Space on ballot sought for preservation query

Staff Writer

By Mark Rosman

Space on ballot sought
for preservation query

MANALAPAN — A resident is asking municipal officials to place a nonbinding question on the November general election ballot.

Speaking to the Township Committee during the public comment portion of the July 25 meeting, Ray Kalainikas, of Sweetmans Lane, asked municipal officials to allow residents to answer yes or no to the following question:

"Shall elucidation of land-use rights and zoning replace taxation and bonding as the proper, realistic and effective means of saving open space in the state of New Jersey?"

Essentially, Kalainikas wants Manal-apan voters to have a chance to say whether they favor spending millions of dollars to buy land and preserve it as open space or use zoning laws to preserve land at little or no cost.

He said that up until now the only option voters have ever been given in the form of a public question on the preservation issue is the option to spend state, county and local funds to acquire land. He maintains that the majority of voters who have approved open space funding represent a tiny fraction of the state’s residents.

Kalainikas said he believes that given the chance to vote on a plan to spend no money in order to preserve land, New Jersey voters would approve such a plan. He said his request for such a ballot question has been turned down by the county freeholders in Monmouth and Ocean counties. He asked Manalapan officials to be leaders in the state and allow residents a chance to vote on the question.

"Let’s see how the people of Manal-apan vote on that question, and you will have other towns looking to Manalapan," he said. "In the end, I suppose, it all comes down to money. There is so much money involved, and it is the fear of losing money that doesn’t allow politicians to let residents vote on this. I suspect it has a lot to do with putting money in people’s pockets."

His comments led to an interesting exchange with municipal officials who were faced with the prospect of telling Kalainikas why they would or would not consider placing his proposed question on the Manalapan ballot.

Mayor Mary Cozzolino acknowledged that the preservation issue is an important one, but said that given the fact that efforts are already under way with open space funding programs, "I worry that your proposal would confuse the preservation effort. I don’t think it’s an either-or proposition. I’m reluctant to put this on the ballot."

Committeeman Stuart Moskovitz noted that the issue of using municipal zoning laws to regulate development is a complicated issue and asked Kalainikas, "How do you get all of those considerations into a referendum question?"

Deputy Mayor Rebecca Aaronson, who is a Democratic candidate for the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, told Kalainikas she wanted to do more investigation into some of the issues he raised.

Kalainikas told committee members they have until the end of August to decide if they would like to place his proposed question on the November ballot.