BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer
OCEAN TOWNSHIP — Council chambers overflowed last week with irate residents pleading with the Township Council to enact a law to restrict seasonal rentals.
The overwhelming attendance at the May 10 council meeting was in response to a recent U.S. District Court decision in the neighboring city of Long Branch, where the court dismissed a challenge to two city ordinances that limit landlords to renting single-family homes to large numbers of tenants.
“We are asking [council] to introduce an ordinance tonight [granting] One Certificate of Occupancy (CO) a year and adopt it at the May 24 council meeting and enforce it May 25,” said Chris Matches, the president of the Ocean Township Quality of Life Association, at the meeting.
Quality of Life is a community group comprised of more than 225 township residents that formed in 2003 to protect residential neighborhoods from the detrimental impacts of seasonal renters, according to Matches.
“Because of our proximity to the ocean, we have people that just come here for the summer and our neighborhoods are treated as a resort,” Matches said. “We are also close to Monmouth University, so it creates an opportunity for landlords to rent their properties out for the summer and then again throughout the year to college students. This creates an unstable neighborhood and our neighborhoods are being torn apart.
“An ordinance [on seasonal rentals] would prevent landlords who rent in the summer from renting again in the fall or winter,” Matches said.
The Township Council adopted ordinance 1989 in August 2004, which limited landlords of single-family homes to obtaining one certificate of occupancy over the course of 12 months.
The ordinance was aimed at controlling disruptive behavior generated from seasonal rental properties in residential neighborhoods, according to councilman Christopher Siciliano.
But the council rescinded the ordinance shortly after a group of residents filed suit against the township in September 2004. The suit charged that the ordinance violated the constitutional rights of certain property owners to equal protection.
“We were told that we had a suit against us and we were advised by our legal counsel at the time to drop the ordinance,” Siciliano said in an interview after the meeting.
With the victory in Long Branch, Ocean Township residents expected the council to reintroduce the ordinance and enforce it in the township, according to Matches.
Township Attorney Martin J. Arbus explained that the issue at hand is complicated and the council will be taking no immediate action to reintroduce the ordinance.
“The federal court granted summary judgment in favor of Long Branch and against various landlords, which is a terrific victory for Long Branch,” Arbus said at the meeting.
But he added that Long Branch decided not to enforce ordinances 26-04 and 27-04 – which limits landlords to one CO per year as well as address late night disturbances – until a decision was made in court.
“As a result, Long Branch has not yet enforced the ordinances,” Arbus said. “Ultimately, the court said there is no injury or risk of injury until the ordinance is enforced. It is still a great result, but it is the initial battle, not the entire war.”
Arbus added that Long Branch is currently discussing when it will begin to enforce the ordinances.
“I know the township had interest in reinstating the ordinance if Long Branch was successful, but we have to look at the bigger picture,” Arbus said.
Mayor William Larkin predicted at the meeting that as soon as Long Branch enforces the ordinance and issues a violation to landlords who do not comply with the law, the city will be in court again.
“It’s all part of a game plan,” Larkin said. “Now the next phase has to happen. We go as far as we can and we have to go through many obstacles.”
Siciliano said, “Unfortunately, the township is waiting it out until Long Branch enforces the ordinance,” adding that in the meantime, the council is kicking around other ideas to address unruly behavior from renters of seasonal properties.
About two years ago the township police department put together a task force that Siciliano said “has really come out hard against college parties and took care of half the problem.”
Township officials are in discussion about creating a task force to deal with code enforcement as well as looking into introducing an ordinance to revoke COs of landlords who qualify for “animal house” criteria, according to Siciliano.
“We have really been grappling with this and we are doing plenty,” Siciliano said.
Anyone interested in joining the Ocean Township Quality of Life Association can visit the Web site at OTNeighbors.com.