The Lakewood Industrial Commission (LIC), which is an arm of the Township of Lakewood which "oversees the Lakewood Industrial Parks and acts as a business community ombudsman on behalf of the township" (according to their website), was no ombudsman at their regular monthly meeting this morning.
Pre-COVID, the LIC held monthly meetings at Town Hall which, in accordance with the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act, were open to the public and members of the public were provided an opportunity to comment on LIC matters.
Due to Lakewood Township's continued COVID emergency which somehow necessitates keeping most of Town Hall closed to taxpayers and voters, the LIC has been holding their meetings virtually, online and on the phone. In lieu of receiving public comments in person, they have been accepting comments by mail, email, and live during the meeting over the phone.
According to emails obtained by FAA News, the LIC today played major games to ignore and suppress public comments which were sent in regarding a very time sensitive topic - the Township Committee's proposed ordinance to permit banquet halls as an accessory use in schools in all zones which permit schools (see our first report on this proposed ordinance here).
A day or two ago (over Yom Tov), the LIC posted to the Township website their "draft agenda" which stated that "Public Comment during the meeting emailed to:..." meaning that public comments should be sent in during the meeting.
However, shortly before the start of the meeting this morning at 11:30am, the LIC posted to the Township website a "final agenda" which changes the rules to say "Emailed Public Comment (time-stamped 8 hours prior to the meeting) to..."
According to emails obtained by FAA News, in accordance with the instructions on the draft agenda, multiple public comment emails - including regarding the proposed banquet hall ordinance - were sent in at the start of the meeting.
Surprisingly, at the beginning of today's meeting, LIC Executive Director Steven Reinman announced that the emails would not be read because "emails needed to be sent in 8 hours prior to the meeting"!
Since the LIC did not have the decency to even read the public comments emails, we will post them here:
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Good afternoon LIC members,
This email is for public comment.
The Township Committee is introducing an ordinance which will permit banquet halls in schools in an zones which permit schools.
As to be introduced, the parking requirement is wholly insufficient for banquet halls in Lakewood. This may lead to a lot of on-street parking in the Industrial park which the LIC is working so hard to combat.
Therefore, I urge you to lobby the Township Committee to amend their proposed ordinance to either:
1) not include the industrial park in the zones in which banquet halls will be permitted in schools, or
2) fix the parking requirement so it will meet the real need for banquet halls in schools
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Good morning Mr. Reinman and LIC,
I am writing to alert you to an ordinance which our Township Committee is proposing which I hope you will lobby to fix.
Currently, the Township's zoning ordinances do not permit banquet halls in schools.
The Township Committee is proposing an ordinance to change this, to now permit banquet halls in schools - in all zones which permit schools.
The ordinance has an extremely low parking requirement - apparently the Township Committee is completely clueless as to how many people attend simchos.
As introduced, the ordinance will permit banquet halls in schools in the Industrial park.
Because the Township Committee is not requiring sufficient parking, this will lead to many people parking on the industrial park roads - which you just built your park and ride to discourage the on street parking.
I feel that it would be in the best interest of the industrial park businesses if the LIC would urge the Township Committee - now, before the ink gets dry - to fix this proposed ordinance.
Either fix the parking requirement to 1 space per 1 person of banquet hall capacity, or eliminate the industrial park from this ordinance.
The industrial park simply does not need banquet halls which will bring lots of parking to the streets.
Thank you for your consideration!
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Seems that the LIC simply chooses to ignore and suppress the public, especially when the topic is "too hot for them".
This is not the first time that we have busted the LIC pulling these games.
Previously we reported on the LIC ignoring public comments when the topic of the day was the LIC's lease of The Strand for $1 a year, and them spending more money on monthly utilities for the upstairs residential apartments than what they collect in monthly rent.
Perhaps the LIC should change their moto to "when the going gets tough, the tough get going".
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2 comments:
What's up with the LIC? I assumed that they were clean and weren't into the shenanigans like the committee members. Their job is to take care of our businesses in the industrial zone. I pay a lot of taxes here, and I fully expect my operations not to be hampered by the insane amount of traffic these large banquet halls bring with them. If the Commission refuses to look out for our business interests, we may have to find a different location for my operation. Then the township can convert the industrial zone into the biggest wedding / bar mitzvah / sheva brachos / you-name-it-simcha zone, in the Country. This way families from all across the USA can come and make their simchos here. Of course the schools and their associated banquet facilities won't be paying taxes, but who cares. The committee will simply keep raising the homeowners property taxes, which they seem to be quite good at. At this point, I'm feeling abandoned by the people in position to protect us, I need to see some action from the LIC or I'm outta here and I presume a mass exodus will follow.
They could care less most of the lic members do not live in Lakewood or pay property taxes it up thr most corrupt township board they also dont put the tax money collected from industrial park businesses back into the township coffers for example the Blueclaws pay a total of 175k a year to lease the stadium from the Lakewood taxpayers but that money goes into the lic bank account and they spend it on their pet projects which includes 2k a month for marketing by a lic family member and 500 dollars monthly allowance for a car to the chairman who gets a 160k salary from the township.
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