The fence issue along Lee Avenue continues to rear its ugly head, as community members came out to discuss the lack of communication and faulty design from the Methodist Church’s recently erected fence.
Several homeowners along Lee Avenue expressed their disappointment again at the design of the fence, as it doesn’t sit “flush” to their own fences, thus leaving several foot gaps in each backyard.
Mary Ann Campling, the vocal leader of the neighborhood, said that the gaps have led to pets getting away from homeowners in the past few weeks.
Campling recently hired Cherry Hill attorney Allen Zeller to represent her in appealing the case to the New Jersey State Supreme Court. Campling said she will be shouldering the financial burden by herself.
After Campling hired the lawyer, Rev. George Morris, head pastor of the Haddonfield Methodist Church, was contacted and said that the church has gone through the correct and legal due process for the installation of the fence and would not comment further.
One resident expressed her dismay that so much time had been spent on this issue with the church doing nothing to reciprocate the fears of the community members.
Commissioner Jeff Kasko said he understood the neighborhood’s frustrations and said the church has not been very open in dealing with the public with this issue.
In other borough news:
The Haddonfield Commissioners unanimously approved the 2012 borough budget and the average assessed homeowner will see an increase in their yearly tax bill.
No member of the public commented on the $15.2 million budget, which includes a $134 tax increase for the average assessed homeowner in Haddonfield. The average assessed home is valued at about $491,359 in the borough.
The local tax rate is increased by about 2.72 cents over last years rate, Kasko said. For the average assessed home this would be about a local purpose tax rate of 46.9-cents per every $100 of assessed property value.
The increase in the local purpose tax rate falls within the 2-percent cap that was initiated by the state a few years ago.
Kasko pointed to the fact that the overall budget increased by almost 7.5 percent excluding grants, but the daily operating expenses increased by less than 1 percent.
The commissioners also approved the 2012 Partnership for Haddonfield budget. The $300,000 annual budget was reduced by about $55,000 this year and features the same tax rate for downtown businesses as it did in 2011.
The annual tax levy for the PFH budget is $250,000.
