Why Master Plan Is Giving Some Residents a Major Headache

It's going to be a long night for the Montclair Planning Board. 

The board will reconvene Monday for the third hearing on the 30-year Master Plan for growth to pick up where a four-hour meeting left off in May. 

The plan assumes 3,500 housing units will be added in the next three decades and outlines how the township can prepare for sustainable growth.

Consultants hired by the township are recommending adding housing which will attract single New York commuters around the town's train stations.

Most of the residents who did have a chance to speak in May opposed the plan allowing buildings as tall as seven stories in Upper Montclair and up to 10-stories high in Montclair Center.

Residents of Upper Montclair said the area is already congested enough.

“We anticipate the new development will mean even more congestion,” said Ira Shor, a resident of North Mountain Avenue, who asked whether a traffic study has been conducted and how parking would be addressed. 

One of three consultants hired to create the plan, Janet Jenkins, a senior project manager for VHB Engineering in New York City, said while traffic studies have not been conducted they would be recommended as part of the plan.

Janet Talley, planning director for the township, said all developers would be required to include adequate parking in their proposals. 

Talley also said growth in the township is inevitable.

“The market dictates when it grows,” she said. “This plan dictates where it grows.”

Planning Board Chairman John Wynn has said the master plan is currently a draft and the public’s input will be taken into consideration before the document is finalized.

"This is a policy statement to allow development," Wynn said. "It's the 1,000-foot-view. It's the big picture."

Concerns about affordable housing were raised at the first public hearing in April.

Download Executive Summary of Land Use + Circulation Element Draft.

The public hearing on the Unified Land Use and Circulation Element of the Master Plan will take place on Monday at 7:30 p.m., in the council chambers, 205 Claremont Ave., Montclair.