Cape May Throws Out Petitions To Suspend Meter/Parking Ordinances

CAPE MAY — The city has rescinded the certification of petitions submitted by the Friends and Neighbors of East Cape May (FAN ECM), seeking to suspend the operation of new parking and metering ordinances and asking for a voter referendum on the issue.
FAN ECM delivered 220 signatures on 37 petitions to City Clerk Diane Weldon on April 12. All those petitions have been disqualified. Signatures on the petitions include those of three former mayors.
The ordinances allowed the city to create more than 300 new parking spaces by using back in angle parking on Beach Avenue and install parking meters in the east side of town where parking has been free of charge.
Weldon said the petitioners had until May 27 to submit a new petition.
Deputy Mayor Niels Favre said the city’s decision to rescind certification of the petitions was based on a decision by Superior Court Raymond Batten that “the petitioners did not hold sufficient status to initiate a referendum.”
City Solicitor Tony Monzo said the city clerk discovered one of the persons gathering signatures on petition had registered to vote in Cape May as little as five days ago. He said the information was submitted to the Board of Elections and registrars sent out questionnaires, which they typically do where there is a question of a person’s qualifications to vote.
The board examines the address where a voter files tax returns, registers a vehicle and the address used on a driver’s license.
Monzo said two registrars reviewed it and found two committee members of FAN ECM should be removed from voter lists subject to a hearing before the Board of Elections, which took place May 11. According to a source, the members being challenged are Jeanne Reel Testa and possibly Barbara Kolodyn-Glenn.
As a result of that hearing, the two committee members appealed it to Superior Court for a final decision, which ruled one member was not a legal voter in Cape May.
In a press release May 19, FAN ECM announced it would begin voluntary corrective action to re-circulate its parking meter referendum petition. The press release noted a state court judge refused to overturn the action of the Board. Those actions are now on appeal to the Appellate Division of Superior Court in Trenton.
“In our view, the voting denial and attempted de-certification were politically motivated. Moreover, they were erroneous in light of the facts and a misapplication of the law,” said James A. Testa, a spokesman for FAN ECM. “The right to vote in New Jersey is based on a person’s “domicile,” that is, where you choose to make your home. Any fair minded person would have concluded that the voter in question formally declared her domicile as an objective act when she filed her voting registration papers in March 2010, following many years in which she had previously satisfied numerous other meaningful indications of domicile in Cape May. Instead, election officials elevated triviality over real substance. The City’s follow on “de-certification” on Monday continues the questionable tactics the City has used to mask its weak legal case –all to avoid a public vote on ordinances that would blight the historic East End with parking meters.”
Monzo said the petitions must list five legal voters, people responsible for the petition. A second committee member’s qualifications as a voter in Cape May remains under review.
Since the previous signatures have been disqualified, FAN ECM has 10 days from May 18 to get at least 160 signatures of legal voters. Monzo said petition papers must be redone, listing five voters.
Members can get those who signed the earlier petition to sign a new petition, he said.
Monzo said the city must wait 10 days before installing parking meters in East Cape May to see if FAN ECM resubmits petitions.
He said the city’s case is progressing in Superior Court with oral arguments scheduled for the first week in June. Even if FAN ECM brings in the proper amount of valid signatures, the city will continue to challenge the group’s ability to bring about a referendum in court.
FAN ECM filed a counterclaim against the city challenging the validity of the ordinances. Monzo said the case may continue regardless of what happens with the petitions.
He said the city couldn’t install meters until there is a resolution of the petition issue either through a court order or if FAN ECM fails to submit another petition within the 10-day time frame.
The city is arguing a voter referendum cannot be held on parking issues.
Two weeks ago, FAN ECM has filed an answer to a lawsuit brought by the city seeking to exempt two recently passed parking meter ordinances from voter referendum.
The response filed in Superior Court denies the city’s allegations and asks the court to dismiss the lawsuit. The group contends that settled law in New Jersey makes it clear parking meter ordinances lack the specific statutory authority necessary to be exempt from a voter referendum.
In addition to upholding the referendum, the group’s answer asserts separate, independent counterclaims to have the ordinances struck down on a variety of statutory and constitutional grounds, including that they are arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, improper and invalid for lack of due process and equal protect.