Forum includes talk on PRCs,
sewers, recreation, taxes & behavior
BY TARA PETERSEN
Staff Writer
The first televised election debate in Millstone’s history went off without a hitch.
“This is a monumental moment,” Mayor Nancy Grbelja said in her opening remarks. She also urged everyone in attendance to refrain from outbursts and disrespectful behavior.
The 90-minute debate on Oct. 21 was moderated by League of Women Voters representative Phoebe Edwards.
Robert Kinsey, Township Committee Republican candidate, sparred with independent incumbent John Pfefferkorn on several issues, with future development dominating the majority of the discussion.
Kinsey said that the best way to control property taxes in town is through open space and farmland preservation as well as the addition of “clean ratables” along the Route 33 corridor.
Pfefferkorn, however, argued that using prepaid school taxes to pay off debt, combined with pursuing clean ratables along the corridor such as professional offices and upscale planned retirement communities (PRCs), is the way to go.
Pfefferkorn said the community is facing “tremendous increases” in property taxes and that the surplus is shrinking.
“Taxes are the number one issue on people’s minds,” he stated.
Pfefferkorn also said that the tax issue threatens “the very well-being of our culture.”
“It’s not an impending tax doom that we have,” Kinsey said.
Kinsey took several opportunities to criticize Pfefferkorn’s plan for PRCs.
“My opponent likes retirement communities, but I’m telling you there are huge ramifications of this,” Kinsey warned. “The PRCs are going to be a tremendous drain on our environment. They require a special [environmental] classification I don’t think we are going to get.”
Kinsey said the PRCs would require sewers.
Pfefferkorn said that he does not believe the PRCs would require the use of sewers, and that he does not want sewers in the township.
Pfefferkorn also emphasized that he would look for larger lot sizes than the typical PRCs have, which would minimize the impact on traffic and eliminate the need for sewers.
While acknowledging the demand for PRCs, Kinsey rejected the idea that this was possible.
“When [developers] buy land values, they are looking to maximize their profits,” he said. “The developer is not going to do the project if he can’t get the zoning he wants.”
“The developers will not control what happens in Millstone,” Pfefferkorn said, adding that the committee and Planning Board would be able to control the development that comes in.
Kinsey also said that there would be added infrastructure and emergency service costs associated with any housing development.
When asked about their stance on combining the Planning Board with the Zoning Board of Adjustment, Kinsey said that he does not “necessarily see the need.”
He added, however, that “if it [saved] hundreds of thousands of dollars, I would give it some hefty consideration.”
Pfefferkorn — who has criticized Republicans Grbelja and Deputy Mayor Elias Abilheira for attempting to combine the two bodies earlier this year — said that he feels the move would infringe on landowner rights.
“This is one of the reasons I ran as an independent,” he said.
Pfefferkorn further stated that combining the two bodies is effectively shutting down both entities, and that it would result in the mayor being able to reappoint an entirely new land-use board.
Kinsey stated that if elected, he would ask to become the new financial liaison, and he also criticized Pfefferkorn in the role.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that the liaison didn’t oversee the finances,” Kinsey said. “That will never happen on my watch. I look at every penny, and the answer is [because] I can.”
Pfefferkorn defended his stint as the liaison by saying that he has been actively involved, but that the chief financial officer (CFO) has all the power in terms of moving money from one bank account to another.
Pfefferkorn has been critical of Kinsey’s plan for centralized recreation, saying it would cost $5 million for the land, and another $7 million to $10 million for the building and facilities. He instead would like to complete Charles Abate Park.
Kinsey said that a centralized recreation facility would cost much less, and that the township could partner with the county and state for grants that could pay “upwards of 50 percent.”
The two candidates were asked how they would try to restore civility in the committee meetings.
“By behaving myself,” Kinsey said.
He told the audience that residents are “just fed up with what they see.”
“They laugh and say they are watching reality TV,” he continued, “[but] they are sick of it.”
He said Pfefferkorn was the common denominator over the last three years of arguments.
“He’s always in the middle of it,” Kinsey said.
Pfefferkorn, who said his actions were a result of personal attacks, accused the Republican party of wanting to “control this town in the worst way.”
“I’m going to continue to challenge money [being spent]…, ” Pfefferkorn said. “Questions are not an attack.”
He warned that a Republican majority probably would tone things down at the meetings, but that “the deal will be done behind the scenes.”
The candidates closed by summing up their platforms.
Despite expectations of inappropriate behavior, both the candidates and the audience refrained from any interruptions throughout the event.