Township Planners Discuss Implementation of 'Green' Plan for Bernards

For the first time, the township of Bernards will review adding a "green" element to the town's master plan.

The Planning Board reviewed the first draft of the "Green Building and Environmental Sustainability Plan" in their regular meeting on Tuesday. The document as drafted would serve as a new master plan element and also a reference document for the townships Green Team to use for guidance in the implementation of environmentally friendly policies.

"Going green has a variety of different dimensions," Township Planner Frank Banisch, who presented the document to the Board, said. "What we are talking about here is a way that residents of Bernards Township, through [the Planning Board], will articulate [their] sense of what it will mean to be greener."

The plan included five goals and strategies for achieving a more environmentally friendly and sustainable township: municipal planning and design, resource protection, energy use, township operations and maintenance and environmental education and outreach.

Ultimately the Board decided to form a subcommittee of members Bert Fonde, Richard Huckins, Ann Parsekian and Deputy Mayor John Malay to meet and revise the document, creating a second draft for review.

Several board members were uncomfortable with the level of specificity in the first draft of the plan element.

"A lot of it might be better put into an ongoing document of an implementation plan rather than the more general document of a master plan," Malay said to the Board. "The other issue I had was what I would call jurisdictional questions that maybe have to do with [specific suggestions]."

Fonde mentioned that in past master plan revisions, the Planning Board has been careful to use words like explore, encourage and study rather than "do this." The master plan is intended as a guide for the township looking into the future rather than a set of policies to be implemented immediately.

The subcommittee will meet today to remove some of the specific policy suggestions from the draft and to make sure the language is consistent with the rest of the master plan.

The fully revised master plan, along with the green element, will be presented in a public hearing at a Planning Board meeting in March and draft copies are expected to be posted on the township website this week.