TOMS RIVER, NJ – Development has stalled at a large mixed-use urban style construction project in Downtown Toms River. The lawyers for Moshe Tress, a prominent Lakewood developer are accusing Mayor Dan Rodrick of interfering and are threatening to build the project anyway.
Rodrick said the developer and his team cause the delays, not him or the township.
The mixed-use structure, which includes 64 apartments and commercial space, is facing delays as the applicant claims the township’s Planning Board missed a crucial deadline to complete a hearing on the application.
Rodrick said the developer postponed a Planning Board hearing twice, which caused the delays.
Attorney Robert Shea, representing the developer, in an August 9 letter to Planning Board Secretary Lucia Lynch, highlighted that state law mandates the board to decide on a completed application within this timeframe, unless the applicant grants an extension. Waterfront Development Partners extended the deadline to the board’s August 7 meeting.
However, the meeting was canceled due to a scheduling conflict with a Township Council special meeting.
Before that delay, Rodrick noted that Shea had postponed the hearing twice prior, not giving the township, but also said Shea and his don’t have the proper approvals under the laws governing the downtown re-development plan.
Shea claimed Rodrick’s open stance against overdevelopment and high-density apartments downtown is interfering with the project.
Rodrick has dismissed Shea’s claims as “nonsense,” citing that Shea himself had requested adjournments twice.
Despite the contention, Planning Board Attorney Melanie Appleby has scheduled the application for consideration at the upcoming September 4 meeting, attempting to resolve the dispute and move forward with the development process.
Tress made news back in January after he was arrested for recklessly discharging an assault rifle, causing damage and putting neighbors at grave risk.
“You guys very easily could’ve killed someone,” a police officer told Tress, according to body camera footage obtained by Shtetl from Jackson Township. “Your buddies over here are chuckling it off,” the officer told Tress. “This was a batshit idea, horribly unsafe.”
A neighbor whose mailbox was struck by Tress’s errant round said they feared for their child’s safety.
“I’m just blown away at the fact that something from all the way over there could’ve potentially killed my kid,” the owner of the mailbox told an officer, according to the Shtetl report. “I’m not OK with that. My daughter was outside all day today.”
