BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer

ROOSEVELT - The borough has passed up a chance to codify all of its zoning ordinances.

The Borough Council unanimously voted on July 10 to table an ordinance that would have compiled all of its zoning ordinances into one comprehensive document.

Borough Planner Thomas Thomas, Planning Board member Tim Hartley and Hartley's wife, Lorraine, prepared the proposed codified ordinance.

Borough officials called for the codification earlier this year when they could not locate a copy of a zoning ordinance called into question before the Planning Board.

Resident Bert Ellentuck said he spent a lot of time looking at the proposed document, and urged the council to table it.

"It's very long [and] intricate, and a lot of things are printed in small type," Ellentuck said.

Ellentuck also said that the original ordinances have a number of omissions, internal conflicts, paragraph references that no longer exist and undefined phrases.

Ellentuck said that although Hartley worked very hard on the document, the problems need to be resolved.

Hartley asked Ellentuck for some specificity. In response, Ellentuck said that, for example, the original ordinances do not include definitions of major or minor subdivisions.

Hartley said the borough could correct the document after the council adopted it, and that the purpose of the ordinance is to compile all the borough's ordinances into one.

"We can amend it in the future," Hartley said. "There are not a lot of corrections to be made."

Lorraine Hartley, who said she helped proofread the proposed ordinance, said the compilation is not meant to correct definitions or change current ordinances.

"It [is] just to get one document so everyone can look at it," she said.

Hartley said it is her understanding that the council and the Planning Board think it is crucial to clarify the ordinances as much as possible. She said Planning Board Attorney Michele Donato does not know all the borough ordinances.

"If we can't figure out what the current law is, we can't move forward," she said.

Councilman Michael Hamilton said he did not want to put the borough at risk by holding up the codification due to small details.

Hamilton, who serves on the Planning Board as well, said he is also concerned that the county may not have some borough ordinances on file.

"If [the ordinances are] not there, [they do] not exist in a court of law," he said.

According to Hartley, Borough Clerk Krystyna Olejnik spoke to the county officials in Freehold and received a certified copy of all the documents the county has on file.

Councilman Jeff Ellentuck, Bert Ellentuck's son, agreed with his father, saying the ordinance should be tabled. In addition, he noted that the document refers to two alternate members of the Planning Board, while the council recently passed an ordinance amending the number of alternates to four.

Borough Administrator William Schmeling said that if the council adopts the proposed ordinance, the borough would only be allowed to have two Planning Board alternates instead of four.

He said changing the number of Planning Board members cited in the document would mean that the council would have to reintroduce the ordinance, and that it could take up to two months before the council could vote on it again.

Hamilton said the document would never be perfect, as it would always be in a constant state of flux.

Jeff Ellentuck said the borough would not be at risk if the council took two weeks to thoroughly review the document. He said he wants to be sure the council reads and understands the document before it passes the ordinance.

While Hamilton voted to table the ordinance, he said he wants the borough to continue reviewing its ordinances to ensure that the borough can defend its existing zoning ordinances.

Although the council praised Hartley for his "Herculean" effort in putting the document together, Hartley said he would no longer be involved with it.

According to Hartley's wife, her husband took on the project to save the town the $30,000 it would have cost to hire an expert codifier.

In other zoning-related business, Robert Francis resigned his position as borough zoning officer.