MONROE: Museum, Playland futures uncertain

By Natalia Knochowski, Staff Writer
   MONROE — The future of The Stone Museum and Greek’s Playland, along with the banquet facilities on the property at 608 Spotswood-Englishtown Road, still is up in the air, awaiting a decision about an application to be considered by the Zoning Board of Adjustment on Nov. 30.
   In 1972, Spiro Drake — or “The Greek” as he is known to many — created the Stone Museum, a free museum dedicated to stones, and Greek’s Playland, a nonprofit charity and park that has hosted more than 700 free parties for handicapped kids and adults.
   Both facilities charge no admission fee because of a promise Mr. Drake made to Elizabeth Van Fleet, the woman who found him in a coal bin where he was abandoned as a baby and raised him.
   Including Mr. Drake, Ms. Van Fleet raised 60 foster children, including three who were mentally challenged. Mr. Drake made a promise to her he would donate half of his earnings in his life to charity, specifically charities that benefit the mentally or physically challenged.
   Therefore, after making his money with a very successful landscaping business, Mr. Drake bought the 89 acres of land where the museum and other properties are located in 1970 for about $200,000.
   Mr. Drake supported the museum and the Playland with the money he made from his landscaping business.
   ”Everything I made, I put back in here,” he said. However, “It’s very difficult to make a charity that keeps going.”
   As he got older and could no longer be as active in landscaping as he used to be, he created Garden Falls, a banquet space that includes two rooms.
   Then, in 2006, he built a pole barn, now Mahal Garden, without a permit, as an expansion of Garden Falls.
   Mr. Drake admits now this was not the right thing to do.
   So, in January, Mr. Drake and his associates submitted an application to the Zoning Board of Adjustment in order to keep open Mahal Garden, one banquet space on the property.
   The application also asked the board to allow Mahal Garden and Garden Falls to play music after 10 p.m.
   The application was denied.
   According to Township Engineer Ernie Feist, the primary reason it was denied was because some of the neighbors had been complaining about the noise from the banquet spaces.
   ”There was a ton of discussion about noise and adjacent homeowners,” Mr. Feist said. “I felt that the board didn’t want to authorize the expansion if noise was already an issue.”
   Additionally, the amount of traffic coming in and out of the property was also a concern of the board, Mr. Feist said.
   Mr. Drake resubmitted the application to the board to keep Mahal Garden open, this time with a few changes. The new application asks for the same basic parts of the old one — to keep Mahal Garden open and to allow for music after 10 p.m. at Mahal Garden and Garden Falls.
   However, instead of asking the board to approve Mahal Garden to be 31,000 square feet and accommodate 700 people, the new application asks the board approve Mahal Garden at 27,500 square feet.
   A 3,500-foot section would be removed, and the banquet hall then would accommodate 495 people.
   If the new application is denied, however, the Stone Museum and all its properties, which include Greek’s Playland, the Garden Fall banquet hall and Mahal Garden, will close permanently, Mr. Drake said.
   Currently, the Playland and museum are closed indefinitely.
   Mr. Drake explained that if Mahal Garden cannot be opened and if the reception halls cannot play music past 10 p.m. — reducing the number of customers who may want to book rooms for receptions — the Stone Museum and Playland will lose their main funding, Mr. Drake said. Their income comes directly from the banquet spaces.
   ”The board was concerned this was not the first time this happened,” Mr. Feist about Mr. Drake’s construction of Mahal Garden without a permit.
   However, in order to make amends, Mr. Drake, who technically no longer owns any of the property, said there also will be a resolution in the new application for the board to consider.
   The new resolution will state that Dr. Bea Mittman, of Elberon, a good friend, business partner and investor of the last 20 years, is the full owner of the Stone Museum and its additional properties, and Pat Ciecko, who is the manager of the banquet halls on the property, will run the parties and events.
   The resolution also states that if anything is ever done without township approval again, Dr. Mittman has agreed she will forfeit the property.
   The zoning board meeting is scheduled for Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the municipal building located at 1 Municipal Plaza.