Prospective pet cemetery developers file lawsuit
Millstone Twp. mayor says litigation does not have good basis
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

The debate over whether developers can put a pet cemetery and crematorium in Millstone flared up again last week.

The two limited liability companies that sought a use variance from the township to create a pet cemetery, including a mausoleum and chapel area, outdoor gardens, burial grounds and a cremation facility on Route 33, served the township with a lawsuit last week, according to Mayor Elias Abilheira.

Abilheira said he could not discuss specifics of the litigation, but he did make one comment about the lawsuit.

“I don’t think there is a very good basis for this lawsuit,” Abilheira said. “Most legal minds would feel that the township did what was appropriate.”

According to the lawsuit, Showplace Pet Memorial, which is based out of Freehold, and Showplace Farms, which is located at 505 Route 33, are the companies suing the township. The plaintiffs allege that the Township Committee’s decision to reverse the Zoning Board’s unanimous approval of their application to build the pet cemetery was “made without due consideration of the underlying record in order to appease a crowd.”

The lawsuit, filed with the state Superior Court in mid August by attorney Kenneth Pape, who’s based in Millstone, states, “The Zoning Board’s decision, made without outside influences, was correct in all respects and should never have been revised.”

In November 2004, Showplace Pet Memorial filed a land development application with the township, in which it sought a use variance for constructing the pet cemetery on part of land owned by Showplace Farms on Route 33.

On Feb. 23, the Zoning Board continued the hearing of the application. After hearing further testimony from witnesses and consideration of a legal memo that stated the Township Committee was not required to approve the crematorium part of the project, the board voted 7-0 to approve the application for a use variance.

In March, a Millstone resident and member of the citizens group that formed www.noincinerator.com, filed an appeal of the board’s ruling. The hearing on Salvatore Irani’s appeal, once scheduled for the municipal building on May 18, took place at Wagner Farm Park on June 2.

According to the lawsuit, the June 2 hearing “was a circus” that denied the plaintiffs their “constitutionally guaranteed rights to substantive and procedural due process and equal protection.”

“The hearing was rescheduled for a public venue, which upon information and belief was never used before and has never been used after for such a purpose,” the lawsuit states. “This was tantamount to transferring the hearing from a courtroom to an arena.”

The lawsuit also alleges that although Duane Davison, the township’s attorney, set forth what he understood to be the statutorily-required rules of the hearing, “the Township Committee and the individual defendants then proceeded to ignore them.”

Defendants named in the lawsuit include the mayor and those on the Township Committee who voted for reversing the Zoning Board’s decision to grant the variance. Committeeman Chet Halka is not being sued because he did not vote to overturn the board’s ruling.

The lawsuit also alleges that Abilheira should have recused himself prior to the hearing.

“Simply put, two banks over which Mr. Schoor has exercised substantial control have paid money to Mayor Abilheira’s law firm for several years,” the law suit states.

Howard Schoor, of Schoor DePalma, an engineering company in Manalapan, is also one of the principals of Showplace Pet Memorial.

According to the law suit, Schoor was actively involved in lease negotiations with Abilheira’s law firm, Abilheira and Ferrara, P.C., in 2002 for space in a building on Main Street in Freehold.

“The action taken by the Township Committee was tainted by illegal and pervasive conflicts of interest, as well as violations of the Local Government Ethics Law, the Municipal Land Use Law and other applicable laws,” the law suit alleges.

The law suit also alleges that the township used escrow fees, which Showplace Pet Memorial deposited to enable the township to pay professional fees incurred with the development application, to pay for costs resulting from the appeal taken by Irani and www.noincinerator.com.

“In or about June, the applicant learned that the township intended to use the escrow deposit to pay for legal fees incurred by the township in connection with the appeal,” the lawsuit states.

In the event that the court rules in favor of Pet Memorial Park and Showplace Farms, the plaintiffs want the escrow fees returned to the escrow account or rewarded back to them. The plaintiffs also want a judgment that reverses the Township Committee’s decision, and awards compensatory and punitive damages.