Students:

Continued From Page 1 said.

Some of the things Early Act Club has done are recycling, making cards for teachers during holidays or birthdays, and cheering fellow students on during testing. They also make holiday cards for the local nursing homes, and beach clean-ups.

“When we started out the year, we presented the students with an open floor and we took in what they would like to do,” Carone said. “One of the kids suggested that they wanted to do something with the beaches.”

“They said ‘not everyone can afford beach toys like everyone else,’ so they thought ‘what if we could have a system where they can borrow it and use it while they’re there.’ And that’s how the idea spiraled to what it is now,” Soltmann said.

The group later approached the township and the recreation department to help the idea come to life. The Early Act Club received a donation of lumber and screws from the Home Depot in Lakewood so they could build the bin. Students then decorated the box by painting it vibrant colors. They then hosted a school-wide initiative to collect toys for the bin.

“It was really them doing all the brain power and we were just the person behind the curtain getting all the finishing details done,” Soltmann said.

The toy bin was officially unveiled at the entrance of Brick Beach III at the end of June, just in time for the summer season. Soltmann and Carone were joined by Mayor Lisa Crate and Councilman Derrick Ambrosino along with members of the community to celebrate the project.

“We’re so proud of all of the ideas the students came up with by themselves. We were really just the wheelhouse; it wasn’t our idea it was totally them and we just took their idea and put it in motion. We’re so proud of all of their hard work and dedication this year,” Carone said.

“The fact that they wanted to help out their community and not just themselves really speaks volumes for them. We’re just so proud,” Soltmann said. “This is something they can share with their community and have that bond. It goes to show that no idea is too little; it can really turn into something big once you work as a community together.”

Soltmann explained how they plan to continue the tradition with students and create a new toy bin next year and donate it to another local beach.

“We can’t wait to continue to give back to the community and donate another box for another beach next year. As a school everyone was so happy and excited to be a part of this,” Soltmann said.

Car Wash:

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Tuvel said, since it has three frontages (Route 88, Kenneth Place and Kieser Boulevard). Front yard setbacks call for 50 feet, so they are asking for two variances since the proposed setback on Route 88 is 30.9 feet and the Kenneth Place setback is 27 feet. The Kieser side meets the requirement since the setback there is 58 feet.

Tuvel argued for the variances, saying that the carwash is “not an intense use.”

The applicant’s engineer, Mark Whittaker, said a car wash is a permitted use in the B-2 zone. The zoning allows for 30 percent lot coverage while the 28-foot wide, 100-foot long car wash would only have 9.9 percent lot coverage. The design plan includes room for an 11-car queue.

The engineer said there would be no water

Homeless:

Continued From Page 1 steps to create a homelessness trust fund and task force, the urgency for support became all the more evident.

Homelessness Advocacy

Setting up a community of tents to address shelter isn’t exactly a novel concept for Minister Steve Brigham of Destiny’s Bridge. At the start of the millennium, Brigham began by providing for the needy by offering food and essentials. However, an encounter with a man runoff from the site since the plan calls for pervious pavement, which would also capture roof runoff. Trench drains would reclaim 60 percent of the water used to wash vehicles and it would be recycled back into the carwash, he said.

The existing entrance into the strip mall, which would also be the entrance to the proposed car wash, is directly across from a Wawa entrance on Route 88, which has already resulted in traffic jams, accidents and complaints from residents. The plan calls for the installation of sidewalks on Route 88 only.

Currently, left and right turns are permitted leaving the Wawa, but in November of last year, the NJ Department of Transportation - who has jurisdiction over Route 88 - reached out to Brick Township to ask if the council would pass a resolution banning left turns out of Wawa.

The governing body passed the resolu- who asked Brigham for rent money resulted in a more comprehensive approach.

After providing the man with a tent and camping gear, Brigham settled him in Jackson. Two weeks later, the man expressed difficulties finding work and a lack of nearby food pantries. Responding to the man’s concerns, Brigham agreed to relocate him and later extended assistance to other homeless individuals he learned were in need.

So began the story of Lakewood’s Tent City, which was ultimately dismantled by authorities. Its occupants received some compensation as others moved on to Howell to another tion, which would prevent the left turns that require cars to cross over Route 88, and approve the appropriate signage. The township administration has said they hope to come to a new access agreement with the owner of the Wawa. homeless community. Township officials in Howell promised to help them, and then sold that property to a developer, who kicked them off.

During the meeting, township planner Tara Paxton said her main concern is traffic circulation at the car wash with “driver confusion” accessing the site. “It’s a mess right there on Route 88,” she noted.

Paxton asked if the noise from the vacuum stations would be under 65 decibels, which is required by ordinance. Whittaker said the main vacuum would be located near Route 88 from which hoses would run to each station.

Board of Adjustment chair David Chadwick allowed for limited public comment directed towards the professionals who testified at this hearing.

Michelle Testa said she has owned two adjacent properties in the area for 36 years.

The most recently discovered homeless encampment set up by Brigham stands out due to the ages and health of many of its residents, who are living without the comfort of conventional support systems.

In a social media post earlier this month, Brigham gave the first names of nineteen individuals ranging from ages 28-78 with requests for clothing donations. He also told the story of someone who advocated for a homeless shelter

She said she would like the developer to be required to build sidewalks at all three road frontages since there is a nearby bus stop. “There are so many children, it could be a safety issue,” she said.

Laurelton Heights resident Kevin Maloney, who said he moved to Brick to get away from northern urban areas, said he does not like the proposed name of the car wash, “Urban Express” - and proposed one that is more appropriate for Brick, such as “Seaside Express.” within Ocean County a decade ago for others. Lynn fell upon hard times and came to the encampment as she had nowhere else to live.

These and other resident concerns are likely to be addressed at the next meeting, dedicated to this application only, when traffic engineers (one hired by the developer, another representing the township) will testify, as will the applicant and other professionals. Afterwards, there will be additional public comment.

That meeting will be held on Wednesday September 13 at 7 p.m.

Tragically, just two weeks after settling in the camp, Lynn called one of her newfound friends to say she wasn’t feeling well. The next call was from one of Lynn’s family members, informing them that she had passed away in the hospital due to a heart attack.

Brigham easily admits he has little faith in the government. He expressed his concerns regarding the risk of removing people from the tent community in a more recent social (Homeless - See Page 12)