MANALAPAN — In an ongoing effort to preserve land along Route 522 (Freehold- Englishtown Road), the Manalapan Township Committee has authorized CME Associates to proceed with professional engineering services to prepare a land survey of the Gentile property.
At its Nov. 10 meeting the committee voted 5-0 to permit CME Associates to take steps that could eventually result in the preservation of the property which is bordered by Route 522, Tennent Road and Church Lane.
The firm’s services for this project will be $18,700 and 50 percent of that cost will be reimbursed by the New Jersey Green Acres program.
In a resolution authorizing CME Associates to proceed with the survey, the committee said the township “is desirous to enter into a contract with the owner of the Gentile property to preserve as open space in accordance with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] Green Acres program.”
In other action, the committee voted 5-
to pay CME Associates $7,500 to proceed with professional engineering services related to a DEP permit plan for the Holiday Lake footbridge.
Holiday Lake is in a park in the Holiday Park residential development off Pease Road, near Pine Brook Road.
The lake is surrounded by a walking trail, but the trail is not a complete loop because there is no means of crossing Pine Brook. Plans call for building a footbridge over Pine Brook in order to complete the loop around the lake, according to township officials.
CME Associates will handle the paperwork associated with the permitting process (crossing a waterway), according to a resolution authorizing the work.
Township Administrator Tara Lovrich said the permitting process is expected to take several months to complete.
The footbridge over Pine Brook will be constructed once all of the required paperwork is in place.
And, with no comment from any member of the public, the committee voted 5-0 to adopt an ordinance that sets minimum and maximum salaries for three township positions. According to the ordinance, the salary range for the municipal clerk will be $45,000 to $104,000; the salary range for the tax collector will be $30,000 to $82,000; and the salary range for the tax assessor will be $30,000 to $91,000.
Under old business, the committee did not move forward on a request from the owner of a 10-acre piece of property at 57 Wilson Avenue (Route 527) for the township to purchase the parcel and preserve it as open space.
Committeewoman Michelle Roth made a motion for the municipality to enter into discussions with the owner, but the motion was not seconded and no further action was taken.
Mayor Andrew Lucas recused himself from discussion of that issue.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, George Spodak, a former mayor of Manalapan, once again expressed his displeasure with the way the committee hears and responds to comments from the public. He said the current policy makes the mayor “a quasi-dictator.”
According to its policy, the committee listens to all comments and questions made and asked by members of the public during the public comment session.
When all members of the public who wish to speak have been heard, Lucas, as the mayor, responds to the questions that were asked by the residents during their allotted time.
Spodak has told the committee on several occasions that he believes when a member of the public asks a question of the committee, the question should be answered while the resident is still at the microphone.
In that way, he said, the resident would be able to respond to the committee’s answer to the initial question.
Under the current policy, residents cannot respond to the answers the committee gives in response to their questions because the public comment portion of the meeting has been closed at that point.
In response to Spodak, Lucas said allowing a back and forth situation might lead to longer meetings, which could come at a cost to taxpayers given the fact that the township pays professionals (i.e., and attorney and an engineer) to be present at municipal meetings.
However, Roth said the committee has heard from residents who do not like the fact that their questions are not answered when asked, or answered at all.
“The policy has had an adverse effect [and has] frustrated members of the public,” she said.
Lucas noted that the public comment policy the committee is operating under this year was unanimously approved in January. He said the policy can be changed or amended if the committee wishes to do so.