The Bloomfield Township Council held its May 2 conference meeting in the chambers room in anticipation of receiving a large amount of residents to offer public comment on either side of the rent control ordinance scheduled for a vote. The ordinance allows a landlord, at the expiration or termination of a lease, to request or receive an increase in up to three percent a year over and above the rent previously charged, or the percentage difference between the consumer price index three months before the lease is ended, and but not to exceed five percent. Several residents appeared, ready with protest signs, to urge mayor Michael Venezia and the council to pass it. The resident’s concerns were unfounded – it passed on first reading, 6-0, with First Ward Councilman Elias Chalet absent.
Landlords and their representatives generally supported the ordinance. Attorney Rod Simoncini, representing the Bloomfield Property Owners Association, called it a reasonable approach that allows the tenants to predict their rent “in perpetuity.” But some landlords expressed skepticism. Carol Ratner addressed the council noting that given how well the rental market has functioned in Bloomfield and how much revenue it has brought in through newly constructed apartments exempted from controls, she found the introduction of the ordinance “puzzling” and said that the money brought in allows maintenance and upkeep of rental units. Ratner also said that the regulations would lead to burdensome, disastrous effects if it is adopted without revisions. She cited the vacancy provisions, which require landlords to file statements with the Rent Leveling Board certifying details such as the rent paid by the prior tenant and the rent agreed to by the new tenant, plus the date of any new lease, and said they were unmanageable by requiring so much bureaucratic paperwork and could result in longer periods of vacancy.
But resident Trish Comstock, the president of the Bloomfield Tenants Association, said that it was silly to expect landlords to suffer under rent control restrictions, refuting the argument that controls on rent increases would lead to property tax increases. She said that taxes rise due to increases in property values, not through subsidies of low-cost rents. Comstock cited towns such as Caldwell, which she described as an affluent municipality, which instituted rent control and whose homeowners have seen no adverse effects. Resident Kevin Lindahl said the ordinance as written could have been better, noting that a 20 to 25 percent vacancy controls on low-cost apartments that was not included could have saved apartments for working-class people, but the provisions requiring property reporting of vacancies should prove that tenants were not forced out of their apartments by landlords in pursuit of higher rents.
Councilman-at-Large Joseph Lopez noted that many landlords had tried to squeeze profits from tenants, but he said that there were several landlords not looking to gouge tenants, and he thought the ordinance was a good compromise. “We want to try to find a balance so both sides prosper,” he said, adding that landlords should be able to invest in their properties while keeping rents fair for their tenants. Councilwoman-at-Large Wartyna Davis said she was pleased that the council was able to come up with something that was fair to both landlords and tenants, saying it would provide consistency in rents. The ordinance passed to resounding approval from residents in attendance.
“I’m very proud to be here tonight, and I’m practically giddy,” she added. “It was a long process.”
Among the items moved ahead for consideration at the council’s May 16 regular meeting were interlocal animal control contracts with Caldwell, Glen Ridge and Clifton, requests for disabled parking spaces, and a minimum wage ordinance raising the wage for adult township employees. Councilman Lopez also introduced measures on handling animals both in the shelter and in the wild.
The councilman proposed an ordinance repealing the section of an ordinance allowing the auction of the animals from the shelter, saying it was important to find the animals good homes but that auctioning them would allow unfavorable outcomes, such as pit bull terriers being sold to unreputable individuals who would use then in dogfights. The council agreed to bring it up. Also, Councilman Lopez said that the animal shelter has been unable to take care of feral cats, trying to trap, neuter and release them but held back with only one trap when twenty traps are needed. The councilman wanted the township to purchase the extra traps, which could be used in the “hot spots” identified by the shelter where feral cats mate. Township Administrator Matthew U. Watkins reported that he had already been working such program and was funding for it, and he has authorized the purchase of some traps to get the program going. He said he asked the township’s grant writer to find some funds for it, and he hopes to get it started on a small scale.
Councilman Lopez said he was concerned that it was already spring, and that the cats have already started to breed, Watkins admitted that the process of getting enough funding and volunteers hasn’t caught up with the need, but he added he was working as diligently on it as possible.
“We’re behind the eight-ball,” he confessed.