Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Talk to us: Patch wants to hear your take on the issues of the day.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, May 15
You may be thinking, "Hey, Parsippany is a big town! I don't care if 26.6 acres of woods are knocked down to put in a Whole Foods, a big box retailer, 65 three-story townhouses, a strip mall and 1,100 parking spaces. After all, the area known as Waterview, where Route 46 meets Intervale Road, is several miles from my house." Well, maybe you do mind: Are you concerned about overcrowding in our schools? The children from these townhouses won't all neccessarily go to Intervale School. They will be farmed out to all Parsippany schools to average out class sizes, which are already maxed out. These large class sizes are with recent additions to several of our schools. So don't plan on seeing more additions being built anytime soon. Property …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Have a thought regarding a municipal matter or another issue? Share it on Patch.
I attended a special Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Council meeting in December 2008, the week before former Mayor Michael Luther’s last year in office. In attendance were the five council members, the business administrator, the township attorney and former municipal clerk Judy Silver. I identify Judy Silver because to me, Town Hall's Council Chambers was her “house,” yet all documents that evening were prepared by Morris County Joint Insurance Fund administrators and distributed by District 26 Asw. BettyLou DeCroce, who then served as Roxbury's town clerk and as MJIF chair. On that evening, we witnessed a deal done before it even started. MJIF is a self-insurance fund comprising of townships mostly from Morris County. When one thinks of …
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Send your thoughts to Patch.
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Wednesday, April 10
To the Editor: The U.S. Supreme Court has written that traditional public forums are those that “have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens and discussing public questions." Public streets and parks are the quintessential example. The court has also determined that Township Council meetings are not traditional public forums and may impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on expression. However, that does not mean the Township Council or its attorney may restrict the questions and opinions expressed by members of the public. At the April 9 Parsippany Township Council meeting, the township attorney …
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Do you have an opinion you'd like to share? Patch wants to hear it.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, April 3
At the last “township” meeting concerning the threat of the proposed Waterview development, a paper dated March 18, 2013, and addressed to John P. Inglesino, the township attorney, was made privy to the public. The letter came from law firm Bisgaier Hoff LLC on behalf of developer RD Realty. This correspondence is quite revealing and stands as circumstantial proof of a consortium existing between the developer and the present township administration. It perhaps demonstrates a similar relationship between the township and the owner of the property, Belle Meade Development Corporation. From the letter: The owner of the Property is Belle Meade. Belle Meade has made a final decision to sell the Property, and in furtherance thereof, has entered…
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Share your opinions on topical issues.
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Tuesday, March 26
I recently received a letter in my mailbox from Councilman Paul Carifi Jr., who is running for mayor in Parsippany. In his letter, Mr. Carifi strongly opposes the Waterview Plaza plan, which will tear down 26.6 acres of woods, that are filled with wildlife and a historic cemetery. The area borders Route 46 to the south and Intervale Road to the west. What will replace these woods? A Whole Foods Market, a big-box retailer, a strip mall with 1,100 parking spaces and 65 three-story townhouses. How will this development affect you? Area property values will likely drop, resulting in higher taxes for all Parsippany residents. Thousands of additional cars daily will be added to current Route 46 traffic. You'll also get more air pollution, …
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Tuesday, March 26
It appears that the residents of Parsippany are being deceived once again. The fact that Mayor James Barberio has refused to answer resident’s questions outright is testament to that. At the Town Council meeting of March 12, Councilman Brian Stanton verified the following: The Town Council meeting of March 19 also had its problems. Two residents asked Mayor James Barberio specific questions regarding the Jan. 13th meeting. The Mayor refused to answer, advising the residents to “wait” until the next day because he had sent out a press release to all the newspapers regarding this matter. The Mayor’s response of March 20 discussed the retirements of Lou Valori and Paul Carifi, but it did not address the questions that were posed to him at the…
Sunday, March 24, 2013
What do you think?
The following is an open letter to Parsippany's Township Council from David Kaplan, president of a nonprofit citizens group standing in opposition to developer RD Realty's plan to construct a retail and residential complex including Whole Foods Market, a big-box retailer and a 60-unit townhouse community on 26.6 now-undeveloped acres on Waterview Plaza. On behalf of Citizens For Health, Safety, and Welfare, I am writing to let you know that we believe the Town Council did the right thing by tabling the draft overlay rezoning ordinance. You recognized the need to further investigate all of the available options in order to ensure that [any development gives] true benefits to the residents. We appreciate that you didn’t rush to judgment, …
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Tell us your views on the issues.
Another aspect of the new "Waterview Threat" is that no environmental impact statement will be forthcoming until after the zoning ordinance is passed. The Parsippany Planning Board and the developer are playing games. Did not the developer at the February meeting present an overlay map? This map, although showing no contours as regulation would require, gave quite an impression as to the impacts that would be suffered. The block lot which contains slopes of 380 to 360 feet down to 320 feet closer to Route 46 have various steep percentages. For example, at the meeting that night the developer should have shown the block lot in "topographic map form showing existing contours at two-foot intervals." Areas clearly identified showing the …
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
We want to know your opinions on issues of the day.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, March 20
It was obvious at Tuesday's Town Council meeting that Town Attorney John Inglesino didn't know what he was saying concerning Highlands Council conformance and how "that block lot" could have fit into the Highlands' Master Plan. In addition, the council members appeared to be going along with developer RD Realty, which wants to rezone Waterview. Don't think for one minute that these guys or the Planning Board took any effort to diminish the developer's exceeding demands. Inglesino also seemed more worried about saving the town from "fantasy" lawsuits. Who would sue the town for not allowing residents three minutes to speak before the council because the attorney for Don't Rezone Waterview [now known as Citizens for Health, Safety and …
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
We'd love to get a Letter to the Editor from you. What's on your mind?
- OPINION
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Tuesday, March 19
Parsipanny is part of the Highlands Watershed; geographically we are in the transition zone of the Highlands and the Piedmont physiographic provinces. Living in this region of topography brings certain responsibilities; thanks to organization like NJ Highlands Coalition we are aware of this unique place to live. Our future as a people and a state of the union has been entrusted to the health of our water resources. Therefore the Highlands Coalition through hard work has legislation has certain protections to our water resources in the nature of a Regional Master Plan of which Parsipanny plays a part. It reads: “The water resource protection goals for the Preservation and Planning areas are the same. In the Preservation Area, the goals are …
Carol M.
12:05 pm on Monday, May 27, 2013
Mr Homyak, I happen to also agree that the total scope of the waterveiw project is a problem and am not in favor of the plan but, I also recognize that it is going to take a lot of co operative efforts and creative problem solving to address all the concerns you and I share. What I've seen from our current Mayor is willingness to explore options that might result in the least possible negative … more ›