By Coleen Burnett
At their July 9th workshop meeting, the Eatontown Borough Council discussed the idea of putting together a so-called “nuisance ordinance”.
Under current New Jersey laws, these so-called “private nuisances” include vibration, pollution of a stream or soil, smoke, foul odors, excessive light, and loud noises. The discussion on adopting an entirely new ordinance specific to Eatontown was begun last year.
Borough Administrator and Police Chief William Lucia said a new ordinance is needed because police see new situations all the time while out in the field. For another, the borough no longer employs a noise officer, nor does the borough own any meters or other equipment to measure noise levels. Officers sometimes must make multiple trips to the same address. “It’s very antiquated and needs to be updated,” he said of the law, “We want something that solves the problem, but also doesn’t bring problems in the future. We don’t have those capabilities anymore.”
Councilwoman Hope Corcoran felt the new ordinance as currently written might create more problems than it solved.
“We need to look at this closer and focus {on specifics}…it’s way too broad. There are too many variables,” she told the council, “I definitely think this needs lots and lots of work.”
Councilwoman Jasmine Story agreed. “I think she’s right that it opens up a lot of doors with disputes with neighbors.”
Mayor Anthony Talerico said enforcing such an ordinance can be difficult. “There are a lot of real-world situations that officers find themselves in,” he said, “Everybody should reach out to Billy {Lucia} and give him their input so we can come up with an ordinance we can support.”
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Let’s make sure we have something good…I think it’s okay that council wants to make sure we have a functioning ordinance, and were not going to {formally} introduce it until we do,” Mayor Talerico said.
The new ordinance can be found at the borough website at www.Eatontownnj.com
Eatontown Memorial Student is 10,000th Child to Benefit from Free Vision Screening by New Jersey’s Eatontown Lions Club The Eatontown Lions Club began its sixth year of vision screening with a bang on Thursday, September 14, 2023. As a result of partnering with the Eatontown and Ocean Township School Districts the Lions club provided the 10,000th free vision screening. On Thursday in recognition as the 10,000th screening recipient, Ashton Vassor, an eighth-grade student at Eatontown’s Memorial School, was given a citation and gift card from the Lions Club. Ashton has been screened annually by the Lions since second grade. Also given a Lions Club Certificate was Memorial School Nurse Lucy Craig, one of the first Eatontown School District nurses to collaborate with the Lions when vision screening began in 2017. She was Ashton’s school nurse at Meadowbrook School when his vision was first screened. Working in conjunction with school nurses, vision screenings are done annually by the Eatontown Lions in September and October for students in Pre-K through 8th grade. “We really appreciate your help as well as the support of the Lions. Your work and partnership with us make a difference. The vision screening process as well as the resources the Lions provide to our students if a vision problem is discovered help our students to be in a better position to learn and succeed. Thank you.” said Scott T. McCue, Superintendent Eatontown Public Schools More than 12 million school-age children in the United States have some form of vision problem. Many vision problems run the risk of becoming permanent if not corrected by the time the eye reaches full maturity. Vision also plays an important role in education. According to educational experts, 80 percent of learning is visual. “Early screening leads to early detection, which helps ensure that children get the follow-up care they need,” said Club President Linda Butler. “We want to make sure that cor