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Planning board chairman urges council to fund recordings and YouTube uploads during master-plan update
Summary
At Tuesday's Township of Washington council meeting, the planning board chairman and council representatives asked the council to include money in the 2025 budget to continue recording planning-board meetings and to publish them to YouTube to increase public visibility during the master-plan reexamination.
The planning board chairman asked the Township of Washington Council on Tuesday to restore funding in the 2025 town budget so planning-board meetings continue to be recorded and the videos posted to YouTube, saying that video visibility would help residents follow the master-plan reexamination.
"Just learned recently that they were not being posted on YouTube," the chairman said during the public-comment period, noting recordings had been retained only as internal records. He told the council the recording service costs about "a hundred dollars a week." He said his planning board had discussed posting videos specifically for master-plan meetings to help residents understand zoning and density discussions.
A council representative on the planning board said the master-plan update is "an extremely important topic" and supported televising meetings so the town could later report how many viewers watched each upload. The representative added that if the council agrees to post videos permanently the boards should adopt that policy in writing.
Resident Andrea Dushora, of 552 Hickory Street, asked whether televising planning-board meetings would restore the ability for residents to call in. Council members and staff said the planning-board meetings are currently recorded but not posted; some zoning-board meetings are hybrid and allow callers, while planning-board meetings require in-person attendance or written submissions to the township clerk.
Council members discussed whether a planning-board resolution or a joint written vote was needed to authorize posting. The planning board chair said he would place the matter on the planning-board agenda; a council member said he would ask the zoning board to take the same step so both boards' positions would be clear before the budget line is finalized.
Council members indicated that funding for recording could be considered during the budget process and that staff would track viewer counts if uploads proceed. No final budget appropriation was adopted at Tuesday's meeting; council members said they would address the line during upcoming budget sessions.
Why it matters: The master-plan reexamination will guide zoning and development decisions. Recording and publishing discussions would extend access beyond meeting nights and provide a public record as the town considers changes to density and zoning.
