Post by richardkelsey on Jan 9, 2008 11:58:59 GMT -5
newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/0109/Front_Page/046.html
Freehold to combine boards
FREEHOLD - The Borough Council has adopted an ordinance that will eliminate the Freehold Borough Zoning Board of Adjustment and establish a nine-member planning board with all the powers of a zoning board.
The council adopted the ordinance during a special meeting held Dec. 27. The vote to adopt the ordinance was 5-0. Councilman George Schnurr, who joined the governing body that evening, abstained on the vote.
The adoption of the ordinance puts Freehold Borough among a group of other small New Jersey municipalities that operate with a combined planning and zoning board.
There were no comments from residents during the public hearing that preceded the council's vote.
In promoting the adoption of the ordinance, Councilman Marc Le Vine said, "Given the reduced workloads for planning and zoning boards in recent years, and after noticing that some other towns have already combined their planning and zoning functions, we, too, have our own opportunity to consolidate, creating less government in a more efficient and potentially, a somewhat more economical way."
In a previous interview with the News Transcript, Joseph Youssouf, who has worked as a municipal land use attorney for 35 years, said having a unified planning/ zoning board eliminates duplicate positions (i.e. a separate attorney and engineer for each board).
A unified board also eliminates what land use law refers to as the "ping-pong" effect of having an applicant who has a specific plan from being sent back and forth from a planning board to a zoning board in one municipality.
That "ping-pong effect" could occur if neither board was certain whether it had jurisdiction over a specific application.
The advantage of a unified board is that an applicant who needs a site plan and/or a subdivision approved, and requires a variance as well can acquire these things in one venue.
Youssouf said the mayor of the town sits on a unified planning/zoning board (and would do so under the Freehold Borough ordinance) and has a much larger role than he does on zoning applications under the present set-up of separate planning and zoning boards.
Generally, the mayor sits on his municipality's planning board, but not on its zoning board.
Freehold to combine boards
FREEHOLD - The Borough Council has adopted an ordinance that will eliminate the Freehold Borough Zoning Board of Adjustment and establish a nine-member planning board with all the powers of a zoning board.
The council adopted the ordinance during a special meeting held Dec. 27. The vote to adopt the ordinance was 5-0. Councilman George Schnurr, who joined the governing body that evening, abstained on the vote.
The adoption of the ordinance puts Freehold Borough among a group of other small New Jersey municipalities that operate with a combined planning and zoning board.
There were no comments from residents during the public hearing that preceded the council's vote.
In promoting the adoption of the ordinance, Councilman Marc Le Vine said, "Given the reduced workloads for planning and zoning boards in recent years, and after noticing that some other towns have already combined their planning and zoning functions, we, too, have our own opportunity to consolidate, creating less government in a more efficient and potentially, a somewhat more economical way."
In a previous interview with the News Transcript, Joseph Youssouf, who has worked as a municipal land use attorney for 35 years, said having a unified planning/ zoning board eliminates duplicate positions (i.e. a separate attorney and engineer for each board).
A unified board also eliminates what land use law refers to as the "ping-pong" effect of having an applicant who has a specific plan from being sent back and forth from a planning board to a zoning board in one municipality.
That "ping-pong effect" could occur if neither board was certain whether it had jurisdiction over a specific application.
The advantage of a unified board is that an applicant who needs a site plan and/or a subdivision approved, and requires a variance as well can acquire these things in one venue.
Youssouf said the mayor of the town sits on a unified planning/zoning board (and would do so under the Freehold Borough ordinance) and has a much larger role than he does on zoning applications under the present set-up of separate planning and zoning boards.
Generally, the mayor sits on his municipality's planning board, but not on its zoning board.