Marlboro is at a critical fork in the road. The upcoming November elections will decide which way the town will go.
Will Marlboro change course just a bit and focus on: (1) smart development, (2) real open spaces and (3) fixing the apparent "disconnect" between over-building and our schools’ capacity to provide quality education?
Or will Marlboro continue down the irrationally exuberant path of over-development?
There are several basic things I’ve learned while being involved in stopping one bad development known as Mountain Ridge. They are:
• Over the 10-year tenure of the current Republican mayor’s administration, Marlboro has experienced a building explosion.
• The Planning Board (whose majority members are appointed by the mayor) is essentially guided by the administration, approves new developments and develops the (town’s) master plan.
• Although it was a group effort to "Save the Mountain," it was the Democratic-controlled Township Council that proved to be the more sympathetic factor in stopping Mountain Ridge.
• When voting, one has to vote pragmatically. Voting one’s conscience often doesn’t get the needed results. This is exactly how the current mayor got re-elected on a thin margin in a field of multiple candidates.
If, after this year’s election, Marlboro’s council is Republican controlled, fasten your seat belts. There will be, again, no checks and balances to slow the current administration’s demonstrated zeal for overdevelopment.
I am voting Democratic this year for Township Council. I suggest everyone do the same. Marlboro can’t afford otherwise.
Grover Burrows
Marlboro