Pompton Lakes council adopts $796,050 bond ordinance to fund park improvements and cameras; raises parking penalties

Pompton Lakes Borough Council on Feb. 26 adopted a $796,050 bond ordinance that the council said will fund multiple municipal projects including park improvements and new camera infrastructure, and introduced separate ordinances updating a left-turn restriction and raising the fine for winter parking violations.

The ordinance, advertised as Ordinance 25-09 and described at the meeting as a bond ordinance appropriating $796,050 and authorizing the issuance of $758,000 in bonds or notes, passed on a roll-call vote during the regularly scheduled council meeting at the municipal building. Council members also approved a slate of consent resolutions, introduced Ordinances 25-13 and 25-14 for later action, and approved the appointment of Jason Lavasi to the borough redevelopment board.

The bond ordinance matters because it finances several visible local projects: the council said the package covers improvements at borough fields (listed in the ordinance as Willow Field and as part of Hershfield/Hirschfield Park), cameras and related infrastructure, and other municipal improvements. At the meeting a member of the public raised questions about whether grant money previously discussed for the baseball-field project was included in the ordinance’s advertised language; the council and clerk clarified that the ordinance’s full text (not always reproduced in the newspaper advertisement) does identify approximately $430,000 expected or received from county and state sources to reduce the borough’s net cost.

During a public comment period, Jake Humbauer of 130 Legion Street asked why the newspaper notice showed “$0 from grants to reserves” for the project and said, “I was under the impression that the project…