WOODCLIFF LAKE—The Borough Council voted, 4–1, on Nov. 8 to authorize up to $70,000 — an increase of $20,000 — to complete a circulation and utilities study required to finish the update of its Master Plan.
Earlier this year, the council authorized a special emergency appropriation for up to $50,000 to be spent on a Master Plan update by Phillips, Preiss, Grygiel, Leheney, Hughes. The emergency appropriation spreads the cost of the update over five years.
Councilman Craig Marson opposed the added cost. Councilwoman Angela Hayes was absent.
Apparently, said councilwoman Josephine Higgins, Preiss did not include the needed study in its scope of work, which could also be done by the local engineer.
However, it was easier to include the cost of the study over five years and get it done now as the updated Master Plan required it, she said.
Padilla said the study costs were estimated at $16,240, but $20,000 was appropriated by resolution for a cushion. If costs are less, less will be paid out to complete the Master Plan, which had not been updated in decades, he said.
The borough’s Master Plan came under fire for being outdated during 2019 Zoning Board hearings for a 60-unit rental complex at 188 Broadway.
Moreover, with pressure to develop along the Broadway Corridor and commercial areas, a Master Plan update was approved and undertaken this February.
The plan includes elements such as land use, circulation, utilities, community facilities and schools, conservation and open space, sustainability, economic development, and historic preservation.
It falls to the Planning Board to approve a revised plan.
From 1985 through 2002, the borough adopted periodic reexamination reports. In 2002, a complete Master Plan update was conducted; reexamination reports passed in 2008 and 2019.
A survey done this summer by the Master Plan committee found residents opposed to rental apartment complexes, multifamily, high-density housing, and increasing traffic.