NJ News & Views

Eight months after failing to regulate all Lakewood rental apartments, the township committee is ready to try again.

Their efforts may fall short of what is needed to ensure the public safety.

Although Lakewood landlords are renting out entire houses as multi-family apartment buildings, the proposed ordinance would only require inspection of basement apartments.

On July 24, the committee discussed the draft ordinance, which is scheduled to be introduced on first reading at the August 7 meeting, Lakewood Deputy Township Clerk Mary Ann del Mastro told NJ News & Views on Tuesday.

The measure does not go far enough, according to Committeeman Charles Cunliffe.

"We had a (rental ordinance) and we put the kibosh on it," Cunliffe said.

On December 13, 2007, a majority of committeemen voted to defeat an ordinance on second reading that would have identified and ensured the safety of all rental apartments in town.

"Every problem goes back to rental houses with absentee landlords," Cunliffe said. "Its ridiculous that people have to live with this."

Resident Barbara Eisenberg said she could no longer live with it. During the meeting's public forum, Eisenberg described conditions at 802 Morris Avenue, which she referred to as "The Slum."

According to township vitals, the property is owned by Moses and Eddel Klein of 1160 52nd Street in Brooklyn, NY.

Eisenberg said tenants living at the home left debris and garbage in front and in back of the property. She said there was a constant stench created by an in-ground pool that was covered, but not drained of water.

The problem was not only malodorous, but dangerous. Since the pool was not fenced off on all four sides, anyone that trespassed could fall into it and drown.

"My husband and I take great pride in caring for our property," Eisenberg said. "Before you ask me if I have called the Inspection Department, yes, they came out, but (accomplished) nothing. My quality of life has been infringed on. Please, I need your help."

Lakewood Zoning Officer Ed Mack said there were dozens of pools around town with drains that were not being turned on.

"That's the one next to me, "Eisenberg said.

Cunliffe said residents were calling, e-mailing and visiting him in person to describe their frustration over quality of life issues created by Lakewood's rental properties and their absentee landlords.

"People say their quality of life is worse than five years ago," Cunliffe said.

Eisenberg asked for her options. Cunliffe said there was only one solution to the problem - adopt an ordinance requiring an annual inspection of all rental properties.

Mack said that would save the township money as well.

"We have spent so much time on the Fargo (service station) property," Mack said. "Its unbelievable! There's a tremendous investment in (court) time."

"Adjournment, adjournment, adjournment," Cunliffe said.

The Fargo is currently owned by Lakewood developer Mark Engel, who is operating it as a business after being denied township approval to redevelop the property as residential housing.

Engel and his wife, Orit, own numerous rental properties in town and are members of the Lakewood Landlords Association (LLA).

In March 2007, Township Attorney Steven Secare negotiated a legal settlement with members of the LLA, who filed a class action lawsuit against the township after being charged with numerous inspection violations.

The settlement required the township to notify the landlord or his agent prior to making an inspection of any residential rental property. The township also agreed to manage absentee landlords' properties by making their tenants responsible for correcting violations. In return, Lakewood landlords were each required to plead guilty to a single violation and to pay a fine of $100 and $33 in court costs.

The settlement benefited landlords, but not their tenants or their neighbors.

Earlier this month, a Lakewood man was knifed by thieves attempting to rob him as he entered his home on Forest Avenue near Third Street. According to media reports, the men arrested as suspects in the crime were living in a Lakewood rental property. The incident reignited public demands to regulate rental properties in town.

"With only one yearly inspection, I could save so much money," Mack said. "Tenants pay $1,800 for part of a crummy house. You should see the condition of these houses at forty grand a year. I could shut down these houses (with a yearly rental inspection)."

Cunliffe proposed reintroducing last year's defeated rental advisory ordinance, which would have required annual inspections of all rental properties.

"It seems so easy," Coles said.

In Lakewood, passage of such an ordinance is not easy when a majority of committeemen earn a living as Lakewood landlords or have a business relationship with them.

Committeeman Menashe Miller owns several Lakewood rental properties that are each listed as his primary residence on township vitals. Miller's actual primary residence is an affordable housing development where he and his family live.

In 2006, the total assessed value of all his rental properties was almost $1 million.

Miller is an absentee landlord. Prior to his election to the committee in November 2003, the township issued several violation notices to Miller after he failed to use or maintain his rental properties according to code.

Last year, a member of the homeowners association of Woodlake Manor told NJ News & Views that a violation notice was issued to Miller after his tenant installed a fence without permission.

Miller declined comment when asked by NJ News & Views if he had paid the fine or corrected the problem.

In 2006, Committeeman Marc (Meir) Lichtenstein, then mayor, filed a financial disclosure listing rental properties he owned in 2005. Although Lichtenstein told NJ News & Views that he had sold his investment in all the rental properties, his name was not on the deed of title for each one at the time he said owned them.

In 2007, both Lichtenstein and Miller voted against the ordinance that would have required an annual rental inspection, even though their votes were a conflict of interest.

Committeeman Robert Singer, a state senator that employs Miller as a community outreach liaison with his 30th District office, also voted no.

Although Coles voted to approve the ordinance, his office building is owned and managed by Simcha Shain, the same real estate investor and developer that owns and manages Miller's affordable housing.

Shain is a member of the Lakewood Airport Authority.

In 2005, Lichtenstein volunteered as the only member of a subcommittee he formed to investigate other uses of Lakewood Airport, which the township bought with state and Federal grants over a decade ago. According to the Asbury Park Press, one of those uses was redevelopment of the airport as residential housing.

The division between Lakewood's haves and have-nots is growing as fewer affordable housing units are available for rent by an increased population with limited financial means.

Lakewood landlords are willing to rent to anyone able to pay their asking price.

Mary Ann Allacci of Mi Casa advocated for relocation of affordable housing residents living in the Kennedy Apartments off Cedar Bridge Avenue and Plaza I and Plaza II apartments off Martin Luther King Drive, which were built decades ago.

"Will you commit to replacing them before people are displaced?" Allacci asked committeemen. "Section 8 certificates don't guarantee a place to live."

Singer said he could not guarantee all residents would be relocated, but that everyone living there legally would be placed.

Allacci said there was a correlation between increased crime and displaced affordable housing residents.

Housing advocate Alice Kelsey said committeemen should get Lakewood landlords out of town.

"They're unscrupulous, immoral people," she said.

David Drukaroff, an employee in the township Inspection Department, suggested enforcement of the state law of receivership. Drukaroff said that under the 2003 law, any landlord that repeatedly refuses to maintain his property forfeits it to the state, which assigns a receiver to operate it.

"That will control the landlord," Drukaroff said.

Gerri Ballwanz asked committeemen about regulation of attic apartments, as well as basement apartments.

According to Mack, the township Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), which the committee revised in 2005, when it also legalized basement apartments, states that if an attic is one-third the size of the second floor, it counts as a third floor, not an attic.

An advisory committee that included special interests recommended the changes.

Lakewood special interests will also have a say in any ordinance that regulates rental properties in town.

Last year, Rabbi Moshe Zev Weisberg opposed annual rental inspections, which he indicated would increase the cost of doing business.

Weisberg is a member of the Vaad. The Vaad is a political interest group that can coerce a large bloc of Orthodox Jewish voters to elect endorsed candidates, making it an influential local, state and Federal lobby group as well.

Vaad member Ben Heinemann was present at the July 24 committee meeting, but did not speak during the public forum.

Despite Weisberg's public position last year and Heinemann's silence last week, the Vaad recently issued a statement in support of regulating rental apartments.

Members of the Vaad have an opportunity to demonstrate that willingness by giving committeemen the green light to regulate all rental apartments in town, not just basement apartments.

Once all rental apartments are identified, officials can enforce the township rent control ordinance and see to it that all tenants are screened. Those actions would improve the quality of life in town for everyone.

"We want to hear from people," Coles said. "We're trying to face reality."