They just don’t care!
It’s difficult to face, hard to believe, but when you put it all together there does not seem to be any other explanation.
The powers that be in Atlantic Highlands simply don’t care whether the residents, taxpayers, or anybody else either knows what they’re doing, or even gets the chance to share their own opinion before action is taken.
The latest example of this slap in the face to taxpayers and residents was the almost unanimous approval of a series of not even sure how many variances to enable Carton Brewery to add other uses and violate borough ordinances for property that lies on the main street between the borough’s elementary school and its borough hall.
It was the second night of a hearing on Carton Brewery; a handful of people were at the meeting. There was every indication that once the testimony was complete, the planners would make the decision on whether Carton Brewery could break several borough ordinances with their permission. There seemed little doubt they would . And they did. One one planning board member, Martin Hawley, voted against approvals to break the law.
Similar to all meetings for the Mayor and Council and the Planning Board….but not the Harbor Commission … the meeting was advertised to be available on ZOOM.
At the beginning of the meeting, when it was realized for whatever reason, ZOOM was malfunctioning and those relying on it at home could neither hear nor be heard at the meeting, the Chairman announced the meeting would proceed as usual. The attorney sitting beside him did not question the decision, nor did he say it was a violation of either the legal announcement of the meeting or any other laws depriving the right of the public to be heard.
They just don’t care.
Those who relied on the legal announcement of a meeting with ZOOM and opted to attend in that manner, never got to attend the meeting. Nor did they get the opportunity to speak during any of the public sessions at the meeting.
They just don’t care.
After discussion on the couple of brief driving surveys presented that night, the attorney hastily put together a series of stipulations Carton Brewery, the applicant, had to complete in order to get the variances it was seeking. A resident present at the meeting wanted to question, or comment on the resolution before it was voted on by the planners. The lawyer told him he couldn’t.
They just don’t care.
There were residents at home armed with a series of questions they wanted answered; they never got the chance.
They just don’t care.
It isn’t that this is the first time. The Harbor Commission, in spite of spending millions of dollars doesn’t even ZOOM its meetings. If you can’t make it to Borough Hall on a Tuesday night, you simply don’t get to say anything on harbor decisions.
They just don’t care.
Earlier this month, the borough attorney and the administrator both sent letters to one resident and offered a deal to her for keeping the public steps … owned by the borough…open. There is no indication they gave that same privilege to anyone else in town.
They just don’t care.
Last year, the zoning officer granted approval to a non-profit organization to lease a closed parochial school for use as a day center for autistic adults, ruling it is the same use as an elementary school and no variance would be needed.
They jut don’t care.
Five years ago, they began negotiating on a formal complaint to the State when a handicapped person filed the action because she could not drive at night and there was no public transportation to enable her to do so. That lawsuit has yet to be settled.
They just don’t care.
The Planning Board has proven it simply doesn’t care about the impact on residents because all the laws they approve to be broken. The board is comprised of brilliant minds, men and women who ask tough questions, get answers, work hard, then make decisions on how the applicant can break the law and get what he wants.
It seems the planning board has lost sight of what it is supposed to be doing. Instead of following the Master Plan, it appears it goes out of its way to ensure the applicant submits a proposal they can approve more easily, making the applicant look good for altering original plans and conforming at least a little bit better with what the borough Master Plan really says.
By their own calculations, in the years between 2022 and last year, the planning board received 72 applications to break the law. They granted 79 per cent of them. They did not deny any of the 31 of those applications submitted in the past two years. There were nine applications dismissed or withdrawn by the application without any action, most likely, the planners think, because of the “ applicant perception that the Planning Board would not approve the application and wanted to avoid negative votes and application of principles…”
There are extenuating circumstances when for the good of the residents, perhaps the law is wrong and should be changed. It took one woman a few thousand dollars to get a generator installed on her property simply because she lives on a corner lot before that was accomplished.
Yet the planners gave a bunch of variances to a newcomer in town; he had purchased the firemen’s field house lot purely and simply to make money. The planning board did notice. They easily gave him all the necessary approvals to build not simply two houses on the lot, but three, each with four living levels, and all selling for more than a million dollars across the street from considerably smaller homes.
They just don’t care.
This week, as they granted approvals for even more variances, the planners even praised Carton Brewing for it plans to renovate the front of the Brewing building. One of the variances allows for it to be more esthetic and blend in better with the neighborhood. Yet it was the planning board in the first place who had given its approval to the windowless concrete building on the main street in. They could have stipulated more attractive building way back then. But they did not.
They just don’t care.
