Candidates Spar Over Furloughs, Taxes, Skate Park

Two township committee candidates discussed their positions on additional open space taxation, potential furloughs and layoffs, a town skate park, redevelopment, and government transparency at a debate Tuesday night.

Republican candidate and current mayor, David Robinson, and Democratic candidate, Kevin Illing, are vying for a three-year term on the township committee. Voters will get a chance to fill that position on November 3.

Hosted by the Union Area League of Women Voters and the Cranford Jaycees, the debate took place in the town council at 8 p.m. Dawn Clarke, a League-trained moderator, posed questions written by audience members to the candidates.

Illing and Robinson took separate views when asked if they would support additional open space taxation.

“As you know this state has always had a problem with density,” said Illing. “Cranford is already pretty much developed to the end. It’s important to have funding to buy our land and acquire open space.”

“We’re already taxed at the county level and it’s part of the state budget as well. We pay enough taxes,” said Robinson. He agreed that open space is important, but it does little to help Cranford with affordable housing requirements.

As for affordable housing, Robinson noted that Cranford is currently battling two builder's remedy lawsuits and he has worked with the township committee to come up with ways to meet Coalition of Affordable Housing (COAH) needs.

“It’s wrong to blanket the state with the same affordable housing stipulations,” said Illing. “Elizabeth is very different from Cranford.”

He went on to say that if voted onto the committee he would work with other towns to fight against COAH regulations.  “We need to fight against the COAH idea, not against affordable housing.”

“You can’t ignore COAH,” said Robinson. “Other towns aren’t just going to join us in our defense. I’m all for rallying against the bureaucrats in Trenton but that’s a losing battle.”

When it comes to furloughs and layoffs, Illing said he was against them while Robinson said he would consider them as a means to bring the town budget under control.

“I’m against hurting someone’s livelihood for a budget,” said Illing. He suggested consolidating certain non-essential sources and looking toward higher tax ratables to try to reduce the budget.

Robinson said he would consider furloughs and layoffs again, just as he had done earlier this year.

“Township employees are a huge asset to this community,” he said. “But it’s not what we’d like to have, it’s what we can afford. We want to have a police officer on every block, but that’s just not how it works.”

Illing said he stands for “smart and conservative” redevelopment. He cited the riverfront development project as a “thorn in Cranford’s side” and said that it is imperative that it not turn out to be a “failure” like the Cranford Crossing project.

“I do not support redevelopment,” said Robinson. “By getting the government involved it destroys market forces.” He continued to say that the township committee has learned from Cranford Crossing and is not making the same mistakes. Robinson mentioned that the updated master plan “will bring to an end over 10 years of uncertainty” in the riverfront project.

“Market forces sometimes don’t work in downtowns, especially those struggling like Cranford,” said Illing. “Sometimes they need the guidance of the town officials.”

When asked about the possibility of a skate park in Cranford’s near future, Robinson said that in hindsight, the designation of Hillside Avenue as the potential skate park site could have been handled differently.

“We could have done it better,” he said. “When we were looking at other sites, we did reach out to the neighbors. We didn’t reach out [regarding Hillside Avenue] because there were no neighbors immediately adjacent to the location.”

He went on to say that the designation had been tabled and that the committee was still looking into the possibility of a skate park in town.

“The township committee has failed to pinpoint a [skate park] location,” said Illing. “They did not work with the neighbors in that area. Simply put, they put it in where they thought it would fit.”

Illing said that the skate park should go in a place that is already being used for recreational purposes, such as the area around Memorial Field. He expressed concerns about having a private entity run such a facility.

When Robinson pointed out that the Clay Courts on Springfield Avenue are run by a private entity, Illing said the courts were a bad example as a private group saved them only when the town refused to maintain them.

Both candidates agreed that the current township committee has done a good job making official affairs more transparent.

Illing said he wanted to see a “true budget,” or a line-item budget, posted on Cranford.com, as well as a forum for voters who don’t want to speak in public or who can’t make the Tuesday town meetings.

Robinson agreed that both additions would be nice, but would also cost money.  

Check back before November 3 for video messages from both candidates, as well as more information on where they stand on key Cranford issues.