Council follows planners' recommendations on laws
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer

JACKSON - Two proposed municipal ordinances - a Pinelands area storm water management ordinance and a curbs and sidewalks ordinance- recently came before the Planning Board for a review.

"It is my job to [ensure] that the township is in compliance with the state's storm-water regulations, which were adopted and put in place in 2004," stormwater coordinator and Planning Board member Dan Burke said at the board's Feb. 25 meeting.

"One of the many obligations is to introduce and have adopted by the elected officials a storm-water ordinance in Jackson, and since Jackson is part of the Pinelands we are obligated to have a separate ordinance consistent with the Pinelands requirements," he explained.

Burke said long after the regular Pinelands regulations were adopted, the Pinelands Commission published a change, which required a storm water ordinance with technical aspects that are somewhat different and more stringent than what is required in the township and state Department of Environmental Protection regulations.

Municipal officials took that information and proposed ordinance and conformed it to Jackson's needs, he said.

"[This document] is waiting for the endorsement by the Planning Board so that it can be acted upon at the Feb. 26 Township Council meeting," Burke said. "This document is largely conforming and has met preliminary review by the Pinelands Commission staff and has gotten their endorsement."

Board member Blanche Krubner asked what changes were made and Burke replied that the methodology for calculating the run-off has changed.

"Most of the changes are technical in nature," Burke said. "They have a more stringent requirement than the state requirements."

Copies were made available to the board members and Burke said he would try to have the ordinance placed on the township's Internet Web site.

Burke then recommended approval of the ordinance by the board so that it could be adopted by the council. The board voted 8-0 with one abstention to recommend the Pinelands area storm water management ordinance.

In regard to the ordinance relating to curbs and sidewalks, Planning Board engineer Douglas Klee said the aim is to establish a Jackson pedestrian safety fund in which money would be deposited that results from any waiver regarding curbs or sidewalks that the board grants.

"I think the board has talked about this a number of times," Klee said. "There have been numerous [occasions] when an applicant comes up requesting waivers for curbs and sidewalks …"

Klee said there was no mechanism whereby the waiver allows for a financial contribution to be given to the township.

"This ordinance establishes a pedestrian safety fund whereby if the requirements to provide curbs and sidewalks were waived, developers would have the responsibility to contribute to this fund a dollar amount equal to the cost of the curbs and sidewalks that would normally be furnished" within their development project, he said.

The engineer said the proposed ordinance has his wholehearted recommendation.

P

lanning Board Chairman Kenneth

Bressi said the ordinance was discussed for more than a year and will be of great benefit to the township. The board voted 9-0 to approve the recommendation of the ordinance to the council.

On Feb. 26 the Township Council members voted to adopt both ordinances.