Behind Closed Doors: Pocket Park Fiasco in Fair Haven

Fair Haven Herald

October 20, 2019

Fair Haven, NJ

Story by Jeremy Chandler

Pocket Park Fair Haven’s 2014 plan to turn a half-acre property at the foot of DeNormandie Avenue into a public park has been stopped in its tracks by Borough-initiated litigation with the owner of neighboring longtime business Fair Haven Yacht Works. As shown below, the Borough’s suspect decision to start a lawsuit has certainly cost over $100,000 in legal fees to date, and the case appears to be very weak, as the Borough effectively surrendered its rights to the Yacht

Works grant over 50 years ago.

The locally-owned Yacht Works is a family business which has been operating at that location since the 1920s. Owner Jim Cerruti loves the job, “How do you not enjoy being by and around the water, being around the boats every day?” But Cerruti has been weathering a costly legal storm brought by the Borough of Fair Haven which has dragged on for over a year.

The modest $45,000 project to open a “pocket park” has been stopped in its tracks by litigation initiated by the Borough which has cost taxpayers over $40,000 and counting in legal fees as of one year ago, and the legal expenses are certainly well into the six figures at this point for both the Borough and the Yacht Works.

In January 2018 the Borough of Fair Haven sued the Yacht Works and the State of New Jersey seeking an order forcing the Yacht Works to move its docks, and reversing the State of New Jersey’s removal of the Borough’s tidelands grant. The case is currently pending before
Judge Joseph P. Quinn in the Superior Court, Monmouth County, and as of the last court order on 5/24/19, no discovery (exchange of information, depositions, etc.) has been completed. In fact, it would appear that the last 18 months of litigation has accomplished nothing for the Borough aside from running up what is certainly a staggering legal bill for Borough Attorney Salvatore Alfieri. Compounding the highly questionable decision to embark on this expensive legal route,
the Borough has consistently voted over the last year to exclude public access to discussions involving the litigation at council meetings.

A confidential source indicated that when an article about this issue was published last summer, “the Borough suddenly found several zoning violations and issued a summons against the marina”. Yacht Works fought the Borough over the course of the last year, and the court recently dismissed all but one of the violations (which was minor in nature and present since 1966). These heavy-handed tactics by the Borough raise further questions which Borough officials will only discuss behind closed doors.

Tidelands Grant In 1962 the State of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
granted Fair Haven a tidelands grant at the end of DeNormandie Avenue. However, the grant states that if Fair Haven ”shall use or permit” any portion for commercial purposes, “this grant shall immediately become null and void”. A look at the voluminous court filings show that over the ensuing decades, Fair Haven was aware of the dock’s existence and encroachment on the grant, and on numerous cases gave written permission for such use. In fact, the Borough even
rents a slip at the Yacht Works during the summers to store its own municipal boat.

Meritless Lawsuit Despite questions raised by residents at some Council meetings, town
officials have refused to provide answers as to the nature of the dispute, nor will they release or discuss the ongoing legal bills for residents to review. This stonewalling begs the question whether the delay and lawsuit brought against the Yacht Works owner is a proper
use of taxpayer funds.

Looking For Answers Among the many questions raised by the complaint are the enormous legal
fees. How were there over $40,000 in legal fees from January-August 2018? And how much has been billed in the year since then? Who from the Borough selected attorney Salvatore Alfieri? What was the selection process and were other attorneys given the opportunity to bid for the work? Who is overseeing the legal billing submitted?

Cases typically drag on for years, and with over $40,000 spent in the first few months (and likely running over $100,000 at this point), Fair Haven taxpayers have legitimate concerns about the decision making process and proper use of their tax funds to pursue this litigation.
At this rate the legal bills appear to be heading well into six figures for a dispute over a small barren tract which may not get much use considering the limited access and lack of parking. And from the wording of the DEP grant, the case appears doomed to fail. On top of the costs to Fair Haven taxpayers, this questionable litigation has forced both a Fair Haven business (Yacht Works) and the State of New Jersey to spend comparable amounts for their own legal bills.

When town officials stonewall taxpayers asking reasonable questions and refuse to publicly provide information on how a significant amount of public funds are being spent, many would argue this is a violation of their duty to their constituents, and it only fuels a lingering
suspicion of government corruption and mismanagement. More transparency by Fair Haven officials would help alleviate these types of concerns.

Open Government? In response to questions submitted by The Herald about these issues, Borough officials have responded in a defensive and angry manner, refusing to answer a single question. Borough Administrator Theresa Casagrande, after receiving a list of questions as requested in the Borough's weekly newsletter, was especially nasty, responding that "I will not consider addressing your questions below, or answering any of your future emails." She continued, "engaging you in this manner would be nothing but a waste of my official time." This was Casagrande's only response to a list of questions, despite the posting promising to "maintain open and honest communication" on the Borough's website.

On behalf of the Governing Body, I am pleased to announce the first release of Fair Haven’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) public forum. This question and answer format is another feature of the Borough’s ongoing commitment to maintain open and honest communication with our residents. If you have a question that you would like answered in a future FAQ posting, please email it to me at tcasagrande@fhboro.net Best regards, Theresa Casagrande, Borough Administrator

Promising open and honest communication is easy, but it appears Fair Haven's secretive government culture has not changed.

Questions, concerns, or comments?

jeremychandler1816@gmail.com