What was advertised as a joint closed-session meeting between the Planning Board and West Windsor Council for discussion of the scope of services for redevelopment consultants’ contracts opened into a heated public session January 9.
And it ultimately resulted in the Planning Board unanimously voting to put a resolution on the agenda for Wednesday, January 16, that would, if passed, send the responsibility back to council for creating a redevelopment plan for the 350-acre Princeton Junction train station area. The board was handed that responsibility from the council in October, in attempt to revive the process that had stalled after three opponents of the extensive redevelopment plans proposed by Hillier were elected to the township council in May.
Since then, the council had developed a series of resolutions and guidelines for redevelopment and approved $200,”000 in more redevelopment funding, to supplement the original $403,”725 earmarked in 2006 for creation of the redevelopment plan.
According to Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner, board members said they felt the council has been micromanaging the board’s efforts in trying to develop a plan. One of the driving points the board’s move was the resolution the council passed two nights before the meeting, barring any redevelopment contracts or expenditures by the administration that exceed $3,”150 before council review, he said (see story below).
“The spending measure, I think, propelled the action that took place last night,” Gardner said. “That was a clear indication that the planning board felt Council overstepped its boundaries.”
He said traditionally, the planning board has always negotiated its own contracts with its professionals, as allowed for under Local Municipal Land Use Law.
The measure “may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, but I think there are a lot of other issues that have been faced,” he said. “In some cases, we did request direction, but in other cases, we have been avalanched with a set of resolutions and guidelines.”
He said the lengthy public session of the meeting became heated at times on both sides. Gardner also said the consultants have expressed that “they want their work directed by one entity — with the planning board or council,” and not under the direction of multiple entities, “particularly when the redevelopment goals appear undefined.”
By state statute, if the council was to draft a redevelopment plan, it is required to send it to the planning board for a 45-day review period, Gardner said. The board would be able to make recommendations, but the council would have the ultimate responsibility to make a decision.
Councilman Charles Morgan, however, disputes the board’s claims that the council is “micromanaging.” Morgan pointed out that the council did issue guidelines in the summer, but that was in reaction to”what we believe the electorate said during the elections.” Then in the fall, after the council requested the board take responsibility for the plan, rather than taking the council’s directive to solicit input from the consultants and running with it, it turned around and asked for council guidance before moving forward.
“It’s a little bit preposterous to complain about being micromanaged when council is merely responding to requests for guidance,” Morgan said.
With response to the threshold resolution and comments that the consultants felt insulted, Morgan said he felt that the redevelopment consultants had made their proposals as if they had been already awarded the business, and they considered the meeting during which they presented their proposals to be included in the work as their first meeting. “I felt that was really unreasonable,” Morgan said. “The planning board should, and the township, as a general matter of fiscal responsibility should at least get another quote. No one buys a television without checking prices.”
While he said Gardner had told him he checked the bills and reported the consultants said they wouldn’t charge the township for that meeting, he has been insisting for months that the township get a second quote, just to make sure it is getting the best price.
In addition, he said he is drafting an amendment to the resolution over the weekend that would clarify that it is not a bidding obligation the council is imposing, but merely a request that officials check a couple of quotes before they spend money. He said he also is contemplating whether to ask the board to adopt a similar resolution.
If the township does send the plan’s responsibility back to the council, “council will move forward and do it.”
