Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • December 12, 2012 Mahwah Public completes input on township’s master plan by Frank J. McMahon The public has completed its input on the proposed update of the Mahwah Master Plan. Joseph Burgis, the professional planner who prepared the updated document for the township, will provide the planning board with the modifications he will make to the text at the board’s Jan. 14 meeting. At that meeting, Burgis will respond to the many questions raised by the public since the final version of the updated plan was presented to the planning board in September. Those modifications will be based on the questions and comments posed by the public at the recent meetings held by the planning board to obtain public input on the plan. The updated master plan is expected to be adopted by the planning board in late January. During the most recent public meeting, Homespun Court resident Robert Lockwood asked Burgis to explain the meaning of certain transportation issues in the draft master plan, such as the reduction of automobile use, the use of shuttle transportation, trolleys, and bicycles. “Do we really want to reduce the use of automobiles?” he asked. “What is it (the master plan) really saying?” George Cimis, a member of the zoning board of adjustment who was speaking as a resident, asked Burgis to explain the meaning of vacant land and public vacant land and the difference between public and quasi public land. He also asked Burgis to define the demarcation of the easterly potion of the township, and to include an aesthetic requirement for solar panels that are installed in the township. Questions continued to be raised about the inclusion of aspects of a United Nation’s program known as Agenda 21 in the master plan. Mark Job, a resident of Allendale, urged all the members of the board to read about that program because he said that United Nations program does not believe in private property ownership, and it urges the redistribution of wealth from the United States to other countries. He claims certain elements of the United Nations program are in the township’s master plan and he urged the board to remove them. Agenda 21 was developed at the first UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, known as the Earth Summit, which claimed sustainable development could not be achieved by governments alone. The program is a comprehensive plan of action for global, national, and local organizations of the United Nations System, their governments, and major groups in every area in which humans have an impact on the environment. The program contains chapters on international cooperation to accelerate sustainable development in developing countries and related domestic policies on combating poverty, changing consumption patterns, demographic dynamics and sustainability, protecting and promoting human health conditions, promoting sustainable human settlement development, and integrating environment and development in decision making. Charles Rabolli, the chairman of the township’s board of adjustment who was addressing the planning board solely as a resident, told the planners he has concluded that any reference to the United Nations in the master plan should be stricken. “That makes it political,” Rabolli said of Agenda 21. “We don’t need a political statement. There is no reason for it.” William Dator, a 65-year resident of the township, noted that the master plan discourages flag lots, which are square or rectangular lots with a long extension to a roadway, because they are difficult to reach by emergency vehicles. However, he argued that flag lots in themselves are not bad and that the master plan should encourage houses that fit the land and not make all lots the same size. Dator also said it was a mistake to discourage big box stores if they are properly landscaped, but said such stores should be discouraged in the area near the railroad station and that the master plan should make a statement about shared services. He disagreed with the statement in the proposed master plan that calls for open space to grow in Mahwah by five percent a year, because he claimed the township has more open space than any town in Bergen County. At previous public meetings concerning the master plan, several residents expressed their agreement with the plan’s recommendation to restrict big box stores, keep the office park zoning of the Crossroads property, and develop a safe bicycle path. They voiced concern, however, about a section of the master plan that recommends that the Franklin Turnpike area from the New York State border to King Street be developed into a more centralized business area with pedestrian walkways and more landscaping. (continued on page 20)