A resident, giving her name and address, asked why the planning board held a special meeting to memorialize a resolution for 135 Walnut Court Boulevard instead of waiting for the board's next regular meeting on Oct. 20. "Why was a special meeting of the planning work required for the memorialization of the resolution of 135 Walnut Court Boulevard as opposed to it being memorialized at the next regular standing board meeting on October 20?" the resident said. (R. Sterling, 6330 Mill Road.)
The mayor responded that the public had been told about the meeting and that the item had been delayed for months. "We had told the public that night that there was gonna be a meeting that night, so they knew," the mayor said, and added that the matter had been delayed for over six months.
Township Solicitor Ridgeway described the multi-layered approval process for developments in the township, saying local approvals are only one step. "The first one is the local municipal regulation, and the county, depending on where it's located...and it goes up to the state," Ridgeway said, adding that state agencies such as CAFRA and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection may also need to approve projects depending on location and environmental rules.
The resident asked about the scale of projects in the pipeline and whether the township could slow new residential construction. In response, a speaker said, "I think it's 628 homes," when asked about a particular approved development. Officials cautioned that land-use approvals do not always lead to building permits and construction: Ridgeway said land-use approvals still must clear county and state reviews and that projects may never be built if subsequent approvals or permits are not obtained.
Public commenters and officials repeatedly raised concerns about traffic, public-safety capacity and school enrollment as reasons to scrutinize new housing proposals. One resident asked the committee to "take into consideration any more residential building projects coming into our town and maximizing even more of what we can't handle ourselves." Committee members acknowledged limits on what the township can legally halt when property is properly zoned and developers meet land-use criteria.
The exchange closed with the resident asking the committee to consider delaying or slowing future projects when possible. "As you take it into consideration along with my thoughts on the special meeting," the resident said, and the mayor thanked the commenter for raising the issues.