Monthly Archives: May 2025

Would you pave paradise?

Master Plan, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Who is responsible for the Master Plan amendment our Planning Board won’t see until June 6, but is under pressure to adopt on June 18, setting Borough housing policy for the next ten years?

Why did our Borough Council let someone concoct such a plan 100% behind closed doors, without any public input?

Why does that plan include developing a vacant, green, woodsy, Borough-owned lot right next to Memorial Park?

58 N. Passaic Avenue

Was it ok for our Borough Council to skip presenting that plan in public, skip voting on it, skip running it by the Shade Tree Commission or Environmental Commission, and instead simply pay a hired planner to present a summary to our Planning Board?

Did the Council have an obligation to explain, release, or disclose the actual plan BEFORE turning it over to the Planning Board?

Did having the planner tell the Planning Board about the plan really muzzle the Borough Council as claimed?

Is the Planning Board required to approve the plan, which it won’t even see until at least June 6?

If the Planning Board is required to rubber stamp the never-before-seen plan, which the Council has never voted on or even discussed in public, then who is responsible for the policy decisions that will guide local decision making for the next ten years?

Why does the Council President say answering questions like that would expose her to “legal risk”?

Ask her: [email protected]

Ok with you if the Planning Board votes to develop that green, vacant, Borough-owned lot right next to the park without having justified or explained that choice?

Share your views:

[email protected]

[email protected]

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/chatham/sections/government/articles/chatham-residents-question-green-space-borough-land-being-used-on-north-passaic-for-affordable-housing-without-public-input

Do you approve?

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UPDATE: There’s ONE more Council meeting before the political bosses steamroll our Planning Board into approving the sacrifice of the vacant, green, Borough-owned lot at 58 N. Passaic! ONE last chance to talk the Council off this ledge! That chance is TUESDAY, May 27, 2025, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Main Street, upper level. (It’s set to start at 6:30 pm, but probably will be open to the public at approx. 7:30 pm.)

Great turnout at the May 12th Borough Council meeting. People showed up to hear and talk about the proposal to sacrifice this precious, Borough-owned, open, green lot at 58 North Passaic (just north of Memorial Field) to build an apartment project.

Check out the story in TapintoChatham:

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/chatham/articles/chatham-residents-question-green-space-borough-land-being-used-on-north-passaic-for-affordable-housing-without-public-input?fbclid=IwY2xjawKWOZpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFoUFV1elBBREdZV200TklTAR7H1OwNaoalfFnXUku5LqfT1SPIVqHTT-ePzAfum9shh3TIm_F5lyhHNwG8Hw_aem_aHeuQxmGzpt2GWOu7d2sBA

But who came up with this whole scheme? Who chose these particular sites? What else did they consider?

Why would they choose to develop this green, vacant, Borough-owned lot, right next to Memorial Field?

Why not put that apartment project at a better location, preferably on a lot that’s already developed?

Why didn’t we have a chance to weigh in on the decision? Why can’t we see the actual proposal until June 6? Why didn’t we even hear about it until May 4, more than a year after the new law kicked in?

Unless you can talk some sense into our leaders WELL BEFORE JUNE 18, they will do away with that little green space on North Passaic forever.

Last good chance to make a difference is the Council meeting on May 27th, 7:30 pm, at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.

If you can’t attend that meeting in person, then do it on Zoom. https://www.chathamborough.org

And ASAP send emails to:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Who is your master?

Master Plan, Redevelopment, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ever notice that each NJ town has its own unique character?

One reason is that each town is protected by a local Master Plan, created by residents to guide local officials in big decisions.

When asked to adopt a new regulation or grant a special exemption from zoning laws, our leaders must consider if what’s proposed is consistent with the Master Plan. If not, they must vote it down.

Changing the Master Plan can be done only by the local Planning Board, which is made up only of residents and must follow a transparent process. They review the Master Plan, discuss and air proposed changes at public meetings, take questions and comments from residents, and make decisions in public.

Unfortunately, that isn’t what’s happening now in Chatham Borough.https://chathamchoice.org/2025/05/the-secret-plan/

Essentially, our Planning Board is getting railroaded. https://chathamborough.org/boards/planning

At the Wednesday, May 7 meeting – the Board’s first since January – members learned about a major change in the Master Plan’s Fair Share & Housing Element, which was crafted behind closed doors by a special 8-member advisory committee that includes four non-residents and does not answer to the public. https://www.chathamborough.org/boards/advisory/235-affordable-housing

At that May 7 meeting, Planning Board members were told that they need to approve that major change in the Master Plan at the Planning Board meeting, on June 18. (You can see that at approx. 1:07:00 in this video: https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=368)

The only hearing scheduled to give residents chance to ask questions or tell the Planning Board what they think of the changes is at the same June 18 meeting where the Planning Board must vote to approve those changes.

That puts our Planning Board in a tight spot. Or rather, it’s a tight spot for the rank and file members, who who aren’t also Mayor, or married to the boss of the dominant party, or members of the elite committee that drafted the changes behind closed doors.

But what options do the rank and file Planning Board members really have?

Should they stand up for the right of residents to participate in the process, and risk not being reappointed to the Board by the Mayor?

Or should they go along to get along, and hope for other opportunities to protect Chatham Borough?

That’s the easy way out, but if they take it, they will have lost control of one of the most important parts of our Master Plan.

It’s time for the Planning Board to do right by residents and stand up for itself. Refuse to be bullied into approving a Housing Element they had no role in crafting. Demand a chance to do their job, and weigh alternatives.

Your opportunity to ask or weigh in about any of that at a public meeting – before it’s too late to make any difference – will be at the Council meeting this Monday, May 12, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level.

Please keep in mind that you need not say a word. You can make a difference simply by attending that meeting.

In response to the uproar over this situation, today the Mayor posted the PowerPoint presentation shown at the May 7 Planning Board meeting and put the Housing Element issue on the Council’s agenda for Monday night. https://d3n9y02raazwpg.cloudfront.net/chathamborough/ebc8857c-bc91-11ef-ab4b-005056a89546-21f92362-28af-4727-9270-fd5a12163dfa-1746813852.pdf

The secret plan

Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

Have you heard about the Borough’s proposed affordable housing plan for 2025-2035? The Planning Board heard about it last night.

They’re going to vote on it on June 18, and after that it will be the heart of our Master Plan for the next ten years.

Of course, Borough residents and other taxpayers will have to pay for it in taxes, traffic, and quality of life, but you aren’t allowed to actually SEE the plan until June 6, nearly a month away.

And after that, you won’t have a chance to ask questions or comment until the June 18 meeting where the Planning Board votes to adopt the new plan.

Your only real chance to ask questions or comment before then is at the Council meeting this Monday May 12th, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.

eCourts Civil Case JacketDownload

In for a penny, in for a pound

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You indulge in restaurants, travel, parties, gifts, and concert tickets, and then discover you don’t have enough money left for necessities like your mortgage payment or groceries.

What should you do?

Incur more debt? Make your spouse take a second job to cover necessities?

That’s what our Mayor and some Borough Council members seem to think.

Faced with an urgent need for two or three new fire trucks to replace a dangerously aging fleet, they continued to prioritize lower priority expenses, like public art, street decorations, concerts, parades, celebrations, tennis courts, and the Stanley Center.

Fire Apparatus Eval – November 2023Download

Now they’re tying to tell us that the Borough can afford the desperately needed ladder truck only because the Borough is moonlighting as a real estate developer to bring in new PILOT income from the giant Ivy apartment project on River Road.

That’s the thrust of the April 28 budget presentation, an extended infomercial for PILOTS, starting at approx. minute 1:39:30 here:

https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=363 and in the PowerPoint show here: https://www.chathamborough.org/forms-documents/forms/financial-documents/2025-2/2847-chatham-borough-2025-budget-introduction-presentation/file

That might make sense if the Mayor & Council were required to place a higher priority on the fun stuff. But it isn’t. The Council’s highest priority must be public safety, including adequate fire trucks. The fun stuff must come second.

At that April 28 meeting, Mayor & Council ignored all that, and tried to justify the Ivy PILOT deal (and warm you up for the next PILOT project in the pipeline) by claiming a good chunk of the revenue will be put aside for the ladder truck.

Don’t fall for that.

In fact, the PILOT payments go into the Borough’s general fund, along with revenue from various other sources, including your property taxes.

Because money is fungible, there is no way Mayor Council can say if a certain dollar came from property taxes, or PILOT revenue, or some other source, like the ECLC rents or the parking fees.

Pretending they can is pure spin.

Simple fact is, every time they raise spending, you lose the tax break that the PILOT payments could afford.

Time to tell our Mayor & Council to do the right thing:

First, take care of absolute necessities, like the ladder fire truck. before considering secondary expenses and discretionary items like public art, concerts, parades, celebrations, decorations, and the Stanley Center.

Second, the Council should NOT use the PILOT revenue as an excuse to increase spending. Use it to reduce the tax rate.

Third, if the Council wants extra goodies, let the voters decide whether or not to sacrifice the tax break to get those goodies.

After all, it’s your money they’re spending. Find out how the Mayor & Council aim to spend it while there’s still time to influence the outcome.

Stop by the next Council meeting, May 12 at 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue. You don’t need to speak.