Web site designed to foster peace

"Animal house" Web site designed to foster peace
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/1/07
BY KENNETH E. PRINGLE

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It is apparent from the June 23 editorial "Unplug 'animal house' site" that the Press editorial board misunderstands the state's "animal house" statute and the purpose of Belmar's online summer rental map and database, which makes already public information easily accessible.

Belmar's online rental map and database and new BelmarRentals411.com site — all of which were built at no cost to taxpayers — are designed to provide summer tenants, landlords and residents alike with easy online access to information in an effort to reduce quality-of-life complaints and foster peaceful coexistence between Belmar's year-round and seasonal communities.

The number of summer rentals in Belmar has dropped dramatically over the past 17 years, from more than 1,200 in 1990 to about 320 rental units on 249 properties as of this summer. But the surge of new homeowners in Belmar's traditional summer rental neighborhoods has put more homeowners in proximity to rentals, increasing opportunities for friction and causing complaints to increase even as rentals continue to decline.

The objective of our efforts is not to intimidate or harass, but to use the Internet to better educate our summer tenants — a population that turns over every few years — about Belmar's rules and how we enforce them.

The need to provide better information was apparent as members of the Borough Council and I went door-to-door on Memorial Day weekend handing out a welcome letter with information about Belmar's rules. We had an opportunity to meet and speak with many of the renters. Most were only vaguely familiar with the state's "animal house" statute, or even the status of their own rental in the "animal house" process, much less the potentially substantial financial consequences of getting a noise summons if a hearing officer previously has designated their rental to be an "animal house." Even if they never have rented in Belmar before and had no idea their rental is an "animal house," tenants can incur steep costs under the law as a result of what would otherwise be a normal noise summons.

The borough's online map and database make it easy for tenants, residents and landlords to keep abreast of the status of a property under the "animal house" law. All information provided on the map is public. The database tracks only those summonses that affect the status of a rental property under the "animal house" statute, and could result in financial consequences for the landlord or tenants.

The editorial board's criticism that this is somehow discriminatory because homeowners' noise violations aren't also posted online is more appropriately directed to the Legislature, which saw fit to make the "animal house" statute apply only to seasonal rentals. Belmar's Web site, which lists only the Belmar address and not the names of tenants who receive summonses, provides far less information than the police blotter section of this newspaper.

In providing greater transparency, we thought we were following the lead of the Press, which has demonstrated through its DataUniverse project the virtue of making public information easily accessible online. We think the benefits of transparency are especially significant here.

Our database enables tenants to know the status of their rental this summer, and will help them make more informed decisions when it's time to choose next summer's rental. We intend to encourage the tenants in the 90 percent of our rentals who do not get summonses to use this year's lease as a reference so a prospective 2008 landlord can check our database to verify they were good neighbors in 2007.

The database also enables the majority of our summer rental landlords, whose tenants rarely, if ever, cause problems for their neighbors, to avoid being unfairly lumped in with the minority of landlords whose rentals persistently cause problems.

The online database also provides value to our residents, who can use the site to see whether our police are doing their jobs. And prospective Belmar homebuyers can see where Belmar's summer rentals are located and make a more informed decision about where to buy or how much to pay.

This online education effort is only part of a larger, more comprehensive effort by the council, under the leadership of Council President Meredith Brennan, who held a meeting this spring with summer rental real estate agents, bar owners and even taxi owners, to develop a coordinated plan to reduce the friction between Belmar's summer and year-round communities.

Although it's still early in the summer, these efforts already are bearing fruit. The number of noise complaint calls from residents is the lowest ever, and residents in some neighborhoods are reporting their best summer in memory. We hope this trend will hold as we continue to keep our summer rental community better informed about our rules and to work proactively and cooperatively to promote a peaceful coexistence between our summer and year-round communities.

Kenneth E. Pringle is mayor of Belmar.