JACKSON – Councilman Giuseppe Palmeri pointed out a potential loophole within the township’s regulatory codes thanks to a resident who approached him on the situation.
The councilman asked Township Attorney Gregory McGuckin during a recent council meeting about the matter which involves the township’s Bureau of Housing and Inspection.
“I had a resident reach out to me and said there was a home that was renting a room and they thought that was unlawful so I forwarded that information to code enforcement. Then I got a response that said the owner actually resides at that home and if the owner resides at the home, they can legally rent rooms,” he said.
Palmeri described this as a loophole “because if someone has a five-bedroom home, the owner could live in one of those bedrooms but rent out the other four bedrooms to random individuals. I would think that would make it a boarding house rather than a single-family home.”
The councilman asked McGuckin if that loophole could be tied up legally “because that would be defeating the purpose of single-family occupancy.”
“I will be happy to look into that. There are some constitutional implications from that,” McGuckin responded.
Also during this meeting, resident Chris Pollak (who is now a councilman) thanked the people of Jackson “for their support. I’m extremely grateful for the trust that the community has placed in me. I intend to do everything I can for this town and the people who live here and I think this election made something very clear to everyone that the people want change. I want to be part of that change.”
“I think we need to change the way we act and change the way we treat people because the people aren’t buying that kind of politics anymore,” he added.
He said, “you saw that play out in this election. It’s not okay. It worked against you guys because you didn’t want me here. I’ve had some good talks with our council president. I’m looking forward to working with you guys. I’m looking forward to serving the people.”
