Honor Neptune Arctic Explorer, Say Some Township Residents
Neptune to sue zoning board for usurping power
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/26/07
BY BILL BOWMAN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
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NEPTUNE – The Township Committee voted Tuesday to take the virtually unprecedented step of suing the Zoning Board of Adjustment over a decision it made in July.
The committee will argue that, in approving an application for a car wash and quick-lube business on Old Corlies Avenue, the board usurped the township’s zoning power, Township Attorney Gene Anthony said.
“The Township Committee has zoning powers,” Anthony said. “The Board of Adjustment hears applications, but is not supposed to be rezoning that tract.”
Anthony said his goal was to be in court by this morning with papers for a temporary restraining order Ñ prohibiting the developer from demolishing a house at 1019 Old Corlies Ave. Ñ and with the lawsuit itself.
He said an action such as this is “pretty rare. There are only one or two cited decisions.”
That’s because municipal governments generally steer clear of decisions made by zoning boards, he said.
The township zoning board’s July decision sparked an outcry among area residents, including members of the Pyle family, which once owned the home at 1019 Old Corlies Ave.
The group has formed a grass-roots organization called the Old Corlies Avenue Preservation Association, the goal of which is to win historic district status for Old Corlies Avenue between Route 33 and Wayside Road.
Anthony cautioned the committee, saying that the legal action had at best a 50-50 chance of success.
He noted that the parcel on which the house sits is zoned commercial, but there are residential uses all around it.
“It’s a hard case,” he said. “Most towns lose.”
Anthony said the township could be successful “if you can show the decision of the board created a substantial change in the character of the tract as it is zoned.”
Mayor James Manning Jr. said the suit was a chance the township should take.
The development “will change the character of the area,” he said.
Zoning Board Attorney Monica Kowalski told the committee that the developer, 1019 Old Corlies Ave. LLC, had agreed to hold off any demolition until the township’s suit had been adjudicated.
Kowalski said after the committee’s vote to challenge the board’s decision that she wished “them luck, and I am disappointed.”
Anthony said that it was “imperative” that the grass-roots group also file a lawsuit because it has more standing than the committee does.
Melissa Pyle, a leader of the group and a member of the family that once owned 1019 Old Corlies Ave., said that her group’s lawyer was preparing a lawsuit now.
Pyle said the committee’s decision is “a great step in the right direction.”
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Judge’s ruling slights Neptune
I am stunned Superior Court Judge Lawrence Lawson, who is familiar with the Neptune area, ruled in favor of allowing a car wash/lube facility to be built in an all-residential neighborhood on Old Corlies Avenue in Neptune. (“Local group fails to stop car wash plan,” Oct. 9.)
This is not Route 33. It is Old Corlies Avenue. This means I will have a car wash/lube facility right next to my driveway and house.
There will be cars idling while waiting. That will fill my yard and space with exhaust and noise, to say nothing about the noise of the car wash and blowers. They did not even consider building it next to the gas station on this undersized lot.
We have at least 300 signatures from people who live in the area protesting this being built in a historic area. This is where Neptune was founded. My house is the oldest house in Neptune Township. It was built in 1790.
The judge’s decision means that in our town no one’s home is safe from our Zoning Board.
The car wash/lube station was not a permitted use in this area. The rules can be changed to accommodate anyone coming into your area with “professionals” to talk for them. The residents were not heard.
I thought our board and township worked for the residents, not the people coming in to make a profit. I believed the rules were here to help protect me and our community from unjust use of power. I was wrong.
Joyce B. Pyle
NEPTUNE
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Superior Court To Hear Neptune Zoning Case
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