Dear Friends:

Northfield Neighbors endorses these two candidates in the Primary:

Treasurer – Lenore Zelenock – Republican https://www.reelectzelenock.com//
Supervisor – Ken Dignan – Republican https://kendignan.com

We are urging our Democratic friends to vote for both Mr. Dignan and Treasurer Zelenock in the Primary for two important reasons. (Remember, you can’t split your ticket.)

1 - All the Democratic candidates in the township are running un-opposed in the primary. They will automatically advance to the November ballot.

2 – Mr. Dignan and Treasurer Zelenock are running against other Republican candidates who have joined with Trustee Tawn Beliger, an extremist who is unfit for office.

You can view Ms. Beliger’s slate at their website: http://www.northfieldfirst.com

Both Mr. Dignan and Treasurer Zelenock are friends to Northfield Neighbors. They support the goals of protecting our quality of life and defending the Township Master Plan, which is the vision of our residents.

Ms. Zelenock has done an excellent job as Treasurer these last four years and we’re delighted she has decided to run for re-election. She is open-minded; her decisions are fact-based, and she reaches out to residents.

We are embarrassed to say Northfield Neighbors endorsed Ms. Beliger in 2016. Our endorsement was based on her promise that she would support farmland preservation. It was a lie and as Trustee, she has betrayed us repeatedly.

Ms. Beliger twice tried to dissolve the newly formed Land Preservation Committee, and has voted against all funding for land preservation. She gives only lip service to preservation, saying it should be support only through private donations. LOL.

Worse still, Ms. Beliger’s lack of ethics is on full display this campaign season. She is promising to “end the corruption” in our township. What corruption? When asked, she refuses to answer. This “bearing false witness” against our community, without providing any evidence, is ugly politics and damaging to our image.

Many civic-minded people work every day to enhance the image of Northfield Township, but Ms. Beliger is willing to diminish their work and tarnish our reputation to get elected.

Her anti-tax stance is so radical that she has repeatedly voted against accepting grant money from the county, state or federal government. Where is the common sense?

She claims to be the defender of “precious tax dollars” and to be an opponent of large government, but she cast the pivotal vote to hire a $100,000/year township manager (expanding our bureaucracy) and then moved to renew his contract - without even a performance review. We find that irresponsible and outrageous.

Ms. Beliger is not someone we want as Supervisor, or serving in any capacity. She should be sent packing along with anyone that has decided to run with her.

Thank you.

Northfield Neighbors

 

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Candidate Positions:

 

Ken Dignan, Candidate for Supervisor

1 – Do you support the majority of residents (60+%) surveyed who said that the VanCurler waterfront property should be a “Park Only”?

  • While the survey was only a very small sampling of township residents.  I believe it is clear from speaking to residents that ensuring half of the VanCurler property remains a park and how we should approach anything we do. 

2 – Do you support the Master Plan regarding protection of the rural areas from development by opposing sewer line extensions?

  • I fully support the Master Plan.  Protection of areas identified in the future land use map as priorities to maintain Agricultural zoning is important.  It is also important when a prospective developer comes to the township to inquire about growth that they are directed to areas that match such growth in the future land use map.

3 – Do you favor Revenue Bonds or General Obligation Bonds for the retention tank and for future sewer plant expansion, and why? 

  • I support Revenue Bonds because I believe the users of the system should be the ones responsible for guaranteeing to pay for the system improvements.

4 – Would you favor changing the current Marijuana Ordinance to restrict grow operations to commercial, industrial and RTM districts? 

  • I am not in favor of changing current ordinances as they relate to Marijuana.  I believe we have significant tools in place to protect properties that may not be suitable to operate a grow operation.

5 – Link to your campaign website or position page. Got a photo? We’ll print it.

 

LJ Walter III, Candidate for Supervisor

1 – Do you support the majority of residents (60+%) surveyed who said that the VanCurler waterfront property should be a “Park Only”?

  •  I support the desires of the community; I do think it's important to survey the question with a large enough sample of our population to receive results that seem representative of the whole community. This property is a big issue and there's no excuse for a small survey on the topic.

– Do you support the Master Plan regarding protection of the rural areas from development by opposing sewer line extensions?

  •  I support the master plan, but the master plan can be amended as the situation arises. I'm not personally familiar with any pressing sewer line extensions; however, if there arises a pressing need to the township infrastructure, I think it would be the local government's duty to evaluate how to address it.

3 – Do you favor Revenue Bonds or General Obligation Bonds for the retention tank and for future sewer plant expansion, and why? 

  • Based on my limited knowledge of bonds, I believe revenue bonds are more appropriate, as I think the customers who use the service should be paying for the improvement. That being said, bonding is not a personal specialty and I would definitely confer with my fellow board members on the matter and come to a conclusion. That being said, I do not believe that this is a current issue up for debate or adjustment.

4 – Would you favor changing the current Marijuana Ordinance to restrict grow operations to commercial, industrial and RTM districts? 

  • I would not favor changing this ordinance unless there was a compelling argument to do so.

5 – Link to your campaign website or position page. Got a photo? We’ll print it.

 

David Gordon, Candidate for Trustee

Candidate Questionnaire Answers 10/23/20

1 – Yes, I support the residents’ “Park Only” vote. The Board should listen to us and work on designing a great waterfront park and beach.

  • Design a great park and beach first.
  • Find and secure outside funding for the park and beach.
  • If more funding is needed, ask the residents to chip in.
  • Maybe property near the highway could be left for commercial development. If that happens, it certainly will sell for much more after the park is complete.

Two incumbent Trustee candidates have ignored the residents and voted to sell more than half of our park to a developer. The township manager and attorney are still negotiating on their behalf. That is disrespectful, ill-conceived and premature.

2 – I oppose sewer line extensions because it fosters urban sprawl and degrades our quality of life.

  • The spirit of the Master Plan is abundantly clear. Development should be directed to those areas with existing infrastructure (within the sewer district), and rural areas should be protected and preserved.
  • My record speaks for itself. As a co-founder of Northfield Neighbors, and as a former Trustee and Planning Commissioner, I have fought to protect our community from the negative impacts of urban sprawl.
  • l am serving today as Chair of the Township Land Preservation Committee because I believe our farms, wetlands, woodlands and open space must be seen as critical infrastructure needed to safeguard our quality of life - now and in the future.

3 - Revenue bonds are the correct choice for financing projects that receive a revenue stream.

  • Sewer customers create a revenue stream with their quarterly payments and that should cover maintenance on the Wastewater Treatment Plant, its sewer lines and pump stations.
  • Any expansion should be paid for by developers and the new sewer hookups they generate, not by current sewer customers.
  • It was a mistake for the Board to borrow the $5M for the new basin project this month with General Obligation bonds, forcing rural residents on private septic systems to essentially “co-sign” for this loan which doesn’t benefit them at all. The township is limited in how much it can borrow through General Obligation Bonds and has unnecessarily used some of that on this project.
  • The Board claims they saved $250,000 by choosing General Obligation bonds instead of Revenue Bonds, so I suggest they spend that savings on the rural community – extra road maintenance would be much appreciated!

4 - I am in favor of marijuana businesses operating in our township; both dispensaries and grow operations.

  • Grow operations should be restricted to commercial, industrial or RTM (Retail, Technology & Manufacturing) districts, and not allowed in the agricultural district as is now permitted by our ordinance. This is very important to our rural neighbors.
  • Marijuana grow operations are more like manufacturing than agriculture, and don’t belong in rural residential areas.

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