MANCHESTER – Councilman Sam Fusaro announced the restart of the township’s master plan review committee during a recent council meeting.
A Master Plan is the long-term vision for the development of a town. It details what the town leaders want to see on parcels of land, how traffic should flow, and other items.
By New Jersey law, the Master Plan must be reexamined every 10 years. It must include a Land Use and Housing element by law but may include other elements that are important to the community.
“We started that (committee) last fall and stopped in mid-winter. There is no rush with reviewing the master plan. We still have four to five years to complete another update.”
“We have probably gotten to a quarter or a third of what we wanted to get done when we started it. We gone through a lot of the different zoning. I am hoping to get together every two weeks and to move forward,” Fusaro said.
Fusaro assured Councilman James Vaccaro that the Master Plan Committee would be looking at the energy master plan he has brought up at each meeting since the beginning of 2021.
Vaccaro’s proposed 10-year energy master plan “encompasses alternative sources of renewable energy of wind, geothermal, and the more extensive use of solar energy.” He noted that many automotive manufactures would, by 2025, be converting most of their automotive fleet to electric vehicles.
“Thus, we must begin to now consider high speed charging stations in Manchester Township which will surely be needed in the future,” Vaccaro added.
The councilman is working with the township’s Environmental Commission Chairman Rory Wells in studying the cost and placement of electric charging stations for the township and the use of electric vehicles and trucks in Manchester.
The councilman also advocated for the study of available grant funding from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and other state agencies to cover costs of the energy master plan program.
