JACKSON — Saying they want to put the Planning Board’s practices into writing, Township Committee members are proposing a law that sets down how applications are to be accepted and heard.
At their meeting held July 9, committee members introduced ordinance No. 21-01, establishing procedures for the Planning Board for review of applications, public hearings and executive caucus sessions.
A public hearing, second reading and adoption of the ordinance is scheduled for the committee’s 7:30 p.m. July 23 meeting.
"As is required by law, we are putting into the ordinance what our practices are now," Mayor Joseph Grisanti said when the law was introduced. "As people have seen, this Planning Board really wants to go through each application thoroughly and research the issues involved.
"Previously the applications were thrown at the board members; traffic surveys were presented, there were environmental impact studies to review, and then they would call for a vote," he said. "This ordinance will give us two weeks in between meetings to go over the material."
The ordinance states:
• Within five business days of the date of submission of an application, the Planning Board clerk will review the submitted documents, fees, etc. and determine whether the application is administratively complete.
• Upon certification of an administratively complete application, the clerk will transmit the application package to the Planning Board engineer for a technical completeness review, to be completed within 45 days.
• Following a determination of technical completeness, the Planning Board engineer may, at his discretion, and prior to the initial public hearing, request a plan review meeting with the applicant and the applicant’s professional consultants and also with other member of the Planning Board’s professional staff to review the submitted plans and other documents to resolve any engineering, planning or legal issues in order to expedite the public hearing process.
• At the public hearing, the applicant and/or the applicant’s professional consultants will make a presentation to the Planning Board. The applicant will also address to the board’s satisfaction all issues contained in the various reports of the board’s professional staff and other municipal agencies. At the conclusion of the applicant’s presentation, the board chairman … will open the meeting to the general public for comments and questions.
• After the conclusion of the public comment and question period, the board will either: determine that the issues raised by the board’s professional staff have been fully addressed by the applicant and that the plans and other documents are in a form which would permit a final decision of the board; at that time the board will close the public hearing and refer the application to the executive caucus session of the board; or determine there are still unresolved issues and require the applicant to address these issues and continue the public hearing.
• At the executive caucus session of the Planning Board, the board’s professional staff will review the application with board members. Following this summary the board members will caucus in open public session and will direct the board’s attorney to prepare a resolution of approval or denial, which is to be read and voted upon at the next public hearing of the board. The approval may be subject to appropriate conditions. Members of the public and the applicant and the applicant’s professional staff may attend the executive caucus session and respond to questions raised by the board, but may not otherwise participate in the board’s deliberations.
• At the next public hearing of the board, the board will take a formal action on the application and adopt a memorializing resolution.