Board reviews recreation element draft, debates timing and legal steps ahead of public hearing

Planning staff presented a revised recreation element of the borough master plan and the board discussed next steps for verification, public notice and timing.

Board members said the draft appears to include the changes requested earlier but noted the document submitted to the record did not include a revision date on the change log. The board asked staff to confirm that each item in the list of changes is present in the final draft before moving to a public hearing and potential adoption.

Members recommended forwarding the latest iteration to the new recreation director, Tom, and to the recreation committee so they can review and provide priorities. Several board members suggested setting an internal response deadline to ensure timely review, while others said that committee schedules and staff availability may make July, August or September a more realistic window for a hearing.

A board member also flagged a separate statutory timing requirement: a particular master-plan element (described in the record as a "fair share plan" or related element) must be adopted and endorsed by the governing body by June 30. Board members discussed that if the housing/fair‑share work requires amending the land‑use element, that change could trigger additional analyses — including a climate resiliency assessment — and that those analyses are best coordinated as part of the overall amendment process.

Staff said the public posting can be provided as a PDF; the Word document is retained as the master-plan file. The board agreed staff should verify the document format, add a clear revision date to the change log and then circulate the draft to the recreation director and committee for feedback before scheduling the public hearing.

The board did not adopt the recreation element at this meeting and agreed to return the item for consideration after the requested verifications and reviews.