To borough residents, the temporary inhabitants of a McKinley Avenue home are juvenile delinquents who pose a threat to the neighborhood and are living in an, illegal boardinghouse.
To the director of a juvenile drug-treatment program, they're young people on the road to recovery from critical personal problems.
Caught in the middle of the argument are borough officials, who have urged residents to calmly await a related court hearing, with one councilman telling them the borough cannot act like the Gestapo in the situation. The building inspector last week cited Joe Costello, the owner of the house at 118 McKinley Ave. , and tenants Rosemary Sherry and Michael Lau for running an illegal boardinghouse for the KIDS of Bergen County Inc. treatment center.
The defendants were unavailable for comment last week. An Oct. 17 court hearing is set, and if the defendants are found guilty, they face fines of up to $500.
KIDS director Miller Newton said: "My first reaction to all this is, '"What is going on here? I mean, you have kids all over Lodi doing drugs, breaking into cars, and stealing radios, and that is OK until they try to get sober?"
Newton also denied neighbors' reports that five or six teen-agers in the KIDS program were being boarded at the McKinley Avenue address.
"It's usually only one child; at most, two or " three, " he said. "Also, I don't see how you can call this a boardinghouse. It's being done on a volunteer basis; no money changes hands."
Wednesday, Raymond Kaulfers presented to the council a petition signed by 200 residents and said 118 McKinley Ave. was being used as an illegal boardinghouse by the KIDS drug rehabilitation program.
"The kids there are noisy," Kaulfers said.
"One of them ran away through my yard the other day. What if my wife or daughter had been out there when that happened?"
Kaulfers and several other neighbors said the October court date is too far away and asked Borough Attorney Anthony Savastarlo whether he could get it pushed up to September. The neighbors also asked whether it was possible to evict the drug program clients immediately under housing code regulations.
Councilman Stephen Lo Iacono counseled them to be patient, because "the borough can't just go in there like the Gestapo and throw these people out onto the street. We have to follow the procedures of the law.
Savastano said he would look into a possible rescheduling, but noted that "there is only one Municipal Court date in August, so all the court business that piles up during the summer gets put on the first few court dates in September and October, and it's hard to get anything new on the docket."
He said eviction under the housing code also would require a court date.
KIDS is a non-profit organization unsupported by state or federal grants, Newton said. The program treats about 125 teen-agers with drug, alcohol, eating, and other behavioral disorders, and has an undisclosed number of host homes throughout the county. For Newton, the controversy is a case of déjà vu. Last month, a municipal judge ruled that a Hasbrouck Heights couple couldn't continue to use their house as temporary quarters for the teen-age clients of KIDS because of restrictions in that community's zoning code.
Newton said each client in the first phase of the KIDS program is separated from his or her family and sent to a "host" home with another teen-ager who is in a later stage of abstinence from drugs and alcohol. That sets a good example for the newcomer and helps maintain some distance from family conflicts that may be contributing to problems, he said.
No other complaints have been lodged against KIDS host homes in the county, he said, but a repeat of the Hasbrouck Heights and Lodi controversies could have a devastating effect on the future of the program.
Building Inspector Gaetano "Guy" Lisa said the landlord and tenants at 118 McKinley Ave. are violating borough laws forbidding a business in a two-family zone and running a boardinghouse without a certificate of occupancy.
Borough law defines a boardinghouse as "any house, or building portion thereof, in which three or more persons are furnished lodging or looming accommodations for hire or otherwise." An apartment house is defined as having independent living units with separate kitchen and sanitation facilities.
In the Hasbrouck Heights case, Judge Harry H. Chandless Jr. imposed a $500 fine and suspended 30-day jail sentences for Billy and Susan McCoy of 53 Central Ave. He found them guilty of violating an ordinance barring more than three unrelated guests from staying in a single-family home. Neighbors reported that the home had held up to 10 youths from KIDS.