NJ News & Views

[Editor's Note: At 4:24 a.m. on May 7, 2010 and on May 8, 2010 at 3:56 p.m., this story was edited for style, content and accuracy.]

The scenic views around Lake Carasaljo are to die for.

Area developers think so, too.

Their actions in violation of local, county, state and Federal law are killing the environment that all humans need to survive.

Officials are doing nothing to stop it.

At the April 22 meeting of the Lakewood Township Committee, Esther Moskovits of 59 Glen Terrace, told committeemen that four homes were being developed on a wetlands site at 844 South Lake Drive, located in the R-12 zone.

The rear of the Moskovits property is adjacent to the rear of 844 South Lake Drive.

Moskovits said no permits were issued to the developer of 844 South Lake Drive and that there was a "tremendous amount of water damage to the adjacent property," located at 868 South Lake Drive.

Yehuda and Tziporah Yanai live at 868 South Lake Drive, facing Lake Carasaljo.

Moskovits said trees were chopped down to clear the site around the 844 South Lake Drive and never cleared away.

Last month, both women discussed the unapproved development with a visitor.

Yanai invited the visitor to inspect damage to her property since the neighboring home was redeveloped four years ago.

"Come in and look at the water," she said.

At the far left side of her property, adjacent to the home owned by Abadi, a swale of water stretched from one end of the yard to the other, expanding in size with the slope of the terrain.

Yanai said she bought her home six years ago, set amidst a lovely wooded area. Now heartbroken by the many problems developers created through flooding and ponding of displaced freshwater wetlands, Yanai said she will likely have to remove the few remaining trees on the property since water damage to their root system could cause them to topple onto her home in strong wind and heavy rains.

Trees and shrubs not only provide aesthetic appeal for homeowners, they aid in stormwater management.

When precipitation falls to the ground, trees, shrubs and soils soak up rainfall and store it. After the flood peak has subsided, the water is slowly released as groundwater or stream flow. In a natural watershed that contains numerous wetland and forested areas, plants soak up 40 percent of all precipitation, 50 percent becomes ground water and just 10 percent is surface runoff.

Areas with a greater amount of impervious coverage, such as roads, sidewalks and other hard surfaces, have higher rates of stormwater runoff and flooding. When precipitation falls to the ground in areas with a higher amount of impervious coverage, 75 percent of all water becomes surface runoff, while only 25 percent is either groundwater or is soaked up by vegetation.

Freshwater wetlands form transitional areas between dry land and waterways. They filter out chemicals, pollutants and sediments that can clog or contaminate drinking waters, soak up runoff from heavy rains and snow melts, provide natural flood control, release stored flood waters during droughts, provide critical habitats for endangered, commercial and recreational fish and wildlife species, and provide open space that contributes to recreation and tourism.

Displaced wetlands not only redirect flood waters onto neighbors' properties, they also eliminate wildlife habitats.

Yanai said that in the past, geese would congregate on the existing wetlands and pond at 844 South Lake Drive. Since construction began on the property, geese instead congregate on the Yanai property, polluting the home's now-soggy lawn.

Yanai asked the visitor, "Who will fix the flooding on my property?"

No one.

Local and state officials have ceded their authority to developer Chaim Abadi, an Ocean County Police Chaplain assigned to the county sheriff, county police department and county prosecutor's office, who owns 844 South Lake Drive with other investors.

Instead of regulating the property, state officials helped Abadi develop it.

According to online records, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a Notice of Violation to Abadi on February 1, 2006 for the clearing and excavation of the site at 844 South Lake Drive. DEP records reported that Abadi pumped out water from freshwater wetlands collecting in the foundation pit and discharged it into the storm drain adjacent to the old existing house on the site.

"The NOV (Notice of Violation) noted that the overall site consisted of 2-3 lots approx 2.44 acres in size and  there were multiple new homes being  proposed," the DEP records reported. "There were wetlands throughout and  permits were required."

NJ News & Views asked Lakewood Zoning Officer Francine Siegel if zoning board approval was required to redevelop a single family home. She said no zoning board approval was required to redevelop a single family home, but that zoning board approval was required for a density variance.

NJ News & Views also contacted Lakewood Construction Official Michael Saccomanno by e-mail. A reporter asked what township permits a developer was required to have to demolish an existing residential or commercial building and redevelop the site for a permitted use.

Saccomanno said in an e-mail reply that the developer was required to have a demolition permit and "a full package permit," consisting of a "zoning application, building, electric, fire, plumbing and mechanical tech cards."

A reporter asked Saccomanno if any of those permits had been issued to the owner of 844 South Lake Drive, which the DEP subdivided by permit in 2006 to also create 842 South Lake Drive, where a much larger, unfinished home is still under construction.

Saccomanno did not respond to the reporter's e-mail question.

DEP online records stated that the owner of the property was required to have permits for all proposed houses on the site, as well as a DEP Letter of Interpretation (LOI) to regulate wetlands located on it.

The reporter asked a spokesperson for the DEP why the state department issued a permit to the owner of 844 South Lake Drive after issuing a notice of violation.

The spokesperson said the DEP issued the permit to Abadi because the site was located on isolated wetlands that did not flow into a protected waterway.

Based on an earlier inspection of the neighborhood, the reporter asked the DEP spokesperson another question.

"Since the developer of 844 South Lake Drive in Lakewood is pumping wetlands water out of the home's basement and into the neighboring lake, does the DEP still consider this area to be an isolated wetlands eligible for a permit?" the reporter asked the spokesperson in an April 30 e-mail.

Lake Carasaljo flows into the Metedeconk River, a Category One state-protected waterway.

The spokesperson did not respond to the request for comment.

On April 22, Lakewood Mayor Steven Langert mocked DEP attempts to regulate Lakewood wetlands in his discussion of development at 844 South Lake Drive.

"That's part of the Smart Growth process," he said. "This is what the DEP says."

Smart Growth is the state's blueprint for cooperative regional planning.

Lakewood officials have not always shown their willingness to comply with state efforts to preserve environmentally-sensitive areas by regulating investors' efforts to develop them.

At their February 14, 2008 meeting, members of the Lakewood Township Committee defied the DEP by attempting to sell public land located near the Kettle Creek, a state-protected body of water.

Prior to first reading and committee vote on the ordinance to sell the land, Deputy Mayor Marc (Meir) Lichtenstein, a real estate developer, investor and property manager, denounced the state's efforts to control the township's growth.

"We're having a lot of problems with the DEP," he said. "We need land for affordable housing and education."

In 2004, Mayor Raymond Coles announced that the township had identified suitable public land for construction of affordable housing near Oak Street, even though the Kettle Creek flows through the area. Since the parcels identified for affordable housing were not contiguous, the township began exchanging public land for private property assessed at lesser value. Many of the parcels were owned by developers that profited from the exchange.

In 2005, committeemen began auctioning off township land in the area for construction of non-public schools.

On March 13, 2008, committeemen yielded to state pressure and killed an ordinance on second reading to sell the environmentally sensitive Kettle Creek site for construction of residential housing and non-public schools.

In the years before state and Federal government acted to stop development of environmentally sensitive land, developers received approvals to cover much of it with concrete, asphalt and macadam.

State and Federal agencies are still engaged in a race against time to save what is left.

They are failing in that mission.

Developers are increasingly filling in wetlands through political influence and any physical object they can use to displace marshes, bogs and swamps that comprise them.

After a suspicious fire destroyed the NPGS supermarket on Main Street in 2004, owner Ze'ev Rothschild partnered with Lakewood real estate investor/developer Mark Engel to build a supermarket shopping center on the former Petersen's Sunset Cabin restaurant site, which is located on wetlands.

Prior to demolition by the new owners, the rear of the restaurant was supported high above a precipitous slope that the DEP had declined to permit the former owners to fill in.

The restaurant went out of business after misdelivery of heating oil contaminated the site, which Rothschild and Engel are required to remediate.

They may instead have further contaminated the wetlands site.

In 2006, Rothschild and Engel told township officials in correspondence inspected through the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) that trailers on the site contained mechanical equipment purchased at discount.

At the May 21, 2009 meeting of the Lakewood Township Committee, resident Gerri Ballwanz asked committeemen if the trailers were at risk of being buried or submerged on the wetlands site. Mayor Robert Singer told her they would be removed, but did not provide a date that would happen or a means to extract them.

According to eyewitness accounts, developers do not need to extricate the trailers because they are now part of the parking lot foundation where a bank is under construction on the site. Eyewitnesses said no drywalls were built around the interred trailers during construction.

A township inspection department clerk said two permits were issued to Engel and Rothschild - one for construction of a supermarket and the other for construction of footings and foundation for a bank.

Saccomanno gave permission for the reporter to inspect the footings and foundation plan documents, but the clerk said he could not find the department file.

The reporter asked Saccomanno for comment in an April 23 e-mail.

"For us there is no difference if (the DEP) issues a permit," Saccomanno said in an e-mail response the same day. "The architect may want something different but that's up to them."

Because the trailers are constructed of metal, rust and corrosion will further contaminate wetlands where they are buried.

That is not the only danger to the public.

Bank customers are at risk of losing their lives as well as their vehicles when displaced wetlands once again reclaim the site.

In another part of town, Abadi has also found a way to temporarily displace wetlands, while also forcing out unwanted area residents living or owning property there.

The area is located near the site of the Kettle Creek, where Lichtenstein said in 2008 the township planned to sell public land for development of non-public schools and affordable housing.

Committeemen still support that goal and Abadi's efforts to achieve it.

Despite public denials by township officials, DEP records confirm they gave their approval to Abadi to construct an illegal landfill near John Patrick athletic fields off Vermont Avenue.

In a March 28, 2010 report, DEP investigator David Norville discussed his findings after responding to a complaint that an illegal landfill was created within close proximity to a potable well.

"We…(walked) down to a newly created dirt trail approximately 1/8 of a mile long where dozens of large pine trees have been knocked over in order to make a trail," Norville wrote in his report. "At the end of the trail there was a large trench approximately 75 x 35 x 18. Inside the trench were several thousand black plastic garbage bags filled with what I was told is religious materials."

According to numerous photos sent to NJ News & Views that were taken by area residents present during the building of the landfill, the black plastic bags contained children's toys, a liquor flask, pens, a child's car seat and packaging remnants with out-of-state addresses.

DEP emergency responder James Manuel was present at the landfill a day earlier, according to Norville's report.

"According to Jim Manuel, there are two water wells nearby supplying drinking water for the community (by New Jersey American Water Company)," Norville wrote. "One well was visible from the recently cleared road."

He also reported that Saccomano was not the only township official to have given Abadi permission to build the landfill.

"(Lakewood Police) Sergeant Stillwell made several phone calls and reported that the township council apparently had given permission to Chaim Abadi to bury religious articles at a different location," Norville reported. "The sergeant dispatched a patrolman who reported there was no excavation at this other site. The sergeant could not confirm with certainty what the township council had approved."

That evening, Stillwell reportedly called the DEP investigator at his home.

"He explained that he had talked to Chaim Abadi and that Mr. Abadi owned the property and that the items in the hole were only paper products," Norville wrote in his report the following day.

Norville said in his report that he met with Yitzchak Abadi, the son of Chaim Abadi, at the landfill site.

"Mr. Yitzchak Abadi told me that approval was given by Mike Saccomano (732) 364-3760 from Lakewood Township to allow the burial of the religious items," Norville wrote. "Mr. Yitzchak Abadi told me approval was given only by word of mouth and no written approvals were issued."

Norville said he asked for the block and lot on which the landfill was constructed, but was told it was unavailable. He said Abadi's son told him he would call and provide the information later.

Contributions to Abadi's landfill are reportedly not free of charge; according to Shlomo Greenwald of the Jewish Press, a nominal fee is paid to dispose of solid waste referred to as Shaimos.

"(Yanky) Pinter, like all shaimos collectors, charges a small fee, ranging from $5 to $20, depending on the bag," Greenwald wrote. "He enjoys sifting through the shaimos hoping for a rare find, a relic of Jewish life from the past. One time Pinter found an Eastern European's shul's record book detailing births, weddings, deaths and other events of congregants. While he was able to sell it for $1,000, the buyer turned around and auctioned it off for $20,000."

Shaimos are traditionally interred in cemeteries.

Not in Lakewood.

According to township and superior court records, Abadi's landfill includes paper streets the township committee has not vacated and still owns.

The paper streets are on public land that is tax-exempt.

So is land in neighboring Jackson, where Abadi also built an unpermitted landfill on DEP regulated wetlands near a residential neighborhood off Frank Applegate Road at Mary Beth Lane.

In May 4, 2009 meeting minutes from the Jackson Planning Board discussion to update the township's Master Plan, residents discussed Abadi's landfill.

Benjamin Geltzeiler of 6 Chris Ann Court said he noticed activity on Frank Applegate Road.

"There was heavy equipment, work was started, the Township dispatched police cars, and then there was a visit from the State," Geltzeiler reportedly said in the May 4, 2009 meeting minutes.

Geltzeiler also said neighbors looked into the matter, noted that the area was zoned R-3 and that there was a proposed change to LC (Limited Commercial) on the new Master Plan map. He asked how all this had come about.

Chris Warren of the Alaimo Group told Geltzeiler that the proposed change was not made at the request of the public, but by the township. He said township officials were seeking to increase commercial development in the residential area.

An unidentified resident reportedly living at 22 Mary Beth Lane said in meeting minutes that he found it curious the land in question started at County Line Road and continued to Frank Applegate with a large swath of wetlands.

Warren said it was the only contiguous public ownership for open space.

"That is why they are using the Conservation overlay," Warren told the resident in meeting minutes.

Joanne Pinkham of 1 Chris Ann Court asked Warren if the township was proposing to rezone the area to permit construction of an assisted living facility, church, synagogue or convenience store.

Warren told her that the proposed change in zoning was a work in progress.

One month earlier, the DEP determined it was already a business illegally built on wetlands.

On April 21, 2009, DEP investigator Frank Spino reported that a meeting was held at the Horizon Center to discuss whether or not to order the removal of solid waste buried at the illegal landfill owned by Abadi's company, Hard Maple Realty c/o Fairmont Investment of New York City.

Spino said in his report that 5-acre site consisted of two vacant parcels. One parcel was reportedly located on wetlands and the other was not.

Spino said the area that was not located on wetlands would be developed if approved by the township; the unpermitted landfill built on the wetlands parcel would not.

"The area will be covered better and will be re-vegetated," Spino wrote. "At this time, no violations were issued. If the appropriate actions are not taken, violations will be issued."

Instead of ordering the removal of solid waste illegally buried there, Spino said the wetlands parcel would be given to the county or town as open space.

One month later, Jackson officials proposed that the site be rezoned for limited commercial use.

Jackson officials, like their counterparts in Lakewood, are increasingly accountable to special interests instead of the public interest.

In an August 17, 2009 press release, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that Supreme Asset Management and Recovery (SAMR) of Lakewood had been fined $199,900 for illegally exporting non-working computer monitors to Hong Kong in 2007 and 2008, and for failing to promptly respond to the EPA's requests for information.

“This case demonstrates that the illegal export of electronic waste will be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” said EPA Acting Regional Administrator George Pavlou. “As our society becomes more dependent on electronics like computers and cell phones, we must become more vigilant in ensuring electronic waste is disposed of in a way that does not harm the environment.”

Computer monitors contain cathode ray tubes (CRTs), which are the video display components of televisions and computer monitors. The glass in CRTs typically contains enough toxic lead to require managing it as hazardous waste under certain circumstances. Color computer monitors contain an average of four pounds of lead. CRTs may also contain mercury, cadmium and arsenic, all of which can pose threats to human health.

Ten days later, the EPA issued a press release reporting its administrative order requiring SAMR and its parent company, Preferred Enterprises LLC, to halt the unsafe processing, storage and transfer of fluorescent light bulbs and batteries classified as hazardous waste, both of which contain toxic substances that include mercury and lead.

“Mercury and lead can pose severe threats to people’s health, so properly managing waste that contains them is of the utmost importance,” Pavlou said in the press release. “These companies failed to handle hazardous waste in a safe manner, so EPA stepped in to protect the health of workers at the facility and New Jersey’s air, land and water.”

Preferred Enterprises owns 1950 Rutgers University Boulevard in Lakewood where the EPA reported improper activities took place. SAMR operates the facility.

In 2008, Supreme Computer and Electronic Recyclers, Inc. merged with Ecoglass Recycling, Inc. to become Supreme Asset Management and Recovery, Inc. (SAMR). The company acquired a solid waste facility permit from the DEP.

From 2006-8, the EPA reported that Supreme accepted spent fluorescent bulbs. The EPA also reported that inspections of the facility at 1950 Rutgers University Boulevard, located in the Lakewood Industrial Park, found evidence of improper handling of crushed fluorescent bulbs.

Crushed fluorescent bulbs are hazardous waste, according to the EPA press release.

"Supreme was permitted to receive and store intact spent fluorescent bulbs, but not crushed bulbs," the EPA press release reported. "Fluorescent bulbs release mercury when crushed."

Exposure to mercury, a component of fluorescent bulbs, can adversely affect human nervous systems. Exposure to high levels of mercury can permanently damage the brain and kidneys. Short term exposure can result in lung damage, increased blood pressure and rashes. Exposure to lead, found in batteries, may cause reproductive, nerve and memory problems in humans.

In early 2008, SAMR shipped intact bulbs to a facility in Richmond, Virginia to be crushed there. In May 2008, the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry cited the company for failing to protect its employees from exposure to mercury.

The EPA inspected the Lakewood facility in October 2008 and found that many bulbs had enough mercury to be classified as hazardous waste.

During its October 2008 inspection, the EPA also found that the companies were storing 40 pallets of spent lead acid batteries, some of which were badly corroded and leaking, and three containers of spent lithium batteries outdoors without proper cover.

As a result of EPA’s order, issued under the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, SAMR was required to stop accepting crushed fluorescent bulbs that contain mercury and move all crushed bulbs to a permitted facility using a carrier licensed by the DEP.

In April 2008, the DEP issued SAMR a notice of violation for accepting the crushed bulbs at its Lakewood facility and for failing to prevent the release of mercury. DEP officials identified several instances during which mercury may have been released into the environment at the facility.

After identifying the same problem during a January 2009 inspection, the DEP issued a violation notice to SAMR. The following month, the DEP took steps to revoke SAMR’s permit to operate a solid waste recycling business.

Alfred Boufarah, President of SAMR, not only owns commercial property in Lakewood, but also in Jackson .

Boufarah's company, Preferred Enterprises, owns 380 Clearstream Road in Jackson, a commercial property acquired under the limited liability corporate name of Harmony Hideaway Campground. The Jackson campground is located off Hope Chapel Road in Lakewood.

Although the Jackson Council renewed the property's campground license in 2008, "No Trespassing" signs are prominently posted in front of the property and its chained entrance.

A Jackson buildings department clerk declined to disclose all violation notices issued to the owner of the property at the request of a visiting reporter.

Jackson Township Clerk Ann Marie Eden declined to permit inspection of uncensored documents under the Open Public Records Act, which the reporter had requested one month earlier.

Jackson Mayor Michael Reina told a reporter for NJ News & Views by e-mail that despite written approval by Eden to inspect the Harmony Hideaway Campground file, the reporter was not permitted to have copies of any of the file documents.

Their actions are not protecting the public.

On September 4, 2008, the DEP issued a violation notice to Harmony for failure to collect required total coliform samples.

The consequences could be catastrophic for neighbors of the campground, which is located on environmentally sensitive land.

In an undated fact sheet, the DEP described how fecal coliform in well water could result in widespread contamination within a watershed.

"Storm events transport fecal coliform from sources such as geese, farms, and domestic pets to the receiving water," the fact sheet reported. "Nonpoint sources may also include steady-state inputs from sources such as failing sewage conveyance systems and failing or inappropriately located septic systems."

In 1914, the Public Health Service adopted coliform testing for the detection of fecal-based bacteria in the sanitary quality of foods and water. Coliforms are abundant in the feces of warm-blooded animals, but can also be found in the aquatic environment, in soil and on vegetation.

On September 19, 2008, the violation notice issued to Harmony for failure to collect total coliform on the property was deleted without explanation by the DEP.

Reporter/commentator Bill Wolfe told readers in an August 28, 2008 posting on www.nj.com that according to a DEP report required by the Private Well Testing Act, residents of over 50,000 New Jersey homes were unknowingly drinking unsafe well water. Despite that statistic, Wolfe said the DEP and local health officials were ignoring the problem.

"This is bad news (the DEP) would have preferred stay under the media radar," Wolfe told his readers.

Wolfe said that while the DEP disclosed the problem, it did not recommend how to fix it.

The solution may be far simpler to state than to implement.

In an April 30 e-mail, a reporter for NJ News & Views asked Assemblyman Ron Dancer of the 30th Legislative District, which includes both Lakewood and Jackson, to respond for comment.

"An October 4, 2009 article by Herb Jackson of The Record reported that you and several other New Jersey officials, including the former governor, accepted campaign contributions from the owner of a Lakewood computer recycling company that also owns a licensed campground in Jackson," the reporter told Dancer in the e-mail. "The same computer recycling company was subsequently found in violation of Federal and state environmental law." 

The reporter told Dancer that in 2006, Jackson Township inspectors issued six violation notices to the owner of the campground. 
 
"Did Mr. Boufarah, the owner of Supreme Asset Management and Recovery (SAMR), whose parent company Preferred Enterprises also owns Harmony Hideaway Campground of Jackson, ask you for any political favors in exchange for the $2,600 in campaign contributions you received since 2008, the same year Jackson officials renewed the company's license there?" the reporter asked.

Dancer did not respond to a request for comment from NJ News & Views.

He also reportedly failed to respond to a request for comment from reporter Herb Jackson, who asked if Dancer intended to return SAMR's campaign contribution.

In 2008, the same year the Jackson Council voted to renew Boufarah's campground license there, developer Dov Gluck, under the limited liability corporate name of "White Elephant," asked Lakewood officials to approve his plan to build a mixed-use development off Route 70, a heavily-trafficked retail corridor adjacent to the Lakewood Industrial Park.

Residents of Gluck's development may regret their decision to live there.

The development's planned access road will connect it with the Garden State Parkway Lakewood exit via the Oak Street Sanitary Landfill.

According to online DEP records, Lakewood and Jackson each have six landfills the state has identified and recorded.

There may be many more it has not.

There may also be many more it has yet to record.

Public policy has continued to compromise public safety at public expense.

The Lakewood Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) includes Gluck's site in the Lakewood Industrial Park off Route 70. In November, state officials approved a boundary change in the zone to also include the Towne and Country shopping center near it on the opposite side of Route 70.

This month, McDonald's fast food restaurant, Pet Smart, Staples office supplies and Value City furniture store are being forced to vacate their retail spaces in the shopping center, whose owner reportedly raised their rents to evict them. However, Gluck will continue to benefit from a reduced sales tax collected by the shopping center's Home Depot, as well as any other retailers that ship to Gluck in the UEZ.

In a May 1, 2008 letter, Gluck's attorney Raymond Shea expressed his client's appreciation to township officials.

"Thank you for your continued courtesy," he wrote.