Committeeman's offhand comment on area irks residents

From the Press of Atlantic City, 4/23/2009

MULLICA TOWNSHIP - The future of three wooded lots and the neighborhood they are located in could be decided by a resolution the Township Committee is expected to vote on next week, while comments made by one committeeman have residents a little perturbed.

The lots, each less than five acres, are in the 25-acre "forest area residential," or FAR, zone along 23rd and 24th Avenues. The FAR zone designation is supposed to limit development in this area to one single-family dwelling per 25-acre lot.

However, the Republicans on the Township Committee claim the lots are "pre-existing nonconforming," meaning homes existed on the property before the regulations were put in place.

Charles Horner, director of permitting for the Pinelands Commission, said this allows for reconstruction to happen within five years of demolition without having to seek Pinelands Commission approval.

Construction department officials said the buildings were demolished in August 2004.

"This is actually a provision of our rules in the local municipality's rule book," Horner said. "So municipality has some latitude, and long as they're not trying to do anything peculiar, we're not going to raise any issues with it."

The Republicans want to auction off the properties to generate revenue from the lots before they lose their value in August.

"In the six years I've been here, I've never voted to sell a buildable lot," Mayor Janet Forman said. "This is a different animal, I think. If we can get some money in the coffers, why not? Not that I'd like to do (it) every year. But this year? They're expiring; we're going to lose whatever value they have."

Democrats Bernard Graebener and Michael St. Amour are against the plan.

"As a township, we want compliance with municipal land use law and by selling nonconforming lots were just disregarding this principle," said Graebener, adding he believes the Republicans are doing this because they already know who they want to property to be sold to. "I do think that they have someone in mind or they wouldn't be selling them."

But it was Graebener's public comments, in response to Forman discussing how the neighboring lots already are built on, that raised some eyebrows.

"These houses … they will probably be torn down also. If you look at them, they're just in poor shape," Graebener said of the homes in the neighborhood. "It's not like it's a real nice neighborhood."

Committeewoman Kathy Chasey replied saying a number of homes in the neighborhood have been bought and rehabbed.

"Well, I was down there today, and I didn't see many," Graebener responded.

Alvin Flamer, a 55-year-old disabled war veteran who has lived on a 5-acre property on 24th Avenue for 23 years, is one of several residents who took exception to those comments.

"I think he should rethink what he said. This is a nice place where everyone is like family and children can play in the street without a problem," said Flamer, who recently spent more than $50,000 on home improvements. "We pay a lot in taxes and get very little in return. During snow storms, they'll plow the streets in Sweetwater right away and never come down here. But we don't complain. We make do. I shoveled my wife's car out of the street during the last storm. That's just how it is."

Jackie and Michael Castellanos moved from an urban setting to a home on a 10-acre property on 23rd Avenue three years ago to provide their young children with a better neighborhood to grow up in.

"There's no one walking down the street cussing or selling drugs like there was before. I can sit on the porch while the kids run and play in the yard, where before I had to pretty much be glued to them," said Jackie Castellanos, 26, whose father, Joseph, built the home. "Sure there are things that could be improved, like the trash in the woods. But overall, I really have no complaints."

There are some, like Jim Fifth who is building a new home for his family on 24th Street agree that the neighborhood is "a little depressed," but argue that building nice homes on the three lots could spark a turnaround.

"You put two nice houses next to mine and the neighborhood is 50 percent new," said Fifth, 55. "Then even the current residents would be encouraged to make the property better."

Fifth attempted to purchase two of the three lots a few years ago but was told the township was not interested in selling them as buildable lots. He was able to purchase the lot between his and one of the soon-to-be-auctioned lots for $5,000. The township had asked $10,000. Minimum bids for the three properties are currently $26,200 for one of the lots and $26,400 for the others.

"As a result of the home I put at the end of the street, the lots next to mine are much more attractive now, I guess," said Fifth, adding the township should stipulate the lots be owner occupied when sold to. "Owners care more about their property and their neighborhood."

Graebener said he did not mean for his comments to sound as bad as they did.

"I didn't want to come across being elitist or anything like that," he said, adding he was trying to explain that it wasn't a viable neighborhood. "I just want to let those lots revert back to being forest."

E-mail Robert Spahr:

RSpahr@pressofac.com