JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ – According to Jackson Township Business Administrator Terrance Wall, not everyone in town is following the rules when it comes to filing proper permits to perform construction services at their homes in town.
Last year, Wall criticized Jackson homeowners and businesses who were skirting the town’s construction ordinances and working without permits or in violation of township statutes. At that meeting, Wall and other speakers eluded that many new residents were not following the rules.
Avi Herskowitz, of Toms River, started off volunteering to help local Orthodox Jewish residents properly submit building permits to many towns across New Jersey. His service has been so successful that he turned following the rules into a business.
Herskowitz said the township’s new container permit law doesn’t make sense and doesn’t add up. He cited the $100 application fee for the permit, saying it’s a good thing to make sure dumpsters aren’t all over the place, but said the need for a survey hurts the average homeowner trying to do the right thing.
He said when complaints started about problems with compliance in his community, he began helping residents properly put together permits to perform their work legally in Toms River, Jackson and other towns.
“There’s been a lot of positive change to do things properly and put in permits,” Herskowitz said.
Now, when residents are seeking to make changes or add extensions to their homes, they call Herskowitz to make sure they are doing it in accordance with the local building and zoning laws.
He said most other towns where he works do not require property surveys.
“An updated survey would require sending down a survey to the property, costing homeowners $800 to $1,500 with two to eight weeks of lead time, affecting everything,” he said. “This ordinance is a great idea. The only issue is it’s not fair to have to get a survey. It’s just a dumpster. People want to comply. People want to do the right thing. You guys are the only ones who do this.”
Herskowitz said the wording for survey should be replaced with a sketch to simplify the process for homeowners. He said the ordinance is also scaring away contractors who don’t want to deal with the new bureacratic hassles in Jackson.
“Whoever put this together probably didn’t know the process,” he said. “It’s non-enforceable. It’s a joke.”
Township Attorney Greg McGuckin said the council may amend the ordinance drawn up by his office to change the word survey to ‘sketch’.
Moshe Dahari, owner of Wynns Bins, a dumpster contractor in Lakewood said the process of getting a dumpster isn’t something people call for weeks in advance, they call when they need one.
Dahari fears that the process of getting a survey is going to make people nervous because it will take them a few weeks, plus additional days or weeks to get the permits approved. Dahari said he would even offer to submit the permits on behalf of customers, but said the township’s ordinance complicates the process.
Council President Marty Flemming said the township will soon amend the ordinance to remove the requirement for a survey and replace it with a sketch.
Shore News Network has been covering the Five Towns NJ, including Lakewood, Brick, Toms River, Jackson and Howell Since 2008! Here’s what else is going on in the 5 Towns NJ area.
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