Officials consider updated plan for Bergen CountySunday, December 6, 2009
BY JOSEPH AX
The Record
STAFF WRITER
HACKENSACK — Home rule versus regional planning. Affordable-housing requirements. Open-space preservation. Public transportation. And that’s only the beginning.
The list of complex issues facing developers, planners and public officials in Bergen County is a lengthy one. On Saturday, more than 50 residents joined consultants and the county’s planning department to discuss potential remedies at a workshop for the county master plan.
The "visioning" session, the second of three, was intended to draw ideas from local stakeholders as part of a project to update the master plan, which was last amended in 1973.
"It’s a real planning challenge," Carlos Rodriguez, New Jersey director of the tristate Regional Plan Association, a non-profit group serving as a consultant on the project, told the gathering. "So we appreciate all the help you can give us in figuring it out."
The workshop featured seven simultaneous discussion groups on various topics, including economic vitality and development; land use and housing; open space; transportation; property taxes and shared services; water management, sewer systems and green initiatives; and arts, culture and historic preservation.
Many of the residents represented a range of interest groups: municipal planning and zoning boards, local environmental groups, cultural institutions and professional planners.
"What I see here is a good segment of people represented who are interested in the future of Bergen County," said Farouk Ahmad, director of the county planning department. "We have a lot of ideas. But when you start to get people from local communities, you will shape that idea properly."
The level of knowledge of most participants — coupled with the decision to break up into small groups — gave the sessions a flavor of college-style seminars. After approximately 90 minutes of talking, each group then offered a presentation to the rest of the workshop.
There was no shortage of suggestions: creating bus lanes on Routes 4 and 17, changing affordable housing requirements, establishing a new express bus system, altering the "blue laws" that prohibit virtually all shopping on Sundays.
But, as many acknowledged, the problems they attempt to tackle are deeply entrenched and exacerbated by a seemingly chronic lack of funding in a state that already suffers from sky-high property taxes.
"I think there are solutions," said Carla Lerman, a planner from Teaneck. "Whether there’s the political will to try these solutions is another question."
The county is not required to have a master plan, but officials say an updated plan — at a cost of between $700,000 and $1 million, according to Ahmad — will help the county secure government and private funding for infrastructure improvements.
What's nextThe third visioning workshop for the county master plan will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. on Jan. 20 at 281 Campgaw Road in Mahwah. Residents wishing to comment on the master plan project may do so online at
www.co.bergen.nj.usE-mail: ax@northjersey.com
