MILLSTONE: Township acts to rescind sex offender residency law

By Melissa L. Gaffney, Staff Writer
   MILLSTONE — The Township Committee introduced an ordinance that would repeal the community’s sex offender residency law, which has been invalidated with the recent state Supreme Court ruling that municipalities are not empowered to enact such laws.
   Sex offender residency laws were contested last year in some area municipalities after a New Jersey appellate court ruled that state law would supercede such ordinances. A May 7 state Supreme Court ruling additionally determined that towns cannot regulate where sex offenders live.
   Millstone temporarily took its ordinance off the books last year, said Deputy Mayor Bob Kinsey, as the law’s status was pending after the appellate court ruling.
   ”We can’t have a law on our books that usurps state law,” he said during the governing body’s June 3 session, when the ordinance to repeal the sex offender residency law was introduced. .
   The court ruled that Megan’s Law trumps any municipal ordinance that would be on the books, according to Township Attorney Duane Davison.
   ”The Supreme Court, which is the last court that will review the matter, has unanimously stated that a town is without power to enact an ordinance that sets residency requirements for sex offenders,” he said. “The court’s rationale is that Megan’s Law does that with state law.”
   According to Millstone’s ordinance, enacted in 2005, it was unlawful for any sex offender to live within 2,500 feet of public or private schools, parks, parklands, playgrounds, libraries or child-care facilities, which the township referred to as “prohibited areas.” The township set violations to include a fine not exceeding $1,250, imprisonment for no more than 90 days and/or a period of community service, also not to exceed 90 days, as detailed in the ordinance.
   Mr. Davison said that, were the township to try and uphold its own ordinance, it could open itself to lawsuits for violation of sex offenders’ civil rights.
   Committeeman Mike Kuczinski also said he thinks it would be a problem to keep the ordinance on the books.
   ”It would be just a shell,” he said. “I would love to be able to have something more stringent, but the bottom line is that we can’t enforce it.”
   On the state level, a less restrictive sex offender law, which would prohibit sex offenders from living within 500 feet of a school, day-care center or playground, was approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Monday. The proposed legislation now can be called to a vote in the Assembly.
   The second reading and public hearing of Millstone’s ordinance to repeal the sex offender law is scheduled for Wednesday, July 1, at 8 p.m. in the municipal meeting room at 215 Millstone Road.
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