November 17th, Joint Meeting – Audio

1. R-2 Zones. Addressing the number of single-family homes in the Borough – Mary H. Forbes, Councilwoman
2. R-3 Zones. Addressing the number of multi-family homes in the Borough – Douglas M. Singleterry, Councilman

3. Create an ordinance mandating that a builder or property owner must have his property taxes paid before applying for a permit to build – Barbara Habeeb, Councilwoman

4. Add an Historic Preservation Element to the Borough Master Plan – Robert E. Hitchcock, Councilman

5. Master Plan – Mark C. Tighe, Chairman, Board of Adjustment

6. Tax requirement ordinances for complete applications to Board of Adjustment and Planning Board – Jack Fowler, Board of Adjustment (covered under #3)

7. Satellite (pending commercial vehicle) ordinance appeals – Jack Fowler, Board of Adjustment

8. Enforcement procedures for Rental Certificate of Occupancy – Jack Fowler, Board of Adjustment

9. Discussion as to whether a Council resolution, endorsed by the Mayor, is needed to give the Board of Adjustment authority to condition all approvals, pending
certification that applicants have satisfied requests for information – Jim McGarry, Board of Adjustment

10. Sign Ordinance – John Langenbach, Board of Adjustment

Victorian Holiday House Tour

The Washington Park Historic Associations “Victorian Holiday House Tour will take place on Saturday, December 13, from 2:00 to 7:00 P.M.

There will be 8 Homes and a church on this tour, all of which are located in the Washington Park Historic District of North Plainfield. The Washington Park Historic District has been listed in the State and National Registers of Historic Places since 1981.

The starting point of the tour will be the church of the Holy Cross at 52 Mercer Avenue. The interior of this church is the most spectacular example of Carpenter Gothic Architecture in Central Jersey.

Tickets can be purchased by calling Frank D’Amore at (908) 757-6353 or frankdsr@comcast.net and are $18.00 if purchased in advance and $20.00 if purchased at the door.
If you need any additional information please contact me at (908) 757-6353.

Frank N. D’Amore Sr. 40 Willow Avenue North Plainfield, New Jersey 07060-4548

Wed. Nov. 19 – School Board – 7:30 p.m. – 33 Mountain Ave.

The superintendent will be doing a presentation on illegal housing and student attendance in the district. This includes her report on any students attending NP schools who do not live in the district.

Monthly Residential Property Market Analysis For North Plainfield, New Jersey- August 2008

Posted on activerain.com by William Collins, Broker Associate, EPA Queen City Reality

North Plainfield residential listings were up to 245 representing an 13,43% increase over August 2007. Conversely, the average price was $279,022, down by 9.3%.

New Listings were down to 34 for the month, with an average price of $269,604. Properties scheduled to close were also down to 14 with an average price of $242,706, representing a decrease of 12%.

Sales for the month were nearly 50% lower by comparison to August 2007, while prices remained roughly the same at $282,083.

Villa Maria – A Somerset County Park? Why Not? A Message from Councilwoman Barbara Habeeb

On Monday, November 17th at 7:30pm at the Vermule Community Center, there will be a joint meeting of the Mayor, Borough Council, Board of Adjustment and Planning Board. This is a great opportunity to show our support and offer each resident the chance to share their view regarding the future of North Plainfield (editor’s note).

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!

SOMEONE bring up the fact that the town of North Plainfield should approach SOMERSET COUNTY to purchase Villa Maria as a County Park. I need people to ‘pound’ it into Borough Council President Skip Stabile’s head. WE DO have the opportunity to do this, if a subcommittee from the Borough Council approaches the County with a proposal. I have been trying to get this done, but I will no longer be on the council after 11/24. So it will be up to the public to convince the council that the acquisition of the Villa Maria property *BY SOMERSET COUNTY*, CAN be considered, but only if the borough council makes that pitch to the County.

Thank you from Barbara Habeeb

I’d like to thank Heather DeGeorge and Hal Hirsch for stepping up to take over the Grassroots Groundswell Blog. Heather and Hal are both fine examples of the kind of people we have in North Plainfield that volunteer their time for the benefit of others. This blog is a great informational tool for our residents. I’m thankful to them for continuing where Katherine Watt left off. Kudos to you both!

Thank you, Katherine Watt, for starting this blog and for your dedication to informing the public. It has been a long time coming and we are all grateful that there is now a place where North Plainfield residents can go to get information about what goes on in town.

Weekly Digest Nov. 10 – 15

Message sent out to the list-serve this week…

REMINDER:

Hal Hirsch and Heather DeGeorge have stepped up to be the new co-editors of Grassroots Groundswell. Please support them with North Plainfield news, opinion, community events, photos, cartoons, audio, video and other blog content. Send blog submissions to communityrights@gmail.com.  Same address, new editors. (I will not have the passwords to access the blog or the e-mail account after today. (I’m going to be in serious withdrawal for the next few weeks!))

Thank You to everyone who has written, read and participated in the blog since its inception in March 2007. For me, it’s been a wild and fantastic ride, and I’m bringing everything I learned with me to my new job, helping municipal leaders across Pennsylvania push for a PA Constitutional Convention to drive the right to local self-government into PA state law.

Special thanks to Antoinette Rinehart, Mark Williams, Barbara Habeeb, and to Emory Layne, who singlehandedly contributed more than 110 carefully researched, passionate posts from his secret North Plainfield writing chamber. His work comprises about 10% of the blog’s entire 1,174 posts posted to date. Readers interested in sending Emory your personal thanks, write to him at emorylayne@comcast.net.

Special thanks also to Borough Clerk Gloria Pflueger, for her polite professionalism in providing information, whenever officials made that information available to her to make available to the public. Happy retirement!

To everybody…

Keep up the great work.

Good luck.

Have fun (if it’s not fun, make it fun, or stop doing it).

Bye-bye.

-KW

UPCOMING MEETINGS:

• Mon. Nov. 17 – Senior Center/Community Center Use Committee – 6:45 p.m. – Vermeule Community Center.
• Mon. Nov. 17 – Joint Meeting - Mayor, Council, Planning Board, Zoning Board – 7:30 p.m. Vermeule Community Center. Agenda here.
• Tues. Nov. 18 – Parks and Recreation Commission – 8 p.m. – Vermeule Recreation Building
• Tues. Nov. 18 – Library Advisory Committee – 7:15 p.m. -NP Memorial Library (6 Rockview Ave.)
• Wed. Nov. 19 – School Board – 7:30 p.m. – 33 Mountain Ave.
• Wed. Nov. 19 – Zoning Board of Adjustment – 7:30 p.m. – Vermeule Community Center
• Wed. Nov. 19 – Environmental Commission – 7:30 p.m. – Vermeule Community Center

Followed by links to last week’s posts…

Joint Meeting Monday Night

There will be a Joint Meeting of the Mayor, Borough Council, Board of Adjustment, and Planning Board Monday, November 17, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. at Vermeule Community Center.

Agenda follows:

PUBLIC COMMENT

General public comments shall be limited to five minutes for each individual.

(Rule 29 of the Borough Council’s Rules of Order)

AGENDA ITEMS:

1. R-2 Zones. Addressing the number of single-family homes in the Borough. (Mary H. Forbes, Councilwoman)

2. R-3 Zones. Addressing the number of multi-family homes in the Borough (Douglas M. Singleterry, Councilman)

3. Create an ordinance mandating that a builder or property owner must have his property taxes paid before applying for a permit to build. (Barbara Habeeb, Councilwoman)

4. Add an Historic Preservation Element to the Borough Master Plan (Robert E. Hitchcock, Councilman)

5. Master Plan (Mark C. Tighe, Chairman, Board of Adjustment)

6. Tax requirement ordinances for complete applications to Board of Adjustment and Planning Board (Jack Fowler, Board of Adjustment)

7. Satellite (pending commercial vehicle) ordinance appeals (Jack Fowler, Board of Adjustment)

8. Enforcement procedures for Rental Certificate of Occupancy (Jack Fowler, Board of Adjustment)

9. Discussion as to whether a Council resolution, endorsed by the Mayor, is needed to give the Board of Adjustment authority to condition all approvals, pending certification that applicants have satisfied requests for information (Jim McGarry, Board of Adjustment)

10. Sign Ordinance (John Langenbach, Board of Adjustment)

PUBLIC COMMENT

ADJOURNMENT

Job opening at Borough Hall

From NJ State League of Municipalities classified website:

BOROUGH CLERK – NORTH PLAINFIELD BOROUGH (Somerset County) Population 21,103. Responsibilities include preparation of meeting agendas, attendance at meetings of the governing body, serves as chief administrative officer in all local elections, issues various licenses. Clerk reports to the Borough Council, but works closely with the Mayor, Borough Administrator and Borough Attorney, and is assisted by a full-time Deputy Borough Clerk. Candidate must possess strong organizational and computer skills and be detail-oriented. Must have knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel. Salary range: $40,000 – $100,000. Salary based on experience and qualifications. Registered Municipal Clerk (RMC) State Certification required or obtainable within 2 years. Send resume to Council President Frank Stabile, Borough of North Plainfield, 263 Somerset Street, North Plainfield, NJ 07060 no later than December 1, 2008. Ad Posted November 4, Ad Removed November 30, 2008

The “ad removed” is just a maintenance thing they do to tell you when the ad expires.  It’s up there.  If anyone has an RMC certification, by all means apply!

–Heather

Democratic Mailers

PDF files of two of the mailers sent out by the Giordano team.

Dem. 2008 1-1

Dem 2008 1-2

Dem 2008 2-1

Dem 2008 2-2

More info to use for holding them accountable. Also, it might be interesting to track down the source of the claim “collection of fines twice the rate of neighboring communities.”