What a load of bull. They have a Walmart 2 miles down the road.
=======================================
Asbury Park Press, Dec. 3, 2006
SINGLE SNAKE HOLDS UP PLAN FOR WAL-MART, COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR
By Jean Mikle, Toms River Bureau
TOMS RIVER -- A single snake has so far stopped Wal-Mart's plans to
build a 228,000-square-foot Supercenter, and officials in Toms River
and Manchester fear that if Wal-Mart is unable to build, plans to
develop Route 37 West as a commercial corridor will hit a deadend.
A northern pine snake -- considered a threatened species in New Jersey
-- spent last winter hibernating on the 43-acre site at Route 37 and
Northampton Boulevard where Wal-Mart hoped to build a combination
retail store and supermarket.
The store, which would be located on the southern side of Route 37,
would straddle the border of Manchester and Toms River, and its
construction was approved by planning boards in the two towns last
year after 25 public hearings.
But on June 1, the state Department of Environmental Protection denied
a Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) permit necessary to
construct the store. The reason: The site was deemed to be pine snake
habitat, since the male northern pine snake had spent the winter in a
den on the property.
The decision was a crushing blow to Jay and Linda Grunin, longtime
Toms River residents who bought the property in 1996 and planned to
lease it to Wal-Mart. But it also has frustrated officials in both
Toms River and Manchester, who have found themselves in the somewhat
unusual position of lobbying heavily for a store that many
municipalities across the country have fought against.
"This is not a crusade for Wal-Mart by any means," Toms River Mayor
Paul C. Brush said. "This story is just hard to believe, that one
snake is holding up the development of this retail center, that whole
Route 37 corridor, and potentially, the Ciba-Geigy site. I'm just so
frustrated with the position of the DEP on this."
Brush said he hopes Gov. Corzine will consider meeting with him, the
Grunins and Manchester officials to discuss the DEP's position and its
potential impact on future development proposals in the area.
Toms River officials have cited the potential redevelopment of the
1,350-acre Ciba-Geigy Corp. Superfund site as crucial to the
township's economic well-being, but they fear that northern pine
snakes are also living on that land, which is located near the Wal-
Mart site.
The Toms River-Ocean County Chamber of Commerce has lobbied strongly
for the Supercenter, which is expected to create 450 permanent jobs.
But Wal-Mart did have its detractors, including some residents worried
about traffic congestion and environmental degradation, and members of
the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers, who accused
Wal-Mart during planning board meetings of keeping prices low because
it pays low wages and does not give adequate employee benefits.
Several Wal-Mart workers who spoke in favor of the Supercenter's
construction defended the retail giant, saying they had been treated
well by the company.
The Grunins said they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars just
on environmental studies of the Wal-Mart site, including paying
$26,000 to have a veterinarian from Rutgers University surgically
implant transmitters in two northern pine snakes found on the property
in the fall.
The transmitters use GPS technology to track the movements of the
snakes. One of the serpents left the property in the fall and
hibernated for the winter in a paint can underneath a home in
Berkeley's Holiday City section before making its way to the Heritage
Minerals tract in nearby Manchester.
But the second snake hibernated on the Wal-Mart site.
Pine snakes, which can be 5 to 7 feet in length, are not venomous.
They kill their prey -- usually mice and birds -- by coiling
themselves around it and suffocating it. Pine snakes lay eggs in
underground nests, or dens, in midsummer.
They frequently return to the same dens every year, and it is state
officials' belief that there are multiple snake dens on the property.
The Grunins and their environmental consultant, David P. Moskowitz of
EcolSciences Inc., dispute this.
Moskowitz said in a Sept. 28 memorandum that there is no reason to
believe more than two pine snakes were on the property in 2005. One of
the snakes has since left the property, and there was no indication
that the male snake who spent last winter on the site was sharing his
den with other serpents, Moskowitz wrote.
The Grunins said DEP and Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife officials
had led them to believe that mitigation would be allowed on the
property. The Grunins believed they would be able to acquire another
tract of land of land nearby and either relocate the snake to that
property, or simply donate the tract to the state as potential snake
habitat.
Manchester was willing to sell 21 acres of township-owned land located
near the Wal-Mart site, and the Grunins planned to buy the tract as
part of their mitigation plan.
Then, on Jan. 19, Linda Grunin's birthday, the DEP told the Grunins
that no mitigation would be allowed and that the CAFRA permit would be
denied.
The Grunins have appealed the DEP's decision to the Office of
Administrative Law, and recently collected 7,000 signatures on
petitions from local residents who support Wal-Mart's construction.
They plan to present those petitions to Toms River Mayor Brush and
Manchester Mayor Michael Fressola.
"We did everything we were supposed to do," Linda Grunin said. "We
played completely by the rules, completely by the book ...When this
thing came out in January that it was a 'no,' I was beyond words."
Copyright 2006 Asbury Park Press.
=======================================
Asbury Park Press, Dec. 3, 2006
SINGLE SNAKE HOLDS UP PLAN FOR WAL-MART, COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR
By Jean Mikle, Toms River Bureau
TOMS RIVER -- A single snake has so far stopped Wal-Mart's plans to
build a 228,000-square-foot Supercenter, and officials in Toms River
and Manchester fear that if Wal-Mart is unable to build, plans to
develop Route 37 West as a commercial corridor will hit a deadend.
A northern pine snake -- considered a threatened species in New Jersey
-- spent last winter hibernating on the 43-acre site at Route 37 and
Northampton Boulevard where Wal-Mart hoped to build a combination
retail store and supermarket.
The store, which would be located on the southern side of Route 37,
would straddle the border of Manchester and Toms River, and its
construction was approved by planning boards in the two towns last
year after 25 public hearings.
But on June 1, the state Department of Environmental Protection denied
a Coastal Area Facilities Review Act (CAFRA) permit necessary to
construct the store. The reason: The site was deemed to be pine snake
habitat, since the male northern pine snake had spent the winter in a
den on the property.
The decision was a crushing blow to Jay and Linda Grunin, longtime
Toms River residents who bought the property in 1996 and planned to
lease it to Wal-Mart. But it also has frustrated officials in both
Toms River and Manchester, who have found themselves in the somewhat
unusual position of lobbying heavily for a store that many
municipalities across the country have fought against.
"This is not a crusade for Wal-Mart by any means," Toms River Mayor
Paul C. Brush said. "This story is just hard to believe, that one
snake is holding up the development of this retail center, that whole
Route 37 corridor, and potentially, the Ciba-Geigy site. I'm just so
frustrated with the position of the DEP on this."
Brush said he hopes Gov. Corzine will consider meeting with him, the
Grunins and Manchester officials to discuss the DEP's position and its
potential impact on future development proposals in the area.
Toms River officials have cited the potential redevelopment of the
1,350-acre Ciba-Geigy Corp. Superfund site as crucial to the
township's economic well-being, but they fear that northern pine
snakes are also living on that land, which is located near the Wal-
Mart site.
The Toms River-Ocean County Chamber of Commerce has lobbied strongly
for the Supercenter, which is expected to create 450 permanent jobs.
But Wal-Mart did have its detractors, including some residents worried
about traffic congestion and environmental degradation, and members of
the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers, who accused
Wal-Mart during planning board meetings of keeping prices low because
it pays low wages and does not give adequate employee benefits.
Several Wal-Mart workers who spoke in favor of the Supercenter's
construction defended the retail giant, saying they had been treated
well by the company.
The Grunins said they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars just
on environmental studies of the Wal-Mart site, including paying
$26,000 to have a veterinarian from Rutgers University surgically
implant transmitters in two northern pine snakes found on the property
in the fall.
The transmitters use GPS technology to track the movements of the
snakes. One of the serpents left the property in the fall and
hibernated for the winter in a paint can underneath a home in
Berkeley's Holiday City section before making its way to the Heritage
Minerals tract in nearby Manchester.
But the second snake hibernated on the Wal-Mart site.
Pine snakes, which can be 5 to 7 feet in length, are not venomous.
They kill their prey -- usually mice and birds -- by coiling
themselves around it and suffocating it. Pine snakes lay eggs in
underground nests, or dens, in midsummer.
They frequently return to the same dens every year, and it is state
officials' belief that there are multiple snake dens on the property.
The Grunins and their environmental consultant, David P. Moskowitz of
EcolSciences Inc., dispute this.
Moskowitz said in a Sept. 28 memorandum that there is no reason to
believe more than two pine snakes were on the property in 2005. One of
the snakes has since left the property, and there was no indication
that the male snake who spent last winter on the site was sharing his
den with other serpents, Moskowitz wrote.
The Grunins said DEP and Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife officials
had led them to believe that mitigation would be allowed on the
property. The Grunins believed they would be able to acquire another
tract of land of land nearby and either relocate the snake to that
property, or simply donate the tract to the state as potential snake
habitat.
Manchester was willing to sell 21 acres of township-owned land located
near the Wal-Mart site, and the Grunins planned to buy the tract as
part of their mitigation plan.
Then, on Jan. 19, Linda Grunin's birthday, the DEP told the Grunins
that no mitigation would be allowed and that the CAFRA permit would be
denied.
The Grunins have appealed the DEP's decision to the Office of
Administrative Law, and recently collected 7,000 signatures on
petitions from local residents who support Wal-Mart's construction.
They plan to present those petitions to Toms River Mayor Brush and
Manchester Mayor Michael Fressola.
"We did everything we were supposed to do," Linda Grunin said. "We
played completely by the rules, completely by the book ...When this
thing came out in January that it was a 'no,' I was beyond words."
Copyright 2006 Asbury Park Press.
On the subject of Pabst though, there's a great restaurant and beer bar chain up in North Jersey called "The Office" that has something like 120 different beers (at least 60 on tap) at any given time. Everything from Belgian lambics to Magic Hat. They have a "retro beer" section of the menu that has all the beers "dad used to drink," Schlitz, Miller High Life, Ballantine, Old Milwaukee, and of course Pabst-served in the can!
