Judge orders mayor to sign document for developers Brothers are planning to build apartments on Route 9 property BY TALI ISRAELI Staff Writer MARLBORO - Mayor Robert Kleinberg believes that developers Steven Meiterman and Bernard Meiterman are caught up in an FBI investigation. But the mayor's belief did not stop a state Superior Court judge from ordering him to sign documents that will permit construction to begin on a Meiterman project in the township. The Grande at Marlboro will be a two-story, age-restricted rental complex of 26 one-bedroom units and 64 two-bedroom units. Builder Steve Meiterman is the purchaser of the 7.5-acre parcel on Route 9. Bernard Meiterman was the attorney who represented the applicant before the zoning board. The property, which is zoned for commercial use, is between Clayton Road and Route 9 north, just south of Union Hill Road. The zoning board approved a variance which will permit a residential use on commercial property. For more than a year, Kleinberg and the Township Council have been fighting the zoning board's approval of the project, claiming that the board usurped the council's exclusive power to zone and rezone properties in Marlboro by approving a residential development on a commercial property. A raid of the Meitermans' Freehold Borough offices by agents of the FBI and IRS on March 16 added fuel to the mayor's fire regarding the project and the developers. Kleinberg's claim that the Meitermans may be involved in the FBI's ongoing corruption investigation in Marlboro has brought the two parties before a judge several times in the last year. The parties' most recent appearance in court came after the Meitermans sued the mayor because Kleinberg would not execute a developer's agreement for The Grande at Marlboro. On Nov. 30, state Superior Court Judge Lawrence Lawson, sitting in Freehold, ordered Kleinberg to sign the paperwork. According to Township Attorney Andrew Bayer, the Meitermans' legal theory requested a temporary restraining order to compel Kleinberg to sign the developer's agreement. Bayer said the judge found that the Meitermans did not meet the legal standard for that request because they could not establish irreparable harm. However, under a different legal theory, Lawson found that the mayor should sign the developer's agreement because doing so would be a ministerial act, Bayer said. He reported that Lawson said if the Meitermans are indicted for actions in connection with this project the court would stop the development of the property. According to Bayer, Kleinberg would not sign the developer's agreement because he believes the investigation into the Meitermans is going to come to a conclusion soon and he said it would be prudent to see if the two men would be indicted before allowing the development to go further. When asked what leads him to believe the investigation is coming to a close, Kleinberg said the only people who know that information for certain would be the federal authorities and perhaps the Meitermans. Bayer said the mayor's suspicion is based on information the township has supplied to the FBI and the recent indictment of Frank Abate, the former executive director of the Western Monmouth Utilities Authority (WMUA), Manalapan. The authority provides sewer service in Marlboro. Abate was arrested on Nov. 21 and charged with accepting free or discounted home improvements and services from contractors and developers in exchange for exercising his authority in favor of those individuals as they sought contracts and/or approvals from the WMUA. The federal indictment that details the charges against Abate includes an alleged corrupt exchange involving Abate and two people identified as Developers No. 1 and No. 2, in which the developers paid for an architect to draw up plans for an addition to Abate's Marlboro home. The indictment does not name Developers No. 1 and No. 2, but does state that they had an office in Freehold. Kleinberg said that based on Marlboro's interaction with federal authorities and after reading Abate's indictment and cross-referencing dates and other information with facts mentioned in the indictment, it is his belief that the two unnamed developers are the Meitermans. The mayor noted that in court on Nov. 30 nobody asked the Meitermans if they were subjects of an FBI investigation in Marlboro or if they were the developers named in Abate's indictment. Steven J. Tripp, the attorney who represents the Meitermans, confirmed Bayer's account of the actions in court last week but declined to comment further. Steven Meiterman and his partner at Meiterman Holdings Inc., Eddie Kay, declined to comment on the matter.