Give residents chance to appeal in Marlboro

Give residents chance
to appeal in Marlboro

The Marlboro Township Council should introduce and adopt an ordinance proposed by Councilwoman Patti Morelli that would allow some decisions of the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment to be appealed to the council.

The law, if adopted, would allow elected officials to uphold or reverse zoning board decisions that could have a major effect on residents. Zoning board members are not elected to their positions and are only accountable to the council — which appoints them.

In the rare instance that a zoning board decision might be appealed to the council, Marl-boro’s elected officials could decide the matter and be held accountable by voters for their actions, just as voters hold them responsible for budgets, appointments, capital improvement decisions and many other factors.

At present, residents can only appeal zoning board decisions with which they disagree to state Superior Court. A resident should not lose his right to appeal what may be a poor decision by the zoning board just because he cannot afford to hire an attorney.

Several objections to Morelli’s proposed ordinance have been raised by councilmen Grover Burrows and Barry Denkensohn. Much of the criticism has been puzzling or irrelevant.

Denkensohn has said the measure is problematic because it would "politicize" land use decisions made by the zoning board. Many decisions made by elected leaders may be influenced by politics, however, applying Denkensohn’s logic would lead one to conclude that perhaps elected officials should not vote on any important matters.

Burrows has said that Marlboro could "lose control of some of its destiny" because the ordinance would permit a resident of any town to appeal a Marlboro zoning board decision that involves the granting of a use variance to the council. How would allowing Marlboro’s elected representatives to make a decision strip the town of any control of its destiny? The local officials would be in a better position to control the town’s destiny than a judge in Freehold might be if he was asked to rule on the issue.

According to Burrows, who formerly sat on the zoning board, the panel has not established a trend of making bad decisions. We believe him, and that’s exactly why an ordinance allowing appeals to the council should be adopted — so that if someone believes that in a rare instance the board has erred, the problem can be addressed in Marlboro, by Marlboro’s elected officials who are, after all, residents, too.