Borough Gets Closer to Sustainable Jersey Certification

The Chatham Green Initiatives Committee will apply for bronze level Sustainable Jersey certification, thanks to the adoption of an amendment to the Borough's Master Plan and the Environmental Resource Inventory Update.

Councilman and Green Initiatives Committee member Len Resto said at a public hearing at the Planning Board meeting Wednesday night that the 150 points required for bronze level certification would have been impossible to achieve without updating the two documents.

The Borough Planning Board heard public comments and debated the documents for over an hour. Some Planning Board members expressed their concern over numerous typos, factual errors and outdated information contained in the documents, which were pointed out by board members and by former Mayor Richard Plambeck.

Councilman Resto told the board, "I'm as disappointed as you are that there are these typos and errors in [the documents]," but that adoption was necessary to meet the Sept. 15 deadline to apply.

"I would urge you to adopt [the documents] in [their] current state, just to prove that we've looked at it in the last five years," Resto said, adding that corrections could be made before the Sustainable Jersey certification deadline of Sept 15.

Board Chairperson Richard E. Crater said, "Our expectation is that these changes will be will be made by the 15th and that we'll submit a much cleaner [version] to Trenton." The Planning Board adopted the amendments (Resolution 2010-18) by a vote of six to one with three abstentions.

Board member Joseph Mikulewicz, who cast the only vote against adopting the documents, said after the meeting that "I didn't want us to be straitjacketed into the documents as-is."

If the Borough does get bronze level certification, it will be eligible for environmental and energy improvement grants through the Wal-Mart Corporation and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. "It's not a slam dunk," said Resto regarding the Borough's chances at bronze level certification, "but I think we're very close.