Maple Leaf Park Issues Boil Over At Brick Council Meeting

Is Maple Leaf Park infested with drug dealers and a haven for crime that’s getting worse, or is it an area with problems that’s starting to turn them around?

The answer to that seems to depend entirely on who you talk to from the development. Tuesday night the Brick Township Council got an earful as the topic dominated the 3-1/2-hour meeting, as both residents and the association’s board came to the meeting, both sides were airing their views, sparked by complaints two weeks ago from a resident about crime and safety concerns in the community.

Jerry DiCicco of Windcrest Court, described the community as “under siege” from people who come into Maple Leaf Park to sell drugs. “We need help controlling the crime and quality of life issues,” and had harsh words for the property management company and the board of the Maple Leaf Park Association, which he said “has been derelict in its duties.”

“The police do a great job, but we need an armed presence 24-7, and that should be paid for exclusively by the management company,” he said, and praised resident James Cancel, who spoke at the previous council meeting, describing drug deals and drug use as well as prostitution happening in units around his, as well as harassment of residents by those who come into the development for those and other activities.

Jen Tripucka of Sawmill Road defended the management company, MSK Professional Management of Freehold and its representative, Myron Kozak, who she said have been working hard to address issues and have made progress.

“There are drugs everywhere in town,” she said.

Kozak, the property manager, who was accompanied to the meeting by two members of the association’s board, president James Zago and vice president Gail Covey, said the association board knows there are problems.

“All these issues are being addressed,” he said, noting that since he came on board two and a half years ago, the association board has made strides, investing in security cameras both on the exterior of the buildings and on the interior hallways and common areas to discourage criminal activity.

However, Kozak said, the cameras are not monitored 24 hours a day. There have been discussions with the police department about having the department hooked into the complex’s system to get a live feed, Kozak said and Business Administrator Joanne Bergin confirmed. But technical problems have prevented that connection so far, Bergin said.

Further complicating matters, Kozak said, most of the cameras have been out of service since they were damaged during a July storm. Kozak said a prolonged fight with the association’s insurance company has delayed getting them back in service, but he said they expect to have all of the cameras working again by early November.

Several council members urged Kozak to push the association board to revisit full-time monitoring of the cameras.

“If you don’t have someone monitoring the cameras 24 hours a day, how do you alleviate the crime problem during the overnight hours?” Councilwoman Marianna Pontoriero asked.

Kozak said they are able to and have taken flash drives with footage to the police for them to investigate any crimes.

Councilman Paul Mummolo said waiting until after the fact isn’t sufficient to address the problem. “We want to be proactive not reactive,” he said.

Kozak said after the meeting that having someone monitoring the cameras full-time isn’t going to stop a crime in progress.

“The residents need to call the police when they see something happening,” he said.

Pastor Quincy Goodwine of the church Redirecting Lives Through Christ, which meets at the association’s recreation center, said there are other positive steps the association has taken, including allowing the church to hold afterschool homework sessions to keep kids occupied with something positive until parents get home from work.

“We help them with their homework, we give them a snack,” and most of all, Goodwine said, they talk to the kids about the dangers of drugs. After nearly three years, he said, he is seeing progress, as more kids come to the program.

“It took three years to build trust with the kids,” said Goodwine, who described himself as a recovering addict who has been clean for 25 years.

“Maple Leaf Park has issues but it’s not as bad as some people are saying,” Goodwine said. “But we need to come together as a community to find a solution.”

A significant part of the problem, according to those on all sides, are absentee owners, who rent the apartments and condominiums without checking their tenants and who never respond to problems.

“These parasites, these outside slumlords, need to be held accountable,” DiCicco said. “Please put on a glove and get in the game,” he said to the council.

Zago, the association’s president, said the association is hampered in its attempts to address those issues by the association’s bylaws.

“We can’t put in rental restrictions unless a certain percent of the owners agree to it,” he said, and those attempts have failed because of those owners who don’t want restrictions.

Cancel, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said he wants to see the association enforce its own rules, including, he said, the requirement that every unit that is rented out have a certificate of occupancy, which he said is not happening.

After the meeting, Zago said the problem of COs is more complex.

“We can’t tell who’s moving in and out (without a CO) by just watching,” he said, because they are dealing with a 374-unit complex. And in cases where the board has been told about rentals lacking COs, they’ve responded, Zago said. Several of the ones Cancel is complaining about, Zago said, are situations that arose as a result of Superstorm Sandy, when people who lost their homes were being moved in as quickly as possible. “At the time (unit owners) were told, ‘Just put them in,’ but they never realized they needed to call back later to get the COs taken care of.”

During the meeting, Zago expressed frustration with the criticisms directed at the board and the community.

“Yes, we have slumlords. We call code enforcement regularly,” he said. “We have run into so many roadblocks.

“There’s only so much we can do. Please, do something to help us,” Zago implored the council.

Council President Susan Lydecker said the town has been actively trying to address the issues since Cancel spoke at the Oct. 7 meeting, through meetings with code enforcement, discussions with Police Chief Rick Bergquist.

“This issue is being addressed by an administrationt that hasn’t had a shot before,” Pontoriero said. “Please give us a chance to see what we can do.”