Gerald Nathanson
Guest Column
I read with consternation the letter (Examiner Dec. 30) from Chris Berzinski, demanding that Upper Freehold Township Committeeman William Miscoski recuse himself from all matters dealing with township government.
Mr. Berzinski’s contention is that because Miscoski is willing to offer 50-plus acres, free, to the township for a new school, he should be chastised for it. Berzinski certainly proves the adage that no good deed goes unpunished.
The fact of the matter is that Committeeman Miscoski, as part of the group that owns Cream Ridge Golf Course, is speaking with a developer who is willing to buy the golf course and build an adult community similar to Four Seasons. This requires a variance because there is no adult community use on the current township zoning map. Once this would be granted, the land promised to the township would be transferred.
The problem here seems to be that Mr. Berzinski, along with his activist wife, Sue Kozel, prefers not to have any development at all. Well, so do I. When I moved in I wanted to be the last person in. Alas, my selfish desire to surround myself with the unspoiled (read universally undeveloped) landscape runs counter to the law which prevents a township from prohibiting all new development. It is a difficult task trying to accommodate all competing interests, but the township has a good record of success. Upper Freehold is far behind other municipalities in Monmouth County when it comes to the rate of residential development. The ability to keep our township the bucolic wonder that it is, is due, in no small measure, to the township master plan, the Planning Board that reviews applications by developers to ensure that they comply with the master plan, and a zoning board that reviews applications for land use that is not in accordance with the master plan but that may be a benefit to the township.
Just what is it that Berzinski objects to? It is this: an adult community whose residents will bring no children into our school system and whose residents will contribute over $3 million in taxes to the township each year receiving few services in return. I am sure that Committeeman Miscoski would recuse himself from any decisions by the Township Committee or township boards that address the Cream Ridge Golf Course property, and we would expect nothing less.
But for Committeeman Miscoski to recuse himself from, “all discussions and all votes concerning appointment of members to the following township bodies: the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the Board of Health, the Environmental Advisory Committee” because Berzinski demands it, is so ridiculous that it borders on the preposterous.
Although Mr. Berzinski, in his letter, asks us to “consider this a plea from a resident to his local officials,” it smacks of “loseritis” in its rawest, most unvarnished form. Finishing fourth out of four candidates for Township Committee, Mr. Berzinski has taken every opportunity to discredit those who thrashed him in the election, his letter being one more sorry example of that pettiness and peevishness. What a shame, for Mr. Berzinski and our town.
Gerald Nathanson
Upper Freehold Township