The Besadar Holdings application continues to face contention from all sides, with the Lakewood Township Planning Board again contemplating from withdrawing their appeal on the matter.
Viggy Blech has responded by threatening to file a federal lawsuit against the Board if they withdraw their appeal.
Yechiel Herzl, the Mayor's Designee on the Planning Board, is the "man in the middle."
As first reported here on FAA News, back in June 2022, Solomon Halpern of Besadar Holdings, represented by Attorney Robert C. Shea, Esq. and Engineer Brian Flannery, presented a "mostly conforming" application for 9 new single family homes on a cul-de-sac road along the southwest side of Fourteenth Street, southeast of Curtis Lane.
Many neighbors, represented by Attorney Ron Gasiorowski Esq. and Engineer Gordon Gemma, opposed the application.
The Planning Board typically approves new developments easily, especially if they are technically fully conforming. However, this application got very special treatment.
The Board cited concerns that there would be insufficient parking both off and on-street due to the "possibility" that there would be basements.
Board Chairman Moshe Neiman explained that his hesitations with this application were due to the "uniqueness" and "specific clientele" of the Fourteenth Street neighborhood.
Ultimately, the Board voted nearly unanimously to deny the application. Only Chairman Neiman and Mr. Yair Stern abstained from voting.
As previously reported here on FAA News, back in August 2022, the developer returned to the Board seeking reconsideration.
Despite renewed pushback from the developer, the Board again uncharacteristically advocated strongly on behalf of this "unique" neighborhood.
Chairman Neiman uncharacteristically sided strongly with the neighbors, stating, "yes, the application is conforming, and therefore, in a court of law a judge might side with you, however, this board needs to take into account the exclusivity of this neighborhood."
"We can't deny this application solely due to traffic, and if we could do that, we would deny every application because there is traffic everywhere in Lakewood. However, this is a very exclusive neighborhood, with neighbors who have lived here a long time and there are no basements in this area, therefore, this application would change the look of this whole neighborhood and that's why the neighbors fought so strongly against this application," Chairman Neiman added.
The Board voted to deny the reconsideration request.
As first reported here on FAA News, represented by Attorney Shea, back in November 2022, the developer filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Board's denial, asserting that "though there was one single design waiver, the application was "effectively as of right."
As previously reported here on FAA News, following the filing of the lawsuit, Viggy Blech retained Attorney Ed Liston Esq. to join the lawsuit as intervenor and help defend the Board.
Ultimately, as previously reported here on FAA News, at a plenary hearing held on November 2, 2023, Judge Wellerson overturned the Board's denial, saying that he is constrained and compelled to reverse the Board's denial of the application because "the Township Committee is the one with the authority to look at an undeveloped piece of property and determine what the appropriate use of the property should be. Unfortunately, it's not in the Planning Board's discretion to question the density permitted by the Township Committee."
"I'm not substituting my own judgement for what is best for Lakewood. I'm saying that I need to consider what is reasonable under the circumstances. Was the reason for the denial based on the waiver or based on other reasons, such as the "uniqueness" and "specific clientele" of the Fourteenth Street neighborhood.
"There is no record before the Board that an approval of this application would create a dangerous situation. Therefore, the question here simply is 'does Lakewood permit this type of development?' That is the question. The answer is yes. Therefore, the Board simply can't enact its own zoning plan," Judge Wellerson concluded.
Subsequently, the neighbors decided to appeal the decision. In January 2024, they filed an initial Notice of Appeal to the Appellate Division.
At the time, the Planning Board agreed to join the appeal.
However, as previously reported in this bombshell report, the Board's participation in the appeal nearly got thrown away due to pressure from Yechiel Herzl.
Mr. Liston who is representing Viggy Blech, called out the Board for daring to cave in to this pressure, noting that ironically, Mr. Herzl was not even a member of the Board when they denied this application so he shouldn't now have any basis to meddle with the Board's prior actions.
At the time, despite Mr. Herzl's strong efforts, the Board held strong to their original commitment to join the neighbors in appealing the ruling, and they filed their appeal brief.
Now however, the Board is once again being persuaded to withdraw their appeal and they will be discussing the matter tonight in executive session.
Ahead of the closed session, Ed Liston has formally placed the Board on notice that if they withdraw from the appeal, he will file a federal lawsuit against the Board for violating Mr. Blech's constitutional rights.
Mr. Liston also questioned if Yechiel Herzl's pressure is really coming from Mayor Ray Coles.
Mr. Liston also objected to the Board discussing Mr. Herzl's suggestion in closed session. He vowed to file complaints with the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and the New Jersey Attorney General's Office if the Board does go into closed session.
Portions of Mr. Liston's letter are shown below.
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1 comment:
This Planning has been collapsing since our unelected minority party member Vaad appointed puppy & dummy Democrat Mayor Ray Coles, who's put back in this year the biggest unqualified clown to the planning board as Mayor's Designee, Yechiel Herzl. Yechiel has really messed up soo much in the last number of months since he rejoined the Planningboard. He believes that no application should ever be denied at the board, and not to be concerned about the disaster he's creating by his actions.
It's TIME FOR YECHIEL HERZL TO GO!!
The time for him is past due to retire from the planning board.
Do we need to be picketing outside Mayor Cole's house and demand change?
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