Letters to the editor

No special favors granted by council

To the editor:
   James Specca has been harshly critical of the current Springfield Township Council’s land use policies. He and I have had a series of letters published in this paper in which he has been critical of me and my support for the current council. Mr. Specca alleged that there was something improper about how my property came to be its current size of 8 acres. It is quite disturbing to me that, in his anger over decisions made by the present Springfield Council, Mr. Specca doesn’t hesitate to besmirch the reputation of people who served on the council and Planning Board more than a decade ago.
   Neither the council members (Martin Poinsett, Ken Sunderland, Joe Tilghman, Fred Johnson, and Gerald Parker) nor the members of the Planning Board granted my family any special favors in 1995. We applied for the realignment of the two 5-acre building lots we purchased before the 3-acre minimum lot size was required. Not a single member of council or the Planning Board knew us personally. They simply voted according to the law in effect at the time and granted us one 2-acre lot and one 8-acre lot.
   I don’t blame Mr. Specca for standing up for his beliefs, but his stand should not extend to misrepresenting facts, personal attacks, and misplaced insinuations of unethical conduct by those who served our township with dedication more than ten years ago and those who currently serve.
   Ingrid Wood
Jacksonville
Longtime resident feels towns is polarized

To the editor:
   On Nov. 8, Springfield Council introduced ordinance 2006-15 again creating a 10-acre downzoning. However on Sept. 13, Superior Court Judge Sweeney invalidated the previous downzoning and related ordinances as failing to meet the strict requirements of the existing land use law.
   Judge Sweeney also described it as a "hybrid zoning scheme." His ruling was challenged by council and in November he denied councils request for a ruling change. Now this council is appealing the original decision by Judge Sweeney to a higher court. Taxpayers hang onto your wallets and pocketbooks; $61,000 was spent revising our Master Plan for the original downzoning. Lawyer’s fees have exceeded $100,000 and are rapidly climbing.
   The recent election results had close to 700 voters supporting the Unity Democratic team and a return to 3-acre zoning. Three-acre zoning has been in effect for several years and has worked well. Since 1980, only an average of 14 homes a year have been built in Springfield, hardly a development problem. Various meetings during 2005 and 2006 indicated that hundreds of our residents don’t support 10-acre zoning, which devalues and restricts our resident landowners on the use of their land.
   This council constantly refers to our residents concerns as trivial. We are referred to as a "vocal minority." In the Burlington County Times on Nov. 3, Councilman (Denis) McDaniel stated, "We have 3,400 residents in town. We have about 100 who are mad at us." He needs to be reminded that almost 700 residents voted for the Unity Democrat that supports 3-acre zoning. Or maybe Mr. McDaniel was referring to the over 100 resident landowners whose use of their land is devalued and use therefore restricted.
   The attitude of this council is extremely disappointing.
   The other thing I read was that Mr. Toone feels he needs to explain the 10-acre zoning to the Democrats. Where he made his mistake in that statement is that a large portion of the people who voted for the Unity Team are Republicans. There are also a few members now on council who were registered as Democrat at one time.
   The concerns of our residents are ignored. They spend our taxpayer dollars like water flowing in this township. Instead of leaders, they act like dictators. They have succeeded in polarizing our township. I have lived here all my 77 years and it saddens me deeply.
   Charles P. Rue
Jobstown
Resident believes facilities influenced coach resignation

To the editor:
   Legendary Florence Boys basketball coach Art Bobik resigned last week. He didn’t leave because of age, health or personal reasons. He left because the brand new multimillion dollar high school has only a gymnasium and one small auxiliary gym for the boys and girls teams to share. The auxiliary gym is too small to conduct practices. It was Bobik’s understanding the boys and girls teams would have two gyms. The boys and girls teams now have to alternate practice schedules just like 20 years go. He simply wasn’t going to compromise himself. I can’t blame him.
   Why was he misled? He and girls coach Vince Cipriano should have been told as soon as the decision was made not to include two gymnasiums in the school plans. Where is the school board contingency plan to solve this problem? Why isn’t the old high school (which sits vacant) available for the next 15 weeks for the boys and girls teams to practice on?
   Past school board president, now current member, Bill Berry stated the school had no recourse because of state regulations. Is that the best we get from our school board and administration? Teachers require students to think independently and be creative to find solutions to problems. I expect the same of my school board and administrators. Stop taking the easy way out by throwing the state under the bus. Support your teachers and students. Find a solution.
   It’s obvious to me that building a new high school is not a cure all to our townships growth. One of my daughter’s third-grade classes meets on the stage of the all-purpose room while a gym class is going on. Student enrollment numbers in the elementary school have increased substantially over the past four years. The school is at maximum capacity.
   How can Florence Township retain and attract top teachers and coaches to its system with these deficiencies?
   I hope there is an action plan in place to absorb the overflow of children from the hundreds of new homes to be built over the next couple of years. Most of these children will be of elementary not high school age. I would hesitate before converting Marcella L. Duffy School into something other than a school. We just might need it.
   Gary E. Olaff
Florence
Billboards only benefit certain landowners

To the editor:
   The only division in Hedding on the proposed billboards to be erected along Route 295 is between the property owners on whose property these signs will be erected and will financially benefit, and the rest of the community.
   The township already has an ordinance which will prohibit these 14 x 48-foot signs, towering at 60 to 90 feet above grade.
   I have no problem with property owners looking for a way to help pay their taxes, but not at the expense of their neighbors whose property will be devalued by these monstrosities. Just go down Old York Road to Bordentown Township and you will see the impact these billboards have at day and night.
   Those who use the excuse that Hedding is not a village and the erection of these billboards will not negatively effect the homes are wrong. According to Mansfield Township’s Master Plan, Hedding is a village. And now we even have the village idiot(s) to prove it. So it is a no-brainer, Township Committee and Planning Board. There is no need to change our present ordinance at all, period.
   Claudia Teal
Hedding