million, according to Patriarca during the budget presentation meeting, includes the debt for the water and sewer utilities, and without including those utilities, it is some $23 million. He explained that the debt was accumulated by the township undertaking “large projects” that were of necessity, including spending $7 million to fix dams in the Country Lakes section of the municipality, and another $3 million to repair dams in the Presidential Lakes section, and “millions were spent to save millions” on the municipal road program. More recently, the township
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“took on” the $2.3 million purchase of the New Lisbon Water System to bring it up to township standards. Pemberton resident James Boland, however, contended that Pemberton council was spending “too much, too fast” and compared it to a “runaway train,” contending that big projects “are, quite frankly, how you get into debt.” Patriarca, however, contended that “we are still able to manage our debt and keep it controlled with proper oversight.” He added that “we don’t want to keep it running rampant,” but that the type of expenses the municipality is bonding for “goes directly towards our debt” and “that is why that number ($29.4 million) is hard to bring down and make it disappear.” But Pemberton resident Michelle Forman at one point retorted, “You need to work on paying this debt down as fast as (possible).” “You should be working on trimming down this debt in a major way,” she added. Hornickel, in response, said that there was $23 million in “municipal debt” and that “$1.5 million would be going towards the debt repayment.” Patriarca pointed out that the general budget only pays for municipal debt and not utility debt. Another $250,000 debt payment for the water utility will come from the water fund, for a total debt payment this year of $1.7 million, he said. Pemberton council, however, recently approved three bond ordinances. The first appropriated $3,013,812 and authorized the issuance of $2,640,821 in bonds to implement this year’s capital budget. According to Hornickel, the borrowed funds will be used to replace the township’s wheel loader and forklift, which are 20 years old and at the end of their useful life, along with a dump truck and plow. Additionally, the borrowed funds, the business administrator said, will be put toward the township’s contribution for streetscaping on Pemberton-Browns Mills Road, after it had received a federal grant for the project, as well as to install traffic controls in Sunbury Village (should council make temporary measures permanent). The borrowed money will also fund an addition to the garage for the township’s Public Works Department to provide for a bay to keep vehicles in the municipal fleet out of the weather, which will extend their useful life, he said. After failing two years ago, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) has given the OK for Pemberton to move forward with repairs to the Pine Mill Lake Dam, and its related embankment and culverts, Hornickel said. The borrowed funds will support this project as well. Additionally, Pemberton is planning to install solar panels on the Pemberton Community Library at 16 Broadway to eliminate electric bills of $40,000 to $50,000 See FUNDING/ Page 9
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a year, and the bond will also support this project, as well as another at the library to upgrade its heating and cooling system. Pemberton, which runs a program for its senior citizens, providing, in part, daily transportation to township seniors, is also planning to replace a 14-seat passenger bus that is at the end of its useful life, according to Hornickel, and some of the borrowed money will be used for that, in addition to making a number of improvements to the township Senior Center. The bond, the business administrator added, will also provide funding for the purchase of five pickup trucks, 16 air packs, and 10 portable radios for the Pemberton Township Fire Department, as well as for upgrades to Spring Lake Beach and Jean Ammerman Park. Both Patriarca and Hornickel contended that they work closely with the various township department heads to look at which items are used every day, and “look at those items as priorities.” The mayor added that if the township did not bond for these projects and spread out the costs, it would either have to raise the local purpose tax rate by 25 or 30 cents, or not do them. “We can stop providing the services, if that is what the residents want, and not buy the items, but I don’t think that is the case,” said Patriarca in response to the debt concerns, noting that some will say borrowing anything is not responsible. “As soon as I stop providing services, my phone rings and continues to ring.” He called it a “weird balancing act.” Hornickel noted that the bond ordinance just appropr iate s the fu nds for the aforementioned projects, with Bayer adding “it just gives us the ability to borrow,” and
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that the township “won’t spend money” until council “approves each of these purchases separately.” The second bond ordinance, for the water utility, appropriates $587,000 and authorizes the issuance of $587,000 in notes. The water utility, prior to this bond ordinance, accounted for about $4 million of the township’s $29.4 million debt. Repairs to a water tank on Beech Street is funded through this bond, “to bring it up to OSHA standards for safety,” according to Hornickel. Additionally, the borrowed funds will be used to purchase a pressure testing instrument to “test pressure on our tanks to make sure they have adequate pressure between our various water storage tanks,” as well as to purchase a second round of radio-read meters as the municipality looks to reach a goal of replacing all the existing water meters in the township to provide for “more accountability.” The final bond ordinance, for the sewer utility, appropriates $920,000 and authorizes the issuance of $920,000 in notes. “When we actually began running the sewer plant, we realized we had to invest a substantial amount of money in the plant,” Hornickel contended. The sewer utility had a debt of $248,829 remaining from a $9,750,000 loan the township had made to the MUA 40 years ago, but that was “extinguished” last year, according to Hornickel. “They did not have any (significant) debt because they were not spending any money to maintain it (the sewer system and treatment plant) like you should do,” the business administrator maintained. McCartney, at one point, asked what happened to the money that had been in the cash reserves, a question that had also been asked by members of the public. “A big chunk,” Hornickel responded, “is still there,” but Patriarca added “our plan is to utilize
that (remaining) funding, going forward, in continuing upgrades to the system that are needed.” He added that some of the cash reserves have already been utilized for such purposes. “A substantial amount of upgrades are needed that haven’t been addressed,” the mayor said. Some of the cash has already been utilized, however, with Hornickel noting it went, in part, towards replacement of an aeration system for the sewer treatment plant as “it was losing air” causing “bubbles all over the place,” instead of it going to the tanks to “feed the microorganisms.” Hornickel maintained of the reserves that had been built up that “it was not a wise idea to sit on millions of dollars of money built up over the years” and “allow the sewer plant to go further into neglect.” Three sewer pump stations, he said, must be upgraded this year because they no longer make the electrical controls for the existing ones. “It is hard to find an electrician who knows what to do with the electrical controls,” Hornickel contended. “They (the pump stations) were bought in 1973. That is just one illustration of the neglect. They (the nowformer MUA) sat on $5 million, but would not spend $2 million to actually improve the safety of the pump stations and make them more efficient.” Patriarca added that a UV system was “bandaged together” with “one half not running, and the other half hardly running.” Hornickel pointed out that while the borrowing and spending to make the upgrades might be criticized, doing such things prevent the township from “wasting money on electrical costs and repairs.” “We are using the reserves, and slowly spending it down,” he said. “But we can also borrow money for cheap right now, and that is the reason we are doing that too.”
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Resident Sandra Armstrong, however, asked during a public hearing on the sewer bond, if it was better to pay off the debt with the cash reserves, which in response to another question from Forman, Hornickel confirmed was originally some $5 million. “The advice we get from our financial professionals is that the soundest way to make large acquisitions is doing it through bonded debt, because, especially now, when the interest rate is virtually zero, it is free money, and you get to pay it back over 20 years,” Bayer replied. “So, you are basically paying no interest, and hypothetically taking millions of dollars, and paying it back over 20 years with an interest rate less than 1 percent.” Patriarca noted that the township “will spend all that money” (the reserves) because of the “deficiencies in that system we have.” Hornickel noted, however, that the township is not proposing to increase the rates for sewer customers, but “if anything, they will have a better sewer treatment system.” It was also pointed out that it is not permitted to take sewer cash reserves and pay off debt in another fund, such as for the one assigned to the water utility. Council began discussing this year’s budget in April and finally adopted it last month. Council meetings, which covered the budget, and other topics such as the bond ordinances, since April, have lasted between two and five hours. “I don’t think anybody really in the township lost jobs during the pandemic,” McCartney said. “So, we have been able to keep the ship sailing with all that has been going on. The improvement of the infrastructure has been good timing because we did not have much traffic. Improving the utilities will provide a long-term benefit for years to come.”
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Pemberton Man Guilty of Murder in 2017 Shooting PEMBERTON—A jury has found a Up on a r r iva l, of fic er s d is c overe d Pemberton Township man guilty of fatally Shaquille Williams, 24, inside a vehicle with shooting a man in the Sunbury Village section several gunshot wounds. of Pemberton Township in March 2017. Williams, who lived in the Browns Mills A f t e r d el ib e r at i ng for section of Pemberton Township, approximately eight hours over was pronounced dead at the two days, the jury on July 13 scene. returned a verdict of guilty on Assistant Prosecutor Bob a single count of first-degree Van Gilst, supervisor of the murder against Douglas Lewis, Burlington County Prosecutor’s 25, of Fort Dix Road, with Judge Office Major Crimes Unit – Gerard H. Breland scheduling Violent Crimes Section, argued sentencing for Sept. 10. in court that Williams was Lewis has been in the Burlington killed as payback for robbing County Jail in Mount Holly since one of Lewis’s associates. his arrest in August 2018. Lewis was previously The investigation began in convicted of weapons offenses Lewis March of 2017 when officers from and conspiring with Brandon follow us on the Pemberton Township Police Department Clifton to kill Williams. Clifton, 23, of facebook.com/MedfordUMC were called to the 100 block of Kinsley Road Pemberton Township, is awaiting trial on just before 9 p.m. for a report of shots fired. similar charges.
Shamong Man, 21, Killed When Car Strikes Trees and a Pickup in Medford Yard, Creating Fireball
By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer
MEDFORD—At about 1:30 a.m. on July 17, Howard Jones Jr., who lives at 236 Church Rd. in Medford Township, was awakened not by a noise, but rather by a “big ball of fire” outside his window, as he later described it to the Pine Barrens Tribune. The conflagration in the yard of the house turned out to have been due to an Infiniti sedan having failed to negotiate a curve on Church Road, near the intersection with New Freedom Road, gone airborne and smashed into some half-dozen trees and Jones’ pickup truck, killing the 21-year-old driver. The accident victim, who was ejected from the vehicle, was identified on Wednesday as Matthew Keating, of Shamong, by Medford Township Police Chief Arthur E. Waterman. There were no other occupants in the vehicle when the crash occurred, according to a police report. Upon seeing the flames, Jones immediately called 911 to find the accident had already been
reported, then got dressed and awakened his 87-year-old father, who answered an officer’s knock on the door. The police, he said, had arrived to warn the home’s occupants not to venture outside. “They wouldn’t let us go beyond our back porch, because they didn’t want us tramping all over the accident scene,” he said. Shortly thereafter, he said, members of the Medford Township Fire Department arrived on the scene, followed by people from the coroner’s office – although Jones and his father continued to remain inside. The next day, he discovered that his 2019 Chevrolet Silverado had been wrapped around a tree and totaled, and “a big horse chestnut tree, approximately 60 feet tall,” had been “taken out” by the force of the impact, which had also split the car in two, with the resulting fire destroying some nearby bushes and shrubs. “It caused a lot of property damage,” he said. Waterman said the cause of the accident was under investigation.
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unloading, boarding or disembarking. “I’m confused,” he stated. “When the cars are sitting on the lot, are they stored, parked or are they floating in the air? What are they doing when they’re in the facility?” Boraske, the board attor ney, then indicated he shared Howarth’s “concern with that testimony tonight that there’s no storage of vehicles, because it does appear to be inconsistent with previous testimony and previous evidence that was submitted,” as well as what has been written in IAA’s best management practices. “So, to take the opposite position tonight is I think problematic and doesn’t necessarily support the argument that that section of the code doesn’t apply,” he said. Wait responded, “It is not opposite,” emphasizing that the vehicles are not parked, and that storage in this context was “a lower-case idea,” before requesting that Hoopis provide further clarification. “As I think any vehicle dealer would come and say, the vehicles are not stored on their lot; they’re held on their lot until they can sell them,” was how Hoopis explained it, adding that he thought storage in this case should be defined as “the long-term storage of vehicles” where dismantling takes place
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and there are “many periods of time where those vehicles stand for months on end.” Wait then interjected, “Or where you’d be paid for vehicle storage, is that right?” Hoopis replied, “That’s one example.” Sp eak i ng toward the clos e of the gargantuan session, the PPA’s Andrew Gold contended that in the view of his organization, as reflected in its written comments, the environmental impact statement that the township required I A A to s ubm it a nd t he c omp a ny’s testimony thus far “still do not satisfy this requirement, principally because they still do not sufficiently address how their specific operation and site design could impact the surrounding area.” “Storing thousands of vehicles on gravel introduces a wholly new environmental risk, and we still do not understand the scope of that risk, or how the applicant’s practices can address it,” he added. All those cars “in a state of disrepair can be reasonably assumed to leak fluids and chemicals, and the town needs to know how this can affect groundwater and surface water quality over time on a site that is directly adjacent to wetlands and the Mullica River before moving forward,” Gold stated. “T h i s i s a p a r t i c u l a rly s e n s it ive environmental area,” he pointed out, “and any doubts should be resolved on the side of protecting water quality.”
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PINELANDS (Continued from Page 4)
chance to follow through. The other candidates for the Bass River and Little Egg Harbor positions, respectively, were Madeline Schemichen, whose qualifications included having worked as a paraprofessional for specialneeds children, and Jennifer Gleghorn, the municipal clerk and business administrator for Tuckerton Borough (with whom a remote interview was conducted during her vacation). In other business, Brown reported that he had sent a sent a letter to the Ocean County Commissioners “requesting their assistance in bringing all the parties together
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to find a solution” in regard to the bog off Giffordtown Lane that the school district owns (along with a dam under the road) that was ordered drained by the state Department of Environmental Protection in 2019 following a two-decade impasse over its status. He also noted that members of the district’s bog committee would be joining a group discussion on Aug. 13 that has been coordinated by the Jacques Cousteau National Estaurine Research Reserve, and it will include representatives of the soil district njducks.org, and the state DEP, with representatives of Ocean County Parks and Little Egg Harbor Township also invited. The idea, Brown said, is “to engage with multiple organizations to see what everybody’s feelings are about the bog and how we can move forward.”
Saturday, July 24, 2021
CANNABIS (Continued from Page 2)
would “imagine there are (going to be) strict regulations issued by the state about how such businesses have to be run.” “When I look at it being OK to take revenue from a non-profit organization (Deborah hospital – see separate story), but then we don’t want to OK something for a regulated business … ,” said McCartney, indicating that cannabis could potentially alleviate the need of the township having to charge a community service contribution to Deborah for hosting a satellite emergency room facility, and was a more ideal way for the municipality to raise revenue. Burton, however, retorted she would rather “see some of our projects get spearheaded” and actions taken by council that “improve the quality of life,” so that “people will come here, and spend their time and money here,” and just “not only to buy cannabis and then leave the community.” “My thoughts on this are the same as the mayor’s thoughts,” Burton declared. “We are not against the use of marijuana, and we are trying to raise revenue, and this would be a way of raising it, but we are also trying to improve the quality of life. … I do not think this is what we should be doing at this point and time.” Allen said he would “piggyback” on Burton’s remarks, and that he “did not know” if cannabis businesses were “needed at this time” in Pemberton, and thought it was especially important to hold off as the township gets redevelopment projects (a warehouse on County Route 530 at Birmingham Road, solar at a former landfill, and the Browns Mills Shopping Center) “situated.” “We do have a lot of things that will probably bring the township revenue, with the development going on,” Allen said. “I prefer Pemberton be known for a good school system – anything positive – rather, at this point, than as a ‘township with a weed dispensary or marijuana dispensary.’” Allen then pointed to the unavailability of the state regulations, contending that “other municipalities in the area” were “opting out and discussing this for a reason.” “I am about to be 40 years old, and for the 40 years I have been on this Earth, weed has always been illegal,” Allen maintained. “It (the legalization) is something new for everybody. So, why not take time to research it. Granted, it might bring the township revenue, but it is about being responsible, figuring things out, and then moving forward.” Gardner, however, declared council “should not close its eyes” and that he “doesn’t think Pemberton will become a drug community as some have stated,” claiming cannabis has long been given a “negative” connotation. After discussion on the topic had been carried over to another council meeting, Gardner declared “cannabis, marijuana, rufa, ganga, weed, whatever you call it” got a “bad rap” and the “answer is very simple as to why: racism.” He then contended that recreational use of cannabis “took off” with an “influx of Mexican immigrants who came to the U.S., fleeing political unrest in their own country.” As a result, he maintained, the Spanish word for cannabis, marijuana, became more commonly used. Newspapers, he said, then used a variation of the spelling to create sensational headlines. Gardner noted that in 1937 the Marijuana Tax Act was passed, and cannabis sales were then taxed to “alleviate the fearmongering.” The councilman then referenced Henry Anslinger (first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics), contending he was responsible for “how racism truly kicked in” by proclaiming cannabis was a “violence inducing drug connected to black and Hispanic people,
AD HOTLINE: (609) 801-2392 creating a perfect package of terror” and that “cannabis made black people forget their place in society.” He claimed all of this “stoked xenophobia.” At one point, Gardner also contended that former President Richard Nixon “made it (marijuana) public enemy number one” by classifying it as a Schedule 1 drug, including it in a group with heroin, LSD, and ecstasy or that “are considered to be highly addictive and dangerous with no medical uses,” and added that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions stated, “Good people do not use marijuana.” “If you are sick, and you use it, you must not be a good person according to this statement,” Gardner contended, condemning what he called “racist rhetoric.” Gardner further maintained that “research has shown alcohol is more dangerous than cannabis” and that “there has been no death reported from the overdose of marijuana.” Some 61 percent of the “American public,” he added, is in favor of marijuana usage at this time. Township Solicitor Andrew “Andy” Bayer pointed out that legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes had been on the ballot last November and passed with “70 percent in favor, including here in Pemberton Township.” “This ordinance is not about whether someone supports marijuana usage, it is about whether someone believes licensed businesses should be in the township,” Allen retorted. “Essentially, is it a good fit? Every township does not have Six Flags Great Adventure, a night club, or a bowling alley. It is also about the best fit for the township. Currently, I do not see an issue with opting out. Other townships already opted out, including neighboring towns. Why not opt out, see where things stand and then opt in later?” He added that he felt Pemberton “would not miss the bus” and that “a ton of vape shops opened up – where are they now?” Bayer pointed out that there were many “open legal questions” with the cannabis legislation, including if the township opted out and then came back in, whether it would still maintain local control. He added that despite the state legislation, “federal law still says it is illegal.” But “acting somehow” is “important for council,” he said, or “otherwise you would have the state impose something on us through inaction.” “I just don’t think this is a fit for this town right now,” Burton said. “We have better things to focus on, including making this place vibrant right now!” During a public hearing on the council ordinance to prohibit cannabis businesses, and during a public comment period preceding it, there was a mixture of opinions offered by residents; some for it, and some against it. Resident Michael Sawka maintained a prohibition would be “bad for the township, bad for the budget, bad for the taxpayers – and is just a bad idea.” He told council to “take their blinders off” because “this town has a heroin, meth and crack problem,” not a marijuana one, disputing that the latter was disproven by science as a gateway drug. He also pointed out that licensed cannabis businesses, other than microbusinesses, “require an association with a labor organization,” and therefore, by disallowing them, it is a “middle finger to unions,” and will send a message “you don’t want labor in your town.” And given that delivery is allowed, he said, if such businesses were outlawed in Pemberton, he would “hope every delivery driver would honk their horn every time they drove by the municipal building” to remind the township officials of the revenue they would be losing. Sawka also remarked that “it might be an idea” to have a cannabis business redevelop the Browns Mills Shopping Center, putting in a facility that is “half medical, half recreational.” Rachel Dudley, owner of Inhale - Exhale Smoke Shop in the Browns Mills section
of Pemberton, contended that it “would be unfair to me and my business for Pemberton to say no at the last minute” because she “could have gone other places.” She added that she was “on the list” as a “Hispanic, woman business owner” for Pemberton, “lived here all my life” and “would like to stay in town and do this.” “I have all my licenses – have it all – and am well informed,” said Dudley, noting that she has a sign stating she does not sell crack pipes at her store to “keep people away like that,” and that what would be sold in retail “is not like what you see on the street.” “You have to look at it from a medical perspective – the plant can do so much for a person, and it does do so much for a person,” declared Dudley, contending it helps people stop taking opioids and helps with pain, and that CBD benefited her with an illness. “Just to ban it, close the book on it, is so wrong.” Resident Justine Miller, however, contended “that we are losing sight of this,” and that while “we don’t want to be the township where everybody is high everywhere,” this is not about whether cannabis will be legal or not, because “it’s here.” “We’re just deciding whether or not these businesses can be here,” she said. “It is going to be smoked here. There are illegal drugs here. … Do we want the businesses here? Do we want to have the businesses regulated and can we control the businesses? And can we get a profit from the businesses?” She added that “if we want to clean up drugs” the municipality can put the profit from sales taxes placed on cannabis businesses toward recovery programs. Resident Tom Pofahl told council that at age 11 he started using marijuana to deal with “childhood post-traumatic stress.” “Now, I am a legal medicinal patient in this town that has to drive at least 45 minutes away through crazy traffic just to get my medicine,” he said. “We need to fix that problem here in this town. I do understand about the smoke, and I do understand about minors and things of that nature, but in Colorado, Charlotte’s Web (CBD) is the strain that does best for seizures for children and it will take them from having 100 a day to none sometimes.” Pofahl claimed “he has managed to stay clean” because of cannabis, and therefore, he believes “it will help with the drug problem in this town.” He added promoting cannabis is a “no brainer” because “it will help kids stay off the dope.” But Sandra Armstrong, also a Pemberton resident, said that while she “can see some benefits in some areas,” she “disagrees in the long run” because of the “harm it will do to your body.” “It is going to affect your brain with how you think, or with how you will react,” she said. Armstrong pointed to the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) website, which she noted addresses “12 areas of health issues associated with cannabis.” “It states cannabis use directly affects the brain, especially the parts for memory, learning, attention, decision making, coordination, emotions and reaction times,” Armstrong said. “It does show it negatively affects adolescents below age 16. That concerns me as a grandmother. And it can lead to a number of health issues and problems in adolescents.” Joanna Kidd, who contended she moved to Pemberton from Brooklyn, New York, said she “knows what marijuana can do, and knows what it is,” and users tend to “overuse it.” “They’ll get a high, and then it dissipates, and then they want to go to something stronger,” she contended. Debbie McIlhenny, another area resident, agreed “that it does alter your conscious state” and “alters your thought process” and that she has dealt “with the results from addiction from marijuana progressing on” as a 15-year worker for the Christian Caring Center.
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“I have seen the terrible effects it has on individuals and families,” she said. “It is addictive, and the reality is I have seen the progression of the addiction. People want to anesthetize themselves because of PTSD and other things, such as trauma in their life, and this is a good way to do it. And there are better ways to handle that as far as I am concerned.” The revenue, she added, “would be great for the town,” but she does not think “you can regulate what will happen.” “I just don’t want our tow n to be known for, ‘Let us go to Browns Mills and Pemberton to get high. We will feel better,’” McIlhenny said. America Phillips, a regular in-person council meeting attendee and resident of the municipality, declared that a vote for allowing cannabis businesses is a “vote for destroying a family,” adding that “the young generation has already been destroyed and the parents and grandparents are paying the price.” Burton and Allen voted to prohibit cannabis businesses from operating in Pemberton, while Detrick, Gardner and McCartney joined together to vote down the prohibition. Pemberton, said Burton in explaining her vote, is “a community of diverse backgrounds, surrounded by great bodies of water, farmland, made up of proud residents and families, and has good schools and dedicated administration,” however, “it is also a township that has suffered with the reality that our community has been plagued with tragedies related to drug use, and because of this, we are stigmatized as being a community where drugs are more prevalent and socially accepted.” Burton added that she is “here (on council) to improve our reputation” and cannabis businesses “do not improve” it, and therefore “it is not the right fit, the right choice,” explaining that some of her former students “are no longer here” due to drug use. “What I find interesting is 67 percent of voters voted to approve legalizing cannabis,” added Allen, noting the township has only heard from one cannabis business, in Massachusetts, possibly interested in calling Pemberton home. “And yet, there are plenty of municipalities that are not allowing cannabis operations in their communities. In fact, many of our neighboring municipalities have already opted out. You know what that tells me? The majority wants to party, but they do not want to party in their own backyard! People might want it, but at the moment, they don’t want it to be sold or grown in their own townships, including some of our neighboring townships.” Gardner said any vote by him in favor of the ordinance (or in favor of the prohibition), would be “like I am taking myself back to the 1930s when all this got started with a lie – and the lie continues – and people are continuing this lying, and the biggest part is the racism that started all this.” Detrick said of his vote that not only do cannabis businesses pay regular property taxes, but the township can get a percentage of their revenue if it decides to impose a special tax permitted under the cannabis legislation (municipalities can place a 2 percent sales tax on cannabis manufacturers, cultivators and retailers, and a 1 percent sales tax on wholesalers). “This offers an opportunity,” he said of the bottom-line, noting cigarettes are allowed to be sold despite all knowing of their negative health effects, agreeing with Gardner that opposition to cannabis is because it “has an old reputation.” McCartney contended she “can see both sides,” but said of her vote “it (the cannabis industry) is going to be highly regulated,” and cannabis “is not as harmful as opposed to alcohol and cigarettes.” Patriarca, as mayor, did not get to vote on the issue due to Pemberton’s form of See CANNABIS/ Page 15
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Photo By Douglas D. Melegari
Shamong Township Deputy Mayor Michael Di Croce (right) and Congressman Andy Kim tour the Indian Mills Volunteer Fire Company’s firehouse.
FIRE
(Continued from Page 1) In a bid to see the fire company successful with its application to the federal government this time around, nearly 20 members of the fire company, along with Shamong Township Deputy Mayor Michael Di Croce, hosted Congressman Andy Kim (NJ-3) at the local firehouse on the evening of July 8, with the federal official declaring during his appearance that “whatever you need, know that you will have my support.” “I want this to come about,” Kim maintained. “What I cannot do, however, is guarantee you that this will come through. I will never promise something that I cannot deliver. But what I can promise you, is the continued attention from me personally, as well as from Lynette Whiteman (a staffer for the congressman who works with local fire companies on AFG applications), on a day-to-day level, both on this current grant, as well as on anything else you may need down the road.” John Lyons, emergency management coordinator for Shamong and a fire police officer for Indian Mills, explained to the congressman during his visit that if you take the $130,000 cost for the new air packs and line it up to the fire company’s annual operating budget of $140,000, and factor in that the local entity must also pay for things such as training, vehicle repairs, insurance, and lights, “there is just no money to pay for them internally.” Lyons added that the local fire company does not have a choice as to the quantity of new air packs that it must purchase as the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) “says you need to have a pack, bottle and spare” for each seat in a fire truck, with Smith noting you can “use them for 20 years and then they are done.” “So that is some of the math that challenges us,” said Lyons to Kim. “Our thought process around these particular air packs that we have now is they are aging out; the parts for them are hard to get; and they
CANNABIS (Continued from Page 11)
government. It is rare in Pemberton politics for a majority of council members to break ranks with the veteran mayor. According to the township website, however, the mayor does have the authority to veto ordinances passed by council, but
Just see me as a tool in your toolbox as you think of what comes next on your front.” Kim noted that the staffer he has assigned to advocate for local AFG applications does not just write “standard or cookie cutter” letters, but rather “does a lot of research, helps applications standout and shows that our office is invested in this.” “I am just trying to put you all in the best position that you can be in to try and get the grant,” the congressman declared. “It is not just a grant to you; it is about lifesaving equipment.” Lyons pointed out to the congressman that the Coronavirus pandemic has made it “extremely difficult” over the last yearand-a- half for the fire company to fundraise, as events it would hold such as its Open House and Fire Prevention Night had to be canceled and others in the community that the fire company would be annually invited to were also called off. Charles Burgin, president of Indian Mills, added that the fire company would ordinarily raise $20,000 to $25,000 a year through such events. Indian Mills, Lyons noted, is a 501(c) (4) organization, and not a 501(c)(3) one, making it ineligible for programs such as Amazon Smile, or ones that donate a portion of eligible purchases to charitable organizations. Changing the fire company’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) status would not only incur a cost of at least $900, but it is also “a challenge, work and time,” according to the emergency management coordinator. “So, you are putting more money out, to hopefully get more money in,” Lyons added. And “what’s next for us,” he said, is that the fire company has personal protective gear, such as coats, that need to be replaced, which Smith estimated will cost around $45,000, in addition to eventually needing to replace vehicles in its fleet. “The coats – this is all that stands between fire and the folks that you see in this room – have to be compliant, and they lose their effectiveness when they age,” Lyons said. Kim, in response, said that the firefighters now have him also thinking about the “next step” in getting them “other safety equipment down the road,” with him vowing to “keep his ears open for other opportunities” besides the AFG. He pointed out that he had just returned from a meeting with state Assembly leaders and members of
LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES
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the governor’s staff, indicating that he was also going to see what the state might be able to do in helping to fulfill the fire company’s future needs. Di Croce, a Republican, noted that despite Shamong being the smallest town in the Democratic congressman’s district, and the pandemic, Kim still took the time to meet with him for three hours at his local law office, just six months ago, to “listen to ideas.” “We appreciate what you are doing for us,” said the deputy mayor to the congressman. T h e t wo l e a d e r s , i n a s h ow o f bipartisanship, also toured the fire station together afterwards, with Kim, before leaving, also conversing with various firefighters privately over doughnuts. Additionally, Burgin, on behalf of the fire company, presented the congressman with a basket containing gift certificates to township eateries along with blueberries and merchandise from local businesses, in appreciation of his support. The items were donated by Valenzano Family Winery, Ironstone and Dutchtown Farms, Whalen Farms, and Pic-a-Lilli Inn. “You guys are here because you believe in serving the community,” Kim said. “You are taking your own time out of your daily lives to be able to do that, and you are putting your own life on the line to be able to do that. And you deserve to have what you need, especially when it comes to your safety. The proposal is already out, it is being reviewed, but why I wanted to come today is to meet you all, and make sure we can start to build a relationship. Today is a good first step, and I hope you take away from this my sincere interest in getting to know you all better, this town better, and your needs better. I can then better set the situation.” Kim added that the firefighters have his “respect for what they do,” while Di Croce noted that they are “really special, special people.” As of press time, FEMA’s last AFG award to a New Jersey fire company was announced on June 11, with a North Bergen entity given $31,363. While the grants are awarded on a rolling basis throughout the year, Smith told this newspaper that it was his understanding that Indian Mills had made it to the final round for this year and a decision could be made as soon as August.
are hard to service. And eventually they will become out of compliance and not usable. The best correlation I can give you is if you have a propane tank or a fire extinguisher, at a certain point, you cannot use either one of them anymore because they will become too old.” Lyons noted that Shamong, with 6,900 permanent residents and 2,500 visitors, is a beautiful, largely agricultural community in the Pinelands, but that it “doesn’t offer the same kind of tax revenue” as a more densely populated municipality, and has limited ratables, in part, due to building restrictions in the Pinelands. The AFG program’s review committee, he added, often “wants to put the bang where the buck is most utilized,” or in a community with a large population, but it is often the rural communities where the need for assistance tends to be greater. “We understand that they want to put the bang where the buck is most utilized, but there is a flip side to that, when you have small towns that have the same needs as a large city. We are surrounded by a number of townships here in Burlington County that have fire districts, and that have multimillion-dollar budgets, but because they have the resources, such as grant writers, the grant money tends to go to them. “Yet the need is so great here, and we do not have the alternatives that they do. We can’t just levy a fire district tax charge for our fire needs in this town and say, ‘Oh, everyone is going to pay more next year,’ and we get our air packs and be done.” Lyons added that this is why Indian Mills was looking to Kim for his assistance and support. Kim, while informing the firefighters and deputy mayor that he was unable to promise that the grant would be awarded to Indian Mills, maintained that he “feels like it is my job to make sure you and other folks in the community have what you need to be able to do your jobs effectively, efficiently and safely.” “You are the ones on the ground doing this kind of stuff,” he said. “I am the one just trying to make sure you get what you need.
The fire officers of the Indian Mills Volunteer Fire Company explain to Kim the necessity of receiving an Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) to replace its air packs.
council can still override the veto. Bayer reminded council of the mayor’s veto powers in the aftermath of the vote. Otherwise, Bayer explained, the next step, “if you want to regulate cannabis,” is that council has to adopt an ordinance by Aug. 21, and the township planners need to be involved. “You are cutting it close,” Bayer said. “… Keep in mind, this is a zoning ordinance, so it would need to go to the Planning Board, because
you would need Master Plan consistency.” A draft ordinance to permit the operation of “particular classes of legal cannabis businesses in certain zones within the tow nsh ip” and “adopti ng r u le s and regulations concerning the conduct of legal cannabis businesses” was introduced 5-0 by council during its July 14 meeting, but Allen cautioned that he may not be supporting the adoption. The planning board is scheduled
Photo By Douglas D. Melegari
to meet Aug. 5, with a council meeting scheduled for Aug. 18. Business Administrator Daniel Hornickel said that after putting the planners on notice, their recommendation is for council (should they want to regulate cannabis through a zoning ordinance) to set a fixed number of licenses for each of the classes that “you are willing to permit” so that, “you don’t have seven marijuana warehouses going up.”
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LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES
WWW.PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM
Saturday, July 24, 2021
For more than 50 years, Apell & Detrick has served the Browns Mills area. Known today as the law offices of Posternock Apell, PC, we are happy to announce our office has a new location on Market Street in Browns Mills. In addition to the Moorestown, NJ location, the Browns Mills office will continue to handle all legal matters concerning Business Law, Litigation, Estates and Trusts, Special Education, and Real Estate.
Located at a separate rear entrance of the Schneider Real Estate Building.
“We measure success by the stress we alleviate for those we serve.” All business matters and consultations will be by appointment only.
Do you have Chronic Pain? There is a FREE Chronic Pain Self-Management Program that may help you get back to doing some of those activities that you love to do. Free for Burlington County residents, age 60 or older. To register or request additional information, please contact Rowan College at Burlington County at (609) 894-7229 or community@rcbc.edu. NJ Addictions Hotline: 1-844-276-2777
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