Fourth Ward Residents Meet Tuesday

Bring your grievances, concerns and opinions, 4th-Ward residents, to your monthly community meeting on Tuesday. 

Fourth-Ward Councilor Renee Baskerville will hold a community meeting for residents in her ward starting at 7 p.m. at the Montclair Fire Department Headquarters, located at 1 Pine St.  

Also in attendance will be Township Planner Janice Talley and Township Manager Marc Dashield.  

What's on the Agenda?

Topics of discussion include Montclair's Master Plan, specifically the unified land use and circulation element, the Lackawanna Plaza area and the proposed Nishuane Well water facility project, according to the township website. 

At the previous 4th-Ward meeting in December, Montclair Mayor Robert Jackson said the key to the township's economic future lies in new development projects around Montclair's six train stations.

“We have gold, oil in the ground,” Jackson said at the time. 

The big move, said the mayor in December, would also manage the township's nearly quarter billion dollars of debt. 

In addition, the 4th-Ward's Lackawanna Plaza may be the new home for the police department and municipal building. 

At the end of December, Montclair Council appointed seven residents tasked with analyzing how the township might move its police station and seat of government to the shopping plaza. 

At that meeting, Baskerville questioned the lack of diversity of the all-male appointments, but was in favor of the overall plan. 

“I love the idea [of the move],” said Baskerville at the December meeting, “but I am extremely concerned that no one on the [task force] is in or from the Fourth Ward. I find it offensive.” 

The mayor weighed in about the project during an interview at the beginning of January, where he said the big move is part of a plan to reduce the township's debt. 

“It’s a win-win for Montclair," said the mayor in January. "We get a facility that makes sense [and] ... more environmentally sensitive, we have a building that is on the tax rolls ... and we continue to work our way down on this debt issue. I think that is all positive.”  

The water well facility proposed for Nishaune Park would also be located in the 4th Ward.

The township moved forward last week with its investigation of the $2.6 million project when it received the transcripts from the public meetings held about the proposal on Jan. 16 and Jan. 17. 

The plan is to construct a public water facility in a viable well in Nishuane Park near the intersection of High Street and Orange Road. The facility would be a 38- by 41-foot building, in addition to a 10-foot wide access road from High Street on less than half an acre of the park.