Council mulls over limits on boat storage
Possible amended ordinance in works for residential properties
BY DANIELLE MEDINA Correspondent
Brick Township officials are considering restricting the number of boats residents can keep on their property by beefing up the township's existing property maintenance code.

"We're a boating community, so we have to tread lightly," Councilman Daniel Toth said at the Oct. 21 Township Council caucus meeting. "In this community, you expect to see a boat in someone's backyard in the winter. What we're trying to do is put a damper on the excess."

Toth said that the township has received a number of complaints from residents regarding numerous boats, in various states of repair, on their neighbor's property over the past year.

"Right now, we don't have the legal capacity to limit the number of boats on a property," said Toth. "We need to seal up the loopholes in the property maintenance code."

Toth and Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis both mentioned a Berkeley Drive home where five boats are stored.

"There's a number out there," Toth said, referring to the maximum number of boats that should be allowed on a property. "Finding that number is a difficult thing."

"Two," Acropolis said. "We know the number is less than five. This is a residential area. You can't have five boats on your property. You just can't. We've got to have something. The winter is almost here."

Toth said the number of boats a resident will be allowed to store on his or her property will depend on the size of the lot and the zone the property is in.

"We're going to look at how communities like Spring Lake deal with this issue," he said.

Township officials will also be meeting with code enforcement and zoning department employees to discuss the issue, Acropolis said.

"This is a difficult decision because it affects law-abiding residents," said Toth.

Township Administrator Scott M. Pezarras said that the council should also consider including personal watercrafts in the amended ordinance.

If the council adopts an amended ordinance, residents will be given two chances to comply before they are penalized, Toth said.

"We don't like to fine our residents," he said. As with other code enforcement violations, residents will first be given a warning, with 14 to 30 days to rectify the situation. If the property is still non-compliant, a second warning will be issued. The third warning will result in a fine, he said.