Going ‘Green’

Development applications will have additional scrutiny and “green” initiatives such as recycling a new group of advocates once the Environmental Commission is revived in the coming months.

An ordinance establishing the commission was adopted in 2000 and the panel existed for a period of years before languishing and ceasing to exist. Former Mayor John Madden attempted to activate the group again in 2021, but did not find interested volunteers.

Current Mayor Jack Mikołajczyk appointed Councilman Robert Dessino as liaison to the Environmental Commission in January and said he expects to name members in the near future.

Officials are “going through the gyrations of getting this (commission) set up,” Mikolajczyk said on Feb. 27.

Commission appointments apparently started to lapse roughly 16 years ago, at a time when a redeveloper began eyeing construction on an environmentally challenged Lincoln Boulevard property.

The New Jersey Legislature passed a law in 1968 that authorized municipal governments to establish conservation commissions. Those commissions were intended to advise on natural resource and open space issues.

Later amendments renamed them environmental commissions and expanded their duties to include pollution prevention, solid waste management, noise control and public education on related matters.

Most importantly, Middlesex Borough’s resurrected Environmental Commission would review and issue opinions on development proposals that are before the Joint Land Use Board (JLUB). 

Borough Attorney Chris Corsini confirmed at the Borough Council’s Jan. 23 meeting that Middlesex’s commission would have that duty as it is established by state statute.

Although Middlesex’s Environmental Commission – like those in other towns – would be charged with reviewing development plans, its resulting recommendations would only be advisory in nature. Approval and rejection power of site plan applications remains strictly with the JLUB.

Exactly why the borough’s Environmental Commission ceased operations is an open question. According to state law, a legally constituted commission cannot be abolished unless the municipal governing body repeals the ordinance that established it.

Rather than being abolished, Middlesex’s commission simply ceased operations for reasons that are unclear.

The municipal website includes council meeting minutes dating back to 2014. A check of the reorganization sessions since that year have found no appointments to the environmental group.

In response to an inquiry by Inside – Middlesex, Borough Clerk Linda Chismar said on Friday, March 1 her office has no files on the former commission. “I have checked all of our storage rooms, and have not found any records,” she wrote in an email.

“My appointment log indicated that this commission was not active after 2007,” she added. So, the original Environmental Commission ceased operations roughly eight years after its creation.

Members ceased being appointed to that panel at about the same time that efforts began to redevelop the former Chemray Coating Corp. site, which became The Lofts. The site was the scene of an explosion and chemical fire in 1985.

On April 30, 2007, the redevelopment entity known as 150 Lincoln Boulevard LLC filed organizational paperwork with the state Department of the Treasury. 

The registered agent on that filing was builder Massimo Pinelli. The attorney handling the filing was Bob Smith.

Pinelli went on to redevelop The Lofts and another Lincoln Boulevard high rise, The View. Smith’s Piscataway-based legal firm went on the become the Borough Council’s legal counsel from 2012-2018.

Smith has served in the State Senate since 2002, currently chairing the Senate’s environment and energy committee.

Had the commission been in existence, it would have weighed in on the plans for the two high rise complexes. Input would have been given on matters such as traffic and parking. Problems with the latter, plagued the neighborhood near The Lofts after tenants began moving in.

At a time when Middlesex could have found an Environmental Commission valuable, it was noticeably absent. The reasons why remain a mystery.

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