Politicians, public bicker as council kills ordinance
BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer

HOWELL — At the Dec. 5 Township Council meeting, one of the final times the current members of the governing body will sit together on the dais, its members spent the session the way they have spent most of the year — at odds with the public and one another due to political differences.

This time, the topic at hand remained an ordinance that proposed zoning changes to 73 properties on Easy Street, Herbertsville Road, Lakewood-Allenwood Road and Newton’s Corner Road. As part of the ordinance, those properties were proposed to be changed from ARE-2 zoning to an R-1 classification, effectively reducing the required minimum acreage per building lot from 2 acres to 1 acre.

Some residents said the community had not been properly notified about the amendments to the ordinance, while others disagreed with the amendments altogether.

The ordinance was part of the Planning Board’s master plan recommendations that were to be acted upon by the council following a public hearing.

Due to the volume of public comment, the hearing had been carried from the council’s Nov. 28 meeting to Dec. 5. Following another three hours of comment, tempers flared.

Councilman Robert Walsh continually proposed that the ordinance be held for action until after Jan. 1, the start of the new legislative year.

After that date, Walsh and two new council members, Angela Dalton and Michael Howell, will assume control of the council. Walsh, Dalton and Howell were elected as independents. Republican Mayor Joseph DiBella and Republican Councilwoman Cynthia Schomaker will be in the minority in 2007.

The terms of Republicans Peter Tobasco and Juan Malave will end on Dec. 31.

“We have an obligation to make it right,” Walsh said. “There are some things in here that should not be here. Something with so many eyes on it should not have so many flaws. I have a difficult time with downzoning; let’s look at it some more.”

Many residents came before the governing body to say the same thing.

“There’s a lot here that’s injurious to the citizens of Howell,” Abe Magid said.

Resident Elizabeth Naskiewicz saw the ordinance’s placement on the agenda as an “11th-hour attempt to get it through by the end of the year.”

In response to comments such as those, Mayor Joseph DiBella fumed.

“I want to put that rumor to an end. When we came up with that list [of ordinances to be acted upon] … was there a policy decision that said, ‘let’s wait until after the election and ram this in before the end of the year?’ ” he asked Township Manager Thomas Czerniecki.

Czerniecki said a process was laid out and followed appropriately.When Walsh referenced what he believed to be an application before the Zoning Board of Adjustment for housing on Easy Street that presumed 1-acre zoning would be in place, DiBella took exception and implored Walsh to call authorities and ask for an investigation of how a plan was submitted before the ordinance was even acted upon.

“Let’s get it on the record,” DiBella said.

He also pointed comments toward Walsh.

“I’m fed up with the constant accusations that people are doing things unethically,” the mayor said.

Walsh did not extend an olive branch, either.

“On Nov. 7 the people of Howell said your decision-making was flawed,” Walsh said to DiBella, referring to the results of the election which saw three Republicans lose in their bid for seats on the council.

“This is one of the reasons I’m stepping down” from council, Malave said as the comments among the elected officials flew back and forth.

Malave then accused Walsh’s “cronies” of filibustering so that the council would not act on the rezoning ordinance before the new year.

That comment incited the members of the public.

When the time came to vote on the ordinance, only Schomaker voted in favor of its approval. She said her reasons were based on needing completion.

“What are we going to do this for?” she asked. “Days? Weeks? Months? This is something ... that has been worked on around the clock for two years. At some point, we need to draw the line.”

Tobasco, DiBella, Malave and Walsh voted against adopting the ordinance. As such, it will need to be reintroduced next year.

According to DiBella, the current governing body was “politically paralyzed.” He added, “We’ll see how quickly it takes to get done” next year.

Upon the ordinance’s defeat, Schomaker said, “Now we are saying to both our planner and our attorney, ‘You don’t know what you are talking about’ by creating a document full of holes.”

As DiBella and members of the public jawed, the discussion eventually closed with the mayor saying, “Mother Teresa would be hung in this community.”

After the council meeting adjourned, DiBella and Walsh retreated to a conference room behind the dais where another heated exchange could be overheard taking place.