Bloomingdale Planning Board Member Honored

Only a few months after completing one of the biggest tasks he was faced with in his 21 years of service on the Bloomingdale Planning Board, Alan Gundersen retired.

Gundersen was honored by Bloomingdale Mayor Jonathan Dunleavy and the council at Tuesday night's meeting.

"This man is the book of knowledge when it comes to the rules and the zoning and the planning," Dunleavy said.

Gundersen previously approached the borough council with Construction Official Dan Hagberg to present an updated document with all borough codes and zones, a project years in the making. The council plans to codify the codes and complete the project in the near future.

Former Bloomingdale Mayor William Steenstra, a current member of the planning board, stood and thanked Gundersen for his service, commending him for the amount of time he has put into his position. He asked current and former members of the board who had worked with Gundersen to stand to show the amount of support the man had in the community.

Gundersen said it "seems like yesterday when I started," but that the planning board would go on without him. He said he has full trust in all of the currently serving planning board members, as well as those who previously served, and their passion for the community.

"All the people on the planning board have always tried to keep the best interests of Bloomingdale at heart," he said.