Tonight, once again we expect to see the Mayor's voting block of members in the Council attempting again to push through the oversized Lackawanna Plaza plan which the Planning Board voted against because of a number problematic issues which were never addressed.
Primary reasons for responsible development is to enhance town finances as well as to enhance the immediate neighborhood and town as a whole. This Council and planning department neglected to do any financial analyses for the Lackawanna Plan until just before it came to a final vote last October. The first financial analysis was never made public and the second last minute less thorough analyses only showed a positive cash flow for the town of $300,000. Anyone voting to approve this plan does not care what is good for Montclair or its’ tax payers. In recent weeks, the Council replaced two experienced dedicated members of the planning board with 2 new inexperienced members and suddenly are proposing a new ordinance to be approved to have the Planning Board review the same Lackawanna Plan. Two lawsuits stated what the Planning Board pointed out the same issues, “ It did not follow the masterplan “ which is the town’s policy guide for land use. In addition, both lawsuits pointed out proper procedure was ignored as just as it is now. In addition, both lawsuits alleged that Councilor Yacobellis had a conflict of interest involving the acceptance of monies from the developer for his organization, Out Montclair. In a case of conflict of interest, any Council member should simply recused himself from any discussions or vote. Instead, Mr. Yacobellis repeatedly promoted the Lackawanna Plan and sued residents who pointed out his conflict of interest and that he needed to recuse himself. Further, almost immediately after the Council vote to approve the Plan, Mr. Yacobellis resigned from the Council; he now states that he lives in the State of Washington however, last week he sent emails to his email network in town endorsing candidates for the new Council. Residents can attend this Council meetings tonight at 7:30 at the town hall and voice public comment or follow it on TV Channel 34. ***Please refer other residents to join SaveMontclair to receive emails directly about development in town. Comments are closed.
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Details of Redevelopment Area Proposals Council Email addresses, Meeting Agendas and Minutes HPC Meeting Agendas Planning Board Agendas Archives
March 2024
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