Local resident Zack Brown is expected to appear before Municipal Court Judge Leahey, Jr. on Tuesday, July 23 to respond to a complaint of “property maintenance.” Weeds

Brown, who with his wife, Morgan Spicer, is a regular attendee at Borough Council meetings.. During then public portion at last week’s meeting, he appealed to the council to look into “Chapter 265 and amend the code to make it more clear so a resident would know what he is charged with and make amendments to have the code meet its specific purpose.

Mayor Lori Hohenleitner, who enabled Brown to explain his distress and consternation in detail, and expressed happiness that Brown had received a conciliatory note after the summons was delivered to his home on Victorian Woods Drive, turned his recommendation for a review of the Property Maintenance ordinance to the Green Tree and Environmental commissions.

But Brown still faces a court appearance at 3 p.m. July 23, and if found guilty, could face a fine, he said of up to $2,000 as well as a jail term.

The resident, who with Spicer ran unsuccessfully for seats on council several years ago as independents, told the governing body during the meeting he was shocked by the violation notice, can not understand specifically how code enforcement officer Richard Colangelo says he is violating the law, and pointed out how he has participated in No Mow May for two years, the local program calling for permitting grass and weeds to grow and bloom in order to provide food and shelter for essential pollinators early in the season.

Brown and Spicer are both dedicated environmentalists and have volunteered both time and talent to keeping borough residents informed on numerous ways to protect, enhance, or preserve the environment. Both are also active in numerous volunteer efforts for the environment, arts and culture as well as keeping informed on municipal activities.

Brown also said he maintains small portions of his property as “micro meadows” small sections where he encourages the growth of environmentally healthy and productive growth of flowers and plants.

Yet the summons he received is not specific in what the resident violated, so Brown is not exactly sure how he is able to defend the charge.

Chapter 265 Property Maintenance: is a four-page section of the local code that covers everything from removal of brush and debris and prohibiting invasive plants to setting the height and distance of brush and hedgers from roadways.

Brown said the code enforcement officer noted he issued the complaint in response to a neighborhood complaint but did not identify any specific person.

Brown received a form letter from Colangelo on June 1 thanking him for participating in No Mow May to help the local pollinator species, But the notice then added that all properties within the borough must adhere to Ordinance. 265 and maintain grass on the entirety of their property. The notice then directed him to have his property mowed no later than Jun 15.

It was June 16 that Brown got the summons which is bringing him into court on July 23.

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Council President Brian Dougherty listed a series off accomplishments he noted the Mayor and Council have achieved in the first six months since taking office in January.

Dougherty cited the accomplishment during the meeting in which the governing body adopted three new ordinances, postponed a public hearing on a fourth, and introduced a new ordinance, its 17^th since January.

At the meeting, Council unanimously approved a $550,000 bond ordinance, an ordinance requiring background checks for volunteers in youth program and an ordinance to put a non-binding question on the ballot in November after there were no objections at public hearings. Council also postponed the public hearing on a proposed parking ordinance because of some legal questions and set the hearing for the next meeting on Aug. 8.

In listing a progress report on accomplishments since January, Dougherty noted the borough’s primary achievements have been in negotiating an agreement authorizing the Monmouth County Park system to negotiate the purchase of the Mother Teresa school property, a matter still in negotiation but anticipated to be completed shortly.

He also cited a number of changes the governing body has made including a rent control ordinance to protect borough renters from unreasonable rate hikes. That ordinance was introduced at the meeting and will be finalized after a public hearing on August 8.

Dougherty also cited amendments to the development regulations for the historic and central business districts, identifying them as “the first significant update to regulations in a generation.”

This Council has also updated the development checklist, he said, requiring geotechnical analysis in steep slope areas and both parking and traffic studies for development projects.

Dougherty praised the Environmental Commission for its significant contributions in aiding the council in enhancing stormwater management in the borough through a series of amendments to municipal codes.

Citing financial accomplishments in their first half year in office, Dougherty noted the current council negotiated a new higher interest rate with the borough’s bank, resulting in a significant return on borough funds, as well as unanimously passing its 2024 municipal budget with an overall reduction in the municipal tax rate.

Background checks and safety training for volunteers involved with all recreation programs, including for coaches, directors and other volunteers was approved at the meeting providing a higher degree of safety for the youth of the borough.

Council has also involved the public in more participation in municipal matters, with Dougherty citing the three charrette planning sessions to get ideas from residents for the future development of Helen Marchetti Park. Borough Engineer Doug Rohmeyer indicated in response to a question during the meeting, work is progressing on the park, bids were advertised and have been awarded and production should begin within a couple of months.

Council is still working on cannabis decisions after conducting an information session with experts in the industry discussing the benefits of allowing businesses in the borough., Mayor Lori Hohenleitner, in response to a question from the public, indicated there should be more information available in August or September.

Dougherty also said the Council has passed 15 new ordinances in the last six months. Still to come, he said, is completion of plans and implementation of profit-making EV charges at the borough marina and other locations.

Dougherty was elected to his first term on the governing body in January, 2022 after being elected in a tough fought election in November, 2021. He has served on the environmental commission and planning board as well as remaining active in local children’s sports activities. He is the council’s liaison to the Henry Hudson Regional Board of Education as well as the planning board.

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More Stories From Atlantic Highlands HERE

Before He Was a Restauranteer He Was a Writer!

While everyone in Monmouth County thinks of The Shore Casino in the Atlantic Highlands Yacht Harbor when they hear the name Bernie Sweeney, it was different 75 years ago. That’s when the Jersey City native was in the army and stationed at Camp Campbell in Kentucky. He was also a writer in the service, as he was before his  Casino In The Park days in Jersey City.

So it was in 1953 on the 11^th anniversary of the official opening of the camp for training soldiers, that Sweeney wrote a front page, by-lined article for The Courier, in its anniversary edition of the weekly newspaper for the Campbell area.

The paper recently stopped circulation now in search of the most efficient means of circulating the news for military on the base, located on the Kentucky-Tennessee border between the towns of Hopkinsville in Kentucky and Clarksville in Tennessee. The base is named for Army Brigadier General William Bowen Campbell, a general in the Union army during the Civil War and the last Whig Governor of the state of Tennessee.

Fort Campbell is the home of the 101^st Air borne Division and the 160^th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Sweeney’s several thousand-word story spanned three pages of the newspaper back in 1953, highlighting the arrival of the base created to train soldiers during World War II .

It began when the 11^th Airborne Division arrived after being relieved of occupational duty in Japan in 1949. The paratroopers, Sweeney said, “arrived here in wave elements until May of that year when the 11^th Airborne Division officially made Fort Campbell the Home of the Angels.”

Sweeney traced the construction that continued on the base from 1942 when the area was struck by heavy rains, minor floods and the need to prepare the camp for an early occupancy to meet the needs of war training.

Sweeney’s story also told of the circumstances surrounding which state could claim ownership to the Home of the Angels, first identified as Tennessee based on surveyors indicating that two-thirds of the reservation was south of the state line. Later, because of complaints about it, the matter was studied further in Washington, the reporter continued, and “the camp was officially changed from Camp Campbell, Tennessee, to Camp Campbell, Kentucky.

Eight years later, when the camp was redesignated from a temporary to a permanent post, it was renamed Fort Cambell, Kentucky.

The base was also a prison camp for the many German prisoners of war who were housed there during World War II, with three stockades used for that purpose, each holding 3,000 men, and separating the captured Nazi from anti-Nazi prisoners.

In later years, the base was expanded and at the time Sweeney was stationed there, it included new housing, a gym, theater, permanent barracks, a hospital, and military and recreational facilities that ranked the base among the best in the world. There was also a 25-classroom school built for military children and a modern-day hospital with specialties in neurosurgery, plastic and orthopedic surgery and other specialized treatment for veterans returning from the Korea war shortly after 1950.

Today, while it is on hold while installation leadership explores options for the best platform to continue serving the Fort Campbell community’s information needs, the newspaper’s leaders praise the “award-winning team” ore reporters and editors who “wove words into narratives, capturing the essence of Army life with the hope that in the future “it may find its new path and keep weaving stories for generations to come!”

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Bernie Sweeney

Local residents Sue Curry and Claire Kozic were honored as volunteers of the month at the Atlantic Highlands Borough Council meeting this week . With enthusiasm after their award presentation the volunteers invited everyone to join in the activities that give residents of all ages the opportunity to participate.

The two women praised the athletic program at Henry Hudson Regional School with MS Kozic saying “it’s a lifelong thing” in recognizing the abilities of local youth and their abilities to work together in a variety of sports. Their activities encourage and invite residents of all ages to attend and cheer them on, the volunteers said, and help to build communications between generations.

In praising them, Mayor Lori Hohenleitner said both women are active in volunteering in a number of different areas and do so much volunteer work “behind the scenes” for which they never seek nor are given recognition.

At the same meeting, Council President Brian Dougherty, a frequent and avid supporter of all the athletic and scholastic programs both at the Atlantic Highlands school and Henry Hudson, announced the new Field Hockey instructional program just introduced in the borough for girls in grades 4 through 7.

The councilman said the program, which recently got underway, has 32 participants with Erin Dougherty, Katrina Majewski, Courtney Gearhart and Karin Masina the instructors and activities held at Kavookjian on Route 36. The program is sponsored jointly by the Atlantic Highlands and Highlands recreation programs, Dougherty said, and is appreciated as a new activities program for girls. He also encouraged residents to take advantage of the number of activities offered for local youth that residents of all ages would enjoy watching.

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