FAIR HAVEN—There are no fast food chains in this borough of mom-and-pop shops and precise eateries. Local regulation passed in 1973 prohibits them.
With a Dunkin’ espresso-and-donuts shop trying to open a shop within the Fair Haven Shopping Center on River Road, that ordinance is getting a 2nd appearance. But the trouble is, no one can locate the nearby regulation within the codebooks.
The problem stems from mistakes made during the recodification of Fair Haven’s code ebook in 2002 via an outside supplier. Recodification is the lengthy system of reorganizing and consolidating antique laws and their more moderen amendments. The blunder, observed with the aid of a council member in 2005, became suggested in The Two River Times on time.
At a borough council assembly Monday night, during which the quick meals ban was discussed, Fair Haven’s cutting-edge borough legal professional Sal Alfieri stated he has no longer seen the 1973 ordinance that created the ban, nor has modern borough clerk Allyson Cinquegrana been able to discover it.
“It won’t exist. We won’t be able to provide it for you,” Alfieri said.
The 1973 ordinance, which withstood a felony undertaking from the McDonald’s fast food chain, banned quick-service restaurants designed for over-the-counter service of organized or pre-organized meals, as well as diners, roadside stands, and cellular lunch carts.
Resident Tracey Cole, who opposes the Dunkin’ store, sought out the original ban only to discover it was missing. At the assembly, she argued that the ordinance, which was no longer an issue for recodification or modification due to its being lost, may want to be still considered “on the books.”
“The simple language was written and defended in 1972 and followed in’ seventy-three’, becoming with us and doing its task until 2002,” Cole stated.
“Whatever became inadvertently excluded can’t just be placed back in, although it changed into inadvertently excluded,” Alfieri said. “Two codifications later, there’s no way we can say this law remains in the area.”
The Dunkin’ would occupy a 2,000-square-foot space in the buying center’s breezeway, which connects the front and rear parking regions, previously settled with the aid of Laird’s Stationery.
At previous conferences, some residents against Dunkin’ stated that a store would be redundant and unnecessary, with franchises already in Red Bank and any other in Sea Bright. Others said they wanted to shield Fair Haven’s small city atmosphere from the creep of ubiquitous chain shops and fast food—which brought about the search for the nearby ordinance—or that site visitors might see growth in bike-pleasant Fair Haven.
Former borough council member Beatrice Sena, who served on the council in 2002, knows the code ebook omission is “horrifying.” Sena said she recalled opposing the adoption of the reworked code ebook because of the misplaced code, which she believes covered numerous pages of borough regulation.
That ordinance became lost during the two previous recodifications. According to borough planner Fred Heyer of Heyer, Gruel & Associates, the most effective way to make it enforceable again is through a legal adoption procedure.
Mayor Ben Lucarelli encouraged the council to task its making plans consultant and zoning officer with reviewing the 1973 ordinance and cleansing up any ambiguities so it could be offered to a committee for eventual attention for adoption.
During this technique, Heyer stated that it’s critical to consider the “unintended effects” of tweaking an ordinance and the harmful impact that could have on current institutions.
“Our master plan is considered one of the sidewalks, taking walks, biking, that sort of environment. But I’m also saying we must watch out for our business owners. But I suppose we ought to decide, one or the other, with this new ordinance. The community that I suppose Fair Haven desires to be is pedestrian, family, and kid-friendly. I hope that’s what the council considers.”
The Dunkin’ application calls for no variances; however, it does want an exchange of use from retail to restaurant to comply with zoning ordinances. A date before the making plans board has now not but been set.
