Pine Barrens Tribune January 8, 2022-January 14, 2022

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January 8 - January 14, 2022

Season’s First Snowstorm Drops Few Inches Inland with Over Foot at Coast; Leads to Ambulance Crash

‘KNOCKING ON OUR DOOR’

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

WASHINGTON—The season’s first snowstorm on Jan. 3 dropped only a few inches of snow across portions of the Medford and Marlton area, with little reported north of there, but buried the Lower Bank, Green Bank, New Gretna and Little Egg Harbor area – as well as points south along the Garden State Parkway – with over a foot of snow.

And the storm is being blamed for the See SNOWSTORM/ Page 8

Photo By Douglas D. Melegari

One of several farmland parcels at the intersection of Route 206 and North Pemberton Road that might serve as the future site of warehousing in Pemberton Township.

Zoning Changes Approved that Allow for Solar Project at Gravel Pit in Tabernacle

Approved Redevelopment Plan Allows Pemberton Township to Join the ‘Warehouse Race’ with Warehousing Now Made a Permitted Use for 19 Parcels, Comprising Mostly Farmland, at N. Pemberton Road and Route 206; Mayor States It Is Being Done to Generate Revenue

Despite Many ‘Good Questions,’ Public Urged to Await Site Plan

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

The Funds, According to Patriarca, Are Needed Because of the Township School Funding Crisis, and While Such Development Has ‘Negatives,’ the Town is Planning Responsibly, Unlike Others

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

PEMBERTON—Warehouse developers have been “knocking on our door for quite some time,” according to Pemberton Township Mayor David Patriarca, who further maintained the “warehouse race is real,” and the municipality would

like to join in, primarily to generate revenue for the town, with Pemberton Tow n s h i p C o u n c i l u n a n i m o u s l y adopting a redevelopment plan last month that would put the township in a position to do exactly that, replacing the existing General Commercial/Light Industrial District (GCLI) zoning for the

TABERNACLE—An ordinance that changes the zoning district classification for some 10 tax lots in Tabernacle Township has been approved by the Tabernacle Township Committee, and while officials last month emphasized that the measure simply “addresses the zoning of the properties” at issue, its passage allows for community solar projects on some of those parcels, and has been done in anticipation of one being proposed for a currently non-operational

“northwestern tip” of the municipality to allow for warehousing there as an additional permitted use.

The redevelopment plan adopted by council on Dec. 15, following the Oct. 7 approval from the Pemberton Township Planning Board, changes the zoning to See WAREHOUSING/ Page 10

See ZONING/ Page 9

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Page 2 ♦

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

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Pemberton High Senior Killed in Lakehurst Road Crash Recalled for ‘Exceling in Everything,’ Was Medical Arts Program Enrollee

By Douglas D. Melegari

tribute that his niece was the “part of our family that made us whole.”

According to the obituary, Bowen, born PEMBERTON—A Pemberton Township in Hoboken on April 12, 2004, grew up in teenager was killed in a Dec. 16 evening Browns Mills. As a Pemberton high senior, crash on Lakehurst Road, in the Browns she was enrolled in the school’s Medical Arts Mills section of the municipality, according Program. to a press release from the Pemberton “Kayla was a sincere, outgoing, outspoken, Township Police Department. and thoughtful student,” said Principal Eder W h i le pol ic e d id not identi fy the Joseph. “She was well-liked by her peers and teenager in the release because she was staff members, and as an active member of a minor, grieving relatives of the victim the Medical Arts Academy, she had plans to later identified her in social media posts as enter the medical field and become a nurse.

17-year-old Kayla Estrella Bowen, with a We all mourn the loss of a life cut too short.” published obituary from Moore Funeral It was noted in the obituary that not only Home noting she was a senior at Pemberton was Bowen an “honorable and dedicated Township High School. student,” but that she was “loved by everyone “My heart has been broken in a million who met her.” pieces that can never be placed back together “Kayla excelled in everything she put her again,” wrote the victim’s uncle in a Dec. 17 mind to,” it added. “She was an excellent tribute. “I lost my beloved niece ... and no and creative artist. She was also amazing at amount of answers can soothe the pain.” building and fixing almost According to police, a anything. She trained in 2015 Nissan Sentra being martial arts and was a operated by the juvenile natural. There wasn’t was traveling east on a ny t h i ng t h at K ayl a Lakehurst Road, near c ou ld n’t a c c ompl i sh.

Rancocas Lane, around She was beautiful inside 9:19 p.m. on Dec. 16 when a nd out , a s sh e wa s a 2010 Chrysler 300 being a c ar i ng, thoug htfu l, driven in the westbound compassionate, strong, lane by Wanda Sprague, intelligent, honorable, 54, also of Browns Mills, trustworthy, sassy, witty, “crossed the centerline of funny and loving person.” the roadway, entered the The obituar y noted eastbound lanes of travel, Bowen is survived by her and crashed head on” into mother, Dinorah Jacome, the Nissan. and her father, David; her The juvenile, police biological father, Alfonso said, was pronounced Bowen; biological mother, dead at the scene by Virtua Health paramedics.

Photo Provided Luz Castro; her sister, Sprague was taken to Pemberton Township High School Kelsey Alvelo; as well as Capital Health Emergency senior Kayla Estrella Bowen, killed many other relatives and friends.

Room at Deborah and in a Dec. 16 crash.

In a s e c ond on l i ne treated for minor injuries, tribute to Bowen authored according to police. by her uncle on Dec. 30, he wrote that he Police said the Pemberton Township and other family members were not looking Police Department’s Traffic Safety Unit, as forward to celebrating the New Year because well as the Burlington County Prosecutor’s “we are left broken picking up the pieces Office, are conducting an investigation into that weigh a ton.” the collision. They are asking anyone who “We just wish we had more time with you may have witnessed it to contact Pemberton to spend,” he wrote. “Hearing you laugh, Police at 609-894-3310, or by calling the seeing you smile, hearing you talk … we love Police Confidential Tip Line at 609-894-3352. you and miss you dearly. … I pray you know Lt. Jay Watters, a spokesman for the how much we all loved you … I write this Pemberton Township Police Department, in tears because all our hearts are broken.” said on Jan. 4 that “the accident is still under In yet another posting, he urged those investigation.” gathering with family to “please hug your “Our investigators are still looking at it loved ones a little tighter and a little longer” with the Prosecutor’s Office,” he added, and to “let them know you love them and noting that fatal accident investigations appreciate their time and presence.” can take a fairly lengthy time to conclude.

“Be kind, be grateful, and say thank-you “There are no charges right now.”

Bowen’s uncle noted in the social media … bless ya,” he added.

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Driver, Who Allegedly Was Using Wireless Device, Fails to Stop, Crashes Into Chatsworth Firehouse, Creating Significant Damage

Top Official Admits Pemberton Council ‘Dropped the Ball’ by Failing to Revisit Shed Limit After Couple is Instructed to Move Second Shed

5, said that “I believe the firetrucks suffered some damage and I believe the ambulance did as well.”

“I do not believe it has rendered those apparatuses as non-operational,” Burns added.

“But I believe as the structure of the building is still being assessed, I believe the damage to the apparatus is being assessed as well.”

The township solicitor said he did not know specifically what kind of damage there was to the apparatus.

Bur ns, during the Jan. 4 township committee meeting, said that while a “car appears to have been driven through the front corner of the building, knocking down a significant portion of brick,” the building has since been secured and “does not present a significant danger.”

“As this might be subject to litigation, certainly with respect to the driver and the driver’s insurance policy and any other insurance claims, I would want to try to limit comments with respect to this as much as possible,” Burns added.

Leisse pointed out that the site visit by a structural engineer has since been completed and that he was “in the process of reviewing the draft copy of the structural report.”

“So, it has not been officially disseminated as of yet,” he said. “As soon as I get that completed, I will forward that to the committee for review. Beyond that, I don’t have any other comment.”

Curry said that the driver was evaluated

by EMS, but did not report any injuries.

The driver, whose identity was not released by state police, received summonses for “use of wireless telephone, electronic communication device in moving vehicles,” and for “failure to stop or yield right of way before entering stop or yield intersections,” according to Curry.

Township Council President Backs Up Resident’s Claim That She Was Advised

by Past Official She Could Have Two Sheds, Alleging She, Too, Was Told That

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

WOODLAND—The Chatsworth firehouse of the Woodland Volunteer Fire and EMS Company has suffered “significant damage,” according to New Jersey State Police, after a motorist, allegedly using a wireless device while operating a Chevy Equinox, failed to stop at the intersection of Savoy Boulevard and County Routes 563 and 532 last month, crashing into the building.

The extent of the damage to the firehouse – beyond the report that it is significant with a structural engineer brought in to evaluate the integrity of the building – “is still under investigation,” according to Township Solicitor William Burns (who has been designated as the municipality’s Public Information Officer) on Jan. 4 when asked about it during a Woodland Township Committee meeting, with Township Engineer Tom Leisse noting that a structural report will be forwarded to the governing body for review.

The crash occurred around 7:22 p.m. on Dec. 22, Sgt. Philip Curry, a New Jersey State Police spokesman, told the Pine Barrens Tribune in an email following the incident.

“A preliminary investigation revealed that a Chevy Equinox was traveling on Savoy Boulevard when it exited the road and struck the Chatsworth Firehouse,” Curry said. “There was significant damage to the building and apparatus inside.”

Curry said the report did not detail what apparatus had been damaged, however, and those details would have to come from the fire company. Both Woodland Volunteer Fire and EMS Company Chief Shawn Viscardi and the entity’s attorney, Nancy Valentino, did not return a request for comment on this story by this newspaper’s deadline time.

Burns, however, in an interview on Jan.

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

PEMBERTON—A Pemberton Township couple that has maintained two sheds on their residential property for over 16 years with no indication from the municipality, up until recently, that they were breaking the law by having them – and even apparently received the OK from a then-municipal official to place a second shed on their lot – claims to have had to spend $250 during this holiday season to move their second shed, the result of a summons issued by the township for having more than one shed and reportedly later upheld by a municipal court.

Had the couple, Edward and Cathy Gritton, of the Country Lakes section of Pemberton, not done so, they faced the prospect of a daily fine of up to $1,200, according to the latter in a Dec. 31 interview with this newspaper, in describing what a municipal judge had told her husband, who she noted spent over “five hours” participating in court proceedings over Zoom, in addition to spending countless hours trying to find someone who had the capability to move the shed.

And while the Grittons have since been advised that their “ticket has been pulled” as a result of their moving the second shed just before Christmas to another part of their lot, complying with instructions from the township’s director of Community Development, David Benedetti, in the wake of their pushback on the summons and having to get rid of the second shed entirely, Cathy Gritton said she and her husband remain concerned the issue has not been fully resolved, and that the money they

just spent will be in vain.

That is because the Notice of Violation and subsequent summons, Cathy Gritton pointed out during a Dec. 1 Pemberton Township Council meeting and in the later interview with this newspaper, was issued for having more than one shed on their property, with Pemberton Township Council President Gaye Burton admitting on Dec. 1 that the governing body “dropped the ball” by failing to revisit the shed limitation as had been promised in August and September of last year.

“I called around and nobody has come to a decision whether or not we could have more than one,” Gritton said. “I am not paying to have my shed moved so he (Benedetti) can come back out (and say you can’t have it).

This is just straight up crazy!”

The promise to revisit the shed limitation was made by the all-Democratic council after several outraged residents came forward to the dais, as did Cathy Gritton, to report that they received Notices of Violation for having more than one shed, despite having them for decades without issue.

The residents had pointed out that they use their sheds to store valuables and lawn care equipment, among other things, and that they help to keep those things out-of-sight.

Those who came forward also pointed out there are scores of properties in town with more than one shed and that most residents were unsuspecting of such a limitation given it was apparently seldomly, if ever, enforced.

They also decried the limitation – said to be enacted in 1977 and last amended in 2001 – for infringing on their private property See SHED/ Page 6

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LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

A view of the blaze that destroyed a home Christmas Eve on Mockingbird Way in Tabernacle Township.

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Photos By Dave Hernandez

Local firefighters Jim Heffernan and Connor Brown bring Christmas presents out of the home.

Christmas Eve Fire Destroys Tabernacle Home, Leaving One Injured, But Community and Firefighters Help to Salvage Family’s Christmas

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

TABERNACLE—A morning fire on Christmas Eve in Tabernacle Township destroyed a single-family dwelling and sent one person to the hospital, but responding firefighters, as captured by a photographer, were able to salvage Christmas presents for the affected family reportedly comprising five individuals – and then the community came together to give them a Christmas they’ll never forget.

The blaze, according to Tabernacle Township Fire Department Chief Keith Zane, was first reported at 9:38 a.m. on Dec. 24 at a home on Mockingbird Way. It remained a one-alarm blaze, he said, but “destroyed the contents of the home making it uninhabitable.”

One resident, identified as an adult male

by New Jersey State Police Spokesman Sgt. Alejandro Goez, was transported to the hospital for evaluation after suffering smoke inhalation.

“Many departments from the surrounding towns provided crews and equipment to extinguish the fire,” Zane said. “The cause of the fire is under investigation by our fire marshal, Mr. Tom Boyd.”

The family, Zane added, was assisted by

the American Red Cross and then went to stay with family members.

One of the responding fire companies posted on their social media page that “unfortunately (the family) lost everything they own on Christmas Eve.” However, at least two firefighters were photographed by photographer Dave Hernandez bringing Christmas presents out of the home.

“Members on location were able to recover several Christmas presents from the blaze,” he wrote.

Additionally, Taber nacle residents reportedly came together to raise more than $7,800 for the affected family, according to social media reports, in addition to presenting a number of new Christmas gifts to them.

“I first want to say we live in the most wonderful place in the world!” wrote one of the organizers of the initiative. “To have a community come together so quick, is just so heartwarming. We have saved Christmas for a family and this is just the beginning. The family said thank-you and are so grateful.”

In response to that announcement, one person wrote online that, “I’ve noticed how the people in Tabernacle take care of each other and it’s beautiful,” while another wrote, “Tabernacle is amazing!”

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Six Pemberton Street Gang Members Charged with Racketeering Suspects Accused With Others of Orchestrating PPP Loan Scam For the Pine Barrens Tribune

PEMBERTON— Si x memb ers of a Sunbury Village-based street gang have been charged with operating a criminal enterprise that is accused of carrying out multiple shootings – including two homicides – along with committing burglary, intimidating witnesses, possessing numerous firearms and fraudulently obtaining more than $125,000 in pandemic relief funds from the federal government, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office and Pemberton Township Police Chief David King announced in a joint Dec. 21 press release.

Eight others have been charged for their role in helping the organization, known as the “Gotti Boy Movement (GBM),” with the two law enforcement officials maintaining they “perpetrated the COVID-related financial scam.”

Sunbury Village is a neighborhood in Pemberton Township.

Those accused of running GBM; Tayron Brown, 25, of Heather Street in Pemberton; Kavon Carter, 24, of Rancocas Road in Mount Holly; Brandon Clifton, 23, of White Pine Court in Pemberton; Javon Forman, 21, of Delap Court in Pemberton; Kyree Weathers, 24, of Lawrence Drive in Pemberton Township; and Sylas Young, 19, of Cornell Avenue in Pemberton Township; were charged with racketeering, “a firstdegree crime that alleges they conspired

to commit violent crimes to further their criminal enterprise.”

The criminal actions “identified in support of the racketeering charge,” according to the two law enforcement officials, began in September 2014, when shots were fired at a Pemberton Township police officer who was sitting in a cruiser in Sunbury Village.

Brown and Carter are alleged to have participated in the shooting.

Clifton is waiting to be tried on murder charges for the March 2017 fatal shooting of Shaquille Williams in Sunbury Village.

Clifton’s co-defendant in that case, Douglas Lewis, was found guilty in September 2021 and sentenced to 58 years in state prison.

Weathers is awaiting trial on a 2020 firearms charge. Forman was found guilty that same year of burglary and a weapons violation, and was charged in February 2021 with possession of an assault weapon with a 40-round magazine containing armor-piercing rounds.

More recently, violent acts allegedly committed by GBM members, according to both Coffina and King, have occurred in other communities, not just Pemberton Township.

Carter and Young have been charged in connection with the April 2021 slaying of 18-year-old Yahsinn Robinson in Willingboro.

Young was charged with first-degree murder, and both he and Carter were also charged with first-degree conspiracy to commit murder and See GANG/ Page 11

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♦ Page 5

Republicans File Lawsuit in New Jersey Supreme Court Challenging Vote That Redrew Congressional Districts

LeisureTowne Suspends All Activities and Amenities for Month of January in Wake of Latest COVID Scare

Bass River, Washington, Parts of Monmouth Join 3rd District, Which Loses Ocean County Municipalities Now Added to 4th

Residents’ Deaths Said Due to Natural Causes; Board Member Resigns

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

TRENTON—A lawsuit filed in the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of the Republican members of the New Jersey Congressional Redistricting Commission has challenged the new congressional d istr icts adopte d last month by the commission in a vote along party lines, which changed the boundaries of the 3rd District, represented by Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, the 2nd District represented

by Republican Jeff Van Drew and the 4th District represented by Republican Chris Smith.

The suit is based on the tie-breaking vote in favor of the Democratic map cast by Commission Chair and former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice John Wallace, Jr.,

who stated that he voted for the Democratic proposal because Republicans drew the congressional map in the last round of redistricting.

The plaintiffs contend that Wallace’s r at iona le for c a st i ng t he vot e wa s “unreasonable” and violates the New Jersey and U.S. Constitutions’ equal protection and due process clauses and asks the state Supreme Court to vacate the new map and to allow the commission to draw up a revised version.

Among other changes, the new map has added two for merly 2nd distr ict municipalities, Bass River and Washington townships, to Kim’s 3rd District, which also picked up a number of Monmouth County communities previously in the 4th District but also lost several in Ocean See DISTRICTS/ Page 13

Driver Crashes into Vincentown Post Office After Mistaking Accelerator for Brake Pedal, Damaging Postmaster’s Office SOU TH AMP TON —A d r iver who reportedly “mistook the gas pedal for the brake pedal,” according to New Jersey State Police, crashed into the Vincentown branch of the U.S. Post Office on afternoon of Dec. 21.

The incident occurred around 12:36 p.m. on a day in which many locals were busy mailing their packages at the facility in time for Christmas.

“A preliminary investigation revealed that the driver of a Kia mistook the gas pedal for the brake pedal while parking at the Vincentown Post Office and crashed into the building,” said Sgt. Philip Curry, a state police

spokesman.

The driver, this newspaper observed, crashed through the part of the building occupied by the postmaster, smashing through the front windows and wall of her office.

“An employee of the post office suffered minor injuries,” Curry said.

The broken windows have since been boarded up with plywood. The postal facility was temporarily closed for the rest of the afternoon on Dec. 21, but reopened the next day.

“It does not appear that there were injuries to the driver or passenger of the vehicle,” noted Curry, who did not release the driver’s identity.

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

SOUTHAMPTON—LeisureTowne, the 55plus community of more than 2,200 homes in Southampton Township, has suspended all its activities, amenities and ticket sales for at least the month of January out of an “abundance of caution” over the latest outbreak of COVID-19 infections, mostly fueled by the reportedly less virulent omicron strain.

L e i s u r eTow n e B o a rd of Tr u st e e s President Larry O’Rourke announced the temporary measure in what he termed a “super-important message” to residents sent out via email on Dec. 31, noting that “the legislation which provides for liability protection for our community” was expiring at midnight on that date, and “at this time the state legislature and the governor’s office have made no arrangements to extend that critically important liability protection.”

He was apparently referring to a law signed by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy on July 2 of last year, which made community associations “immune from civil liability for damages arising from, or related to, an exposure to, or transmission of, COVID-19 on the premises” providing the association has prominently displayed a sign “at the entrance of any communal space shared by … residents and their guests, such as pools, gyms, and clubhouses.”

O’Rourke added that the Board of Trustees would “evaluate the situation at the end of January and determine if we will revert back to an open status or continue in this course of action.” In the meantime, he said, it will “commence a deep cleaning of all physical amenities and will review and update our policies and protocols commensurate with

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H i s m e s s age a l s o not e d t h at t he association office would remain open, conducting business as usual, but that only one person at a time will be permitted in the vestibule and masks must be worn.

In two other LeisureTowne-related developments, a couple found dead at the beginning of December in a home within the community were reported by New Jersey State Police, who investigated the circumstances, to have succumbed to “natural causes” and a member of the board to whom the Pine Barrens Tribune was referred at the end of November in regard to a controversy over a subsequently modified rule governing firewood storage confirmed a report that he has since resigned.

The deceased couple, who have been identified a of Steven Reinish, 72, and his wife Barbara, 64, were reportedly found in a single-family house on the 100 block of Huntington Drive. No other information was provided, but the pair were reported to have had health problems.

T h e for m e r b o a rd m e mb e r, Tom Haluszczak, Jr., an attor ney, for mer prosecutor and author who had previously described himself as the board’s “compliance enforcement guy,” told this newspaper, “I am no longer on the board,” but couldn’t discuss what had prompted him to leave, since “we sign nondisclosure agreements and I have to respect that.”

He did add, however, that there was “no animosity in my leaving,” and that he was “still on very good terms with everyone, and I want to be.”

“They’re good people and they’re trying very hard,” he added.

Page 6 ♦

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

SHED

(Continued from Page 3) rights, arguing they should be allowed to have such things on their properties as they are taxpayers.

During those prior council proceedings, while township officials acknowledged that the municipal code was seldomly enforced for at least the past several years, and steps were recently taken to reorganize the municipal Code Enforcement Division of the Office of Community Development to increase enforcement of municipal code, they expressed some skepticism that Cathy Gritton was actually told by a prior code enforcement official, “Mr. Fisher,” that she could have a second shed on her property as long as it was smaller than 8 foot-by-10 foot, asking her if she had secured that in writing, to which she replied that she did not, pointing out it was some 16 years ago she had consulted with the then-official.

Initially, after Cathy Gritton had repeated that claim again during the Dec. 1 council meeting, contending “Fisher came out there and said it was fine,” Mayor David Patriarca retorted that he was “not going to say he did or didn’t” before maintaining to the resident “you don’t have a permit to say that he did.”

“Well, I am not going to say he did (say that) if he didn’t!” said Cathy Gritton in a heated exchange with officials. “We didn’t need one because, ‘Anything 8-foot-by-10-foot or smaller you don’t need a permit,’ he told us.’”

That remark led Burton to declare, “That is what I was told years ago too,” raising questions about why then the municipality was proceeding with a prosecution against the couple for having more than one shed.

It also led the mayor to change his focus to something else Cathy Gritton had referenced on Dec. 1 in expressing her dismay over the situation, in which she described being told

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by Benedetti, during a site visit he apparently made to her property, that her second shed could not be where it was because it was “too close” to or within 10 feet of her deck.

“That still would have required a zoning application and that is where you wouldn’t have been allowed to do it because it would have been zoning issue,” Patriarca contended. “It may not have been an issue with the construction permit, but would have been issue with the zoning permit. The zoning does not allow you to have a structure within 10 feet from a fence, deck or house.”

So therefore, he maintained, even if council had changed the law to allow for more than one shed, Gritton would still be facing a violation. Gritton retorted she would “tear that all down” so that “there will be plenty of room, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Councilman Jason Allen observed that the township’s “main guy” had visited Cathy Gritton’s property, evaluated the situation and suggested that the couple “relocate” the shed and is “not telling you to get rid of it,” but that “you are saying you don’t want to.”

“If a cop tells me to move my car from a ‘no parking’ spot and I don’t do it, then what happens?” Allen asked.

But Cathy Gritton replied that her reluctance primarily entails “paying all this money” to have the shed moved only to find out that she “can’t have it there” on her property because of the one shed limitation that remains in effect.

“So, if I move the shed, will he (Benedetti) tell me I can’t have it?” Cathy Gritton asked.

“This will cost me $300!”

Councilwoman Elisabeth McCartney replied that she “understood the concern” and then asked if Benedetti could “put flags out” on the resident’s lot to indicate where he would like for the Grittons to move their second shed.

“I would go into the office and have someone come out and show you where to move it,” said

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Burton of her advice to the resident.

Township Solicitor Andrew “Andy” Bayer, however, pointed out that a “violation had been issued” and it was now a “matter now before a municipal court judge.”

“And because it entails zoning, Mr. Benedetti goes before a judge and works with the prosecutor,” said Bayer of how such matters involving issued violations and summons(es) are supposed to be adjudicated. “I think the resident should be speaking with both of them and that could resolve the violation issue.”

That explanation from the solicitor prompted Burton to again advise Cathy Gritton to “go see Mr. Benedetti again and ask that he be specific about where to move the shed.”

“At this point, that is the best we can do right now, unfortunately,” declared the council president.

Gritton, who referred to the entire matter on Dec. 1 as a “headache from hell,” expressed that she felt residents like her come before council asking for its assistance only to have the governing body leave them with the impression of, “What do you want from us?”

She noted that she was facing the prospect of a hefty fine “unless this gets straightened out tonight” by council revisiting the ordinance, but both Patriarca and Bayer pointed out that wasn’t possible considering ordinances require a first and second reading, and any changes to the shed limitations would be considered a “zoning correction or amendment,” requiring input from the township’s engineer, planner and boards.

Additionally, Bayer noted that it was the end of the year and because of the required processes for advertising such ordinances, and state law dictating that ordinances cannot be carried over into a new year, the earliest one could be entertained to change the shed limitation was in January 2022.

“It is not so simple as the resident thinks,” Bayer maintained. “You can write an ordinance that says, ‘now you can have two

sheds,’ sure. But other aspects of code are involved … you can’t have a shed if your lot is small … I am no public safety expert, but that would obviously be a fire problem. Sheds have to be certain distances from structures.

Also, only a certain amount of impervious coverage can be impacted on a lot.

“When we write law here, it applies to every property within Pemberton Township, so council has to draft a law not to benefit you personally, but the community as a whole, and all properties. And there are different size properties.”

Cathy Gritton declared in response, however, “I was told that six months ago,” in pointing out that the issue had been brought to council back in August.

“I think ‘we’ kind of dropped the ball, ‘we’ meaning ‘council.’ because I think we kind of discussed previously that we would look at this resolution and we did not,” Burton acknowledged. “Apologies given for that. I think we need to do that.”

Business Administrator Daniel Hornickel previously told the Pine Barrens Tribune on Aug. 2 of last year that he had directed the Code Enforcement Division to “temporarily suspend prosecution of violations alleging multiple sheds on properties” in residential zones. Cathy Gritton, in pointing this out, claimed on Dec. 1 that she was one of only eight residents to receive a Notice of Violation for having more than one shed and that if “you told them to stop giving the tickets out” why can’t officials “put a hold on the tickets that were given out until you guys came to a conclusion.”

(This newspaper previously reported that despite Hornickel’s remarks, he later said the township proceeded with prosecution against the Grittons because they have “multiple sheds” on their property, with other officials later contending that the actual reason the case was moved forward was because the Grittons failed to “ask See SHED/ Page 15

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Snowy scenes in the Lower Bank section of Washington Township.

SNOWSTORM (Continued from Page 1)

cause of a local ambulance crash.

As one traversed Burlington County Route 563, for instance, the snow depth increased markedly as one passed Wading River Pines Campground in Washington Township.

Then, beginning just past the intersection

Photos By Barbara Somes

of C ou nt y Rout e s 563 a n d 679 i n Washington, as one moved southeastward, heavy wet snow layered and weighed down tree branches, making for a wintry scene allaround. Power outages, however, were not reported in the local area during the storm.

But Washington Township Mayor Daniel James said Tuesday he was satisfied with the response in his town, noting that the roads there were “clear” the day after the storm.

While no official measurements were

Saturday, January 8, 2022

recorded in Washington Township, 13.5 inches of snow fell in Egg Harbor City, Atlantic County, reported to the National Weather Service.

Coastal flooding was forecast along the coast, but according to C. Leigh Gadd Jr., Washington’s public safety official and a committeeman, this time it did not come to fruition like in October when several roads in town were severely flooded.

Gadd said he went down to some of the traditional locations that flood around high tide.

Bass River Township officials, however, said the road conditions in the area of New Gretna were a different story, horrible at times both during, and in the immediate aftermath of the storm, from the snow and ice.

Just about all area school districts closed on Monday due to the snowstorm. The Pinelands Regional School District, which serves the Little Egg and New Gretna area, was closed for a second day on Tuesday, Jan. 4, “due to serious concerns with the safety of transporting students into school.”

Both Pinelands Regional Junior High School and Pinelands Regional High School are located in Little Egg Harbor Township, which had a snowfall measurement of 13.2 inches reported to the National Weather Service.

Mayor Deborah Buzby-Cope, of Bass River, recounted that it had “been a while” since the last significant snowfall in the municipality, at least several years.

In fact, Monday’s storm represented the biggest snowfall recorded at Atlantic City International Airport in more than four years, or since 2018, with 13 inches officially observed at the airport.

At least one accident that was attributed to the winter weather conditions involved an ambulance belonging to Hampton Lakes Emergency Squad, an entity based

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According to Sgt. Phillip Curry, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police, the crash happened Jan. 3 on Chatsworth Road, also known as County Route 532, in the area of the Bordentown Gun Club in Tabernacle Township.

The driver of the ambulance, he said, was in the process of responding to another motor vehicle accident, but then lost control, slid off the road and struck a tree. No patients were inside at the time when the crash happened, Curry noted.

“The vehicle sustained disabling damage at the driver side front bumper,” Curry said.

No injuries were reported, according to both Curry and Southampton Township Mayor Michael Mikulski, with the latter reporting that “it has yet to be determined what damage there is to the ambulance.”

A second stor m system during the morning commute on Jan. 5 produced a trace to a few hundredths of an inch of ice accumulations in the area, according to the National Weather Service. Some parents, in online forums, were critical of some area school districts for not instituting a delayed opening that day, citing instances where their children were involved in slip-and-fall accidents while on the way to school.

The School Resource Officer (SRO) assigned to Demasi Middle School in Evesham Township was praised for guiding children to an area of the school property without icing.

“Maybe a bit more salt would have been prudent instead of children falling on concrete while going into school,” one parent observed online. “That wonderful SRO was kind to help those who slipped get up. Good for him, poor for salting.”

A number of crashes were reported Jan. 5 around the state due to the icy road conditions. Another snowfall was forecast for late Thursday night into Friday.

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Gravel pit at Hass Sand and Gravel, in the vicinity of Carranza and Forked Neck roads in Tabernacle Township, where there is an interest in establishing a community solar project.

ZONING

(Continued from Page 1) gravel pit.

Passage of the measure, however, had initially been delayed, mostly due to a number of public comments, as well as “good questions” posed by both residents and a retiring committeeman regarding the anticipated solar project details, including over how outstanding site remediation work would be handled moving forward.

Three parcels that had been designated as part of the Infill Commercial District were converted over to the Preservation Area District through the ordinance’s Dec. 6 passage, and the measure also contains language that now makes “solar energy facilities” a “permitted, principal use” in the Preservation Area District, provided certain standards are met.

The Pine Barrens Tribune previously reported that the township administration

explained that the ordinance would allow for a commercial solar operation in the township at Hass Sand and Gravel’s gravel pit, in the vicinity of Carranza and Forked Neck roads, and that while the measure “isn’t site specific,” it technically “does address specific sites.”

While the gravel pit appears to not currently be in use and is overgrown with vegetation, it has not yet been “officially closed,” the township administration previously revealed to the Pine Barrens Tribune, and it could still technically be used for mining operations.

Serving as a point of contention for Joseph Barton, who served on the township committee until Dec. 31, as well as other residents, was that there were “conditions of approval” previously placed on the gravel pit that reportedly have not been met, including “restoration work” (removing the remaining gravel and revegetating the area) that Dante Guzzi, now-former township engineer, confirmed in late summer was still “outstanding.” The latest plan, said Guzzi at

the time, is for the issues to be resolved “as part of this approval of the solar facility.”

Barton, after voicing reservations about moving forward with the ordinance, was ultimately outnumbered by his colleagues in an introductory vote, and then absent from the final two township committee meetings of his term, including the one where the ordinance was ultimately decided following second reading, said to be “under the weather” by Kim Brown, who served as Tabernacle’s mayor until the end of the year.

“The (security) bond to restore that property was from 2005,” said Carranza Road resident Ron Moule, during the Dec. 6 meeting, of what he found when he recently reviewed documents pertaining to the gravel pit as part of an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request he made. “I am wondering why you are not using the bond to restore the property before we rezone it?”

Tow nsh ip Solicitor William Bur ns contended that the ordinance up for adoption is “just a general ordinance” pertaining to the zoning classification of the 10 properties, though he acknowledged “it does have specific items in there that must be adhered to if in fact this development were to occur.”

“There has not been an application for this particular development, it just allows it to happen,” Burns contended.

Brow n p oi nt e d out t h at “f u r t her constraints can be put on the property at the next level,” or when any site plan is provided to the township’s Land Use Board.

When Moule asked, “Why rezone for one person’s financial gain?”, Burns maintained that “there are multiple properties listed in this ordinance” that “isn’t for an application.”

“We’re ju st al low i ng th is t y p e of development to happen in this area,” the township solicitor emphasized. “It is for more than one parcel because one of the

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

♦ Page 9

areas in question makes up more than one lot and there has to be multiple changes, according to the Pinelands Commission, which required more than one lot to be included.”

Burns added that what was included in the ordinance came at the recommendation of the land use board.

Joseph Gray, of CME Associates, who succeeded Guzzi as township engineer this past fall, confirmed that “all five items” for remediation referenced in the bond “remain outstanding,” including “regrading of the pit and berms walls in accordance with approved plans (restore tire tracks; seed and stabilize berm walls), installing plantings (on berm walls) as shown on approved plans [from 2003], installing berm blocks as shown on approved plans (to prevent access from any additional roads that lead into the mine area), removing all facilities and equipment (a weigh station is said to be the lone remaining building), … as well as all unstable areas need to be stabilized.”

“In terms of the bond, the Haas’ have requested a cost estimate from my office to allow them to obtain a new bond to finish up these items that need to be addressed,” Gray contended. “We are working on that so that they can purchase that bond.”

Moule also asked officials if they knew the “deepest depth they dug on the property where they actually hit water,” to which Gray replied that the “depth of the water, as part of the operation, was not to exceed 65 feet in depth of elevation below pre-existing ground surface.”

“They were not permitted to get any closer to groundwater than 4 feet,” Gray added.

“As for the depth of wells in the surrounding neighborhoods, I am not privy to that as township engineer. I have no way of knowing what the depths are. That is something to See ZONING/ Page 11

Page 10 ♦

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

Photo By Douglas D. Melegari

The Pemberton Farms Research Campus that is included in the redevelopment plan.

WAREHOUSING (Continued from Page 1)

allow for warehousing on 19 properties in the municipality, all of which are located near the intersection of North Pemberton Road (also known as County Route 630) and Route 206.

The redevelopment area – along the highway corridor, but located away from the dense population centers of Pemberton Township (Browns Mills, Country Lakes and Presidential Lakes) – is approximately 466 acres in size, and is presently “primarily developed and used as farmland,” according to a copy of the redevelopment plan later obtained by this newspaper through an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request.

W h i l e t h e m ayo r a n d B u s i n e s s Administrator Daniel Hornickel spoke at length about the potential future financial and job creation benefits that might come about as a result of allowing warehousing, the top elected official of Pemberton also contended that the redevelopment plan will ensure “we are putting warehouses on Route 206 where warehouses should go” instead of being “too close to the residential areas” of the township.

The mayor, during the October planning board hearing on the redevelopment plan, said the township has been receiving requests to place warehousing on the former tract of Rowan College at Burlington County on Pemberton-Browns Mills Road, for example, but that a site like that – which is between Pemberton Borough and Browns Mills – would be “totally unacceptable” for such development given its proximity to residential areas, as well as its distance from the highway corridor.

Approval of the plan on Dec. 15 by council, however, was given despite objections about warehousing in general raised by a lone resident, Michelle Forman, who contended that a project currently in progress to build a warehouse at the intersection of County Route 530 (also known as South Pemberton

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Road) and Birmingham Road was already generating issues for residents of the Birmingham section of Pemberton, several of whom have homes right across the street from the project.

“This building is way too close to homes on Birmingham Road, and these people’s lives are destroyed now,” maintained Forman, describing that the residents who live there went from looking at woods to staring at dirt hills “taller than this ceiling” (the one in council chambers), as well as have been experiencing dust blowing into their homes during the construction process. “It is like a tornado over there.”

Patriarca, in response, acknowledged that there are “some residents right in this area” of the project currently constructing a 509,038 square foot warehouse on an approx i mately 30 -acre lot at 300 Birmingham Road for Seldat Distribution, Inc., but maintained in that instance, it was the result of “unintended consequences.”

“They built these homes there many years ago,” Patriarca maintained. “The town looked at that area differently many years ago after those homes were built to decide to build industrial on that 191 acres of (designated) commercial (property) there.”

T h e m ayor, i n f u r t h e r ju st i f y i ng allowing a warehouse to be built adjacent to Birmingham residences, pointed out that County Route 530, also known as South Pemberton Road, is now “a five-lane highway” following the recent completion of a county road widening project, and that the parcel the facility is being erected on is “the last property in town” before one enters Southampton Township.

The circumstances surrounding the anticipated redevelopment of the “Route 206 Commercial Corridor” are different, the Pemberton mayor indicated, in noting that the 19 properties that are part of the redevelopment plan are “the best to target” because “they are on a highway” and “away from populated communities,” with only “three residents along this corridor,” two of whom he said were “actually in support of this.”

Additionally, according to Patriarca, projects to build warehouses are already underway “on the other side of Route 206” in neighboring Eastampton Township.

“This is an opportunity to capture revenue that they are already capturing in other towns,” Patriarca maintained. “They are putting their warehouses out there. So, you are going to see them anyway and they are going to be the ones collecting all the money (if we don’t do this).”

The Pemberton mayor estimated that a revenue plan for the Seldat warehouse alone “will bring in excess of a half million dollars of revenue during the first year and works its way up over $1 million dollars over the course of the plan.”

“And that is just from one, ‘small’

Saturday, January 8, 2022

Photo By Douglas D. Melegari

A 509,038 square-foot warehouse for Seldat Distribution, Inc. currently under construction at the intersection of County Route 530 and Birmingham Road in Pemberton Township. warehouse,” Patriarca declared. “I say ‘small’ because it is 500,000 square-feet.

There are others knocking at the door. That is why we are looking to do the Route 206 corridor with this type of development.”

The mayor pointed to the situation in the Pemberton Township School District, which is “struggling for funds” in the wake of state aid cuts and facing a “crisis,” raising and planning to continue to raise the tax levy by 9 percent each year through the 202425 school year to offset the funding loss.

The resulting rise in school taxes, he said, has led residents to come to the township “screaming and hollering that we are raising taxes,” but it is not the local purpose taxes that are actually rising significantly, but rather the local school taxes.

“So, we have to find ways to bring revenue in, and as you know, we don’t have the ability to do that with most of the land in the township because of the (development) restrictions (implemented by the Pinelands Commission), which we are held under.

These are ways for us to capture revenue to keep our side of the tax bill that goes out – the local purpose tax – in a better way so that the increase coming in from other areas does not seem as bad to the residents.”

Warehouses, Patriarca pointed out, do not impact the schools as a housing development might, though the mayor acknowledged there are “plus sides to warehouses, but also negatives.”

“We understand that,” he said.

Residents of municipalities in northern portions of Burlington County, and in counties further to the north, have recently protested “warehouse sprawl” occurring in their communities, decrying the associated traffic – particularly truck traffic – in residential areas.

In Mansfield Township, a little less than 15 minutes away from Pemberton, numerous residences have lawn signs urging the community at large, as well as their elected officials, to “say no to more warehouses.”

Warehouse sprawl has also been at the forefront of local political campaigns there.

In response to the concer ns about

warehouse sprawl, outgoing state Senator Dawn Marie Addiego, of the 8th Legislative Distr ict, wh ich i nclude s Pemb er ton Township, as well as outgoing Senate President Steve Sweeney, met with local officials and residents from Mansfield in early August 2021 to discuss legislation they proposed in response to the concerns to prevent warehouse sprawl.

The proposed bill would update the “Municipal Land Use Law” to require the notification of nearby communities that could “suffer negative consequences of the large-scale projects and give them a voice in the approval process.” The measure would also authorize county planning boards to approve or deny contested construction proposals.

Additionally, a separate piece of legislation co-authored by the two Democratic state senators in late August 2021 would exclude farmland as redevelopment or rehabilitation areas under the Local Redevelopment and Housing Law. Specifically, the bill would revise the definitions of “redevelopment area” and “rehabilitation area” used in the law to specifically exclude any land actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use that is valued, assessed and taxed pursuant to the “Farmland Assessment Act of 1964.”

The aforementioned 19 prop er ties in Pemberton were recently designated

by Pember ton counci l, fol low ing an i nve s t ig at io n u n d e r t a ke n by CM E Associates, as a “non-condemnation area in need of redevelopment” through the current Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, with the corresponding redevelopment plan noting that “nearly 95 percent of the redevelopment area is used as farmland and a few small parcels are used as farmhouses.”

The remainder of the area, according to the plan, is currently used as a small industrial park, known as Pemberton Farms Research Campus.

It is also noted in the redevelopment plan that the redevelopment area is “primarily See WAREHOUSING/ Page 12

Saturday, January 8, 2022

ZONING

(Continued from Page 9) get from health department or the state.”

(At an October 2021 township committee meeting, when a resident posed a question about when the wells at the gravel pit were last tested, Gray replied he was in receipt of a “testing report” from Oct. 11, 2021, that showed testing was performed there for a number of “volatile organic compounds,” with the results showing they were either not detected or found at rates that meet the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP)’s groundwater and drinking water standards.)

John Ervin, director of development at CS Energy, the firm apparently working with the Haas family to establish a solar energy facility at the gravel pit, called the concerns expressed “very valid,” but maintained that “a lot of it will be addressed during the site plan approval process” and that the ordinance “created by the Pinelands Commission” was “not discussing a specific project.”

“I think it is a proactive move for the township to make a solar energy ordinance,” he declared. “The township will see more development like this in the future.”

Brown again reiterated “this ordinance is only addressing the zoning of the property, not the project itself.” But while William Geoghegan, who identified himself as “part of the team working on a solar project in Tabernacle,” and is a project developer at CS Energy, agreed that “this is not about approving a solar project” and “only enables a solar project to be proposed, which will be reviewed via a more intensive site plan process,” he, as the first person to speak at what was a continuation of the public hearing on the ordinance, went into a detailed explanation of the benefits of solar energy.

“According to the New Jersey Energy Master Plan, we are aiming to have 100 percent clean energy by 2050, and solar will make up 34 percent of that,” Geoghegan noted. “Ever y project, big or small, makes progress towards these goals and a community solar project in Tabernacle will show its commitment to a greener future.”

Community solar projects enable greater access to solar energy, he contended, and electric utility customers who have “previously been unable to go solar due to a variety of factors, can now access this

GANG

(Continued from Page 4) first-degree gang criminality.

The investigation into Robinson’s death revealed that GBM had a long-running dispute with certain residents of the Buckingham Park section of Willingboro, where Robinson lived.

Robinson, a Willingboro High School student who was said to be returning home from his part-time job when killed, was not involved in the conflict.

A week later, in the same section of Willingboro, a woman was hit in the leg and a toddler was grazed across his backside by shots fired into their home. Young has been charged with both shootings.

Carter and Young have also been indicted on firearms charges from a separate incident earlier this year, and Forman was charged in October 2021 with witness tampering for making multiple threatening phone calls from Burlington County Jail.

“The substantial charges we have brought against these members of the Gotti Boy Movement and their associates should make clear that we will not allow anyone to engage in indiscriminate gun violence

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renewable solar energy.”

Ba r ton, whe n t he ord i n a n c e wa s introduced on Oct. 25, 2021, noted he was also concerned about reports of possible encroachment on township property by the past mining activities, and then questioned Gray if there were any issues identified at the site, to which he replied that there had been some issues at the gravel pit cited by In-Person Services the NJDEP during a 2016 inspection, though being held after the gravel pit cleared a subsequent 2018 Labor Day at inspection.

18 Mill St. 8:15 am | 9:30 am | B a r t o n , p r i o r t o vot i n g a g a i n s t 11:00 am | introducing the ordinance this past October, Vincentown, NJ 08088 Facebook Live had made a motion to have a surveyfollow doneus on Worship: Sundays 10 a.m. to determine whether therefacebook.com/MedfordUMC was actually 609-859-2299 any encroachment onto township property by the past mining activities. After the ordinance was introduced, the motion was 2 Hartford Road | Medford NJ 08055 entertained by the township committee, but medfordumc.org | 609/654-8111 info@medfordumc.org died because it was not seconded by any of his colleagues.

The ordinance ultimately passed 4-0 on I Am That I Am Dec. 6 in Barton’s absence.

Ministries, Inc. T h e “ t e c h n o l o g y, e q u i p m e n t , All Are Welcome! environmental impact, site design and Sunday Worship Se ervice size” are all “good questions” that “can be “To Know Jesus Christ and at 11:30 a.m. to Make Him Known” addressed during the site plan process,” Pastors Florence and Geoghegan maintained prior to that final Russell Webberr vote, focusing instead on the “tangible 50 Burrs Mill Roadd, Southampton, NJ 08088 benefits community solar can have” for 609 - 847- 4848 Tabernacle.

Pastor Todd Anderson www.iamthatiamministriesinnc.com www. MessiahLBC.church “A community solar project presents Church (609) 893-1700 Bible Sttudy an exciting opportunity for residents of 530 Virginia Drive m .

7 p.m Presidential Lakes, NJ 08015 Tabernacle to save about 20 percent on their Wednessday monthly electricity bills by subscribing to Worship Service - 10 a.m. a project,” Geoghegan declared. “Priority will be given to low-and-moderate-income families to subscribe, and depending on the size of the project, cumulative savings could be $2.5 million over the course of the 20-year project. It will generate clean and sustainable electricity that offsets the burning of fossil fuels and will also reduce CO2 emissions.

“Additionally, passing this ordinance is a great opportunity to get the site restored in a timely fashion, where it will be consistently managed and maintained. Once the project is built and operational, it will be hardly noticeable due to the screening requirements and minimal vehicles entering or leaving the site. Given all the other potential uses, we believe solar is among the least impactful to the environment and community. We hope Photo Provided you agree the net positive of a community State Troopers join with Shamong Township Deputy Mayor Michael Di Croce (center right) solar project will beneficially impact to deliver toys to families in need during the holidays. households in the community.”

Trinity Episcopal Church

Messiah Lutheran Brethren Church

Gathering to Spread Holiday Cheer

and run roughshod over innocent people in Pemberton Township, or in any other part of Burlington County,” said Prosecutor Scott Coffina through the press release. “Yahsinn Robinson’s family should be celebrating Christmas with him right now instead of mourning him, and babies should never be exposed to gunfire coming into their homes.

We are committed to doing everything we can to keep families safe throughout the county, and to bring to justice those who put our neighborhoods at risk.”

Carter, Clifton and Weathers have also been charged with “promoting organized street crime,” as has Brianna Scott, 28, of White Pine Court in Pemberton.

Scott and others are alleged to be responsible for filing multiple fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications.

The PPP is part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act of 2020, which is designed to provide economic assistance to small businesses that suffered a financial hardship due to the pandemic.

The scam, according to both Coffina and King, yielded $124,996 in funds from PPP applications that were filed in the name of GBM members and their affiliates.

Carter, the law enforcement officials claimed, submitted an application claiming he was a barber with an annual income of

more than $105,000 in 2019, even though he was incarcerated throughout 2019. He received a check for nearly $21,000, as did five of his associates, the law enforcement officials noted.

Scott was additionally charged with second-degree conspiracy to com mit computer criminal activity Others charged in connection with the PPP scam include Wanya Anderson, 25, of Jarvis Street in Pemberton, Chad Boone, 30, of Grant Street in Camden; Adam Clark, 28 of Atsion Road in Shamong; Jaquan Crawley-Pitts, 25, of Garden Street in Mount Holly; Altauron Jean, 27, of Press Avenue in Pemberton; Shalaiyha Jean, 20, of East Lakeshore Drive in Pemberton; and Zion Powe, 22, of Ashton Street in Pemberton – all of whom were charged with seconddegree computer crimes with the purpose to defraud, third-degree forgery, third-degree theft by unlawful taking and fourth-degree false swearing under oath.

Clifton and Carter were also charged with second-degree computer crimes with the purpose to defraud, and additional charges against Carter include third-degree forgery, third-degree theft by unlawful taking and fourth-degree false swearing under oath.

“This financial scheme by the defendants to obtain small business relief funds by ‘inventing’ fake businesses, phantom income

and fraudulent loan applications, is merely further evidence of this group’s belief that the rules of society simply don’t apply to them,” Coffina maintained. “They are wrong, and will be held accountable.”

The cases, the prosecutor’s office said, will be prepared for presentation to a grand jury for possible indictment. The defendants will be prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutors Michael Angermeier, Jamie Hutchinson and Joseph Remy. The investigation was conducted by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, with assistance from the Pemberton Township Police Department and the Willingboro Township Police Department.

The majority of the defendants were apprehended during a Dec. 16 sweep that involved the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office, Burlington County Sheriff’s Department, Camden County P ros e cutor’s Of fic e, Merc er Cou nt y Special Response Team, Mount Holly Township Police Department, New Jersey Division of Taxation – Office of Criminal Investigation, New Jersey State Police, Ocean County Special Response Team, Pemberton Borough Police Department, Pemberton Township Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, and Westampton Township Police Department.

WAREHOUSING (Continued from Page 10)

surrounded” by farmlands, as well as “low density residential uses.”

In particular, north of the redevelopment area is a “large solar energy facility, as well as farmland and some small commercial uses,” while south of it is “farmlands and a residential area along the Rancocas Creek.” To the west of the redevelopment area, the plan notes there is “low density residential uses, a solar farm and a few, small commercial uses,” while to the east is “more farmland and farmhouses.”

“Historical aerial imagery indicates that the redevelopment area has been active farmland for many years,” the redevelopment plan states.

Hornickel later told this newspaper through an email that the redevelopment study, done to deter mine if the area met the state’s current ‘area in need of redevelopment’ criteria, covered “most of the non-farmland preserved properties on Blocks 778 and 779.”

“As the Garden State, we are fortunate to have an abundance of farmland throughout New Jersey that can be used for agricultural and horticultural purposes,” said Addiego in a statement at the time she and Sweeney proposed the legislation to overhaul the redevelopment law to exclude farmlands. “However, a loophole in our current law is allowing farmland to be ‘redeveloped’ into warehouses, straining our infrastructure and threatening the future of the farming sector. Alongside further efforts to prevent warehouse sprawl, we must protect the valuable green spaces we have throughout the state and ensure they are preserved as farmland, as intended.”

Warehouses, Addiego further contended at the time, place a “major burden on our communities, with little benefits to show for them.”

“These roads were not designed to accommodate this type of traffic and it presents major safety hazards for residents,” she maintained at the time.

Given that both Addiego and Sweeney lost their re-election bids in November, with the 2021 legislative session scheduled to adjourn on Jan. 11, passage of the bills is unlikely.

The second bill with regards to the redevelopment and rehabilitation definitions “still needs to be heard in committee” in the state Assembly, with an aide in Sweeney’s office telling this newspaper that the committee “is not going to have a hearing” before the end of the legislative session, though she added another legislator could “pick it up” in the new session. Work on that bill also needs to be done in the state Senate, she noted, with an amendment passed on Dec. 20 to the legislation needing to go back through a committee there as well.

The first bill, she noted, does not “even

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have an Assembly bill introduced for it,” making that one also unlikely to pass during a Monday voting session.

“I don’t think it is going to happen,” she concluded.

But Patriarca, also a Democrat, following passage of the Pemberton redevelopment plan on Dec. 15, maintained that “the other towns that are getting this warehouse revenue” are “unfortunately putting them (the warehouses) right, smack into the middle of residential areas.”

“Where we are planning to put these things, to capture this revenue, however, has the least amount of impact to the least amount of residents in the township, with the maximum amount of return on our investment in these properties letting these warehouses coming in,” said the Pemberton mayor of the Pemberton redevelopment plan for the Route 206 corridor.

He emphasized that where Pemberton is now allowing warehousing through the Route 206 Corridor Redevelopment Plan is “where it should go,” or “out on the highway right down the road from Turnpike access or an interchange.”

“It is the responsible planning and responsible development that a community should be looking at,” Patriarca said. “You should not be putting them on the college property, or somewhere down in Browns Mills. That would be ridiculous.”

Hornickel added that “the other thing to keep in mind” is that “opportunities for warehouses” also carry with them “opportunities to create over a thousand local jobs,” whether it be by them having people working in an office for a warehouse, having people maintaining the warehouses, or having people working inside them. He noted that local businesses will also benefit by “providing services to those warehouses.”

“It is not just the tax revenue,” the Pe mb e r t o n bu s i n e s s a d m i n i s t r at or maintained. “It is the bigger picture.”

Sweeney, however, in announcing that he was co-sponsoring the legislation with Addiego, contended that “on top of placing undue stress on local roads and the environment,” warehouses “often only offer low wage jobs, meaning they do little, if anything at all to uplift the communities where they’re located.”

Hornickel, in his email to this newspaper, revealed that over the past year or so, some of the long-time property owners of the 19 properties at issue have sold them to “national developers” that are interested in building “a few warehouses.”

“Through the redevelopment study and subsequent redevelopment planning process, the township is able to revisit various land use standards with the goal of better uniformity in planning for such uses in terms of the design standards – minimum setbacks, maximum area of parcel coverage, limits on building heights, enhanced landscaping and buffering,

Saturday, January 8, 2022

et c.,” t h e Pe mb e r t on business administrator maintained. “We also wanted to modestly expand the GCLI zone to capture a few parcels adjacent to the existing zone.

“Further, and i mpor t antly, we want to be able to engage the developers so that we can negotiate with them through a redevelopment agreement. For example, the potential for new wa rehou si ng pre s ent s NO residents with the RTH PEM op p o r t u n it y fo r n e w BER TON jobs that are a modest RO AD distance from Brow ns Mills, our most populated neig hborhood. It also p er m it s the tow nsh ip to negotiate some green initiatives, such as having the roofs designed for the installation of solar arrays.”

Hornickel noted that Pemberton officials, now that the redevelopment plan is approved, plans to meet with “prospective developers” in the new ye a r. He a l s o c a l l e d t h e pl a n n i ng b oa rd’s October com ments on Photo Provided the redevelopment plan, A map in the redevelopment plan, obtained through an Open Public which were adopted as Records Act request, showing the 19 properties in Pemberton part of it, “insightful.”

Included among them is Township that now have warehousing as a permitted use. that any developers would for the Seldat warehouse under construction, have to provide the township with a truck but again pointed out the “county widened traffic plan, cluster the facilities to “not be the roadway” there.) wasteful with the land” and “so maybe some “… Do we want to take farmland and make of it could still be used as farmland,” bring it concrete? Absolutely not. We are focused the temperature of any lighting down as the on bringing in revenue. We all know the tax property line is approached, ideally in the problems in Pemberton, not on the local 3,000 to 3,500 Kelvin temperature range, purpose side, but the school district is facing and maintain a maximum building height a crisis. … By bringing in this extra revenue of 60 feet. source going forward, this is how to keep Additionally, lighting should not be taxes stable in town. … This isn’t something installed closer than 50 feet from an adjacent we are hoping for. It is just there and real, residential property, and then beyond 50 and we are allowing it to come to fruition.” feet, no lights should be taller than 15 feet Passage of the redevelopment plan for the in height. parcels near the intersection of Route 206 and “Warehouses are coming as fast as they North Pemberton Road came just weeks after can scarf up land,” Patriarca said. “In some Pemberton council approved another for three places, they are totally unacceptable, for lots, totaling some 153-acres, that comprise example, the former county college property. the Greenberg Farm, which abuts both North It is totally outrageous to utilize that for a Pemberton and Arneys Mount roads, with the warehouse and we are not about that. But latter plan allowing for the construction of up we have gotten interest in this (Route 206) to 354 age-restricted homes, of which 40 will corridor, on the outskirts of our town, on be set aside as affordable housing units. The a county and state highway. If this is going locations are just a few minutes away from to happen, this would be the perfect spot. each other, with the age-restricting housing (The mayor, however, noted he “does not plan already prompting concerns of increased know” if Birmingham was the “perfect spot” traffic in the area.

06

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he loses communities to redistricting.”

“However, I am still pleased with my new district and the towns that I’ve gained,” Van Drew added. “Honestly, I wish that I could keep all of them because I enjoy the people from South Jersey who live in them.”

Van Drew also said that he considers redistricting “a crazy business, because you don’t know what towns you are going to keep and don’t know what towns you are going to lose.”

“But I am glad to serve them all, and consider it an honor,” he declared.

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(Continued from Page 6) for an extension.” Cathy Gritton told this newspaper on Dec. 31 that she also requested a variance, but was denied, and instead “received a ticket in the mail in an envelope separate from the denial.”)

“Council does not have power to do that,” Bayer maintained. “Council can’t tell law enforcement or code enforcement not to enforce the law. That is not their job. …

You don’t want your elected officials telling people how to enforce the law because then you will say you are doing it corruptly, you let your friends go and that is not how we do business here in Pemberton.”

That led Cathy Gritton to retort that she had been a resident of the township since 1983 and “don’t tell me” that the municipality doesn’t make decisions “based on who you know,” representing one of several tense exchanges between her and the solicitor on Dec. 1.

Gritton also pointed out that just in her neighborhood in Country Lakes alone she found 30 properties with more than one shed, including one just a couple blocks away that has six sheds on it. She questioned why only eight people had been singled out.

“Code enforcement is like police enforcing motor vehicle laws,” Bayer maintained. “You can be driving 62 mph in a 50-mph zone and get a ticket, and the guy going in front of you, driving the same speed, doesn’t get a ticket.

And you say, ‘Why me, he was speeding too.’

That is not a defense to the violation.”

The tensest exchange between the Cathy Gritton and Bayer, however, came when the resident pressed council as to “how long it would take” for the governing body to revisit the ordinance with Burton responding “it could take us a minute,” causing Bayer to

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scoff, “I don’t think the resident wants to do anything – just leave it the way it is!”

“Exactly!” Cathy Gritton retorted. “I want to leave it the way it is! I bought it! I pay taxes! Every time you turn around, there is a tax increase, and you can’t do this, and you can’t do that!”

She then demanded that Bayer “stop talking” to her, causing the solicitor to contend that he was “simply just advising council as to their rights and responsibilities.”

Burton reiterated that it is “going to take a minute to even consider” revisiting the shed limitation because she did not yet know whether the majority of council is actually in favor of increasing the number of sheds residences are allowed to have.

“I am not going to lie to you and say we would automatically change the ordinance, or with how long it would take,” Burton maintained. “Because I don’t know how long it would take.”

Only Burton and McCartney indicated on Dec. 1 that they might be amenable to increasing the number of sheds a resident can have on their property, with the latter pointing out this ordinance was “written years ago” and “many, many people have more than two sheds.”

“At what point did we start looking at the ordinance, and start saying we need to tell the residents to (be in compliance)?”

McCartney asked. “What was the thing that (prompted all of this)?”

The council president replied that “we are just enforcing a lot of things that haven’t been enforced” on the municipal books, or that “dropped (by) the wayside,” and that the increased enforcement was not just limited to sheds.

Patriarca pointed out that the township also “brought more code enforcement officers on” the township rolls and “that c er t ai n ly is goi ng to generate more

violations,” though Hornickel maintained a directive to enforce the shed ordinance was never handed down by administration to code enforcement and most of the violations stem from “one neighbor complaining about another neighbor.”

However, when Burton took that to mean “somebody was in the neighborhood giving somebody else a violation and a neighbor complained” about Cathy Grittons’ second shed, Patriarca then appeared to contradict the business administrator by saying “no,” adding that “code enforcement rides around all day long, four days a week,” observing “what they know to be a violation and then issue summonses for those violations.”

“At some point, sheds became a priority issue with code enforcement and there has been several of us in the township that have fallen victim to that, including myself,” the mayor declared.

Patriarca, in expanding on that latter remark, maintained he recently had to “rent a dumpster and remove three sheds,” taking a “sledgehammer” to them (though he acknowledged they were mostly empty unlike those belonging to the residents complaining), after the municipality’s Code Enforcement Division received a complaint about his residence having multiple sheds (though he contended the sheds were there when he purchased it.)

Council man Donovan Gardner, in seemingly indicating how he views the issue, pointed out that the mayor “did what he had to do” and it was “basically end of story.”

“But it is not that easy because people don’t have money to do that all the time!” retorted Burton, prompting Gardner to reply, “If the current ordinance is ‘no more than one shed,’ then do what you got to do.”

Seemingly agreeing with that school of thought was Councilman Paul Detrick, who maintained that, “Usually as a citizen, you find out what the rules are, and you make

changes to bring yourself into compliance.”

“That is what you are expected to do as residents,” he said. “I live in the township too. If they come out and cite me, I got to take care of it. Rules are the rules.”

He added that if council changes the law to say, “everybody can now have two sheds,” then “everybody who has three, four or five sheds” might then come before the governing body and demand that they also be accommodated through an ordinance amendment because they have “always had their sheds” too.

“Rules have to be drawn somewhere,” Detrick maintained. “And everybody has to obey them. That is how rules work.”

A llen, in advocating h is position, maintained that Cathy Gritton should just “go out there” with Benedetti and “follow his advice” with Hornickel, in shedding some light on Benedetti’s recommendation despite the one shed limitation, saying that “the code does allow for accessory buildings” and that “maybe Mr. Benedetti went out there and indicated you can move it and file a zoning application for an accessory building.”

“I am kind of curious, why are sheds high urgency (for code enforcement) anyway?”

Burton asked. “Really? Honestly, with all this stuff we can be dealing with, I don’t understand that!”

The council president then called on her colleagues to live up to their commitment to “deal with” the shed ordinance, adding, “We need to do that.”

Until then, Patriarca’s advice to the resident – who said she was hoping more residents would come to upcoming council meetings to complain in hopes that it will prompt changes – was, “either remediate the problem or pay the fine.”

“But you will be doing one or the other as long as the law is a law is on the books saying that you can’t do something,” the mayor added. “You can’t do it. It is that simple.”

Page 16 ♦

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