Planning officials have started to produce proof that they are certified to do their jobs after a two-month investigation by the Northern Valley Suburbanite revealed the city had no documents to show officials took a planning course required by state law.
Two members of the city’s Planning Board produced paperwork last week to show they took the basic land use and planning course in late February, two months after Suburbanite repeatedly questioned why members hadn’t abided by the law.
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FAST FACTS
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The city’s planning officials are tasked with maintaining the city’s master plan for development and business. Nine full members and two alternate members review and recommend public redevelopment projects and approve all private development projects, ensuring all site proposals conform with the city’s zoning ordinances.
Voting members and their terms are:
Mayor Michael Wildes, from 1/2004 to 12/2009
Councilwoman Charlotte Schoen, from 1/2008 to 12/2008
Lenore Schiavelli, from 1/2007 to 12/2008
* Marvin Anhalt, from 1/2007 to 12/2010
* Jordan Comet, from 1/2007 to 12/2010
Warren Finkel, from 1/2007 to 12/2010
Michael Strulowitz, from 1/2007 to 12/2010
Eric Herschmann, from 1/2008 to 12/2011
Curtis Caviness, from 1/2008 to 12/2011
State law requires all members to take a course on basic planning within 18 months of their date of appointment. The city only has documents to show that only two members have taken the required course (marked with *). If the course isn’t completed, the City Council can take members off the board, according to state law. Wildes and Schoen are exempt from taking the course. Source: documents from the Office of Mayor Wildes and city of Englewood Web site
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Three other members, who thus far have not taken the state test, have until June to pass the course or risk not being able to serve.
If members don’t become certified, the public can ask that the City Council remove members from the board, banning them from making any decisions on developments, state officials said.
Five votes are required to approve a development project.
The state’s mandate for mandatory training for all municipal planning officials is a way to show residents that their planning board members "know how to serve," on the board, according to Michael Kates, a legal advisor for the New Jersey Planning Officials. The law was signed by acting Gov. Richard Codey in 2005.
Mayor Michael Wildes, the elected official who appoints citizens to the Planning Board, said some members have taken the basic planning course and any other members who don’t take it by deadline will no longer serve.
After two months and more than four requests for records to confirm that any past and current Planning Board member received proper certification to approve developments under state law, the Suburbanite received two certificates of course completion from longtime Planning Board Chairman Marvin Anhalt and member Jordan Comet.
All requests were addressed to the city, state and the five Planning Board members in question over a two-month period.
State law says planning officials have 18 months to complete the course. Of the five members on the city’s Planning Board who have served for a year or more, only two provided documents to show they took the course.
State officials said ensuring local officials know how to do their job is of the utmost importance to any community.
Developed by the NJPO, the state Department of Community Affairs Office of Smart Growth and Rutgers University, the five-hour, one-day course is focused on teaching officials how to understand a development master plan, planning documents and the local development application review process.
"The basic practical information they will need to fulfill their responsibilities," according to the Office of Smart Growth’s Web site.
"If people haven’t taken the course, they need to," said Stuart Meck, director of the Center for Government Services at Rutgers University. "The law goes a long way in ensuring the state knows someone in local government knows what they are doing. If you aren’t legitimately sitting on the board it places at risk any decisions from now on."
Meck said the public can ask that members who aren’t certified refrain from voting, but he said the city’s council can do more than ask.
According to the law, the council can remove any member that hasn’t taken the course within their first 18 months of service.
The development comes in the wake of outcry from residents who say the Planning Board is not doing its job.
Whether there is proof of training or not, some residents have publicly alleged that current board members don’t have the experience or know-how to vote on developments, a major source of income for the city. According to interim City Manager Robert Casey, the city made about $1.9 million dollars in new tax revenue from new or existing developments this year.
Since February 2007, residents have asked why the new board, composed of realtors, attorneys and other private sector business executives, has passed numerous development applications or granted major modifications to previously approved plans with little questioning.
One of those applications, for a project on the most valuable parcel of city land off Route 4, was renegotiated by the City Council last year for more tax ratables.
The residents contend politically connected developers are calling the shots as to what gets approved.
"I don’t like some of the decisions the board is making. I outlined to him [Wildes] that granting a variance should be a rare event. It is clear that it should only happen when the whole community wants it," said architect John Clagett.
Clagett, an Englewood resident and former senior designer for a prominent California architectural firm, said he wanted to serve on the Board after hearing other residents’ displeasure with the city’s approval process but wasn’t selected for the job.
Meck said that by having potentially uncertified Planning Board members voting on developments, the city can expose itself to more than a bad decision.
"The reason you are seeing these laws passed is because planning boards in New Jersey have an enormous amount of authority," Meck said.
"There is very little room for the city’s governing body to overrule a decision made by the Planning Board. They can make a bad decision and expose the city to a lot of liability."
