file photo by Boyd Loving
Public comment protocol in Ridgewood is detailed
MONDAY JANUARY 6, 2014, 11:49 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The perception that the Ridgewood Planning Board is trying to silence residents and prevent them from participating in ongoing public hearings is an understandable one, but the notion is simply untrue, village officials said.
Two members of the Village Council addressed those concerns last month, saying the Planning Board is legally obligated to follow a specific meeting protocol established by New Jersey state statute. Their explanations during a December meeting seemingly answered several residents, many of whom have complained in various forms that their voices were not being heard in The Valley Hospital and multi-family housing hearings.
According to Mayor Paul Aronsohn, the Planning Board follows a state standardized procedure that more resembles a court proceeding rather than a municipal governing body meeting. Aronsohn and Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli are also members of the Planning Board.
“It’s a quasi-judicial process,” Aronsohn said at the Dec. 11 council meeting. “It’s not like this process; it’s a very different animal than the council.”
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/238886281_Public_comment_protocol_in_Ridgewood_is_detailed.html#sthash.9TA9kArw.dpuf
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From the March 19, 2013 Planning Board meeting minutes…..
“Chairman Nalbantian explained that if it goes to public hearing the public would have opportunity to comment.”
This comment is from the minutes from a March 19, 2013 meeting on mixed use-multi family housing. For almost a year, the public has been told they will get an opportunity to comment during the public hearing process. We sincerely believed that we were going to have an opportunity to part of the discussion. How can we be part of the discussion when our comments are limited to 90 to 120 seconds?
Now if they held these meetings, at the outdoor patio in today’s weather, those meetings would move quickly I’m sure.
Those tempers would cool off real quick too.
What Aronsohn says publicly is one thing and in private another. Don’t believe him. The fix is in.
How can we be part of the discussion when our comments are limited to 90 to 120 seconds?
You are not supposed to be part of the discussion. They are called “public comments” and not “public discussion”. The discussion happens between your board members, remember them, they were appointed by your governing body, who you elected.
That’s the process. If you don’t like it…….run for office.
#5 nailed it.