Betsy Koch, left, and Tracy Cole. (Candidate-supplied photos. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Incumbent Republican Betsy Koch and running mate Tracy Cole secured seats on the Fair Haven council with convincing wins over two Democrats Tuesday.
Four candidates have their eyes on two seats in this year’s election for Fair Haven borough council.
See what they had to say about the issues, and their qualifications to tackle them, in these Q&As with redbankgreen:
Betsy Koch
Bob Gasperini
Tracy Cole
Sonja Trombino
Also, check out the voter resource guide below.
On the ballot November 2: Fair Haven council candidate Bob Gasperini. (Photo provided by candidate. Click to enlarge.)
CORRECTION: ALL borough voters in the November 2 election are to cast in-person ballots at the Church of the Nativity parish center at 180 Ridge Road. An outdated list of polling places was incorrectly included in the original version of this post. Apologies to those who were inconvenienced.
Fair Haven voters will have four candidates to choose from when they elect two council members November 2.
Here’s what candidate Bob Gasperini had to say in response to a questionnaire sent to all four by redbankgreen.
On the ballot November 2: Fair Haven council candidate Betsy Koch. (Photo provided by candidate. Click to enlarge.)
CORRECTION: ALL borough voters in the November 2 election are to cast in-person ballots at the Church of the Nativity parish center at 180 Ridge Road. An outdated list of polling places was incorrectly included in the original version of this post. Apologies to those who were inconvenienced.
Fair Haven voters will have four candidates to choose from when they elect two council members November 2.
Here’s what candidate Betsy Koch had to say in response to a questionnaire sent to all four by redbankgreen.
On the ballot November 2: Fair Haven council candidate Tracy Cole. (Photo provided by candidate. Click to enlarge.)
CORRECTION: ALL borough voters in the November 2 election are to cast in-person ballots at the Church of the Nativity parish center at 180 Ridge Road. An outdated list of polling places was incorrectly included in the original version of this post. Apologies to those who were inconvenienced.
Fair Haven voters will have four candidates to choose from when they elect two council members November 2.
Here’s what candidate Tracy Cole had to say in response to a questionnaire sent to all four by redbankgreen.
On the ballot November 2: Fair Haven council candidate Sonja Trombino. (Photo provided by candidate. Click to enlarge.)
CORRECTION: ALL borough voters in the November 2 election are to cast in-person ballots at the Church of the Nativity parish center at 180 Ridge Road. An outdated list of polling places was incorrectly included in the original version of this post. Apologies to those who were inconvenienced.
Fair Haven voters will have four candidates to choose from when they elect two council members November 2.
Here’s what candidate Sonja Trombino had to say in response to a questionnaire sent to all four by redbankgreen.
Mayor Joshua Halpern, second from left in top row, as seen during Monday’s virtual council meeting. (Screengrab from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Five days into the job, Fair Haven’s new mayor forged a “compromise” Monday night in an effort to preserve funding for a road project that appeared dead a week ago.
“We’re looking for progress here,” Mayor Joshua Halpern said during a 47-minute special council meeting, his first as a public official.
Cooney Terrace, above, and part of Hance Road would remain sidewalk-free, and possibly curb-free, under a proposal up for a vote Monday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Se UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
A Fair Haven road project that appeared dead Tuesday may have been revived by the man who was named mayor that night.
Mayor Joshua Halpern on Friday called a special meeting of the council for Monday night to consider a plan to repave the northern end of Hance Road – but without sidewalks and maybe without curbs.
Delivery trucks and tree-removal equipment narrowed a stretch of Hance Road Wednesday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After seven years of planning, and months of intense pushback, Fair Haven’s council killed a plan to install sidewalks and curbs in an area that residents likened to a “country lane” Tuesday night.
The action, on a 3-3 vote without a mayor in place to cast a tiebreaker, left unanswered what to do about streets that still need repaving, and whether to waive a $350,000 grant to pay for it.
Pedestrians on Grange Avenue Monday evening. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Residents of a Fair Haven neighborhood on the Navesink River told the borough council Monday night they don’t want sidewalks installed on their “bucolic” streets, even if a $350,000 grant has to be abandoned.
The fair will return in August, said Councilman Mike McCue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The summer-ending food-and-fun extravaganza known as the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair will return in August, borough Councilman Mike McCue said Monday night.
That sparkler of news, another sign of the waning COVID-19 pandemic, came amid council action on the budget, cannabis, waterfront property and more.
Closed since early in the pandemic, Fair Haven’s borough hall and library will reopen June 7, administrator says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A new council member, a call for budget cuts, a planned reopening of borough hall and a pandemic ponytail were among the topics at what might have been the last Fair Haven council meeting of the pandemic Monday night.
Architect Margaret DeSantis describing the design of the proposed new police station, at right, and storage facility at left. (Concept by the Goldstein Partnership. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven moved to the fine-tuning stage on two major redevelopment projects Monday night, offering residents yet another chance to influence the looks of a new police station and a new public works yard.
Both, located in residential areas, continued to draw praise for fitting in.
Residents placed red dots on the names of restaurants they would not want to see open in town. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After a prolonged battle over a Dunkin’ donut shop, Fair Haven residents took an “arts and crafts” approach to starting a new dialogue about fast food Tuesday night.
Mayor Ben Lucarelli, right, with Council President Jon Peters at Monday’s council meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Steam continued to rise Monday night from last month’s controversial planning board decision to allow a Dunkin’ coffee shop to open in Fair Haven.
At issue at the council’s semimonthly meeting was a proposed ordinance that would all but ban fast-food restaurants, even as advocates acknowledged it was no more than a “stopgap” measure.
By JOHN T. WARD
Stopping short, for now, of re-banning fast-food restaurants, Fair Haven officials took steps Monday night to instead prohibit drive-thru restaurants.
The borough council also plans to have the town join a rapidly growing list of New Jersey towns that have banned single-use plastic shopping bags.
Borough attorney Sal Alfieri and planning consultant Fred Heyer at Monday’s council meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A missing-in-action law that banned fast food restaurants in Fair Haven is effectively revoked and will have to be rewritten, the borough’s attorney said Monday night.
In that case, the next one needs to address “ambiguities” that enabled a proposed — and controversial — Dunkin’ coffee shop to clear the first hurdle to possible approval, officials and residents said.
Former Councilwoman Bea Sena reads minutes from a 2002 council meeting at which she voiced concern that parts of the borough code had gone missing. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fast food joints in Fair Haven? Why, there oughta be a law, say some residents, angered by a pending proposal for a Dunkin’ coffee shop.
Well, it turns out there is — or was — a borough ordinance explicitly prohibiting fast food restaurants. But it seems to have vanished from the town’s official code book, a resident told the borough council Monday night.
What that means to the most controversial planning board application in recent history, as well as others expected to soon follow, immediately became a lightning rod issue.