Franklin Lakes August 4, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 Borough’s master plan now subject of review by Frank J. McMahon The Franklin Lakes Planning Board has commissioned the borough’s planning consultants at Phillips Grygiel, LLC to prepare a reexamination of the master plan for development. A draft of the revised plan was recently reviewed by the board. Professional Planner Paul Grygiel gave the board an overview at a recent public meeting, and several members of the board made suggestions to refine the plan before it is adopted. According to Grygiel, there are some planning issues facing the borough, such as the fact that the amount of vacant and underutilized land in the community has been substantially reduced due to continued residential development, the borough’s central business district could benefit from improvements, and there is a need to maintain the viability of the non-residential tax base. In addition, Grygiel said changes to the borough’s zoning map are needed to address inconsistencies between land use classifications, zoning designations and actual land uses, and there has been an ongoing need to respond to changes in state affordable housing mandates. The state’s municipal land use law mandates that a municipality’s governing body must provide for a general reexamination of its master plan and development regulations by the planning board at least every six years and must prepare and adopt by resolution a report on the findings of that reexamination. The most recent master plan reexamination for the Borough of Franklin Lakes was adopted in 2004. Among the changes recommended by Grygiel are modifications to the master plan’s goals and objectives to reflect current conditions, and the creation of a new section of the land use and development ordinance to implement some of the recommendations of the borough’s recently adopted Environmental Resource Inventory. He also recommended an amendment to the borough’s zoning map to show all of the zoning districts, specifically the Mf-Ah1 multi-family affordable housing, MF-AH2 senior citizen multi-family affordable housing, and the REC recreation zones. Grygiel’s other suggested updates include various changes to the use and bulk standards for one of the two RB retail business zones; a change to the zoning of the rear portion of the Franklin Crossing Shopping Center; the consolidation of the borough’s existing two industrial zones into one zone, which would retain the I-1 industrial designation; the rezoning of two lots at the end of Tice Road from I-2 to RB, or the new RB-1 zone if such a zone is created; and a new zone combining attributes of the existing industrial and retail business zones to be created for the other two lots on Tice Road currently located in the I-2 zone. Board member Julius Lauber recommended several changes, including the requirement for driveway setbacks and prohibiting shade tree planting in the borough’s right-of-way, and the proper way to measure the width of a lot and the appropriate designation for the recreation-residential district. Board member Joseph Pullaro suggested, and the board agreed, to leave cluster development zoning in the master plan. He asked Grygiel to look at the definition of sheds versus cabanas. John Spizziri, the planning board attorney, suggested adding directions for wind and solar facilities, saying, “I have a concern about the proliferation of wind towers in residential zones.” Grygiel provided the board with some data about the borough pertaining to population growth, and he presented 12 goals for the 2010 master plan. According to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the number of residents in the borough grew from 11,127 in 2004, when the last reexamination of the master plan was conducted, to 11,619 in 2008 for an increase of 492 residents, or 4.4 percent. In 1920, the population of the borough was 383 residents, but the population grew rapidly between 1960 and 1970, during which time there was a 128 percent increase in the borough’s population. The following is a summary of the goals of the 2010 master plan as recommended by Grygiel: • Maintain and enhance existing areas of stability in the community and encourage a land use pattern which establishes areas that have their own uniform development characteristics with a principal goal of the plan to preserve and protect the residential character and existing density of the community, and to reinforce the borough's commercial and business areas by restricting incompatible land uses from established neighborhoods, and limiting intensities of use to the levels prescribed in the master plan. • Guide development along the Route 287 corridor and its associated interchanges in Franklin Lakes in a manner that encourages low-density detached residential development and discourages commercial development. • Ensure that any prospective development and/or redevelopment is responsive to the borough’s environmental features and sensitive to the borough’s particular physical characteristics. • Ensure that any future development of the community's infrastructure be limited to accommodate the borough's present level of intensity of development as identified in the master plan, except for the provision of sufficient infrastructure to accommodate the redevelopment of the central business district. • Encourage and provide buffer zones to separate incompatible land uses. • Discourage the creation of flag lots in the borough. • Preserve the spacious setting of housing sites that characterize the borough's residential areas. • Preserve and enhance the borough's central business district by defining its functional role in the community; enhance the quality of life within the commercial center; address the borough's affordable housing obligation in a manner consistent with other goals and objectives set forth in the plan; and promote a safe and efficient traffic circulation system that serves the community while retaining the (continued on page 10) Bulk rates available for college shipping! 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