JACKSON – Township officials want to create a committee to find land that can be preserved for open space, but they disagree on who should choose its members.
An ordinance was introduced by the Township Council at a recent meeting that would establish the Jackson Township Open Space Committee. Its purpose would be to locate properties for the township to purchase and preserve using open space funds. The land could be kept pristine or it could be used for recreation.
Council President Martin Flemming originally pulled that ordinance which had been drafted by the mayor and his administration.
It was removed prior to the Council’s Jan. 17 meeting because Flemming, Councilmen Nino Borrelli and Steven Chisholm had concerns with it and wanted to discuss it further. Council members Scott Sargent and Jennifer Kuhn however, introduced the ordinance at the January 17 meeting where it was not approved.
Although all members of the governing body are Republicans, there is a political divide. On one side is the three council members who had concerns with appointments; on the other side is the mayor and the two remaining council members.
“I drafted the ordinance for the creation of the ‘Open Space Advisory Committee’ for our town which is quite different in key aspects from the ordinance that the Administration put forward. The mayor and administration and I were supposed to work on it together before introduction. That never happened,” Borrelli said.
He added, “the Administration’s proposal gives the Mayor total control over the committee. It’s not right. The Council should have a say in appointing resident volunteers to the committee and some other language that I had in my draft wasn’t in there which would help make the ordinance for the committee more specific and more enforceable,” Councilman Borrelli added.
Councilman Borrelli also told The Jackson Times that several members of the Council would be meeting with the mayor/administration “to sort out this ordinance which will, I think, greatly benefit our town.”
On the subject of open space, the council also approved a change order for the township’s contract with AB Kurre Contracting, Inc. for the recent demolition of the Rova Farms restaurant.
Chisholm remarked that the Rova Farms building, “is actually down and they are in the process of spreading out soil, smoothing that out and basically preparing it for better things. Hopefully, that park will become something that will be a vision coming true in the next year or two.”
