Candidate Statement of Councilwoman Elaine Perna and Councilman Joe Bruno
TRUTH IN POLITICS
When a
person becomes a candidate for public office, the public must be reasonably
assured that the candidate is being truthful in what he says about himself and what
he says about other candidates. Mr. Delia’s recent statements on The
Alternative Press, to be kind, are simply not accurate!
Mr.
Delia accused Mr. Bruno and Mrs. Perna of the
following:
Mr.
Bruno’s Reply:
All
of my fund raising efforts have come from neighbors and friends and from a
Karaoke Night fundraiser. All of the
funds from Perna and Bruno campaigns have been
directly sent to our campaign treasurer. I personally have never
accepted any monies directly for my campaign.
The only
time I recused myself was at the
I have
never and would never vote for an ordinance without proper notification to the
public. In fact such an ordinance would
be illegal. Any person running for office
should know that!
Furthermore,
when a developer builds on a piece of property in Berkeley Heights which needs
a variance, notification to all neighbors is required within 200 feet, whether
the application goes before the Planning Board or Board Of Adjustment.
In my 3
years of serving as a Committee/Councilman, the Mayor has asked me to serve in
his place on two applications. One was because he would be out of town on
business and the other because he had a conflict of interest. Both of these had
to do with residential housing. The applications for all of the downtown
building that Mr. Delia referred to as “unsightly towers” were approved before
I was elected to town government. I have never been appointed to serve
on the Planning Board.
Since I
have a record of service I will debate the merits of my three years anytime,
anyplace as long as the ground rules require that my opponent is honest,
truthful and accurate.
Mrs.
Perna’s Reply:
As the
Township Council liaison to the Board of Adjustment for many years and a former
member of the Planning Board, I am well aware of the definition of spot-zoning.
In no way does the ordinance that the Council introduced last week (allowing
age-restricted housing without having to put a retail establishment on the first
floor) fall into the category of spot zoning.
Mr. Delia should familiarize himself with the
term if he has a wish to represent the good citizens of
None of
the campaigns in which I have been a candidate has received a campaign
contribution from a builder or a developer who had an application before me or
any of my running mates. In fact, in our
last campaign, our treasurer received a large contribution from a resident in
town who had several applications in front of the Planning Board (of which Joe
or I was not a member) and I directed the treasurer to return the check to the
contributor. If I have recused myself from a builder’s application it has only
been because my campaign received a contribution before the contributor was
in any way involved in a development - and even then, although it was not
necessary to recuse myself, I did. Every contribution ever received by a
campaign in which I have been a candidate has been legally recorded, legally reported,
and is publicly on file for all to see, and I have never been
influenced, nor could I ever be influenced, by any amount of money or
gratuity.
Mr.
Delia should review the zoning laws that governed the Planning Board when the
buildings he describes as “unsightly towers” were approved. At that time, the Planning Board was legally obligated
by existing zoning ordinances (that were approved by previous Township
Committees in the early 1990’s) to approve downtown development which only
required that 25% of the required parking spaces be provided on premise. At
that time, up to 75% of the required parking spaces could be achieved through
the payment of a fee-in-lieu to the Municipality for the purposes of acquiring
and/or constructing parking spaces as required.
We were required by law to approve the parking element of those
applications. I am proud to say that
shortly into my first term as a Berkeley Heights Councilwoman, I proposed, and
we passed, the ordinance that requires 90%, yes 90% Mr. Delia, of
required parking be provided either on site or curbside, and that the remainder
of the parking be secured by a renewable lease of at least 20 years, or other
assurance as acceptable to the Planning Board.
As far
as height restrictions and increased setbacks, Councilman Bruno and I attempted
to pass an ordinance last December which would have reduced the height of new
downtown development from 42 feet to 36 feet and increased the front setback by
as much as 8 feet. It was what the newly
adopted Masterplan recommended. Mr. Delia publicly
objected. Furthermore, we could not
muster enough support on the Council to carry the ordinance. We have been very fortunate that no developer
has presented an application for downtown development at a height of 42 feet.
Councilman Bruno and I will try to introduce this ordinance again next month. Hopefully it will have more support.
Councilwoman Elaine Perna and
Councilman Joe Bruno are running for the Republican nomination for Council in