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Toms River Denies Barrier Island Community's Push To Secede
By Jo Ann La Russo
 | | --Photo By Jo Ann La Russo You'll have to drive into Lavallette to see this small, single-block section of Toms River. Efforts to become part of Lavallette were a dead end for residents. |
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TOMS RIVER - Bay Beach Way in Toms River will remain a part of the township and will not be allowed to join the borough of Lavallette, the council ruled Tuesday night.
Owners of the 58 homes on the lagoon street, located off Route 35 south on the bay side of the barrier island, had hoped the tiny street could secede from Toms River and become a part of Lavallette. Their hopes were dashed when the governing body upheld the planning board's recommendation that the street remain in the town of Toms River.
"They want to be unified," John Paul Doyle, attorney for the homeowners, told the council. "They want a sense of community," he added, saying that the resident's every day lives revolve around Lavallette, where they "shop, attend church and patronize restaurants, but they cannot vote."
Doyle said the residents can't join Lavallette clubs with their neighbors and friends because technically they are residents of Toms River.
"Consider the citizen's lives," he said. "To get to Bay Beach Way, you have to go into Lavallette and when the residents turn out of their street onto Route 35 south, they are in Lavallette."
More importantly, he pointed out, they can't vote in Lavallette, barring them from making decisions that affect the area in which they live.
Doyle cited past de-annexations in the township that were also rejected by the township governing body but later approved in court. West Point Island was annexed in 1969 and Westmont Shores in the 1970s, he said.
Toms River Township would lose $300,000 in tax ratables (out of the township's $164 million in ratables) if the land were annexed, Doyle said, about $2.78 per homeowner for the rest of the township.
That was the sticking point for the Toms River Council. The council was unmoved by the resident's concerns and said that although the amount of money that would be lost per homeowner seems insignificant, the burden would be placed on the remaining taxpayers in the township.
"The $2.78 would be a burden on the municipality," said Councilman Michael Fiure. "I don't believe that a court decision could force our township to pass that onto our taxpayers."
Council President Gregory McGuckin said the petitioners failed to show that annexation denial would be detrimental to their "economic and social well-being."
Residents disagreed. They cited how a homeowner was barred from joining a Lavallette auxiliary club because they are a resident of Toms River. "We feel that we live in Lavallette," said resident Salvatore McCue. "We live on a block surrounded by Lavallette."
Following the council's decision, Doyle asked the residents to refrain from comment until he could confer with them.
However, McCue said firmly, "We will continue to fight to become a part of Lavallette, if we have to go to the Supreme Court."
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