Township Turning Up Heat On DOT

Township Committeeman Clinton Hoffman wants to prod the state Department of Transportation to respond to two letters sent last month in support of a local restaurant owner in his battle with the agency over parking lot access.

Hoffman at the Township Committee’s workshop meeting on Wednesday asked Township Administrator Joe Verruni to send another letter to the DOT, asking for a response to two letters the committee sent last month.

Hoffman asked if there was any response to the letters, sent in late June.  When Verruni said there had not been, Hoffman asked if Verruni would draft another, prodding the agency to respond.

The township sent a letter in late June asking the state to lower its offer for the owner of Exit 98 restaurant, on Route 35, to lease or purchase the land that was his parking lot before a DOT road-widening project replaced a portion of the lot with a curb.

While Exit 98 has remained open, owner Jeff Woszczak has said his restaurant is suffering from the limited parking, and he sees prospective customers drive through the lot and right back out because there are no parking spots out front.

The DOT has offered Woszczak deals to either buy or lease the land, but the restaurateur has said with his business already suffering, the current offers would only put Exit 98 in an even bigger hole.

The DOT wants several hundred thousand dollars from Woszczak to purchase the land, and roughly $900 a month to lease only a portion of it, Woszczak has said.

The state has owned the land for as long as Route 35 has existed, DOT officials have said, but Woszczak and township officials have been scratching their heads as to why only late last year did the DOT decide to claim its right-of-way.

“I can’t find the sense in it. All it does is hurt that business,” Committeeman Clinton Hoffman has said. “While not always under the same ownership, it’s been an operating business in Wall Township for as long as I can remember – I’m 49 and lived here all my life.”

Due to safety and liability concerns, the DOT decided to occupy the right-of-way land, DOT spokesman Tim Greeley has said.