Letter To The Editor: We Need Palmer As Manchester's Mayor

Ken Palmer for Mayor.

Ken is a Manchester native who knows this town well and has been active in community affairs. His plan for action includes an immediate internal audit of all departments, reduce municipal budget by 10 percent, reduce property tax, reduce municipal debt and aggressively lobby state for safer Route 70. We need Ken as mayor because we cannot afford to continue with the current “Old Boys” Administration!

What happened to Walmart? Over the years our elected officials told us about this imminent tax revenue bonanza – we’re still waiting …

The 1.1 mile Renaissance Secondary Access Road, required by the Manchester subdivision ordinance, was approved by the Planning Board in the summer of 2003. In September, I asked our Township Councilman about the road and he assured me that it was “a done deal”, however he couldn’t say when ground would be broken – if not now, when?

In 2002, an agreement was litigated, limiting development of the 4,087 acre Heritage Minerals Site on Route 70 to 2,400 homes instead of the 15,000 homes proposed by Hovnanian, and set aside much of the tract as a Pinelands Forest Preservation Area. In July 2014, the Manchester Township governing body designated the entire 4,087 acres as an area “in need of redevelopment,” opening it up again to high density housing that could require increased traffic on Route 70, new schools and increased taxes. This is not “smart development”.

During the hearings on the Route 571 nursing home, the Mayor called me and loudly berated me for opposing the application for a zone change and site plan approval. I told him, “Mike, we opposed it because it was bad land use planning. They wanted a commercial structure that was too large for a site that was zoned residential and whose noise would violate the Manchester noise ordinance.” He didn’t want to hear it. Fortunately, our opposition won – but at a price! Many local residents laid out thousands of dollars of their hard-earned money to defend themselves against an ill conceived, poorly planned project vociferously supported by the Mayor and his minions. We don’t need any more of this!

When considering the application for multi-family dwellings on Route 571 near Quick Chek, the Town Council decided to push the vote back until after the November election. Why then did the council quietly add it to the agenda for their October 13 meeting and pass it quickly despite objections from members of the audience? One of these was Ken Palmer, who told the Council that it was wrong -– the reply was “It was on the agenda.” It sure looks like the council wanted to sneak the approval through and the public be damned.

We can’t take anymore “Continued Good Government” like that – elect Ken Palmer --Leadership starts at the top!

Archie T. Miller
Falstaff Drive