ASBURY PARK PRESS :: MONMOUTH EDITION

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THURSDAY 04.28.16

Hastert
admits
sex abuse
Serial child
molester gets 15
months in bank
fraud case. 1B

PUBLIC HEARING

READY FOR
24% GAS HIKE?
Proposal has attracted a wave of opposition from
local mayors, freeholders and New Jersey AARP

Kushner scraps
town center
proposal for
Monmouth Mall
DAN RADEL @DANIELRADELAPP

EATONTOWN - The concept to re-create Monmouth

Mall into a town center with apartments and a hotel appears to be dead.
In a move that stunned a packed audience at a middle
school gym, Jenny Bernell, director of development for
Kushner Cos., said it will drop its plan to redevelop
Monmouth Mall moments before the Borough Council
voted no on a zoning change that would have permitted 800 apartments on the mall property.
We thought we were making great headway as far
as working with the municipality in improving the
mall, Bernell said. Given the response tonight, we
realize that those changes are not welcome and we are
planning to leave the mall as is.
Bernells comments came after Mayor Dennis Connelly recommended the borough vote no on a zoning
change to the mall property in order to scale back the
redevelopment. Her comments also came after a public
comment period where several residents spoke against
See MALL, Page 14A

COURTESY OF RTKL ARCHITECTS/KUSHNER COS.

A conceptual overview design of the proposed Monmouth

Town Center. The plan was dropped Wednesday night.

PHOTOS BY JERRY WOLKOWITZ/CORRESPONDENT

Joann Parker of Freehold Township listens to a presentation at a public hearing for a proposed New Jersey Natural Gas rate
hike at the Freehold Township municipal building on Wednesday.

Lake Como drops

its cops; Belmar
will patrol borough

DAVID P. WILLIS @DPWILLIS732

KALA KACHMAR @NEWSQUIP

It may come down to a choice between paying to

heat your home or paying a medical bill, one Howell
resident said.
And having to make decisions like that is what
makes New Jersey Natural Gas proposal to raise bills
by 24 percent just not fair, Barbara Dixel said, noting
that the hike was coupled with the lack of a cost of living increase for Social Security benefits this year.
Something doesnt get paid every month and thats
terrible, Dixel told a crowded public hearing at the
Freehold Township municipal building on Wednesday.
There has to come a time when you have to say enough
is enough. We cant keep paying.
The rate hike proposal by New Jersey Natural Gas,
which would raise monthly heating bills by nearly $22
on average, will undergo regulatory hearings in August before an administrative law judge and must be
approved by the state Board of Public Utilities.
The utility said it will pay for improvements and

LAKE COMO - The Lake Como Police Department

will disband May 11, leaving seven police officers without jobs and saving taxpayers millions over the next
few years.
The Borough Council on Monday approved a 10-year
contract for police services with Belmar.
Last week, residents overwhelmingly voted down a
budget that would have increased taxes by more than
22 percent and maintained a borough police force. Of
the towns 1,055 registered voters, 379 voted against the
budget and 137 voted in favor of the increase.
Lake Como will pay a pro-rated portion of $914,000
25 percent of Belmars 2016 police and communications
budget for the rest of this year. The borough will continue to pay one-quarter of the police budget for the duration of the contract.
See POLICE, Page 10A
Raymond Carbone of Colts Neck listens during the hearing.

See BILLS, Page 16A

24%

$21.69

$1,215

The total average amount

New Jersey Natural Gas will
raise its utility bills.

Expected increase on monthly

bills for a NJNG customer
using 100 therms.

The 24 percent increase means

bills would rise from nearly
$988 to $1,215 annually.

Its a slap in the face to our hard-working senior citizens who struggle to make
ends meet. CARMEN AMATO, BERKELEY MAYOR
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VOLUME 137
NUMBER 102
SINCE 1879