TOMS RIVER—Mayor Daniel Rodrick accused four council members of being "in bed with developers." Then the video of a contentious council meeting disappeared.

Toms River faces the prospect of 8,000 new housing units forced onto the township through lawsuits that override local zoning. The “builder's remedy” suits are now an option because four council members blocked a protective ordinance during a chaotic 3-2-2 vote that left even the township attorney unable to certify the result.

Tense Council Meeting Leads to Legal Limbo

At a Council meeting on March 11, members David Ciccozzi and Clinton Bradley voted no on the ordinance. Tom Nivison and Robert Bianchini abstained, while Harry Aber, Craig Coleman, and Lynne O'Toole voted yes. Under Toms River's municipal code, the ordinance failed 3-4, with four yes votes required. But under New Jersey common law, it may have passed 5-2, with abstentions counting as yes votes. The ambiguity left Township Attorney Jonathan Penney unable to certify compliance before the March 15 deadline, exposing the township to "builder's remedy" lawsuits that could force high-density development.

But the video of the meeting, the only record of what Nivison and Bianchini said during their abstentions, was unavailable on the township's YouTube channel within hours, forcing accountability to rely on third-party recordings.

The official YouTube recording of the March 11 meeting was left unavailable within hours. At time of writing, the Township Council's YouTube page includes no videos of meetings in either February or March of this year.

According to the YouTube channel of Paul C. Williams, Mayor Rodrick allegedly "regularly causes those videos to be cut off before the meeting is over and also causes them to be removed" from the official township channel. Williams’ channel now records Toms River meetings independently, claiming that the town "regularly does not" maintain complete public access. Williams ran for City Council in 2023, and his YouTube page name still reflects this campaign.

NJBallot could not independently verify Williams' claims, but the footage of the March 11 meeting still remains absent from the official YouTube page. Without the video, residents cannot verify what Nivison and Bianchini said during their abstentions, whether they attempted to signal support while abstaining, or the exact procedural context of the 3-2-2 split.

Ordinances Attempted to Prevent “Builder's Remedy” Suits

The rejected ordinance would have required 183 affordable units and granted "presumptive validity" protection from builder's remedy lawsuits. These suits allow developers to bypass local zoning boards entirely, getting court orders to build at densities often far exceeding locally established limits. In Toms River, this means potential development at 8 times the current density allowances. The 183-unit plan would have satisfied the Mount Laurel doctrine and granted immunity; the 3-2-2 vote gambled that control away.

In a March 19 op-ed published in the Asbury Park Press, Mayor Rodrick named all four dissenting or abstaining council members (Ciccozzi, Bradley, Nivison, and Bianchini) and accused them of being "in bed with developers" and "shutting down" the ordinance. He claimed they sought to sell municipal land at "$3 million under cost" to developers. NJ ELEC records show no Q1 2026 developer donations to these specific members, leaving the accusation unsubstantiated.

Fate of Builder's Remedy Suits Still Unclear

Attorney Christopher Zingaro filed for an extension with Superior Court Judge Sean D. Gertner on March 12, citing the statutory ambiguity. The 3-2-2 chaos, whether accidental or strategic, bought time for judicial intervention. In contrast, the Readington Township Committee voted 3-2 on March 16 to explicitly table their ordinances, and now faces five builder's remedy projects totaling 1,280+ homes. 

While Toms River spins in procedural chaos, the State Department of Community Affairs has published no list of which municipalities met the March 15 deadline. The non-profit Fair Share Housing Center estimated that approximately 40 municipalities missed the December 31, 2025 dispute resolution deadline, putting them at risk for March 15 non-compliance. The specific list of non-compliant municipalities remains unverified by state officials.

Governor Mike Sherrill's FY2027 budget proposes $70 million for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. But this represents only partial restoration of the $125 million diverted in FY2026, leaving an $80 million shortfall unaddressed. The March 15 deadline was supposed to be the enforcement mechanism: towns that adopted budget-compliant ordinances would receive presumptive validity against lawsuits, while towns that missed it would face immediate exposure to litigation.

If Judge Gertner denies the extension, developers can file builder's remedy suits against Toms River immediately. Instead of asking the zoning board for variances, they sue in state Superior Court to prove Toms River failed its Mount Laurel obligations, then get court orders allowing them to build at densities that the township explicitly rejected. Whether the council members are "in bed with developers" or simply created a parliamentary mess, the result is the same: the Toms River Council may have to swallow over 8,000 new housing units, whether they like it or not.

Related Articles

• U.S. Supreme Court Upholds NJ Affordable Housing Mandate, Denies Towns' Emergency Bid 

• Toms River Council Blocks Mayor's Amended Housing Plan; 8,500-Unit Builder's Remedy Looms

Sources

• Patch, "Toms River Affordable Housing Plan In Limbo After Chaotic Council Meeting" (March 12, 2026)

• Jean Mikle, Gatorswire, "Toms River missed affordable housing deadline; will judge show mercy?" (March 18, 2026)

• Mayor Daniel Roderick, Shorebeat, “Mayor’s Op-Ed: ‘Council Tries Forcing Construction of 8,000 New Apartments Mayor Vows to Fight by All Means Necessary’" (March 19, 2026)

• "Paul C. Williams for Toms River," YouTube Video description of "3/11/26 TOMS RIVER TOWNSHIP COUNCIL MEETING" (March 13, 2026)

• "Toms River Council Meetings," YouTube page

• Office of the Governor, "ICYMI: Detailed Budget Book for Governor Sherrill's Proposed FY2027 Budget Plan Now Available Online" (March 24, 2026)

• MyCentralJersey, "Readington seeks court extension on affordable housing plan" (March 19, 2026)

• Fair Share Housing Center, "Budget Address: Gov. Sherrill’s Focus on Housing Affordability Highlights Need for Funding Crucial Housing Programs" (March 10, 2026)

• Toms River Township Code

• New Jersey Law Revision Commission, standard on abstentions