The South Orange Village Council on Monday adopted the revised Valley Street Redevelopment Plan ordinance, which incorporated community feedback received at a Town Hall in August and was reintroduced in September.
When opened for a public hearing on the ordinance before the unanimous vote on Monday, there were no comments from anyone in the room that was packed for another public hearing on the agenda — for the Village’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.
Community members had spoken at the Town Hall in August, providing feedback that helped Village planners revise and reshape the plan with community priorities, including stronger stormwater management requirements, historic preservation protections, enhanced sustainability standards.
On Monday, Mayor Sheena Collum reminded the audience that the Valley Street Redevelopment Plan is a planning and zoning document, not a proposal or approval for any specific development project.
“It establishes the framework for future redevelopment, including permitted uses, building heights, design standards, streetscape improvements, and other requirements consistent with our adopted master plan, which was completed in 2021,” Collum said. “[We] received thoughtful questions and concerns and recommendations from residents, property owners, business owners, and other stakeholders. And most importantly, that feedback helped shape the plan even further rather than moving forward with the original document.”
Collum also emphasized that “transparency and public participation” have been central to the process.
“All the public meetings, revisions to the plan, planning memoranda and summaries of the community feedback have been available to the public through the Village’s website. We’ve worked to ensure that every resident has had an opportunity not only to review all the proposals, but understand what the changes are.”
When it was clear no one in the audience or at home watching on Zoom wanted to speak, Collum said, “Hopefully this reflects that we got through a lot of public concerns and now we don’t have too many speakers for this meeting.”
