BY LARRY RAMER
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — The Planning Board underwent many changes during its reorganization meeting on Jan. 5.
Three new members were appointed to the board by Mayor Robert Klein-berg. Joining the panel were Mark Barenberg, Sanjay Joshi and Abraham Sadon.
Barenberg, 45, said he joined the board because he enjoys serving the community and wants to improve the town. He owns an instrument service company.
Sadon, 55, is a chiropractor with an office in Marlboro. He said he wants to prevent “overzealous development” as a Planning Board member. He said he wants to make the board more responsive to citizens and ensure that Marlboro does not become too crowded.
“I want to look at the overall plan of the town and ensure that 20 to 30 years down the road we still have a nice town that is not like where I came from on Long Island, where there is no place to move and tons of traffic,” Sadon said.
Joshi could not be reached for comment for this article.
When the Township Council held its reorganization meeting on Jan. 6, Councilwoman Patti Morelli was appointed to a voting seat on the Plan-ning Board as the governing body’s representative. Kleinberg is a voting member of the board by virtue of his position as mayor.
Peter Bellone, who replaced Mario Giudice as chairman of the board for the last two months of 2004, was re-elected to the position for 2005 by a 9-0 vote. Giudice remains a member of the board.
Meanwhile, board member Steve Gustman resigned his seat on the panel on Jan. 5. Gustman said he resigned because he is working longer hours and traveling more for his job.
The board appointed a new professional planner and a new engineer. Jennifer Beame of Birdsall Engineer-ing was hired as the board’s planner. In 2004, Beame worked on several large-scale projects for Marlboro.
The board chose Michael Vena of the firm Remington, Vernick and Vena, Old Bridge, to be its engineer, traffic consultant and environmental expert.
Beame was approved unanimously by the board. Eight of the nine board members voted to appoint Vena. Gustman abstained on the vote to hire Vena.
Gustman said he abstained because he did not have the chance to speak with the candidates for the position.
“I abstained on the vote because [Kleinberg’s] administration brought the name [of the new engineering firm] forth, but I never had the opportunity to meet these people or other candidates,” Gustman said.
Bellone said the board chose to hire Vena because it was not satisfied with the work of its previous engineering firm, Schoor DePalma.
“Schoor DePalma has been involved in a lot of problematic issues. [The company] made some mistakes,” he said.
As an example, Bellone cited the firm’s decision to recommend that the township release a performance bond posted by the developer of the Marlboro Summit housing development off Tennent Road. Residents of the development have complained about flooding and grading problems on their properties.
“We wanted an engineer who would be aggressive and look closely at issues like flooding and retention ponds,” Bellone said. “The town has had problems with those areas.”
According to Skip Cimino, a spokes-man for Schoor DePalma, Marlboro officials never told the firm’s representatives that they were dissatisfied with its performance.
“The substantial problems raised by [Bellone] were never brought to the attention of Schoor DePalma,” Cimino said. “We are an award-winning firm that has been ranked as one of the top 100 engineering companies in the nation. It is unfortunate if [Bellone] is using one event as a reason for replacing a company of our quality and size.”