Applicant withdraws plan to expand boarding house Attny. raises concerns about location near middle school BY ERIN O. STATTEL Staff Writer ABERDEEN - An application to expand the Cliffside Boarding Home on Myrtle Street was on the agenda for the Feb. 27 Zoning Board meeting, but was withdrawn before the hearing date. Applicants Dr. Marshall and Rosemary Sherman, of Sea Bright, had sought approval to add onto the 17-bed facility at 351 Myrtle St., which the agenda identified as a "residential health-care facility for drugabuse treatment and behavioral management." The application, originally carried from June, sought a use variance for the boarding house, should the expansion permits have been denied. The use variance would permit the use of the property as a licensed residential health-care facility in the R-100 Zone (residential single-family) where the use is not permitted. "Initially, the applicant submitted an application to expand, and a question was raised as to what they were really doing at that site," said Aberdeen Zoning Board Attorney Marc Leckstein. "They are alleging that what they currently are doing is what they have always been doing." Leckstein added that the Zoning Board does not know what type of care is provided at the facility because the application process never went that far. The Cliffside Boarding Home is located within a block of the Matawan-Aberdeen Middle School. Attorney Douglas Kovats represented the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District at the Feb. 27 meeting. "TheMatawan-Aberdeen School District has concerns that the facility is no longer being used as just a boarding house," Kovats said. "The district feels that a drug rehab housemay not be themost appropriate use] next to a school." According to attorney Jeff Gale, who is representing the Shermans, the facility operates as a boarding home and does not offer any type of treatment, but the owners are required by law to monitor the health of the residents. "The Shermans do operate a drug treatment facility in anothermunicipality," Gale clarified. "I think the false assumption that the Aberdeen property is a drug treatment facility is a result of people connecting the Shermans with the other facility that does do drug treatment." Gale explained that the Zoning Board's confusion about the Cliffside Boarding Home's use stems from a document misplaced by Aberdeen Township. "The original owner held a license to operate a licensed residential health-care facility and when the Shermans purchased the property in 1997, they acquired a resale certification of occupancy from the township," Gale explained. "The town has since lost their copy of this document. So when the new paperwork was filed, confusion arose regarding the nature of the purpose of this property. The Shermans have their copy, which is a sealed document issued by the state, but the town can't find theirs." With the request to expand withdrawn, zoning officerMaxine Rescorl attempted to contact the Shermans regarding the use of the facility, but said they failed to respond to the letter of inquiry from the Zoning Board, resulting in a summons. The summons is not a result of a code violation, said Aberdeen Township Code Enforcement Officer Joseph McAleer. "In the four years and six months that I have worked for the township, I have never received a complaint about the property at 351 Myrtle St.," McAleer said. Erin Stattel can be reached at estattel@gmnews.com.