Good afternoon, everyone. Just a few updates about the Council Meeting tonight and some other things going on in town in general and this weekend. I hope you all have a great week.

Tonight’s 7pm meeting, which you can stream here, will feature the second half of our department heads engaging the Council in discussion about their budget needs for the 2023 full year budget which we (and most municipalities) adopt in the spring. Following presentations will then be public comment. If you want to watch the department heads who presented last week, you can view that here.

Here’s what’s going on:

Essex County Commits to Upgrading Watchung Plaza Intersection

The County has notified us that they are moving forward with plans to upgrade this dangerous intersection. For nearly a year, advocates like Samantha Hahn, Robert Genovese of Local Coffee, Bike & Walk Montclair, along with my colleagues and I, have been discussing making changes. Several months ago we restricted traffic coming up the plaza to right turns only onto Watchung Ave. The County plan calls for the introduction of traffic signals and enhanced roadway striping to further regulate the flow of motor vehicles traveling through the area and provide safe crossing for pedestrians. In addition, motor vehicle traffic exiting the Watchung Avenue Extension Lot will only be able to make a right turn onto Watchung Avenue.

Essex County has awarded a professional services contract with Klein Traffic Consulting from West Orange to design the intersection improvements. Once the engineering plans are complete, the project will be put out for a public bid.

I look forward to reviewing plans and helping offer the perspective of local residents. I want to thank County Executive Joe D., who gets things done, for prioritizing this as well as County Administrator and former Mayor Robert Jackson and County Commissioner Brendan Gill for their advocacy and support. Traffic and pedestrian/cyclist safety continue to be top of mind issues as we work towards building a Vision Zero Task force with real plans and further investments in the future.

Accessory Dwelling Unit Ordinance is Back

We reviewed the feedback we received from the Planning Board on this Ordinance, reconvened our working group, worked with our attorneys and made some of the Planning Board’s suggested changes. Tonight we’re voting to re-introduce this new law.

You can see the revised ADU ordinance here. If you want to dive deeper, you can watch a symposium we hosted too.

Key Details:

• Permits ADUs for One and Two Family Dwellings (three families have been removed)
• The property owner must live in the primary structure or the ADU
• One off street parking space must be provided
• An ADU must be between 300 and 800 sq. ft. in size (ADUs that are fully handicap accessible allowed up to 5% larger)
• There can only be one ADU per lot
• Short term rentals of less than 6 months are not permitted
• Must harmonize with the existing architectural and landscaping character

Renewal of Township Contracts

The beginning of the year sees a spree of activity on this front. We’ve discussed and are ready to move forward on the following tonight:

• Renewal of Grant Writing Services by The Aubrey Group
• Renewal of CGP&H as our Housing Rehabilitation Program administrator
• Renewal of Neglia Engineering Associates for Municipal Engineering Services
• Renewal of CME Associates for Supplemental Engineering Support of Water Infrastructure
• Renewal of Dujets Tree Experts for Municipal Tree Removal Services
• Renewal of Big Belly Solar for support and maintenance of solar receptacles
• Renewal of Benecke Economics for Township Financial Consulting

Governance for Chicken Coops Being Established

I think most of you know by now that I like to work on cleaning up and modernizing our code broadly and address the small stuff along with the big stuff. With guidance from our Animal Control Officers, the Humane Society, our Health Department, the Law Department, existing chicken coop owners and my colleagues Councilor Robin Schlager and Lori Price Abrams, we’re creating modern, humane and practical governance for keeping chickens in Montclair. If this interests you, you can read the draft law here. 

Thank you Annette Batson, Lily Becker, Lana Mustafa, Michele Shiber, Keith Costello, Jose German, Karen Sacks, Elissa Frank and others for contributing to this process.

Lackawanna Plaza Process Continues

I’m now in possession of an extensive preliminary traffic study, the report from the Historic Preservation Commission, and soon expect to formally receive the Planning Board report. There is a lot to read and digest, that will ultimately inform how the full Council decides to move forward. There are conflicting recommendations with the Historic Preservation Commission suggesting taller buildings to pull density away from historic structures and improve sight lines and the Planning Board recommending lower heights overall. 

As far as I’m concerned, this is the process working. We now have to weigh what these bodies have suggested, all of the robust public comment we’ve received, our own perspectives, infrastructure and municipal services capacity, Housing needs, the financials and figure out how to move forward in the coming weeks.

Active Shooter Training

Last week, in my capacity as Executive Director of Out Montclair, I joined Chief Mazza and Deputy Chief Craig of the Montclair Ambulance Unit — a 501(c)(3) non profit, to kick off a virtual session on how to respond to active shooter scenarios.

Though developed in response to the shooting that targeted the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado Springs last year, this content is relevant and applicable to schools, small businesses, larger institutions, houses of worship, restaurants and all other diversity groups who may want to share given the unfortunate targeting of so many of us by people who hate diversity.

Everyone is welcome to take this video and use it to train staff and volunteers. The Montclair Ambulance Unit offers certificates of completion to those interested as well. Share widely and let’s sharpen everyone’s awareness of how to deal with these scenarios we hope we never find ourselves in. Some of the content is graphic.

Thank you, everyone. Have a great week ahead. I’ll be back with updates likely the week after next. Be kind to each other — especially online.

-Peter