Zoning complaint sheds light on council rift in Hackensack

MITSU YASUKAWA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Hackensack Councilwoman Rose Greenman and Zoning Officer Al Borrelli at a hearing in Hackensack on Thursday.

HACKENSACK City Councilwoman Rose Greenman claimed on Thursday that a zoning complaint against her that was dismissed in Municipal Court was an act of "retaliation" against her by the mayor and deputy mayor for her opposition to their agenda.

Mayor John Labrosse and Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino, when reached by phone separately on Thursday, fiercely rejected the accusation as "absolutely" false. They each said they had nothing to do with an attempt by zoning officials to inspect Greenman's residence.

Greenman's claim appears to point to continuing division on the council, which came into office in 2013 promising reform after decades of control by the Zisa political family.

On Thursday morning, Judge Roy F. McGeady, the presiding judge for the Bergen County municipal courts, dismissed a city citation that alleged Greenman denied a city inspector access to her apartment in a Prospect Avenue high-rise building where she lives. Inspectors reportedly were checking on a complaint that Greenman was operating her law office from her residence, an alleged violation of residential zoning.

Greenman said city Zoning Officer Al Borrelli had told her that Labrosse and Canestrino were pressuring him through Art Koster, who then was the interim city manager, to do the inspection.

Reached by phone on Thursday afternoon, Borrelli denied Greenman's account.

Borrelli said that after he received a request from Koster to inspect the residence, he mailed two notices, the first on Aug. 7 and the second on Aug. 15, but got no response. He issued the citation on Aug. 26.

Borrelli said after the hearing that Greenman faced a fine of as much as $1,250 for denying access and a fine of up to $2,000 had a zoning violation been found.

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Zoning complaint sheds light on council rift in Hackensack