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SCORESE, LAPHAM, MIRABELLA RECORD BIG UPSETS; VELEZ, MURRAY CAPPELLO WIN

Cougars Win Title, SPF 2nd, WF 4th at D-11 Mat TourneyBy DAVID B. CORBIN

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

Freshman power came onstrong to give the Cranford HighSchool wrestling team the impe-tus it needed to capture the Dis-trict 11 Championship inWestfield on February 22. TheCougars (C) totaled 189.5 points,crowned five individual champi-ons (3 freshmen) and advanced11 matmen to the Region 3 Tour-nament, which began on Febru-ary 26 in Union.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood (S)placed second with a 157 total,claimed two champions and ad-

vanced seven wrestlers. Brearley(B) finished third with 140.5points, claimed three championsand advanced seven. Westfield(W) took fourth with 120 points,claimed one champion and ad-vanced five. Linden (L) was fifthat 83 and had one champion.Elizabeth (E) had two champsand finished sixth at 76, followedby Rahway (R) at 75 and MalcolmX (MX) Shabazz at 10.

Cougar freshmen TomDiGiovanni (113-lbs), ChrisScorese (120-lbs) and BrianMcGovern (132-lbs), sophomoreNiko Cappello (160-lbs) and jun-

ior Gavin Murray (138-lbs)claimed titles, while freshmanAnthony Capece (106-lbs) placedsecond, and sophomore AndrewTompkins (145-lbs), junior NickBallas (182-lbs), and seniorsCorey Birch (152-lbs), Mike Pas-tor (220-lbs) and heavyweightJon ElKhoury placed third.

“I love it! We call them [fresh-men] the Four Horsemen. It’sfun to watch them wrestle and doso well. I have watched themsince first grade in PAL. It’s greatseeing their success. This is astart of a new trend. I can seeCranford dominating the next fewyears. The PAL program is reallystrong. There’s a lot coming up,”Murray said.

There were three upsets in thefinals and the first came at 120-

lbs when Scorese worked overtop-seeded Nick DeMarco (B) to

grab an 8-2 victory. Scorese alsoCONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Chris Scorese (120-lbs)

Nick DeMarco

Nick Velez (152-lbs)

Eoghan Savona

120-lb Qualifiers





received the Outstanding Wres-tler Award after the tournament.

“Off the whistle, I did a single

but he got the first takedown.After that, I put a leg in and gota tilt like a spread eagle. I almost

pinned him with a cradle butdidn’t quite get it,” Scorese said.

At 113-lbs, Blue Devil John

Fuller pinned Qaadir Lowery (MX)in 1:25 then claimed a 9-0 majordecision over Dom Robinson (L)

in the semis.“I am working a lot of bars. I am

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Corey Birch (152-lbs)

Eoghan Savona

JT Beirne (126-lbs)

Tim Murphy

John Fuller (113-lbs)

Tom DiGiovanni

Matt Barber (145-lbs)

Majid Abdur-Rahim





trying to get back points and pinson a lot better kids. I like the half,but if the half doesn’t get it done

with the better kids I have beenwrestling, that bar works a lotand that’s what I have been work-

ing on. If I don’t get called forpotential dangerous, I usuallyget points off it,” Fuller said.

Fuller’s next opponent wouldbe DiGiovanni for the title.

“The first time I wrestled him I

had 16 stitches in my mouth. Hegot the better hand of me. A


Outstanding Wrestler – Chris Scorese

Cougar Coach Pat Gorman

Nick Velez (152-lbs)

Dom Natale

Brian Lapham (145-lbs)

Andrew Tompkins

Kevin Frega (195-lbs)

Dan Van brunt





week later, we wrestled in a dualmeet, and I came out hard and itended up 1-0. It was just a mat-ter of me getting off the bottom.

Today, I got him again. I’m reallyexcited and I really want to getafter him. If I get off the bottom,hopefully we will have a different

outcome. No matter what, atleast I am going to the regionals,”Fuller said.

After a scoreless first period,DiGiovanni escaped and added atakedown then yielded an es-cape to Fuller to claim a 3-1decision.

“I knew it was going to beclose. We both have been train-ing really hard. I came in on afront headlock, transferred myarm and pulled around for two.All four freshmen, we’ve all beenworking really hard for a longtime. It’s really all coming to-gether,” DiGiovanni said.

After grabbing a 10-0 majordecision, McGovern defeatedRaider Tom Cunningham, 8-1, inthe semis. In the finals, McGovernhad a wild bout with Diego Ataca(L) that went into overtime, butMcGovern was ready and re-

corded a takedown to earn an 8-6 decision.

“I wrestled him in the dual sea-son. He took me down first, but Icame back. It’s a six-minute

match, so I knew I had time tocome back and that’s what I didto win,” McGovern said.


Cougars Capture District 11 Wrestling Crown, Raiders Place Second, Blue Devils Third

Probitas Verus Honos

106-lb QualifiersDistrict 11

Coach of the Year

Alex Mirabella

Mike Tancs

Brian McGovern

Diego Ataca





Cunningham went on to placethird after defeating LavinskyPhillippe (R), 9-3.

After defeating Mike Anaya (E),

8-2, in the semis, Capece droppeda 7-0 decision to top-seeded RayWetzel (B) for the 106-lb title.Murray pinned Raider Jeff Lieblich

in 2:37 with an arm bar/stretchhammerlock in the semis thenpinned David Winters (R) in 2:56for the 138-lb crown. Lieblichtook third.

Blue Devil Jarek Gozdieski, af-ter recording a takedown onChristian Chavez (R) controlledhim from the top position beforerecording a fall in 4:49 to ad-vance to the 160-lb title bout.

“I kept shooting and shootingthen I got a drag double andslammed him down as hard as Icould to the mat. I did everythingI was taught. Then I held himdown for the rest of the period. Ithrew in a half and turned him.Coach [Glen] Kurz has beenteaching us you don’t want to letthem up, because if they are ontheir stomach, they get tired andthey are not going to get up. It’s

as simple as that,” Gozdieski said.Looking to his title bout with

Cappello, Gozdieski said,“Westfield is in the best shape in

this county, region, state. Justtire him out and keep firing.”

Cappello did most of the firingCONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE



126-lb Qualifiers113-lb Qualifiers

Matt Barber

Brian LaphamDavid Tobe

Saverio Salfcas





in the first period and went on toearn a 5-0 decision.

“I wanted to get my feet going.I got a nice high crotch, pulled itinto a lift. I was proud of myriding. It was good to ride himout. I kept full pressure on him,”said Cappello, who added, “It

was good that we had that manychampions. I am proud of thefreshmen getting district titles.We did good. That’s what wewanted to do.”

The second big upset came inthe 145-lb title bout when top-seeded Blue Devil Matt Barber

faced Raider Brian Lapham. Bar-ber defeated Lapham twice be-fore, both very physical battles,and this third bout was no excep-tion. After Lapham recorded afirst-period takedown and Bar-ber escaped, an unnecessaryroughness penalty against Bar-ber would prove to be the differ-ence as Lapham won, 4-3.

“I believed in myself. There’sno time to get down on yourself.Everyone loses. For him, it was alittle personal. I went after it,used my moves and had mycoaches and friends behind me.You got to match his toughness.You can’t let him take advan-tage, do what you have to do andkeep your head on tight,” Laphamsaid.

In the 152-lb semi bout withBirch, Raider Dom Natale coun-tered his takedown attempt witha guillotine takedown and wenton to win, 7-2.

“He took a shot, a low-leg single.I was able to cross-face. I slippedmy leg in, grabbed his far arm,pulled it over his head andsqueezed for my life,” Nataledescribed then added, “This ismy fourth time I wrestled him.The first two times, he beat meand the last two times I beathim.”

Next on the list was his titlebout with Blue Devil Nick Velez.

“Nick is a great wrestler. Itshould be a good match,” Natalesaid.

Undeterred at the shocking de-feat of his teammate Barber,Velez went to work with two first-period takedowns then lateradded a shrug takedown to claima 6-1 victory.

“It kind of fueled my fire. Iwanted to avenge him. I was upagainst another kid from ScotchPlains. I knew he was good on

top, because he chose top. That’srare! My philosophy is instead ofgoing out of the way and makestupid mistakes is be careful andcautious. I moved on bottom,but I did it cautiously. I took himdown twice [first period]. I wasworking my shots left to right,

left to right and capitalized on it,”Velez said.

Raider JT Beirne advanced tothe 126-lb finals with a 9-2 deci-sion over Tim Murphy (B). Beirneadded emphasis with the grape-vine and Jacob’s hook nearfall.


CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGEProbitas Verus Honos

152-lb Qualifiers

145-lb Qualifiers

138-lb Qualifiers

160-lb Qualifiers

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“It was the third time I wrestledthis kid this season. It’s alwaystough beating a kid three times,but I controlled him on my feetand tried to turn him to his backfor the team points. It was a chinwhip. It’s the same kind I hit thisseason with the kid from Linden[Nick Tekula], so it should be agood match. I know I beat him

earlier this season, so he wantsto get me back. I think I cancome out on top if I wrestle mybest,” Beirne said.

Tekula did, however, manageto pull out a 4-3 decision for thecrown.

The third upset of the after-noon came at 182-lbs whenRaider Alex Mirabella, trailing

Brearley’s Mike Tancs, 4-2,tugged and tugged and finallyclamped him in a 3-point cradleto seize a 5-4 victory and thetitle. Throughout the bout,Mirabella was attempting to catchTancs in a Merkel maneuver butto no avail.

“Third period, coach goes, ‘taketop’. I was like, ‘I don’t know! Idon’t think that was a good idea.’I went for that cradle. He was notgiving it to me. I could not lock itup. I changed over to a differentgrip, pulled back and got my fivecount. It feels great, especiallyafter last year coming so close,”Mirabella said.

Seeded sixth at 182-lbs, Cou-gar Ballas stunned Khalil Burns(L), 5-3, then after losing toRaider Mike Ridge in the semis,he earned third by knocking offSean Twerdak (R), 6-0. Ridgefinished second after falling toJoey Balboni (B), who was rankedsecond in the state.

The first bout of the evening(195-lbs) was the quickest whenBrearley’s Jeff Velez pinnedRaider Dan Van Brunt in 29 sec-onds. Blue Devil Kevin Frega tookthird with a 3:06 over arm bar/hammerlock fall over Ed Hurtares(E).

At 220-lbs, David Tobe (E)edged Saverio Salfcas (B), 5-3,in overtime. Pastor pinned JustinDrake (R) in 34 seconds for third.Lloyd Jackson (E) topped MaxBurgos (L), 5-3, for the heavy-weight crown and ElKhourynipped Raider Mike Henderson,3-2, for third.

CHAMPIONSHIP BOUTS:195: — Velez (B) p Van brunt (S) :29220: — Tobe (E) d Salfcas (B) 5-3 OTHwt: — Jackson (E) d Burgos (L) 5-3106: — Wetzel (B) d Capece (C) 7-0113: — DiGiovanni (C) d Fuller (W) 3-1120: — Scorese (C) d DeMarco (B) 8-2126: — Tekula (L) d Beirne (S) 4-3132: — McGovern (C) d Ataca (L) 8-6 OT138: — Murray (C) p Winters (R) 2:56145: — Lapham (S) d Barber (W) 4-3152: — Velez (W) d Natale (S) 6-1160: — Cappello (C) d Gozdieski (W) 5-0

170: — Mirabella (S) d Tancs (B) 5-4182: — Balboni (B) p Ridge (S) 3:21

THIRD PLACE:106: — Anaya (E) won forfeit113: — Robinson (L) d Philippe (S) 12-6120: — Tony Stuckey (E) d NickKalimtzis (W) 3-2126: — Murphy (B) d Miller (W) 10-4132: — Cunningham (S) d Phillippe (R)9-3

138: — Lieblich (S) d Harrison (MX) 1-0145: — Tompkins (C) md Majid Abdur-Rahim 9-0152: — Birch (C) d Savona (B) 7-3160: — Chavez (R) d Gonzalez (L) 10-3170: — Lester Dwah (L) d EvanGoodridge (R) 10-5182: — Ballas (C) d Twerdak (R) 6-0195: — Frega (W) p Hurtares (E) 3:06220: — Pastor (C) p Drake (R) :34Hwt: — ElKhoury (C) d Henderson (S) 3-2




More on Next Page





285-lb Qualifiers

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times

CRANFORD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK...Chris Scorese, freshman on thevarsity wrestling team, recently upset the No. 1 seed to become the District 11Champion at 120-lbs and was voted the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.

Niko Cappello, Chris Scorese, Tom DiGiovanni, Brian McGovern, Gavin Murray

Team photo, below, and 5 ChampsCourtesy of Kevin Murray

2014 District 11 Champions – Cranford Cougars





CF Considers Pay Stations;Budget Meetings Next Week

By DELL SIMEONESpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

CRANFORD – The townshipcommittee, at its workshopmeeting on Monday night, de-cided to amend an ordinanceregulating noise before intro-ducing it at the regular meetingon Tuesday evening. The com-mittee also heard a proposalfrom the police department onordering new pay stations forthe downtown municipal lots andreceived a copy of proposedchanges to the land use regula-tions in the township’s masterplan.

The proposed noise ordinancewas scrapped when committeemembers took issue with someof the new regulations. Commit-tee member Lisa Adubato said,“I don’t want to fix something

that’s not broken.”Police Lieutenant Edward Dav-

enport gave a presentation onreplacing parking meters in thedowntown municipal lots in fa-vor of pay stations and said theywould pay for themselves in lessthan a year. He said right nowthere are 26 meters. He pro-posed adding 18 pay stations, ata cost of $275,753, or replacingthem all at a cost of $462,982.

“The cost would remain at 25cents per half hour,” LieutenantDavenport said. The motoristwould pay at the pay station andreceive a receipt as proof ofpayment, he said.

“The committee has time tothink about this before the in-troduction of the capital bud-get,” Mayor Andis Kalnins said.

Christina M. Hinke for The Westfield LeaderPLANNING AHEAD...The Cranford planning and zoning boards held a jointworkshop meeting on February 16, at which time Township Zoning OfficerRobert Hudak led a discussion about the role of the zoning board of adjustmentand the planning board. See story page 2.


color-coding, of the basketballcourt are temperature sensitive.They can only be done when it isknown the temperature will notdrop below 50 degrees, even atnight, Mr. Flanagan said.

The roof on the clubhouse stillmust be sealed, which is requiredbefore the windows can be in-stalled so the completion of theinterior can be done.

“I’m really starting to get ex-cited,” Mr. Musial said. “It’s reallystarting to look like something.”

The council also learned that six“change orders” to the originalcontract – such as removal oftrees – have been done. All wereunder $5,000 and total less than$30,000. While they are withinthe contingency budget, they stillmust be approved by the council.

It also was learned that the rec-reation committee is consideringrecommending the installation ofa security camera system thatwould cost approximately$40,000.

The relative assurances ofcompletion came despite BoroughAttorney Bob Renaud completinga council request to draw up a“request for proposal” (RFP) seek-ing a construction/project man-ager for the AFC. The RFP hasbeen issued and Borough ClerkChristina Ariemma is awaiting re-sponses.

The information came from aquestion by Council President AnnPalmer, who soundedunconvinced by the project’s threeprincipals. “I know we received agreat schedule from the gentle-men this evening, but I’m becom-ing a pessimist,” she said.

In other matters, finance com-mittee chairwoman Sara Todiscosaid she was unable to obtain aninitial tax impact figure for thenext fiscal year’s budget from theauditor.

“I did ask several times,” shesaid, adding that the repeatedsnowstorms have made it difficultto schedule meetings among the

By BRIAN TRUSDELLSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

GARWOOD – The contractorbuilding the Athletic Field Com-plex (AFC) projected on Tuesdaythat the site should be ready foruse by mid-July, more than ayear behind schedule.

Flanagan Construction Presi-dent Robert Flanagan told theborough council in workshop thatthe $3.2-million project has lostmore than 200 days due toweather and delays related tohazardous soil removal.

“We have time built into theschedule, we should be donebefore then, but if the weathercontinues in the cycle we’re hav-ing, we can’t guarantee it,” Mr.Flanagan said.

Councilman Bill Nierstedt askedabout a July 15 final site cleanup,attempting to pin down a date thatGarwood would be able to stagean event at the south-side ballfield.

“Don’t make it the 16th,” Mr.Flanagan said to laughterthroughout the room.

Mr. Flanagan appeared beforethe council, along with buildingarchitect Noel Musial of The MusialGroup and landscaping architectJohn Belle of Kinsey Associates,to answer questions about therecreational project. He told thecouncil that he has been exas-perated by the delays.

“It’s been very frustrating forme, because I’m the guy that’swriting the checks out,” Mr.Flanagan said.

The start of the project waspostponed by Hurricane Sandy,and the removal of contaminatedsoil further delayed the project,a halt that Mr. Flanagan indi-cated had pushed the ventureinto a second winter. He alsocited problems with power, wa-ter and natural gas utilities.

Some of the remaining aspects,such as installation of the syn-thetic turf for the soccer fieldand the painting of the lines, or

GW Field Projected for Completion in Julyfinance committee members. “Ihope to have it by the specialbudget meeting,” she said.

The council has scheduled anextraordinary session on Thurs-day, March 6, to discuss thespending plan before the public.

The council approved assistancefor a “Garwood Rocks” street fes-tival on June 8 sponsored by theGreater Westfield Area Chamberof Commerce (GWACC).

Chamber Vice-President CarolKearney, who owns Unique Cruiseand Travel in Garwood, soughtthe okay for closing of streets andpolice cooperation for the CenterStreet event, which she said willfeature live music, a classic carshow involving 75 to100 vehicles– including NASCAR stock carsfrom a private collection – a pet-ting zoo and “kid zone.”

The fair would be similar in somerespects to the annual spring andfall events staged by Westfield,also sponsored by the GWACC,which represents Westfield,Scotch Plains, Fanwood,Mountainside and Garwood.

Ms. Kearney, who also servesas the council’s business and in-dustry representative, said it hasbeen at least a decade sinceGarwood hosted such an event.

The council also approved June21 to 22 for the annual town-wideyard sale and two dates for bulkgarbage pickup: June 23 andOctober 20. Permits will be soldfor $80 per household for 750pounds.

And in other action, the councilunanimously authorized PoliceChief Bruce Underhill to purchasethree new Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles to replace existingvehicles within his budget. The$76,940 cost will be spread overthree years and change the two-year plan of replacing vehicles,begun under his predecessor, tothree years.






By CHRISTINA M. HINKESpecially Written for The Westfield Leader

CRANFORD - The townshipcommittee introduced, 4 to 1, athree quarters-of-a-million-dol-lar bond ordinance Tuesday tocomplete the North Avenue Sta-tion Plaza Pedestrian Safety Im-provement Project and re-haulits parking pay stations.

A state grant of $500,000 isexpected to be awarded to paydown the $600,000 allotted forthe North Avenue Station PlazaPedestrian Safety ImprovementProject.

A half a million dollars of thebond will be appropriated to re-place the 26 existing parking paystations in the township, and add18 pay stations. The townshipwas presented with two optionsfor updating the pay stations — a$276,753 option to replace the26 stations and a $462,892 op-tion to have 44 pay stations.

Commissioner Thomas Hannen,Jr. opposed the ordinance, hetold The Westfield Leader, be-cause “I am not comfortable do-ing this until we adopt a capitalbudget.” He said he was sup-portive of replacing the pay sta-tions currently in the township,but adding more is not a priorityin his opinion. He felt road resur-facing and plowing were priori-ties over adding more pay sta-tions. He also said any revenuegenerated from parking feesshould be funneled to road re-surfacing and other like expensesand not be deposited into thegeneral fund.

The committee also introduceda resolution, 4 to 1, with Com-missioner Hannen voting against,to award Florio, Perrucci,Steinhardt, & Fader as the lawoffice to provide affordable-hous-ing legal services for the town-ship. Superior Court Judge LisaF. Chrystal ordered the townshipto implement an affordable-hous-ing plan.

Resident Rita La Brutto voicedher opinion against hiring the

law firm.Attorney Phil Morin, who is em-

ployed by Florio, Perrucci,Steinhardt, & Fader, and who is aformer township attorney, rep-resented the township in theBirchwood hearings that resultedin Judge Chrystal’s order for anaffordable-housing plan and herjudgment in favor of the builder,Cranford Development Associ-ates, which proposes a housingcomplex on Birchwood Avenue.

Ms. La Brutto argued that thetownship has 37 affordable-hous-ing credits that are unfulfilledand she said Mr. Morin had failedto communicate that to the plan-ning board.

As part of the ongoing appeal ofJudge Chrystal’s findings, Town-ship Attorney Diane Dabulas saidthe township filed an appellatebrief Monday and Cranford De-velopment Associates has crossappealed.

In response to a resident’s com-plaint of her neighbor playingmusic loudly with intent to harassher family after she and her hus-band opposed the neighbor’s re-quest for a variance to constructa privacy fence, the committeeintroduced an ordinance to add asection to its Peace and GoodOrder legislature. The ordinancestates that noise cannot be heardby a neighbor between the hoursof 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. It alsostates that sound amplified toharass a person on nearby prop-erties is not allowed at any time.

Resident Rachael Watson madea comment to the committeecommending the governing bodyfor introducing the ordinance;however, she did not agree withthe time stipulation and said shefelt it should be upheld at alltimes. She suggested people bemade to get permits to play loudmusic, and such.

Mayor Andis Kalnins said, “Ibelieve the ordinance addressesharassing as it doesn’t have atime. We did try to find a balancewith rights for people to have

Christina M. Hinke for The Westfield LeaderWELCOME ABOARD...The Cranford Township Committee congratulatesWesley Ditzel, III after his appointment as a firefighter within the Cranford FireDepartment, effective Saturday, March 1. He is a third-generation firefighter.

Business AdministratorTerrence Hall said the budgetprocess is on track and that thebudget must be introduced byWednesday, March 19. The com-mittee set special dates to meetwith department heads for Mon-days, March 3 and 10. Mr. Hallsuggested requesting monthlyreports from each departmentto keep the administration upto date on department needsand expenditures.

Zoning Officer Robert Hudakand zoning consultant Paul Riccigave copies of proposedchanges to the municipal landuse code in the master plan tocommittee members to con-sider. The purpose, said Mr.Hudak, is to update zoning regu-

lations.During the public portion of

the meeting, Barbara Krauss ofthe Cranford Tree AdvisoryBoard asked the committee tomake sure that trees taken downto build a new athletic field atUnion County College on Gal-lows Hill Road would be replacedon a ratio of three to one. Shereminded the committee thattrees absorb and hold mois-ture. She also requested thatsnow removal be mandatory atall crosswalks and corners toavoid accidents, especially inareas where children are walk-ing to school.

Planning board member Rita LaBrutto asked committee attor-ney Diane Dabulas if thetownship’s appeal of the judge’sruling on the proposed Birchwooddevelopment had been filed. Ms.Dabulas said it had.

CR Introduces $775K Bond Ordinancesocial gatherings.”

Union County College (UCC)plans to construct an athletic fieldin the back lot area near the bor-der of Westfield. Tree AdvisoryBoard Committee member Bar-bara Krause said the board metwith UCC Tuesday and, “We hit adouble.” The township engineer-ing department sent a letter toUCC requesting it abide by thetownship’s tree replacement andflood regulations. “They did indi-cate they would cooperate,” Mrs.Krause said. There is approxi-mately 4.3 acres of wooded areabeing removed for this project,according to the engineer’s letter.

The committee authorized theappointment of Wesley Ditzel, IIIas a firefighter within the CranfordFire Department, effective Satur-day, March 1, to fill an opening inthe department. He is a third-generation firefighter.

Julie Murphy was appointed asan associate member to the His-toric Preservation Advisory Boardwith a term ending December31, 2014.

The Crane-Phillips House wasdesignated a Cranford HistoricLandmark with a final reading ofthe ordinance establishing thisdesignation.

Trinity Slates ServicesFor Ash Wednesday

CRANFORD — The Trinity Epis-copal Church, located at 119 For-est Avenue in Cranford, inviteseveryone to attend Ash Wednes-day services on March 5. Cel-ebrated by the Reverend Dr. GinaWalsh-Minor, rector, services willbe held at noon and 7:30 p.m.

Trinity Episcopal Church is afamily church that has been serv-ing the needs of Cranford areafamilies since 1872. Sunday ser-vices are held at 8 a.m. and 10a.m. and are celebrated by Rev-erend Walsh-Minor. For more in-formation about Trinity, call (908)276-4047 or visittrinitycranford.org/


Cranford Considers Pay Stations





CF Planning, Zoning Bds.Hold Joint Workshop Mtg.

By CHRISTINA M. HINKESpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

CRANFORD — The planning andzoning boards held a joint work-shop meeting Wednesday.Township Zoning Officer RobertHudak led a discussion aboutthe role of the zoning board ofadjustment and the planningboard.

Mr. Hudak brought up topicssuch as land use regulations,the jurisdiction of each board,the application process and themaster plan.

“The only entity that has thepower to zone is the State Legis-lature,” Mr. Hudak said. “Thestate gives the power to munici-palities.”

Most of the discussion was onthe power of the zoning board.

“The zoning board is a morepowerful board of the two be-cause they look at use,” Mr.Hudak said.

He discussed the municipal landuse law and gave an example ofthe powers the zoning board hasin granting variances.

He also explained the differentc and d variances.

The applicant has to presentenough evidence to prove theyneed a variance relief, Mr. Hudaksaid. “You gotta make the appli-cants work for it,” he told boardmembers.

A financial hardship is not ahardship that the applicant canuse, he said. He explained that ac variance can come before theplanning board if there is a siteplan or subdivision associatedwith it. “It is really up to theboard to solicit questions [of theapplicant],” Mr. Hudak said.Should an application require anescrow, automatically the zon-ing officer hires a planner to re-view the application and attendthe hearing, Mr. Hudak said.

“You have to be careful when

imposing conditions,” Mr. Hudaksaid.

He handed out a general guideto the master plan, which con-sists of overall objectives and astatement of the township’s guid-ing principles, policies and ob-jectives for its physical, economicand social development. A newmaster plan should be reviewedevery 10 years, he said.

The township currently is re-viewing its master plan, he said.The planning board has the soleresponsibility to adopt or amendthe master plan.

Crane-Phillips PlansIrish-American EventCRANFORD — The Cranford His-

torical Society will present “MeetMary Elizabeth” with ChristineGlazer this Sunday, March 2, from2 to 4 p.m. at The Crane-PhillipsHouse Museum, located at 124North Union Avenue in Cranford.The program will begin at 2:15p.m.

Attendees will learn aboutCranford’s 19th-century Irish-American history through thetales of the Phillips family house-keeper, “Mary Elizabeth.” Fromland developers to servants,Irish-Americans made significantcontributions to the early daysof Cranford. Ms. Glazer willpresent this history in a livelyconversational style.

Admission will be free. To re-serve a seat, call the HistoricalSociety’s office at (908) 276-0082 or [email protected] ished in 1928, theCranford Historical Society, anon-profit organization, is dedi-cated to the preservation andperpetuation of Cranford’s his-tory. For more information, visitcranfordhistoricalsociety.com.

Everyone knows that this hasbeen a tough winter. As theGarwood Council liaison to theStreets, Roads and Ecology (SRE)Committee, I have been ex-tremely proud of the job that theseven staff members of the De-partment of Public Works havedone in keeping our streets andpublic sidewalks free of snow. Aswith any unusual climatic event,however, there have been someunwelcome consequences. Thepurpose of this letter is to askGarwood residents for your inputfor future change.

I am of the firm opinion thatevery driver knows when he/sheis entering/leaving Garwood dur-ing snow season. One of the ben-efits of a small town is that ourstaff is able to repeat street snow-plow passes many more timesthan in larger towns. Our ordi-nance requiring vehicle ownersto remove their vehicles fromstreets to allow curb to curb plow-ing keeps our streets cleaner.We have, however, experienceddifficulties. Repeated snow-storms have forced the plowsfarther from the curb. Cars lefton roads have resulted in ticketsfor the owners, but the cars re-main buried in snow, resulting insnow extending into streets. Gar-bage cans left in streets over-night force plows farther out.These actions have resulted inthe creation of narrower lanes,making it almost impossible totraverse when cars are parkedon the street.

As property owners we are re-quired to shovel our sidewalkswithin 24 hours of a snowstorm,and most residents do, but noteveryone. While this lawbreak-ing action also results in tickets,the snow/ice remains on the side-

walks. Corner property ownersare required to make two-footwide pathways to the street; noteveryone does. Snowplows havecreated piles of snow at corners,making opening these paths verydifficult. The piles get high, po-tentially blocking corner visibil-ity. And, if the snow freezes, as itdid in the last storm, removalmakes it virtually impossible ifnot done in a timely manner.

The Borough/DPW staff notonly has responded as describedabove, but also removed snowmounds on narrow streets suchas Anchor and Winslow, and Wil-low Avenue. They have removedthe snow at all corners wherecrossing guards are stationed.The trade off for these extratasks is that this removes stafffrom completing other jobs, andit creates overtime pay needs(tax dollars).The borough is alsorunning out of places to dumpthe snow. Off-street parking hasbeen obtained for those whohave no access to their ownparking. But this situation is NOTpermanent. We have purchaseda larger vehicle which – upondelivery – will be able to assistgreatly in snow plowing. Thepolice department also puts outnumerous advance warningsover the Internet and via loudspeaker to residents giving ad-vance warning of storms andstorm required actions.

What other actions should wetake? Should we ask residents toget to know their neighbors (likein the old days) and set up acamaraderie that will result inneighbors letting neighbors parkin their driveways, and helpingneighbors remove snow even ifits past their own property lines?(Maybe this could help at leaf

Councilman Seeks Input From PublicOn Garwood Snow Removal

Local Letters to the Editor

raking time too?) Should weamend the law to prohibit resi-dents from putting garbage cansin streets when snow is predicted?Should we start towing vehiclesfrom streets? Should we pur-chase land for temporary park-ing of vehicles and as snowdumps? Should we hire morestaff and purchase more equip-ment? Jim Mathieu and I fromthe SRE committee do not pre-tend to have all the answers. Wemay not be able to implement allof your thoughts, but we ask youto please contact us so that wecan make positive changes forthe betterment of all.

Bill NierstedtGarwood Councilman

Garwood Dems toAttend Devils GameAs Club FundraiserGARWOOD — The Garwood

Democratic Club has obtaineda group rate for 25 tickets forthe New Jersey Devils hockeygame versus the Florida Pan-thers at 7:30 p.m. at the Pru-dential Center in Newark onMonday, March 31.

The club is offering the tick-ets for $50 each, and that priceincludes a $10 food card. Thisis not a political event, and isbeing organized as a fundraiserfor the club. If 50 tickets aresold the club will be able towalk down to the ice after thegame and get a group picturetaken.

Four additional $10 food cou-pons are available and the clubis proposing to pick four namesout of a hat and give one eachto four lucky winners.

Those interested in going tothe game are asked to call BillNierstedt at (908) 654-8586and let him know how manytickets they want or need.Checks should be made pay-able to the Garwood Demo-cratic Club.

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