By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
UPPER FREEHOLD — An Allentown resident who recently received a “warning notice” on his truck for parking on Breza Road in Upper Freehold told the Township Committee it was selectively enforcing its no-parking ordinance.
Upper Freehold does not allow parking on any public street at any time. Because there is no township police department, the warning notice at issue was written by the town’s code enforcement officer.
Thomas Roberts, 38, who lives in the Towne Mews apartment complex in Allentown near the Upper Freehold border, said the township has taken no action against the cars belonging to St. John’s Church parishioners, who park along Breza Road during Sunday Masses in violation of the parking ordinance.
Mr. Roberts said his truck, which he claimed was parked on Breza Road for repairs that the apartment complex manager would not permit him to do in the complex’s parking lot, seems to have been unfairly singled out.
The parking ban is “very subjectively interpreted,” Mr. Roberts complained at the June 7 Township Committee meeting.
Several Township Committee members reacted incredulously to Mr. Roberts’ statements that the apartment complex manager was requiring residents to park in the street if they needed to change a flat tire or do any work on their cars.
”Not being able to park where you pay rent?” Township Committeeman Stephen Alexander asked. “I’d really scour that lease if I were in your position.”
”What if you go outside and find you have a flat tire in the parking lot?” asked Township Committeeman Stanley Moslowski Jr.. “What are you supposed to do?”
Mr. Roberts was asked to clarify whether the vehicle in question belonged to him or if he was repairing other people’s cars and trucks. Mr. Roberts said he owns two trucks, one a 1997 and the other a 1998, and neither is registered as a commercial vehicle. Because they are older models, they often need repairs, he said.
The Towne Mews apartments are in the borough, but its parking lot is accessed from Breza Road, a street that belongs to the township. There are no street signs on Breza Road, or anywhere else in town for that matter, advising motorists that they are not allowed to park on public streets, Mr. Roberts pointed out.
Township Attorney Granville Magee said the township could post no-parking signs on Breza Road if it desired, but it was not required to do so because it is a township-wide parking ban that is in effect 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Signage is only required if the parking ban is restricted to certain areas of town, or certain days of the week or during certain hours of the day, Mr. Magee said
Township Committeeman Bob Faber said he had recently told the township’s code enforcement officer, Ron Gafgen, to do something about the illegal parked vehicles along Breza Road.
”I’m the one that went to Gafgen and told him about it,” Mr. Faber told Mr. Roberts. “There’s no parking on our streets in Upper Freehold Township.”
Mr. Roberts maintained that since parishioners and sometimes commercial vehicles, which he declined to identify, are already parking on Breza Road, he should be allowed to do so as well. Mr. Roberts faces a maximum $100 fine if he is caught parking again on Breza Road under the township’s no-parking ordinance.
”For what it’s worth, it would help us out immeasurably if we could park on that street,” Mr. Roberts told the committee.
Township Committee members, however, said they were not inclined to change the ordinance.
Mr. Moslowski said if an exemption to the no-parking ban was made for Breza Road, people would start clamoring for exemptions elsewhere.
Mr. Alexander said he was concerned about what appeared to be the “selective implementation of the ordinance” in Mr. Roberts’ situation. Mr. Alexander said he has seen cars parked on public streets all over the township and had not heard of people being given warnings or violation notices before.
Mr. Magee noted the code enforcement officer was responding to a specific complaint in Mr. Roberts’ case. Since Upper Freehold is 47 square miles and has no police force, expecting Mr. Gafgen to “proactively” look for parking violations all over town would mean he’d never get anything else done, Mr. Magee said.
Mr. Faber said he wanted all parked cars off Breza Road, not just Mr. Roberts’ vehicle. He said there was plenty of room in St. John’s parking lot for all of its parishioners and that the ones parking along Breza Road on Sundays were doing so because they were late for Mass and wanted to get inside the church quickly.
