Candidate Statement of Ed Delia

 

As a candidate for Town Council, and an individual who has lived in Berkeley Heights my whole life, one of my priorities would be to address the distasteful over-construction throughout the township.  We need to address this problem now, while it can still be corrected.

 

On April 1st, 2008, the Council introduced an ordinance to build on Mead St.  I spoke out against that ordinance because I don’t believe it to be in the best interest of the town.  The builder should have gone to The Board of Adjustment for a variance, not an ordinance written by the lawyer of THE BUILDER.  In my opinion it is a questionable practice to have the builders writing the laws that will benefit THEM.  Mrs. Perna, my opponent, does not believe this is spot zoning, but it sure does sound like it. 

 

It is bad enough that my opponents take campaign contributions from builders and/or developers. (This is why they both recused themselves from voting on an ordinance to change the parking requirement on the proposed downtown hotel).   Now they are in favor of a change in the zoning laws so the builders can do whatever they want without notifying the neighbors.

 

In the many years that Mr. Bruno and Mrs. Perna have been on the Council, they spent time on the Planning Board that had approved many of the unsightly towers built downtown without adequate parking.  Aside from being esthetically unacceptable, these buildings do not significantly improve the town’s ratables.

 

Without sufficient parking for the commercial first floors, many of these buildings remain vacant which makes the town unattractive to new business. The plans for building need to be well thought out in order to keep this town the great place that we all know it is.  It is inexcusable for our officials not to do this and if we continue to allow them to proceed like this, I believe it will ruin our town.

 

If elected, Becke Kuhnau and I, Ed Delia, will fight for height restrictions in the downtown zoning laws to two stories.  High-density development without adequate parking is not what is best for Berkeley Hts.  Becke and I would not accept campaign contributions from builders, developers or special interest groups.   We intend to keep questionable development out of town politics.

 

 

Ed Delia is running for the Republican nomination for Council in Berkeley Heights.