Democrats hope to unseat GOP in Allentown

Republicans Strobino and West face challenges from Stephanie Smith and Bill Soodul.

By: Mark Moffa
   ALLENTOWN — Democrats Stephanie Smith and Bill Soodul are hoping to defeat Republican incumbents David Strobino and Art West next month in the race for Borough Council while continuing to question the actions of the governing body over several issues.
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Strobino running on record

   ALLENTOWN — Republican incumbent Dave Strobino is running on his record and Borough Council experience in an effort to be re-elected.

   Mr. Strobino is running with incumbent Art West, who was not available for comment.

   They are opposed by Democratic candidates Stephanie Smith and Bill Soodul, who are challenging borough officials on matters such as the property line for Heritage Park — which they allege encroaches on Ms. Smith’s land — and a land swap that occurred in 1994 between Councilwoman Margaret Armenante and the borough. Ms. Armenante was not a Borough Council member at the time.

   First elected to council in 1996, Mr. Strobino is seeking his third term. He is a service manager for a mechanical contractor.

   Mr. Strobino said he hopes to be re-elected so he can continue the work he has begun with his fellow council members on issues such as the reconstruction of the borough’s bridges, park development, and the Monmouth County construction of the Allentown Bypass.

   The Easterly Route, or the Route 526 bypass, will run from Route 526 near the Hope Fire Department to Route 539 North, just south of Route 195. The Westerly Route will run from Route 539 to Ellisdale Road, and will eventually connect on the west side of Route 526.

   The Main Street and Church Street bridges have been targeted for repair by Monmouth County.

   The park system is an area Mr. Strobino said needs more attention.

   "I would like to see some of the existing parks taken care of as well as continued improvement of Heritage Park," he said.

   The park areas around Mill Pond need particular attention, he said.

   "I would like to see it in the next three years turn into what it was 25 years ago when the park was first completed," he said. Since that time, he added, paths have been overgrown.

   Mr. Strobino cited his long-time connections with the borough’s community as a reason voters should re-elect him.

   He has been a member of the Allentown Lions Club for 12 years, and is a past president. He also has been a "den mother" for the Cub Scouts, coached baseball and soccer locally, and is involved in the Allentown United Methodist Church.

   Mr. Strobino questioned his opponents’ devotion to the community.

   "I don’t see any long-term commitment to the community (by Ms. Smith and Mr. Soodul) other than a flurry of involvement in the past six months," he said.

   He said Ms. Smith’s dispute over her property line "has nothing to do with the borough." He said he was not on the council for the Armenante land swap and didn’t know much about it.

   In his time on the council, he said, the concern about borough hall has been the attempt to make it compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

   The challengers, Ms. Smith and Mr. Soodul, have questioned moves the borough made regarding Ms. Smith’s property line and a land swap that took place in 1994 between Margaret Armenante and the borough, among other things. Ms. Armenante currently is a Borough Council member, but was not on the governing body in 1994.
   Borough officials claim the property line in dispute has been in place since 1984, 15 years before Ms. Smith bought the house. The land swap, officials say, was simply correcting an anomaly that existed in the property lines between borough hall and Ms. Armenante, who owns a house on one side of borough hall and is the office manager in her husband’s law firm on the other side.
   Ms. Smith, a certified public accountant who works as a project manager for Bristol-Myers Squibb, has lived in the borough for five years. In December 1999, she bought a house on South Main Street, next to the Old Mill and a proposed entrance to Heritage Park.
   In July 2000, the borough installed a snow fence along the property line between her house and the borough’s property. The fence cuts diagonally into the area in front of her house.
   The fence placement prompted her to question the borough about the property line, she said.
   "Since that time I’ve made almost every council meeting to try to learn what’s going on in the borough," she said. "This house is at risk by the borough because of the fence."
   Ms. Smith claims the borough did not receive the required permission from the state Department of Environmental Protection for the fence. Her property is listed on the state’s historic register, she said, meaning the borough would need to obtain permission for the fence.
   Ms. Smith has copies of several DEP letters describing the "encroachment" of the Heritage Park property on her land. In one, from April of this year, the DEP wrote the disputed area of her front yard was "not intended to be included within the area purchased with Green Acres assistance."
   According to the document, the DEP asked to borough to "correct the survey of the park and to sever out these areas from the park boundary."
   Councilman Michael Schumacher explained the history of the property line.
   In 1984, a development company called KEM Associates owned the land and was interested in building a complex of 71 single-family houses. An entrance to the development was to be from South Main Street, and KEM’s property at that point included Ms Smith’s current property.
   But the borough, Mr. Schumacher said, did not want to see the historic house demolished, and asked KEM to relinquish that land. They agreed, he said, and in 1984 the crooked property line that exists today was drawn so the house would stand yet there still would be enough room for a drive into the housing development.
   In the late 1980s, though, as the real estate market declined, the Carteret Savings Bank foreclosed on KEM. Soon after that, the bank was taken over by the federal government in a move associated with the savings and loan scandal.
   Then, with the federal government owning the land that is now Heritage Park, the borough was presented with an opportunity to buy the land, and so it did, with assistance from the state DEP’s Green Acres program. The park was designed with a gravel entrance and parking planned off South Main Street.
   Mr. Schumacher provided The Messenger-Press with copies of public borough documents dating back to 1984 detailing the borough’s plan.
   "From a real estate perspective there is absolutely no question the borough owns that property," he said.
   He refuted Ms. Smith’s documentation that Green Acres did not want the triangle of land from Ms. Smith’s front yard to be included by saying the borough’s contract with the DEP made "no mention of any problems."
   Ms. Smith made an offer in August to buy the sliver of land for $5,000, plus $1,000 for legal fees and $1,000 for survey costs. The offer was rejected by the borough in September.
   "I had to start somewhere," Ms. Smith said.
   Ms. Smith’s Democratic running-mate, Mr. Soodul, is self-employed. He said he runs an antique business, and handles credit searches and title insurance.
   The all-Republican council, he said, needs balance.
   "It appears to be one-sided," he said.
   Mr. Soodul said he and Ms. Smith are simply raising questions, and not accusing the borough of anything. They hoped to get answers to some of their questions at a Borough Council meeting Tuesday.
   One of the questions they hope will be answered is why the borough swapped land with Ms. Armenante in 1994. She was an unopposed candidate for Borough Council in 1999.
   Prior to 1994, the driveway to the rear of borough hall was technically part of the adjacent Malsbury & Armenante law firm. And, the row of shrubs on the other side of borough hall, which borders Ms. Armenante’s house, was part of the borough hall property.
   The borough decided to combine the hedgerow and a piece of property behind it with Ms. Armenante’s property and to add the driveway to the borough’s property. Overall, the move meant the borough was giving up 0.070 acres of land, and receiving 0.032 acres.
   Mr. Schumacher said the switch simply made sense, especially if the borough ever were to sell its property.
   But Mr. Soodul questioned the move. The borough already had a legal "right of way" to use the drive, a distinction that is transferred with a property if it is sold.
   Plus, he said, the piece of land behind the shrubs could have been used for additional parking for borough hall. Instead, he said, the borough spent unknown thousands of dollars to remove old gas tanks from the land before giving to the Armenantes.
   About $6,000 was spent to landscape the shrub line before giving that away as well, he said.
   "How many thousands of dollars did it cost and did it benefit the borough of Allentown to have fee title to a property they already had the right of way to use?" he asked.
   "There could be a legitimate reason that they did it but that’s up to (Mayor Stuart Fierstein) to explain it," Ms. Smith said.