hank siemon - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T01:43:01Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/hank+siemonManalapan: Three retain commission seats with no oppositionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-three-retain-commission-seats-with-no-opposition2020-12-30T15:43:20.000Z2020-12-30T15:43:20.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>Three incumbents will return to the Manalapan Town Commission in 2021 after no other candidates came forward to challenge them in the March election during last month’s qualifying period.</p>
<p>Keith Waters returns as mayor, Stewart Satter is back in an at-large position and Hank Siemon will have another term representing Point Manalapan.</p>
<p>Jack Doyle did not qualify for an ocean seat and was unopposed. The commission will appoint a replacement in March.</p>
<p>Waters has been on the commission since 2016 and has served as mayor since 2017. He has said that the most important issue on the commission’s agenda going forward is setting up the conversion the town must make from septic tanks to municipal sewers.</p>
<p>That planning was put on hold last year because of the COVID-19 outbreak.</p>
<p>Siemon has served on the commission since 2017, and Satter came aboard in 2019.<br /><br /></p></div>Manalapan: Town proposal would allow docks before home constructionhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-town-proposal-would-allow-docks-before-home-constructio2020-03-04T17:03:39.000Z2020-03-04T17:03:39.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>Manalapan commissioners are moving forward with a new ordinance that would allow docks to be built on vacant properties before home construction begins.<br /> Mayor Keith Waters said during the commission’s Feb. 25 meeting that the ordinance likely would apply to five existing empty lots in the town with docks and to new construction. <br />The new rule would eliminate a stipulation in the town’s code that treats docks solely as accessories to existing homes.<br /> The change is important for the town to begin work on a $2.5 million plan to increase water services to oceanfront residents. <br /> One of the five lots belongs to Commissioner Hank Siemon. The town wants to use a 20-foot easement across Siemon’s vacant property at 1660 Lands End Road on Point Manalapan to install new water mains to eastern households.<br /> Waters said the town currently has two aging 8-inch pipes that carry all the water to the ocean side. With the easement on Siemon’s lot, two 10-inch supply lines could be added.<br /> “It’s not a luxury,” Waters said. “It’s a requirement.”<br /> The mayor said the cost of the project has more than doubled over the last decade as the town grappled with easement access and other obstacles. Waters said the project is essential and “good for all of Manalapan.”<br /> But before engineers can begin mapping the pipelines, work on Siemon’s dock has to be completed to avoid potential construction mishaps.<br /> In January, the commission unanimously allowed Siemon a variance to build his dock out to 85 feet, an extra 30 feet beyond the existing code limit of 55 feet. Siemon told the commission he needed the extra length because the channel on the east side of the Point was too shallow to accommodate his 40-foot boat.<br /> Waters said that building the dock straight out instead of installing a T-shaped structure or a lift would allow Siemon’s neighbors to keep more of their waterfront views.<br /> “The owner has tried to find a way to minimize that dock,” the mayor said, commending Siemon for trying to work with his neighbors.<br /> But not all the neighbors are satisfied. Barry and Sigrun Haase, who live next door, told the commission through their attorney, Jason Mankoff, that they oppose the variance.<br /> And two former mayors, Basil Diamond and David Cheifetz, complained about the code exception during the February meeting. <br /> Diamond told commissioners they were “trying to clean up” a bad decision on the variance with the new proposed ordinance. Cheifetz complained about process, saying the public wasn’t adequately informed about the dock issue.<br /> “I’m concerned about the unseemly way this was pursued,” Cheifetz said. “Residents should have gotten better notice. It strikes me that this whole thing is being rushed through on an unseemly basis.”<br /> Waters and Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the variance request and dock ordinance proposal were properly noticed and detailed in the monthly meeting agenda posted on the town’s website before the commission meets.<br /> The mayor said commissioners were acting in the best interest of Manalapan, and he bristled at the suggestion by some opponents that the variance approval was linked to the commission’s relationship with Siemon.<br /> “You’re wrong,” Waters said of the critics. “You’re dead wrong, but you already know that.”<br /> The ordinance would set a two-year limit for home construction to begin and restrict use of the dock to the property owner during that time. The proposal is scheduled to come up for a first vote at the commission’s meeting on March 24.</p></div>Manalapan: Colleagues grant Commissioner Siemon code variance for 85-foot-long dockhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-colleagues-grant-commissioner-siemon-code-variance-for-2020-01-29T17:50:18.000Z2020-01-29T17:50:18.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p>Manalapan resident Hank Siemon came to the Town Commission and asked for an exception to building codes so that he can put an unusually long dock behind the home he intends to build on the vacant Intracoastal lot he owns.<br /> Because Siemon is also a sitting town commissioner, and because some of his neighbors objected, the request came with its share of complications before the commission approved it.<br /> Siemon recused himself and left the dais during 90 minutes of discussion at the Jan. 28 commission meeting.<br /> His engineer, William Stoddard, explained Siemon’s problem: He owns a 40-foot boat and the channel along the east side of Point Manalapan on Lands End Road isn’t deep enough unless his dock extends well beyond the code’s maximum limit of 55 feet.<br /> In order to safely navigate his vessel in and out, Siemon needs a dock to extend out 85 feet, Stoddard said. Not getting the variance to build out an extra 30 feet would deny Siemon the use of the boat, Stoddard said, creating an unfair hardship — a criterion for code exceptions — that the town should not allow.<br /> Siemon’s next-door neighbors, Barry and Sigrun Haase, oppose the variance. Their attorney, Jason Mankoff, called Siemon’s request “a self-created hardship.”<br /> Mankoff’s remedy? Buy a smaller boat.<br /> “Owning a big boat is not justification for a variance,” he said. “All the other owners have to deal with the same depth. It’s not a hardship. It’s an inconvenience.”<br /> Mankoff said Siemon was “trying to shift any blockage of his view” to the Haases.<br /> Another neighbor, former Mayor Basil Diamond, also opposed the variance. Diamond said the limit was set at 55 feet to keep navigation lanes open in the shallow channel, and said Siemon had “the wrong boat” for the property.<br /> “If we give variances to everybody,” Diamond said, “then you don’t have a code.”<br /> Further complicating the dispute are plans to install a new water main line through an easement across Siemon’s lot at 1660 Lands End Road.<br /> Commissioner Clark Appleby sided with Siemon. Appleby said boaters have had to adjust to “high tides and low tides that have gotten more dramatic” in recent years and the request for a longer dock is reasonable.<br /> “Having a 30-foot extension is not going to have a huge impact on either neighbor’s view, north and south,” he said.<br /> Mayor Keith Waters said the code allows 55-foot docks or docks that extend into 3 feet of water. For Siemon to get his boat into 3 feet, the dock has to go out 85 feet, Waters said.<br /> “If a resident cannot reach 3 feet of water,” Waters said, “that’s the milestone by which a variance can be requested.”<br /> Commissioners decided that the proposed dock would not obstruct navigation channels. They voted unanimously to grant Siemon the variance.<br /> “I think it’s important everybody understands this,” Waters said after the vote. “This body does not make decisions based on friendships. It makes decisions on what this town is supposed to be doing and what we’re supposed to be doing representing this town.”</p></div>Manalapan: Overhauled town commission sworn inhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/manalapan-overhauled-town-commission-sworn-in2017-03-29T19:30:00.000Z2017-03-29T19:30:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong><br /> <br /> Manalapan completed a sweeping overhaul of its Town Commission on March 28 with the swearing in of three new officials and the reassignment of two others.<br /> None of the changes required input from voters in the March election, because none of the candidates for four open seats was opposed.<br /> Gone are Mayor David Cheifetz, Mayor Pro Tem Chauncey Johnstone and Commissioner Basil Diamond. All declined to run for another term.<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960711497,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960711497,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="98" alt="7960711497?profile=original" /></a> Keith Waters, who joined the commission in June after serving on the town’s Architectural and Zoning commissions, replaces Cheifetz as mayor.<br /> “I’m honored to be here,” Waters said. “I appreciate all the work that the former commission has done, and we stand on the shoulders of the work that was done before us. I look forward to moving the town in the continuing proper direction it has been placed.”<br /> Jack Doyle replaces Johnstone in the Seat 3 ocean position and Hank Siemon takes over for Diamond in Seat 5. Doyle and Siemon are veterans of the Architectural Commission.<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960712063,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960712063,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" width="99" alt="7960712063?profile=original" /></a> Commissioner Simone Bonutti accepted Waters’ nomination to move into the mayor pro tem seat, and Peter Isaac was the commission’s unanimous choice to continue as vice mayor.<br /> Waters nominated a political newcomer, Monica Oberting, to fill his vacant Seat 7, and commissioners unanimously approved. Oberting, a New York appellate lawyer who also adjudicated motor vehicle violations for the state, moved onto Point Manalapan two years ago. Oberting graduated from Tulane University and Albany Law School.<br /> <strong> In other business:</strong><br /> • Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the commission may get some clarity this month on the prospects for negotiating a new water deal with Hypoluxo. Stumpf said she will participate in a Town Council workshop in Hypoluxo, on April 19 beginning at 5 p.m., to answer officials’ questions about Manalapan’s proposal for a long-term contract to provide water service to 550 Hypoluxo customers.<br /> Representatives of Boynton Beach utilities also will be pitching the city’s competing proposal at the workshop.<br /> • Commissioners gave their approval to two measures that give the Town Commission the last word on architectural and landscape reviews for commercial site plans. The changes mean that applicants go first to the Architectural Commission for review and then to the Town Commission for final approval or rejection. Waters said the changes will streamline the process and prevent bureaucratic delays.</p></div>