MILLTOWN – The Borough Council has consolidated municipal planning and zoning powers into one planning board.
Currently, the borough has a nine-member Planning Board with two alternate members and a seven-member Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Borough Attorney Peter Vignuolo said the decision to consolidate the two boards was a logistical and economic effort to make Milltown more efficient.
“Rather than have two boards that have discreet functions for the borough, one board of nine members and four alternate [members] will have both those functions,” he said.
The council unanimously approved the amendment to the ordinance for the consolidation at a Borough Council meeting on Nov. 9.
In applications for variances and use variances seeking relief from local zoning laws, which is heard by a Zoning Board of Adjustment, Vignuolo said the applications would now be heard by the Planning Board.
Mayor Trina Mehr and a council member who sits on the board will not be permitted to hear the application with variances, Vignuolo said, noting alternate members would then step in.
When asked how officials would decide who sits on the board, Vignuolo said they would consider those interested. He noted they have recently seen some members of the Planning Board step down.
In other news, the borough has a new clerk. Marie Mimi Marlor, who recently served as South River’s deputy clerk and planning and zoning board secretary, began her new role on Nov. 9. Marlor follows Gabriella Siboni, who became the municipal clerk in Old Bridge in October.
