Lots of big important things happening at Thursday night’s meeting of the Highlands Land Use Board, and Highlands residents better attend ask questions and know what’s going on.
Reorganization
The meeting begins at 7 at the Community Center, and is the board’s reorganization meeting. Which means the first order of business will be the election of its chairperson, vice chair, secretary, meeting dates and professionals for the upcoming year. It’s a hard working board, and an even harder working secretary, and hopefully there will be no changes or surprises here.
But it’s after the new board is settled, that so much is on the agenda and so many questions need to be asked.
The Honorable Plant
First of all there’s the memorialization of the conditional use granted to The Honorable Plant at the December meeting. That’s the application for a cannabis retail shop at 123 Bay Avenue, the former Food Basket adjacent to the former Episcopal, now active Church of another denomination. That hearing was at the last meeting and also requires a variance/
Beth Stavola is the applicant with Dr. Bernadette Dunphy the manager and they certainly presented loads of evidence and information at their last meeting. Kudos to Ms. Stavola for her extensive background and success in the business. Perhaps it was already covered, but I have not seen where it’s ok to have a cannabis shop right next to a church regardless of whether the Sunday School classes are held via ZOOM during Covid restrictions. So perhaps that question could be answered before the approval is memorialized.
Sea Grass
Then there’s a hearing on the second cannabis retail business that wants conditional approval. That one is for Sea Grass located at 272 Bay Avenue, and that one certainly raises a lot of questions.
Council-Member Cervantes
That property is owned by Lionel Cervantes, which appears to be the same Lionel Cervantes who is a Borough Councilman. If that is so, how and why did Mr. Cervantes vote to allow cannabis shops in town in the first place? It appears that he either makes major decisions very quickly or he had the intention to sell his property to a company that wanted to apply for a cannabis license once his vote helped to get them approved?
Conflict of Interest?
Isn’t there a bit of a conflict there? It was back on October that Mr. Cervantes voted to support and approve the siting of an adult use cannabis dispensary within the Central Business District zone of the Borough of Sea Grass NJ LLC to the extent consistent with statutes, rules…etc.….
Only Councilman Donald Melnyk opposed that resolution last year.
Where do you live my friend?
Another question that should be answered are Lionel Cervantes and the Councilman one and the same? Is it is really the councilman? Where Lionel Cervantes is listed as the owner of the premises where the business would be located, most of his home address is redacted. The only part that is not redacted that it says he lives in Asbury Park. If that is so, how can he be on the borough council in Highlands? For that matter, why is the street address redacted in the first place? The public doesn’t have the right to know???? It is the only address that is redacted in the approximate 139 pages of documents for this one meeting. Must be a reason.
As the owner of the property Leonel Cervantes gave his personal permission, and, if he is a councilman, his public entity permission, giving the right to all members of all boards and the Police Department, as well as other agencies, to enter the property for whatever purposes are necessary for the contract purchasers’ James Whelan of Red Bank and Nicholas Frangipane III of Rumson, the two gentlemen who are also the principals of Sea Grass.
Bridge City Collective
The third license which has been acted on is for Bridge City Collective Highlands LLC and that’s for property at 132 Bay Ave owned by one of the Bayshore Recycling companies owned Valerie Montecalvo of Portland rd. Frank Montecalvo is a member of the Land Use Board.
While each of the proposed businesses is seeking conditional approval which is necessary to secure, only one of them can be permitted in the borough, according to the state. It will be up to the governing body, sans Mr. Cervantes, I would presume, to select which one would be able to open the business in Highlands. All are located within the borough’s central business area along Bay ave.
Highlands in the Re-Development Business
As if reorganization and cannabis licenses aren’t enough, there’s yet another important item on Thursday’s agenda. In spite of considerable objections in the past, it appears the Mayor and Council continues to plan to subdivided that huge piece of waterfront land in the Waterwitch section at Locust St. near Matthews St., selling some property to adjacent property owners if they want it and saving the biggest chunk themselves to probably sell at some future date for some other purpose we don’t know about.
The Land Use Board notes in its messages that no new hearings will be started after 10:15 p.m. unless the Chairman rules otherwise. And all meetings shall adjourn not later than 11 p.m. unless a majority of the quorum present at that time votes to continue it later.
Looks like that could happen Thursday night. Better bring a snack. Meetings are not offered via ZOOM.
