John Celardo

Housing

Planning Board Inactivity

I’ve been a member of the Fanwood, NJ Planning Board for about twenty years. It’s a combined Board that hears both sight plan and zoning variance applications. Fanwood is a one square mile town in Union County. Most Planning Board hearings involve home improvements that require a zoning variance before the town will issue a building permit. When the economy is strong, the Planning Board hears three to five applications per month. The Board held its April meeting last night, and there were no applications to hear. The lack of activity is a clear indication that the credit market is very tight, and residents of our town are delaying large home improvement projects. We’ve experienced this kind of inactivity a couple of times during my tenure on the board, always during economic downturns. I believe Planning and Zoning Board activity is good example of an uncommon economic indicator.

Fanwood, NJ