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Vol. 4 – No. 47 ♦
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FR EE
August 8, 2020 – August 14, 2020
TROPICAL STORM DESTRUCTION
2006 Agreement to Build 54 Single-Family Homes Near El Sombrero Motel Nullified in Superior Court Judge Rules Pemberton Can Keep $250,000 Put in Escrow Account After Developer Didn’t Develop Land Despite Five Amendments By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
Photo By Andrew King
A tree contractor removes a large tree in the Marlton section of Evesham Township.
Pinelands Hit Hard with Damage to Homes, Trees; Isaias Leaves 1.4 Million Without Power in State By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
SOUTHAMPTON—A trail of destruction was left behind Aug. 4 by quick-hitting Tropical Storm Isaias, which produced hurricane-force wind gusts throughout New Jersey, and spawned at least two tornadoes in the southern part of the state, after making landfall around 11:15 p.m. Aug. 3 as a Category 1 hurricane in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. Following the height of the storm for New Jersey, which came between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Aug. 4, nearly 1.4 million addresses statewide were left without power. With Isaias essentially tracking along the Interstate 95 corridor, the southern twothirds of New Jersey was in the northeastern quadrant of the storm for several hours— where the most ferocious winds are traditionally located in a tropical cyclone, and a rare interaction with an unusually strong winter-type Jetstream enhanced the wind speeds. The end result for the Pine Barrens was a lot of wind damage, with the area missing out on flooding rains, which instead occurred nearby in Eastern Pennsylvania.
On Aug. 4, shortly after the peak of the storm passed, 60 percent (8,845) of Atlantic City Electric’s customers in Burlington County were left in the dark, 77 percent (12,255) of Jersey Central Power and Light’s (JCP&L) customers in Burlington County were left without power and 39 percent (70,495) of Public Service Electric and Gas’ (PSE&G) customers in Burlington County lost electricity. 40 percent (55,412) of Atlantic County, served entirely by Atlantic City Electric, lost power, with 99.5 percent (52,594) of Atlantic City Electric’s customers in Southern Ocean County left in the dark. 63 percent (161,505) of JCP&L’s customers in Ocean County were powerless by early-afternoon Tuesday. Some municipalities had not a single customer left with electricity in the wake of the storm, including Bass River and Woodland townships. “There are staging areas throughout New Jersey,” said New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBOU) President Joseph L. Fiordaliso during a 10 a.m. Aug. 4 Tropical Storm Isaias press briefing held by Democratic Governor Phil Murphy. “There are literally thousands of state crews coming into New Jersey and manning those staging
areas throughout the state.” Fiordaliso declared at the time that “we should have the personnel necessary to restore power as quickly as possible.” Murphy, during that same press briefing, said it was possible to have hundreds of thousands without power across the state, and that one electric provider told him “it could take as much as a week to get all those houses and locations back up to full power.” The Murphy administration, however, appeared to play catch-up to Isaias. Despite a tropical storm watch issued for New Jersey Sunday afternoon, later upgraded to a warning Monday morning, and excellent consensus among weather computer modeling that the storm was going to directly impact the state, Murphy didn’t address Isaias’ impacts until a Coronavirus pandemic press briefing on Monday afternoon, Aug. 3. And while the governor led with the tropical storm for about two minutes during that Coronavirus briefing, predicting wind gusts to 75 mph at the coast, the storm messaging was buried by a pronouncement that he was retightening restrictions See STORM/ Page 7
PEMBERTON—A developer’s agreement between Pemberton Township and Paramusbased developer Danitom Development, Inc., which reportedly went nowhere over the course of the last 13 years despite five amendments to it, has been essentially nullified by Superior Court Judge Aimee R. Belgard. Danitom, which purchased a large tract of land from the municipality in 2006 near Reeves Avenue and Pemberton Boulevard, or “woods behind The El Sombrero Motel,” had agreed at the time to build a development there with 54 single-family houses. As further negotiations progressed, the plan evolved for up to 60 single-family houses to be built at the site. However, the housing project never came to fruition, despite a fifth amendment to the agreement conditionally approved by Pemberton Township Council in a 5-0 vote during April of this year. “A previous administration sold the property (at issue) to a developer to be developed, and the developers never developed that property,” said Mayor David Patriarca during a July 15 Pemberton Township Council meeting. “It got to a point where we just continued to amend the developer’s agreement, up until the fifth amendment to the agreement—we just continued to amend it to help them along to get it done.” The mayor said the township cancelled the agreement (on Nov. 26, 2016) after Danitom “still never developed the development.” The township, according to Business Administrator Daniel Hornickel, filed a lawsuit against Danitom on Jan. 27, 2017. The mayor said the developer claimed in court that the township “didn’t have a right to cancel” the agreement. “The judge agreed with our position,” Patriarca contended. “We were (also) granted the right to retain a $250,000 down payment that the developer had put up in escrow 13 years ago. … We are very pleased with that decision. We felt all along we had the right to do what we did, and so far, the courts have agreed with us.” Patriarca noted that the developer had the right to contest Belgard’s decision within 45 days of it. Hornickel told this newspaper on Aug. 5 that the judge entered an order dismissing Danitom’s counterclaims against the township, with prejudice, on June 5, 2020. See COURT/ Page 14
INDEX Business Directory... 13
Hometown Hero......... 4
Marketplace.............. 15
Cherokee Graduation.. 8
Job Board................. 14
Worship Guide............ 5
Games..........................12
Local News................. 2
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