Have you heard that our local elected officials plan to pay someone to pave over and develop 80% of our unique, green, taxpayer-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to our Memorial Park, without ever having publicly discussed the alternatives.
They’d have you believe it’s too late to correct that mistake. Not so!
Once the court issues a Judgment of Compliance – probably by April, the Mayor & Council can propose preserving 58 North Passaic by swapping it out for another site. The Borough’s expert lawyer and planner have told us so at least twice.
Now our Mayor & Council can and SHOULD schedule a public meeting to discuss the pros and cons of alternative sites BEFORE they sign a contract to pave over80% of our unique, green, taxpayer-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to our Memorial Park.
That’s the right thing to do.
What can one person do to make sure the Mayor & Council do what’s right? Plenty:
1. Tell the Mayor & Council to schedule a public meeting to discuss options BEFORE they sign a contract to pave over 80% of our unique, green parcel at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to Memorial Park.Email:
Before the Mayor & Council plunge ahead with plans to pave over our green, vacant, taxpayer-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to Memorial Park behind the Library, they need to GIVE US A FORUM to discuss the pros and cons and alternatives. There is no excuse to do otherwise.
Tell them so! Or at least show them you care about your hometown.
Have you heard that the sacrifice of the taxpayer-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic is a “Done Deal”?
That’s an old trick called a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” Meaning if you can get enough naive people to go around repeating it, it becomes true.
In fact, there is NOTHING requiring our Mayor & Council to pave over the green, Borough taxpayer-owned parcel right next to Memorial Park.
They can just as well house the same four families at another site in town. Maybe repurpose another Borough-owned lot that isn’t vacant, green, or right next to a park.
Or they can acquire a privately-owned parcel for less than most households already spend on coffee or tea.
At the very least, the Mayor & Council should hold a public meeting to discuss alternativesbefore disposing of that irreplaceable Borough asset.
They are holding such a meeting to discuss options for the privately-owned project that will replace the Cottage Deli.It’s Wednesday Feb 11.
There is NO excuse not to give the same consideration to the permanent disposition of a unique, taxpayer-owned parcel right next to our Central Park.
Why do the Mayor & Council continue to refuse to schedule a public meeting to discuss alternatives to sacrificing taxpayer-owned 58 North Passaic?
Why do our Mayor & Council continue to refuse to consider alternatives to paving over the green, Borough taxpayer-owned parcel right next to Memorial Park?
The Mayor & Council have formally promised at least one such public meeting to discuss options for the privately-owned project that will replace the Cottage Deli.It’s Wednesday Feb 11.
There is NO legal reason not to give the same consideration to the permanent disposition of that vacant, green, irreplaceable, Borough taxpayer-owned parcel at 58 North Passaic Avenue.
Why do our Mayor & Council continue to refuse to schedule a public meeting to discuss alternatives to sacrificing the taxpayer—owned parcel at 58 North Passaic?
3. Ask at the Cottage Deli meeting: Wednesday, Feb 11, 2026 at 7:00 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue, upper level.
Heard that the sacrifice of our green 58 North Passaic is a “done deal”? That’s a standard trick known as a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” It’s popular because naive people often fall for it.
Think it’s too late to save our green, wooded, Borough-owned 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to home plate at Memorial Park?
Assume that green gem is destined to be paved over for four apartments and a parking lotand nothing can be done about it?
That’s what some would have you believe. But it’s not so.
The Borough’s housing lawyer and planner have confirmed that the Borough can propose an alternative site for that development. We have no reason to think an alternative wouldn’t be accepted.
So, when will the Council consider and discuss alternatives to needlessly sacrificing 58 North Passaic Avenue?
See how the Mayor & Council answer that question at their public meeting this Monday, January 5, 2026, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.
Please note: This is a public meeting, convened for the benefitof residents and taxpayers. You are the boss. Arrive at your convenience. Use the north entrance. Go left through the door. Take the elevator to the upper level. Enter the double doors at the end of the hall. Sit anywhere. Observe anonymously or participate during the Public Comment period if you prefer. Leave whenever you please.
Really can’t be there? (Working swing? Grounded? Under house arrest?) Zoom the meeting here:
The public meeting starts 7:30 pm TONIGHT, Monday, December 8th, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue. (Take the elevator to the upper level.)
Have our Mayor & Borough Council found a good way to resolve the legal challenges to Chatham’s 6/18/25 Master Plan amendment for affordable housing?
A possible settlement is on their agenda for the December 8th Council meeting, and the Council may even VOTE on it during the public session, which starts 7:30 pm TONIGHT at Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue.
That’s New Jersey’s deadline for our Planning Board to revise the all-important Master Plan that will guide Borough decision-making and development for the next ten years.
To get that job done, the Planning Board will need to get residents to attend meetings and share ideas, which few residents do.
How can the Planning Board attract Chathamites to the meetings, and get them engaged in the process?
How about muzzling residents? Seriously.
The Planning Board already chooses not to Zoom most of its meetings, and does NOT allow residents to participate by Zoom.
At the December 3rd meeting, which was not Zoomed, Planning Board lawyer Vincent Loughlin advocated taking it one step further: changing the Board’s bylaws to do away with the traditional Public Comment period we have come to expect at every Borough meeting, severely restricting normal, public participation in-person.(See the meeting video below, starting at approximately 11:34.)
”There’s so much misunderstanding about how municipal government functions,” says Laughlin. His solution? Totally shut out all public participation except on the matter before the Planning Board at that moment, typically limited to cross examination and sworn testimony on a specific application.
Lawyers don’t make policy like that. Who told Mr. Laughlin to push abolishing Public Comment at Planning Board meetings?
”[Borough Administrator and Planning Board member]Steve Williams suggested that perhaps we could remove that [Public Comment period] from the agenda,” said the Borough Clerk. “So that would remove the public portion where the public can speak from the agenda so they would only speak if we had an application.”(See meeting video below.)
Kudos to those alert Planning Board members who had the good sense to resist that flagrant power grab. We can only hope they will stay strong.
You can see it all in the video below, where the meeting begins about 7:29 and the discussion of abolishing Public Comments begins about 11:34.
Do you know what’s happening in Chatham Borough? Find out before it’s too late. Attend the Borough Council Meeting:Monday, Oct. 27 🕢 7:30 pm 📍Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave.Or, at the very least, Zoom from the calendar at chathamborough.org
For years, Council candidate Karen Koronkiewicz enjoyed the loyal support of career firefighter and Ground Zero alum Captain Robert Penn, a respected longtime Borough resident.
Not anymore.
Now even Captain Penn has washed his hands of Karen and her political bosses, in part over their mishandling of the new Housing Element of the Master Plan.
Karen played a big role in that fiasco.She is on the back room committee that opted to let an unspecified developer pave over 58 North Passaic Avenue, the green, Borough-owned lot right next to home plate in Memorial Park.
Though she represents the Council on the Borough Shade Tree Commission, Karen dismissed that wooded lot as “useless” and agreed to sacrifice all but one tree without first weighing the alternatives or taking public input.
At the October meeting of the Shade Tree Commission, Karen flatly refused to explain why she had withheld that pubic news from her Commission colleagues, including her own running mate Miles Gilmore.Could the reason for her silence have something to do with the location of the most obvious alternative site?
With Karen’s re-election at stake, the rest of the one-party controlled Mayor & Council aren’t talking either. They would have you believe they cannot talk about it because it’s in litigation and settlement talks. That’s utter nonsense.
In fact, there’s no gag order, and settlement talks are NO excuse not to explore alternatives in executive session, so the Mayor & Council will be prepared to update the public on alternatives once Chatham Borough receives its Judgment of Compliance and Repose, likely in January.
It’s high time the Mayor & Council did the right thing: consider alternative ways to satisfy the Borough’s housing quotas without sacrificing the green lot right next to home plate in Memorial Park.
How can one person help persuade them to consider the alternatives? It’s easy.
Attend the Council Meeting:📅 Monday, Oct. 27 🕢 7:30 pm 📍 Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave. Take the elevator to upper level. Enter the last room on the left. (Your presence matters. Speaking is optional.)
If it turns out that 58 North Passaic Avenue is the best bet, then so be it. But to hand that lot to a developer without due diligence would be unconscionable.
