SCOTCH PLAINS — The township council closed out its business for the year on Tuesday night, and Mayor Joshua Losardo said he is looking for progress on multiple fronts in 2025.
Speaking to Union County HAWK after the council’s final meeting of 2024, the mayor said he is hopeful that, “we will secure authorization from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for our redevelopment plan.” A big factor in the extended negotiations between the township and Woodmont Properties LLC, its conditional redeveloper for the public properties in the downtown area, is a set of new DEP regulations governing construction in flood zones. A large portion of the downtown is designated as a flood zone, meaning new buildings have to be designed to avoid issues related to excessive rainwater.
The mayor also said he is, “looking forward to working with residents to bring art to public places, such as our parks and parts of downtown,” and said Councilwoman Elizabeth Stamler will soon have an announcement to make about this initiative. Mayor Losardo also said he is hopeful that a new, five-year contract with the police department can be agreed upon early in the new year. And he echoed Councilman Matthew Adams’ remarks on Tuesday night about more work needing to be done on parks and recreation programs.
On Tuesday, the governing body gave its support to proposed statelevel legislation (Senate bill 2511 and Assembly bill 4051) that would ban the sale of cats, dogs and rabbits by pet shops, which have come under fire for not always treating animals in humane ways. According to proponents of the bill, these shops often work in conjunction with so-called “puppy mills” that fail to provide animals with adequate care.
The council also approved two ordinances on Tuesday, one of which sets out regulations and fees for lead-based paint inspections and another that amends fees under the uniform construction code.
The governing body approved several contracts pertaining to improvements to various parks. A contract not to exceed $58,200 was awarded to Neglia Engineering Associates for engineering design and construction management services for the court improvements at Brookside Park, where a full-length basketball court and four new permanent pickleball courts will be installed. Another contract, not to exceed $179,800, was awarded to the Neglia firm for similar services for court improvements at Kramer Manor Park, where one of the tennis courts will be converted into four new pickeball courts. The council also awarded a contract not to exceed $513,225 to Ben Shaffer Recreation for the purchase of playground equipment for Green Forest Park.
At the start of its meeting, the council saluted a variety of sports teams — the high-school varsity gymnastics and cross-country teams, the boys varsity soccer team, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood soccer clubs and the Scotch Plains-Fanwood PAL football teams.
The council’s annual reorganization meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 7.
