Rent Control Advisory Board Taking Shape

Efforts to study rent control in Bloomfield took a minor step forward on Monday when the township council appointed its first member to the Rent Control Advisory Board.

Kevin Lindahl, vice president of the Bloomfield Tenants Association and a Troy Towers resident, was approved in a unanimous 7-0 council vote.

Rent control has been an ongoing political topic during the past year when tenants from the Troy Towers apartment complex complained of rent hikes of 15 to 20 percent and some tenants wanted to bring back the township's pre-1994 rent control law.

The council rejected a rent control ordinance twice during votes in February and May. In June, township officials agreed to form a committee to study rents in the township.

However, Councilman Robert Ruane's second candidate for the committee, Myra de la Cuesta, from the Troy Towers Tenants Association, was rejected in a 4-3 vote. Ruane's attempt to get the council to reinstitute a 1985 rent leveling law also failed in a similar 4-3 vote.

Mayor Raymond McCarthy and Councilman Bernard Hamilton said they did not support putting de la Cuesta on the committee because it would be unfair to have two tenants from the same apartment complex serving on the board when the issue of rising rents is a town-wide problem.

McCarthy and Hamilton were joined by council members Michael Venezia and Peggy O'Boyle Dunigan in voting against the appointment and bringing back the rent leveling law. Ruane, along with council members Nick Joanow and Janice Litterio voted for the appointment and rent leveling law.

Ruane said he wanted to bring back the 1985 rent leveling law to limit rent increases to a 3.5 percent per year. "I'm trying to give the renters of this township some protections," Ruane said. Ruane is also a resident of Troy Towers.

Hamilton said the goal of the Rent Control Advisory Board was to look at the issue of rising rents in the township and to come up with new solutions to the situation, not to revert back to the old township rent laws.

McCarthy said he didn't believe rent control is viable for the community and he said tenants with high rent increases should file complaints in court.

A handful of landlords expressed an interest in serving on the Rent Control Advisory Board at the Aug. 8 meeting, and McCarthy said they will be sent a letter to see if they want to help out.