Board of Ed. Meets, Council to Vote on Community Gardens, Master Plan And More

The Montclair Board of Education will meet on Monday at 7:30 p.m in the George Inness Annex, at 141 Park St. 

The full Board of Education agenda can be found in the photo gallery of this article. 

The meeting comes less than a week after the Board of School Estimate unanimously approve the school budget put together by the Board of Education. The $114 million overall budget is 3.3-percent higher than the 2012-13 budget, and $97,509,698 will be raised from taxpayers. 

The Montclair Planning Board will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Monday in the municipal building, at 205 Claremont Ave. 

The board continued its discussion last month on drafting regulations for neighborhood chicken coops and apiaries, or beehives. 

Among the recommendations discussed by the board were limiting the dimensions of chicken coops to six feet in height and 40 square feet. The board recommended a “footprint” of at least 2 feet per chicken, too.  

The board agreed residents should not be permitted to raise roosters, goats, sheep or swine. In addition, animals cannot be slaughtered on their property.  

Guidelines were also discussed for community gardens, such as permitting only sustainable growing practices, limiting pesticides, and making residents test the soil they plan to farm on before they get a permit. 

The Montclair Township Council will introduce an ordinance governing community gardens, chicken coops and beehives at its Tuesday council meeting, at 7 p.m. in the municipal chambers, at 205 Claremont Ave. 

The full council agenda can be found in the photo gallery of this article. 

The council will also continue its departmental budget hearings at its meeting on Tuesday. The Montclair Public Library and Montclair Police Department are scheduled to present their budget requests. 

The meetings will be televised live on TV34 and streaming live at http://montclair.peg.tv.

On April 2, Montclair Township Manager Marc Dashield unveiled the new framework for how the council and departments will analyze their budgets. The system breaks down the financial costs of each department and compares it to technologies needed to revive township services, desired outcomes and how those outcomes can be measured. 

The Municipal Court, Planning and Community Development Department, and Water Bureau and Sewer Utility presented their 2013 budgets on April 2. 

The Recreation Department, Montclair Fire Department, Code Enforcement and township attorney presented their budget requests on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Montclair Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the adoption of the Unified Land Use and Circulation Element of the Montclair Township Master Plan at 7:30 p.m. in the municipal building, at 205 Claremont Ave.

Download Executive Summary of Land Use + Circulation Element Draft.

In February, Montclair Planning and Community Development Director Janice Talley gave an overview of the land use element of the Master Plan. Unlike traditional land use plans, the township included a never-before used circulation element, which will take into account the different sorts of transportation in town. 

“What the township is preparing is not a typical land use plan,” said Talley. “This is really a land use and mobility plan [which will be] tying together transportation ... policies and land-use policies.” 

Recommendations for the unified land use and circulation element will focus on the town’s “transit rich assets,” said Talley at the February meeting, such as the six train station hubs and countless bus stops throughout town, in addition to its roadways, sidewalks, pedestrian connections and bicycle routes. 

These suggestions included two- to six-story buildings around the Upper Montclair, Walnut Street and Watchung Plaza train stations.

In addition, improvements to pedestrian and bicycle transportation were suggested, as well as adjusting parking regulations.  

In Montclair Center along Bloomfield Avenue, seven- to 10-story buildings were recommended to be constructed around Lackawanna Plaza, Bay Street train station and Church Street. A new jitney shuttle, improvements to walkways and bicycle paths, and adjusting public parking were also recommended in this area of town. 

Building around these transit areas will allow Montclair to bear the increased grow expected in the coming three decades, estimated to be more than 3,500 units.