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.
Despite growing public opposition, the Mayor & Council still aim to sacrifice the wooded, Borough-owned lot at 58 North Passaic Avenue – right next to Memorial Park – without having considered the alternatives!
Will you stand for that?
”It’s as green as Kermit the Frog.”
Tell the Mayor & Council:
You’re with the 90% of Chathamites who want to preserve that green lot for the benefit and enjoyment of current and future generations.
It is irresponsible to sacrifice that precious parcel without having carefully considered each of the potential alternative sites.
Residents deserve a chance to weigh in on the alternatives before they make decisions like this one, that will permanently change Chatham Borough
Use the north entrance. Take the elevator to the upper level.
Arrive when convenient. Stay only as long as you please.
Speaking is optional.
What the heck is the above all about?
Last spring, residents flatly rejected a Master Plan amendment, hastily developed behind closed doors, which included needlessly sacrificing the green parcel at 58 North Passaic to help satisfy the Borough’s new affordable housing quota.
Residents urged the Council to consider alternatives that could satisfy that quota, while also preserving that green land for current and future generations.
On June 18th, the Planning Board rubber stamped the take-it-or-leave-it plan. Though the Borough’s experts noted that the Council could later nominate alternative sites, some Council members insisted that the plan was a done deal.
But then two informal Facebook polls revealed that more than 90% of Chathamites want that wooded, Borough-owned parcel preserved for the benefit of current and future generations.
Screenshot
And now a growing chorus of residents is stepping forward to implore the Council to come up with alternatives that could preserve that precious public land. Several attended the September 8th Council meeting.
The looming threat to 58 North Passaic Avenue has become an issue in the current race for Borough Council.
Incumbent Council Member Karen Koronkiewicz (who co-designed the plan) suggested that the Borough might be able to build four apartments on the small lot at 58 North Passaic without chopping down most or all of the trees there.
”If you’re going to build four apartments,” scoffed challenger Joe Barrette, “you have to cut the trees down.”
He’s right about that, as the below aerial views of 58 North Passaic demonstrate. The first shows the site, almost covered what trees, and the second, which shows what the Council aims to build there, states that it will preserve ONE such tree.
Screenshot
At the September 10th debate, first time candidate Miles Gilmore, a member of the Shade Tree Commission, professed little understanding of the housing issue. He proved it by speaking eloquently in favor of protecting the trees at 58 North Passaic, while advocating acquiescence to the Council’s current plan, which will make it necessary to chop down virtually all of them.
Let’s hope Mr. Gilmore will look into the housing plan, and realize that the only way to preserve those trees is to preserve 58 North Passaic and put the new apartments elsewhere in the Borough.
Is it too late to preserve the wooded, Borough-owned lot at 58 North Passaic Avenue, right next to home plate at Memorial Park?No!
In case you haven’t heard, that lovely, green parcel is targeted for development under a controversial Master Plan amendment that also allows construction of up to 206 new apartments on the busy east end of Main Street.
In June, Hundreds of residents protested that plan, but to no avail.
If the Mayor & Council choose instead to sacrifice 58 North Passaic without having considered all the alternatives, they will lose the chance to achieve a better outcome for Chatham Borough.
To avoid that fate, the Mayor & Council must begin searching for better options immediately after Labor Day.
What are they doing about that?
What substantive steps have our Mayor & Council been taking to prepare to identify better alternatives to developing 58 North Passaic Avenue?
Stop by the Council meeting, Monday, 8 September 2025, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave. (Use the north entrance. Take the elevator to the upper level. Speaking is optional.)
UPDATE: On June 18, the Planning Board rubber stamped the proposed Housing Element with only a minor adjustment, over the vocal objections of hundreds of residents, including petitioners and the overflow crowd in the Council Chamber. Five days later, several detailed the outrage at a Council meeting: https://chathamborough.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=396 (See multiple public comments starting 1:43:24 and Member Justin Strickland’s dissent starting approx. 2:11:00.)
We all love our Memorial Park, the green stretch behind our library, with its playground, pool, benches, lawn, and ball field, lined with big trees.
But now our Park is threatened by a Borough Council plan to sacrifice the green, vacant lot right next door – which the Borough bought for recreation – to build four apartments and a parking lot.
Here’s how that Borough-owned lot next to the ball field looks now:
Here’s what the Borough Council aims to build there asap:
Screenshot
Will that project pay property taxes to the Borough? No. It’s tax exempt.
That plan will also allow construction of 223 new apartments on the east end of Main Street, backing up traffic and jeopardizing the water supply in a wellhead protection zone that also includes Summit and Millburn.
What’s worse, despite having had at least fifteen months to come up with alternatives, our Mayor & Council never considered any. They left it until the last minute and dropped it on the Planning Board, half of which knows this is wrong, but may be steamrolled into accepting it for lack of a handy alternative.
Now the proponents of this nightmare simply insist that that Plan was the only way to meet a June 30 deadline set by state law.
That’s pure nonsense. NJ law does not require the Borough to make any such sacrifices.
And yet, that’s exactly what the Planning Board will do on June 18th unless you act now:
Drop everything right now and tell your elected officials NOT to sacrifices scarce Borough-owned recreation space but to meet the June 30 deadline while preserving the chance to vet a menu of alternatives at public meetings, before the Borough is locked into final choices:
Bring family, friends & neighbors to the Planning Board meeting, Wednesday, June 18th, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave. Bring everyone, regardless of residence or age. (Use the north entrance. Take the elevator to the upper level.)
Write the Planning Board via Facebook or c/o Clerk, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Avenue:
Thomas Belding Sophia Calcaterra-Hull Susan Favate William Heap
Susie Robertson Matthew Wagner Jonathan Wilcox Gregory Xikes
NJ law requires every town to provide for affordable housing. Chatham Borough does that.
NJ law does NOT require the Borough to pave over the green, wooded, Borough-owned, .3-acre, vacant lot at 58 North Passaic, right next to our Memorial Park, for a parking lot and four apartments, nor to impose an overlay zone allowing 220 more apartments on the east end of Main Street without having considered any alternatives.
Screenshot
But that’s what the Planning Board is going to do on June 18th unless you act now:
Tell your elected representatives mayorcouncil@chathamborough.org and Planning Board that we want to meet the June 30th deadline while preserving the chance to vet a broad menu of alternative, at public meetings, before the Borough is locked into final choices. Write:
Thomas Belding Sophia Calcaterra-Hull Susan FavateWilliam HeapSusie Robertson Matthew Wagner Jonathan Wilcox Gregory Xikes
Attend the Environmental Commission meeting to ask them to call for an chance to consider alternatives that would preserve the vacant, Borough-owned land: Wednesday, June 11th, 7:30 pm, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave. (Take the elevator to upper level, Room 301.)
Ask the Shade Tree Commission to call for alternatives that would preserve precious, mature, Borough-owned trees: shadetree@chathamborough.org
Ask the Recreation Advisory Committee to call for preserving the vacant lot for recreation as originally intended when the Borough bought it in the 1980s: Suzanne Jenks c/o Clerk, Borough Hall, 54 Fairmount Ave., Chatham, NJ.
Who is responsible for the Master Plan amendment our Planning Board won’t see until June 6, but is under pressure to adopt on June18, 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: Jmathiasen@chathamborough.org
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?
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.
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
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 Boardby 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.
