TOMS RIVER, NJ – The remnants of former Toms River Mayor Mo Hill’s administration tried unsuccessfully to block Mayor Dan Rodrick’s hiring of an attorney to defend the township against the controversial downtown apartment building complex built by Capodaglia.
Councilmen David Ciccozi and James Quinlisk voted no to an ordinance to hire a powerful state-level firm with expertise in redevelopment and building. Rodrick chose to go with an out-of-area firm, Rainone, Coughlin, Minchello, LLC.
Both Ciccozi and Quinlisk voted to build the project championed by former Mayor Maurice B. Hill. When the developer, Capodaglia, defaulted on their commitments to the township, the pair voted to extend the agreement between the company and the township.
That agreement saw Toms River give the land to the builder for free and offered the developer a payment instead of taxes program that would expect them from paying taxes to the Jackson School District for many years.
Rodrick, along with Councilman Justin Lamb, had fought the project for years but were always on the losing end of a 5-2 council vote. Now that Rodrick and Lamb have a council-allied majority of 5-2, the tables have turned on the remnants of the Mo Hill regime.
James Quinlisk balked, accusing the mayor of bringing in a lawyer to stop the project.
Rodrick said the firm will defend the township’s interests as the project progresses, noting that Capodaglia had defaulted on their agreement once before.
Instead of a large apartment tower complex, Rodrick said he would rather see more reasonable and sensible improvements in downtown Toms River and opposed turning the small village into a waterfront city like Jersey City, New Brunswick, and Hoboken.
“People moved to Toms River to get away from the city and I will always oppose any effort to turn our town into a city,” Rodrick said.