August 17, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 7 Ho-Ho-Kus Council awaits planning board’s input on ordinance by Jennifer Crusco The Ho-Ho-Kus Council recently decided to temporarily table Ordinance 993, a proposal that would keep restaurants away from the borough’s residential zones. The governing body was awaiting input from the Ho-Ho-Kus Planning Board, but had not received official word from the planners before the council’s last public meeting. Mayor Thomas Randall suggested the ordinance be tabled as a courtesy to the planning board, adding that the issue would be held until the council’s Aug. 23 meeting, at which time the matter should be resolved. The public hearing was subsequently moved to Aug. 23, at which time the ordinance will also be considered for final passage, barring any unforeseen events. The proposal was initially introduced as Ordinance 987, but that measure has since been withdrawn. An amended, and less stringent, version of the measure was later reintroduced as Ordinance 993. The updated measure was introduced by the Ho-HoKus Council in June and was sent to the planning board for final review. The new version of the ordinance includes a definition of parking area that would change the regulations for offstreet parking. Specifically, the proposed ordinance states that access drives and aisles would not be included when calculating off-street parking requirements. Currently, HoHo-Kus requires restaurants to provide one square foot of parking space per square foot of gross floor area. This requirement does not include quick service restaurants, which are currently not allowed in the borough. Ordinance 993 would effectively relax the existing parking requirement by removing ingresses and egresses from the space calculation. The amended ordinance still proposes the amendment to the permitted conditional uses so that a restaurant “shall not be located on a lot that is contiguous or adjacent to a single family residential zone.” Ho-Ho-Kus Borough Attorney David Bole previously stated that this is now the only condition being proposed. Ho-Ho-Kus Borough Administrator Don Cirulli and CFO Joseph Citro are currently at work on the state’s 2011 Best Practices survey. The questionnaire requests information regarding the borough’s general and financial management, public safety, public works, health, energy, and utilities. “The Best Practices Checklist will determine how much of the municipality’s final five percent of aid payment will be disbursed based upon the scoring of the checklist,” a mayors’ advisory from the New Jersey State League of Municipalities notes. “The criteria this year will allow for withholdings based on a sliding scale up to the maximum statutorily permitted amount as appropriate.” Officials work on Best Practices survey He pointed out that two other conditions that had been included in Ordinance 987 have been removed. The deleted items included provisions that a restaurant “be located on a minimum lot area of not less than 10,000 square feet and shall be computed within 110 feet of the front street lot line” and that “a restaurant shall be located on a lot that contains the minimum amount of off-street parking space required by borough requirements.” Several interested parties attended the May public council session, anticipating a public hearing and possible adoption of Ordinance 987. At that meeting, Mayor Thomas Randall announced that the hearing had been postponed to allow the planning board to finish its review of the proposal. The planning board and Ho-Ho-Kus Borough Engineer David Hals subsequently worked on the ordinance, which was reintroduced in its current form. During an earlier discussion of the ordinance, Mayor Randall said the intent is to keep the traffic, outdoor noise, and activity associated with restaurants away from local homes. The ordinance was drafted by planner Ed Sneickus of Burgis Associates, and was recommended by the borough’s planning board. Ho-Ho-Kus, which operates on a calendar year, as opposed to a fiscal year, is required to submit the document to the state by Sept. 1. Municipalities that operate on a fiscal year have a submission deadline of April 2, 2012. Last year, the survey included 88 questions. This year, the questionnaire includes 50 questions, which may be answered online. Cirulli noted that this year’s questions are similar to last year’s, but pointed out that the state is now allowing municipalities to provide more extensive answers, not just a simple “yes” or “no.” The league’s advisory explains that credit will be given for all “yes” answers and for “not applicable” answers if (continued on page 10)