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Montague approves limited participation in State Plan "cross-acceptance" after county briefing
Summary
Sussex County planners briefed the Montague Township Committee on the State Development and Redevelopment Plan update; the committee adopted a resolution authorizing "minimal" participation in the State Plan Cross-Acceptance process and set a timetable for submitting municipal input to the county.
Montague Township agreed on March 25 to participate on a limited basis in New Jersey’s State Development and Redevelopment Plan Cross-Acceptance process after a presentation from Sussex County planning officials.
Autumn Sylvester, director of Sussex County’s Division of Planning and Economic Development, and Bill Koppenaal, county Department Head of Engineering and Planning, described an aggressive state schedule for updating the State Plan and asked municipalities to prepare a Municipal Cross-Acceptance Response Template (CART) identifying consistencies and inconsistencies between local land-use documents and the draft State Plan. Sylvester said much of Montague is mapped as State Planning Area 8 (public park land) and urged the township to flag any inconsistencies so the County can include them in a county CART to submit to the State. She noted a public hearing on March 28 hosted by the Office of Planning Advocacy and provided a May 15 municipal input target that could be extended to May 25.
Municipal Clerk Dana Klinger presented Resolution 2025-043 authorizing Montague’s participation. Mayor Ellen Zitone proposed an amendment to limit the township’s contribution to "minimal" participation; Attorney Rossmeissl clarified that documents would be provided only to the extent of the township’s available resources. Mr. Merusi moved to approve the resolution; Mr. LeDonne seconded. The motion carried with Ms. Holstein voting no and Mr. Innella, Mr. LeDonne, Mr. Merusi and Mayor Zitone voting yes.
Committee members and county staff discussed practical constraints for small towns: the County offered to provide the township with a copy of Montague’s 2001/2004 CART as a starting point and said state consulting resources might be available for towns that need help. County staff emphasized that the State Plan is nonregulatory but noted that other state agencies often use the plan when developing regulations, underscoring the value of municipal participation.
The Committee’s adopted resolution (2025-043) authorizes municipal participation in the Cross-Acceptance process with the amended "minimal" resource language; the County’s CART schedule aims to have municipal input consolidated for the Sussex County Planning Board meeting in June. Montague officials asked county staff to forward prior CART material and guidance on limited-scope responses to reduce local workload.
Next steps: the county will accept the township’s CART or statement of consistency and try to synthesize municipal input into a county-level CART for submission to the State. A public hearing hosted by the Office of Planning Advocacy is scheduled for March 28, 2025, and county staff indicated an internal deadline to synthesize municipal responses between mid- and late May.
