Committee To Approve $190K in Master Plan Funding

The Barnegat Township Committee heard a first reading of an ordinance that will provide $190,000 in new funding for the township’s master plan at its regular meeting Monday night.

The emergency appropriation will mostly fund payments to contractors charged with the bulk of the work on a long-awaited update to the plan, said Township Administrator David Breeden. Those include the township’s engineer, John Hess of Birdsall Services Group, and landscape architect, Scott Taylor of Taylor Design Group.

Breeden said the township’s master plan, an outline of future development that all municipalities must have on file, has been in need of an update for decades.

“When I arrived here in 2006, the first thing I asked for was a copy of the master plan,” he said. “What Barnegat had was a piecemeal version of a plan developed in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s that failed to take into account the significant growth that’s happened since then.”

The updated plan, a collaborative effort between the contractors and Barnegat’s Planning Board, which has a special subcommittee to address the plan, will address the residential development in recent years and offer a roadmap for future growth, Breeden said. The professionals and Planning Board are also working to get a town center designation as part of the plan, which Breeden said could go far in attracting commercial rateables to the township.

In other Township Committee news:

• The committee heard a first reading of an ordinance approving funding for the paving of Bowline Street. The $226,913 project is fully funded through a grant from the State Department of Transportation, and will not impact the township’s debt, said Breeden.

• Several shared services resolutions were passed, including two with Ocean County. One allows Barnegat to benefit from the county’s Fatal Accident Support Team, which assists with investigations into fatal and near-fatal crashes. Another agreement approved the township’s participation in the state’s 966 Reimbursement Program, which supports communities’ abilities to respond to emergencies at the Oyster Creek nuclear plant; the funds will pay for two portable police radios for Barnegat, Breeden said. The township has also reapproved a shared services agreement to provide for a special officer for the Barnegat school district.

• The committee passed a resolution updating its rules and regulations for meetings. In addition to reiterating public comment guidelines, the resolution establishes provisions for videotaping meetings.

• The township will soon advertise for bids for a new street sweeper funded through the New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust program. The purchase of the sweeper became a political issue in the recent election, with some challenging the need for new equipment. Breeden said at the meeting that the township’s decision to buy the machine would ultimately depend on cost and financing. “If the financial package is not satisfactory, we won’t purchase the sweeper,” he said.