No major changes expected.
By: Nick D’Amore
JAMESBURG Residents can probably expect no major changes in the borough’s next Master Plan.
The borough is in the process of updating its Master Plan, and reviewing issues such as mass transit, revitalization and evaluating demographics.
Master plans must be reviewed and approved every six years, but municipalities can file re-examination reports during that time. The borough is currently re-examining its Master Plan. The last re-examination was in 1999.
The Master Plan will be adopted by the Land Use Board and then sent to the Borough Council for approval.
Land Use Board Chairman John Longo, also a member of the Master Plan committee and a candidate for Borough Council, said the Master Plan committee which includes Mayor Tony LaMantia, Council President Sam Cline, Hank Dobenski and borough planner Mike Mueller will draft its report at the Land Use Board’s Oct. 11 meeting and will finalize the draft at the board’s Nov. 15 meeting.
A public hearing will be held at the board’s Dec. 13 meeting, followed by an approval meeting in January.
Though the borough does not have to re-examine its Master Plan for another three to five years, Mr. Longo said his goal is to review the report every two years.
"That way things don’t get forgotten or don’t get away from you," he said.
He said the committee had originally hoped to have the report done this past spring, but said transportation issues pushed the date back.
He said the committee and board have studied and revised the plan piece by piece, but have made no substantial changes.
"We’re hoping people will give us some ideas at the hearing in November. We still need community input," he said.
Mr. Longo said people can also give input at the Land Use Board meeting, where the plan will be discussed.
"Our goal was to have it done by this coming spring, but we’re going to try and get it done by December," he said.
The Master Plan also will reflect the borough’s stance against the Middlesex-Ocean-Monmouth rail line.
The MOM rail line would run from Lakehurst in Ocean County, north to Freehold in Monmouth County, then west through Jamesburg and Monroe to meet the Northeast Corridor railroad tracks in Monmouth Junction.
Mr. Longo said the borough was concerned about the impact the line would have on several borough businesses.,
"It would reduce parking for businesses," he said.
Mr. Longo said he would like to see a bus line run through the borough to take senior residents and those residents without drivers licenses to shopping areas in East Brunswick and New Brunswick.
"It would be good even if the bus line just went to East Brunswick and residents could take a bus from there to New Brunswick," he said.
Mr. Longo said the need for mass transit is based on the density of population and that the borough meets the density required to have mass transit.
He said the borough is working with Middlesex County to study traffic patterns and placement of traffic signals.
In the Master Plan, there are chapters devoted to transportation and circulation plans
Mr. Longo said there used to be a bus line that ran from the borough to Helmetta and Spotswood, but it was discontinued.
Revitalization of the borough is also an issue being discussed.
"The issues we’re focusing on are sprucing up the community and buildings along main track, rather than tearing down and rebuilding. We want to keep the structures with their architecture and characteristics intact and just make them look better and attractive to people," he said.
Mr. Longo said nothing specific would be included in the way of that sort of revitalization because it would "reduce creativity of developers."
"We’re just trying to stabilize the district or area by rehabilitating houses and looking for ways to do that. We’re also seeing how to qualify for county and state grants," he said. He said the borough also wants to avoid having single- family dwellings becoming multi-family dwellings.
Mr. Longo said there are no plans to rezone, but rezoning could come up in further reviews.
"We want to make what we have more attractive and maintain our small town atmosphere," he said.

