Planning Board Juggles Mosque, Quarry Resolution Dates

The Bernards Township Planning Board's busy schedule faced upcoming revisions as of Monday, with this Thursday's meeting still on with a set agenda, and another firm meeting date set for April 25, when the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge is due to return.

However, the Planning Board's regularly scheduled meeting that would have been held next Tuesday, April 2, has been canceled, board secretary Fran Florio said on Monday afternoon.

At the last hearing on the proposed mosque in Liberty Corner, the discussion continued to focus on what would be the appropriate number of parking spaces for the 4,200 structure that is planned on Church Street.

Meanwhile, the Planning Board's deliberations on the Millington Quarry application for rehabilitation already were completed at the March 5 meeting.

At that time, those board members eligible to vote agreed 5-0 to recommend approval of a part of the Millington Quarry's plan for "reclamation" of the 179-acre property after all quarrying stops.

The board does not actually vote to accept the plan, but passes its recommendations along to the Bernards Township Committee, which retains the right to make a final decision.

The boards also attached conditions to some of the parts of the plan that it will recommend that the governing body approve, such as specifying a schedule of water quality testing for a proposed 50-acre lake on the quarry property off Stonehouse Road. Bernards Mayor Carolyn Gaziano, who again will consider the quarry application as part of the Township Committee, said she also wanted to make sure that all soil or other materials brought into the site to make it acceptable for future residential development come only from sites without known contaminants, subject to testing.

Attorney still working on resolution to memorialize board recommendation

The board's attorney, Jonathan Drill, said that night he would later draw up a resolution that would memorialize the details of the Planning Board member's recommendation to the Township Committee.

Florio said on Monday that resolution has not yet been completed by the attorney, and submitted to the planning office.

A special meeting of the Planning Board could be scheduled for April 16, but only if the resolution on the quarry is ready by that time for a vote on whether it should be adopted by the board members, Florio said.