|
Toms River Betting Parlor Now Before Court Of Appeals
By Bill McLaughlin
TRENTON - Challenges to a proposed offtrack betting facility at the old Grand Union site on Route 37, just over the Manchester border in Toms River, continue to move forward.
Oral arguments on the validity of the application process conducted by Toms River township on the proposed off-track betting facility will be heard Thursday in Trenton.
Berkeley Township lawyer Patrick Sheehan will ask the state Court of Appeals to reconsider the approval given by state and local authorities to allow an off-track wagering site without site plan approvals. A decision is not expected before the new year.
The proposed OTB was approved for the site of a shuttered supermarket off Route 37 west at Bananier Drive late last year. The 28,500-square-foot betting center will be the largest in New Jersey to date. If approved, completion is anticipated by April 2008.
Nate Abbe, a sitting councilman from Berkeley, said the effects on his town will be profound and totally negative.
"It's three things," he said. "Traffic, safety and what is it going to bring to our town? Not a wind fall. It's a loss. Going against it is always going to be a tough fight but we expect to win."
Two OTBs have already opened near Glassboro and Woodbridge this year, and both have been greeted by applause for the ambiance.
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority gained permission through a statewide referendum a decade ago to build 15 off-site wagering venues. It leased five spots, including the Toms River franchise, to Freehold Racing Inc., a subsidiary of Greenwood Racing of Great Britain, one of the largest international gambling corporations.
In August 2006, the New Jersey Racing Commission sat in session at an application hearing in the Toms River Town Hall. A dozen or more local, civic and elected leaders testified as to the powerful positive economic benefits to the area. A smaller number protested the site as being too close to the senior developments of Holiday City and Silver Ridge and inappropriate use so near to residential zoning.
Berkeley Mayor Jason Varano said he had been told the OTB would be located near the Garden State Parkway at Route 37 in a former ShopRite supermarket and was shocked when the site was changed.
Varano complained no site plan was filed for a building that would have a capacity of thousands. The mayor complained of inadequate parking, increased traffic, no fire department or compliance office reviews or approvals, DEP concerns about CAFRA issues and patronage by teenagers at a business holding a liquor license.
Mostly what Varano and other critics abhor is the lack of transparency regarding the application process, which was not publicly reviewed by the Toms River Council.
Why, critics complain, was the Racing Commission Web site not showing the meeting in Toms River until days before the event? Why did Toms River Council exercise the legal right to consent to the application while not publicly discussing it?
The answer to those questions may be learned in a court of law, since opponents believe the sitting Toms River Council members acted in league to fast-track the application to the detriment of Toms River residents. Some private citizens have publicly charged that the process was rigged.
The NJSEA currently is finalizing a site in Somerset County for about 25,000-squarefeet that could open by early 2009. A site in Hunterdon County is also being sought and two Hudson County OTBs are in the early stages of development, according to Alex Dadoyan, the NJSIAA assistant vice president of off-track wagering and simulcasting.
In each instance, and including the two OTBs currently operating, the application was discussed by elected local officials as to read the public's acceptance of more gambling in a state that already has lotteries, casinos, Internet and telephone betting, four racetracks, office pools and illegal bookmaking.
Once upon a time, there were no New Jersey casinos, no phone betting, limited on-track racing (never on Sundays) and no state lottery. The state of New Jersey was under the gun then as now, but the money was promised to flow from gambling to fund seniors and school children programs, money some say has been disappointingly lacking.
In the second quarter of 2007, phone and Internet account wagering totaled $20.3 million, up nearly 25 percent over year-ago totals.
| 
