BRICK – The 70-year old Stavola Industries wants to redevelop and modernize the 17-acre site at 429 Chambers Bridge Road, but the asphalt plant will first need approval from the Board of Adjustment.
A second hearing for the application was held recently, but the quasi-judicial body hasn’t even begun to hear the “nuts and bolts” of the proposed improvements yet.
During the first hearing held on February 8, board members were tasked with deciding whether the application should even be heard, or if it had already been decided in 2008 when Stavola filed a similar application, which was denied.
Board members agreed to hear details of the new application before deciding whether it was the same application as the one denied in 2008. (The legal term for this is res judicata, Latin for “a matter judged.”) That took up the entirety of the first hearing in February.
The Board voted to hear the details of the recent proposal before deciding if the new site plan is different enough from the 2008 application to continue with the case.
Attorney John Jackson is representing Stavola Industries. Opposing attorneys for the Brick Municipal Utilities Authority (BTMUA) were present at the most recent hearing, along with representatives from Save Barnegat Bay, who say the site, which is located about 200 feet from the Metedeconk River – which supplies drinking water to the township – poses a threat to the health, safety and welfare of local residents, and should be closed and remediated.
Another opposing attorney, Rob Simon, representing Kramer Industries of Piscataway – a Stavola Industries competitor – has attended both hearings.
At the most recent hearing, Board members were tasked with deciding whether Simon’s client has standing in the proceedings. Board attorney Emily Weiner advised that they do not since Kramer Industries has no property interest in the application.
Simon did his best to convince the Board that Kramer Industries does have standing to participate, citing numerous case law decisions supporting his position.
“We should be able to fully participate in terms of eliciting and presenting our own witnesses as to the appropriate relevant facts so that the court can make a full, informed determination on the issue of res judicata,” Simon said, and whether or not the asphalt plant is an allowable use for the site.
Stavola attorney Jackson said the only interest Kramer Industries could have in the application “is to sell asphalt at higher prices to the general public and government and make us all pay more for asphalt because they don’t want competition. Let’s call the truth the truth. That is the only possible, rational interest they could have here…for an out of town competitor coming into Brick and saying they have an issue with the way the Board of Adjustment is going to determine this case.”
Jackson said that public interest would be addressed by the other opposing attorneys. “We don’t want this application to take five years,” he added. “The Board has the right to…stop repetition, duplication, unnecessary repeating of evidence, and that is exactly what is going on here.”
Kramer Industries attorney Simon would still be able to participate for his client during the public portion of the hearings, said Board Chairman David Chadwick.
Simon said his client has an interest in making sure that a use of property, even if it’s in a different community, is being developed in accordance with the law, especially since a previous similar application was denied in 2008. “We have the right to participate to make sure that the public is informed appropriately in terms of what is involved in asphalt plants…and how this application is not just an expansion.”
Board Chair Chadwick asked the Board members to vote on a motion: “To deny Mr. Simon the opportunity to serve as objector counsel for his client but to allow him to participate during our public session.”
All Board members voted to deny Simon’s participation except for one member, Brian Formica.
The date for the next hearing has yet to be announced.
