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GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - Political candidates bickered Friday over whom to blame for congestion on local roads.

The four-candidate Republican slate for Galloway Township Council accused longtime incumbent Democratic Councilwoman Meg Worthington of contributing to congestion at Jimmie Leeds Road and the Garden State Parkway rest stop. The slate also says a developer promised to pay $800,000 more than 20 years ago toward expanding parkway Exit 44 on Pomona Road to a full interchange, but Worthington forgave the amount, according to a statement released Friday to The Press of Atlantic City.

Worthington said Friday her opponents distorted her role in each instance. She and fellow Democrats slammed Republicans for "rewriting history" in their statement.

The township Planning Board initially asked developer K. Hovnanian for an $800,000 contribution toward Exit 44 construction in 1988. Worthington sat on the board and was mayor of the township eight years later when the board decided to reduce the amount because that figure assumed the construction of 7,000 units in Smithville. Only 4,500 dwellings were ultimately built in the Smithville section of the township, where Worthington lives.

Instead, the board asked K. Hovnanian to complete equivalent infrastructure improvements, such as road work, elsewhere in township. They decided to do so because the contribution would have gone unused until the state Highway Authority decided to reinstate Exit 44 as a priority target for improvement, according to Worthington and documents from 1996 detailing the agreement between the developer and township.

Currently, drivers in Galloway can only exit the parkway's southbound side and access the northbound side at Exit 44. Meanwhile, traffic jams frequently where the parkway rest stop meets Jimmie Leeds Road.

Republicans attributed that congestion, in part, to the reduced access at Exit 44, which they blamed on Worthington.

"Jimmie Leeds Road has nothing to do with it," she said Friday.

The statement from Republicans accused Worthington of "shady dealings," but did not make clear what they think motivated her when she voted 13 years ago to change developer obligations linked to the Smithville project.

Local Republican Party head Terry Lucarelli deferred Friday to incumbent Mayor Tom Bassford, who did not return a call for comment.

Bassford is running with Whitney Ullman, Dennis Kleiner and Don Purdy. None of those three have sought or held political office before.

They are running for four available council seats against Democratic incumbents Worthington and Tom Schurtz, first-time candidate Rich Clute and former councilman Chuck Endicott.

Contact Emily Previti:

609-272-7221

EPreviti@pressofac.com

4 comments:

• Samurai Warrior (73) posts 1:26 pm

  for many years it would have been very easy to widen Jim Leeds Road - but where was the demand? But it still is do-able. there's no alternative, esp. with the medical center and the college there.

• SouthJerseyGirl (44) posts 12:28 pm

  Shady dealings? Are you KIDDING me?! What could be more "shady" than building the new parole office on Rte. 30, backing up to a residential neighborhood, and calling it an "office building?" Bassford even had the nerve to send out congratulatory mail to neighboring businesses to welcome the new project. Were the residents notified of the potential dangers the parole office would bring? Go sit outside the current office in AC, and you will see drug deals being made, loitering, and all sorts of other crime. When an offender doesn't have a clean urine test, the Galloway PD will be called immediately to transport them to Mays Landing to the county jail. So, we'll pick up the tab for that, there will be drug traffic and criminals in a residential neighborhood and the best these idiots can do is to claim the State-run parkway is Meg Worthington's fault?! They ALL need to go. Bassford is the mayor and he's done nothing to rectify the parkway situation either. All he's done is hide the incoming parole office and the crime it will bring with it. Nice job.

• UncleFrank (185) posts 10:56 am

  I don't care whose fault it is or was, just proceed with the expansion of exit 44 ASAP!

• Luluann (22) posts 10:13 am

  OK, I'm no fan right now of any politician. However, 20 yrs. is 20 yrs. Jim Leeds road is what it is. A two-lane highway that was never meant to handle current traffic and impossible to expand. To blame one person for congestion on that road and backups on the parkway is ludicrous. To Mayor and Twp. Council--just get together and do what's right for the people of Galloway and stop the blame game. No, I don't personally know Meg Worthington.

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