Rumson Agenda: Unfinished Business

There's a full agenda on tap for tonight's Rumson Borough Council meeting and public hearings for what is known as the long-debated tree ordinance and post-Sandy building and floor height ordinances top "unfinished business."

The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at Rumson Borough Hall.

The amended "Tree Protection Ordinance" is first up for public purview and comment. Tree clearing has been a subject of controversy in the borough for some time.

, was heightened by Navesink Avenue residents Rick Jones and Cindy Zipf's tussle with the borough over a developer's clear-cutting of trees that they claimed should have never been chopped.

The couple called the issue one of environmental and quality-of-life concern, as they claimed the clear-cutting of bordering trees exacerbated flooding issues and raised other issues. Zipf, a Rumson native, is the executive director of Clean Ocean Action.

While officials have said at previous meetings that they expect the amended ordinance to address contentious issues and pass, Jones had asked at a meeting last month what the process would be if public input were taken further into account. Mayor John Ekdahl had said that if, for some reason, the amended ordinance did not pass, any new information that may cause council to reconsider would be taken into account and it would be again amended.

Also on the agenda for public hearing involves changing previous limits in home elevations for homes in the low-lying areas of Rumson, especially in light of Sandy-wrought devastation in those areas.

The amendment is proposed is "to Chapter XVII for the Change to the Height of the Finished Floor for Dwellings in FEMA Designated Flood Areas of the Borough that was Found to be Necessary Following the Record Flooding Caused by Hurricane Sandy in Low-lying Areas of Rumson."

And, a third ordinance up for public hearing involves maximum permitted building height.

In other business, a letter on record from the state Department of Environmental Protection shows Rumson Country Club's compliance with Coastal Area Facilities Review standards to allow permits for rebuilding post-Sandy.

A police dispatcher is expected to be appointed by resolution as well.

See the attached meeting agenda. Click here to review the ordinances slated for public hearing.