MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING BOARD

OF THE BOROUGH OF MOUNTAIN LAKES

October 27, 2011

Chair Sandy Batty read the Open Public Meeting Advertisement Notice adopted at the annual meeting on January 27, 2011:  Adequate notice of this meeting was given to the Citizen and the Daily Record, posted with the Borough Clerk and on the Bulletin Board and made available to all those requesting individual notice and paying the required fee.

ROLL CALL:

Members Present: Batty, Kane, DeVenezia (7:35), Gormally, Zamierowski, Nachshen, Dagger (7:35), and Chief Tovo

Absent: Holmberg, Selver and Bailey

Also Present: Attorney Peter Henry

Also Absent: Engineer Bill Ryden

REVIEW OF MINUTES: Charles Gormally made a motion to adopt the minutes of the September 22^nd meeting with corrections.  Martin Kane provided the second; the minutes were approved by voice vote of all eligible voters.

RESOLUTIONS: none

PUBLIC HEARING: none

PRESENTATION:

ERI (Environmental Resourse Inventory) Presentation

Margaret Gossett, the acting chair of the Environmental Commission, presented the content of the plan. The committee worked to including topics such as the floral, fauna, geology, water and the history of the Borough in the updated ERI. Also part of this printed document is an interactive resource MCPRIMA (Morris County Public Resources Interactive Mapping Application). It provides an on line mapping of all the Borough resources that can be updated continuously. The last time the report was updated was 1979 when it was called the NRI or Natural Resource Inventory.  

Nick DeVenezia asked the Commission why the report was done.  Margaret Gossett explained they were trying to help the community understand their environment, “if you understand what is in your environment it is easier to protect”. Corey Nachshen said the ERI was referenced in the Master Plan. Once the Planning Board approves the document the Commission will put the document on line with a link to the mapping system.

Peter Henry explained to the Board they should not make the ERI part of the Master Plan if it is continually updated, you must have something static.  Sandy Batty suggested the Board could include a few fold out maps in the Master Plan rather than the entire inventory.

Peter Henry thought the Board had three options. One was to make the entire document part of the plan, second was as of a particular date reference the ERI as a hard copy, or third reference the ERI in the Master Plan as a document prepared and maintained by the Environmental Commission. He thought the Board should do the third option.

After reviewing the document Sandy Batty thought it was missing information on wetlands and well head protection. It was suggested since this was an inventory any reference to policy should be removed especially the information about land use. The Environmental Commission should not be making recommendations in this document since it is an inventory. Peter Henry also agreed. Charlie Gormally thought the document was their document and they should be able to include what they wanted.

The Board decided to reference the ERI in the Master Plan as a document prepared and maintained by the Environmental Committee. John Zamierowski commended the Commission; “this is a great document that took a lot of work”.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

            Master Plan

Sandy Batty asked where we stood with updating the Master Plan.  The Administrator explained they were having trouble gathering the information for the Census Data. It has been difficult to get the 2010 data down to the town level.  Information to the state level can be found all over the internet but nothing is in one official location. Sandy Batty suggested working with the county to get our town’s census information.  She then asked if any other work was done since our last meeting.  Jim Bailey and Cindy Shaw have been working on Appendix A. Appendix A is a list identifying the Borough’s conservation, parkland and open space.

Other Business

Generators

Chief Tovo explained the numerous requests the Borough had received for permits to install permanent whole house generators. Hurricane Irene had created a lot of these requests and the late October snow storm will only increase those requests.  The construction department was looking to streamline the process by setting up some guidelines rather than go to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for each desire to install a generator.  The desire was to write an ordinance for emergency equipment used intermittently.

Options that were discussed by the Planning Board were landscaping around the unit, noise limits and installation in the front yard.  Nick DeVenezia explained to the Board how the units need to be cycled to insure they would be ready when an emergency arose. Besides writing an ordinance for the installation of the units the Borough would need to add language to our noise ordinance for the cycling of emergency equipment. The discussion resulted in the Board giving a list of suggestions for the Council to use when writing the ordinance for emergency generators.

Martin Kane told the Board on Nov 14^th, the Historic Preservation subcommittee will be making a presentation to the Council.

Sandy Batty told the Board the state had released the final draft of the State Strategic Plan. She said this version was more of an economic development plan.

Sandy Batty made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The Board adjourned at 9:20 PM

Respectfully submitted,

                                                                                    Cynthia Shaw, Secretary