TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—Following a half-hour discussion Oct. 18, council members agreed informally to refer future municipal projects to the Planning Board for review but didn’t go so far as to approve administrative procedures or an ordinance to require such a review.
Mayor Peter Calamari and council members favored an administrative review whereby a municipal project — such as the two-story Emergency Services Building rising on Washington Avenue — should go to the Planning Board, and an informal public hearing would be conducted to gather board and public input.
The council is under no obligation to follow recommendations of the Planning Board based on its review of any local project, officials said.
Council members favored notifying the public in advance of such a Planning Board meeting, depending on the scope — undefined — of the project.
Members said a greater number of residents might receive certified mail notification for a development such as the new ESB, whereas a hypothetical dog park proposal might require fewer residents be notified by certified mail, said the township attorney.
Based on his research, member Steven Cascio told the mayor and council, only two municipalities had ordinances that addressed local review of municipal projects and most nearby towns dealt with it informally via a local land use board review that included public notification and input.
Cascio said, “We can put it in our ordinance to have an administrative review. It holds no weight, really, when you think about it, but at least you give the opportunity to the residents surrounding a particular or proposed project a say. Again they can’t really stop it but at least you get some feedback from the residents.”
He said the criticism from neighbors about the new firehouse/ambulance corps headquarters — which was discussed in public and covered in Pascack Press — was concerning and should not have to happen again.
Nearby homeowners have criticized the project’s scale, height, workmanship, cupola, light pollution, and lack of public notification via certified mail when the project was discussed and approved by council over two years ago.
Township Attorney Ken Poller rebuffed suggestions by council members to put an administrative review process in writing, including efforts by Council President Stacey Feeney to designate Councilman Thomas Sears — a fellow Republican, and a Planning Board member, who is running on the mayor’s ticket Nov. 2 — as the “responsible party” for initiating a Planning Board review of a township project.
Poller said that when another project comes before council, “Let’s see how people jump up and say, ‘Okay, let’s do this,’ and we’ll go through in order to find, I mean, it’s not a major thing.”
He said it was better to “get a project and see how it works” than to put procedures in writing that future councils might not want to follow.
On Oct. 4, Poller suggested that a town made to follow local planning and zoning requirements would be at a disadvantage, especially on controversial developments including court-mandated affordable housing or a needed cellular tower.
“It’s going to hamstring a town to have requirements exactly like a developer,” Poller said.
Councilman Michael DeSena, an Independent who is challenging for the gavel Nov. 2, noted one project that might come up is a new Department of Public Works building.
The previous one was demolished, with the site undergoing soil remediation after the town got a state Department of Environmental review compliance extension.