Appeal Process to be Reinstated in Oradell Ordinance

After last month's on changes to the Oradell Land Use Ordinance revealed that residents were against the initial proposal to remove a citizen's right to appeal the granting of a "D" variance by the . Last night, Mayor-elect and Council President Joseph Murray received unanimous support to amend Ordinance 240 for the reinstatement of the appeal's process.

"I'm going to make the motion to amend the Land Use ordinance and reinsert a resident's right to appeal a D variance as granted by the Zoning Board to the Mayor and Council," Murray said. "The same language will remain in place."

The Ordinance would state that any interested party could "appeal any decision of the Zoning Board of Adjustment of Adjustment granting a use variance pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d may be taken to the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Oradell, provided that such appeal shall be made within 10 days of the date of publication of such final decision of the Zoning Board of Adjustment of Adjustment."

According to Murray, the amended ordinance will next have to go back before the borough's Planning Board for review at the Dec. 6 meeting. If approved by the board members, the full council could approve the Ordinance as early as Dec. 13.

The rewritten ordinance took three years to complete by a committee comprised of Mayor Dianne Didio, Murray and representatives from both the Planning and Zoning Boards.

The right to appeal a Zoning Board's decision is best known across town from the  issue. A residential group CAPO was formed and brought their argument before the Mayor and Council that the granting of a D variance for the project did not fit the borough's Master Plan. That argument was held up .