Boro master plan is now ready for prime time

Public meeting set to hear residents’ input on master plan SUSSEX - After nine months of work by consultant Ken Nelson, a draft of a proposed new master plan for Sussex Borough is ready for review. A public hearing to gather input from Borough residents has been scheduled by the planning board for Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Sussex Borough Hall. “We’re near the goal line and about to put the ball into the end zone,” Nelson told members of the Sussex Borough Council at its Oct. 6 meeting. Sussex Borough last updated its master plan in 1975. The proposed new plan draws upon elements of the existing master plan but incorporates some new ideas, Nelson said. For instance, the new plan would include changes along Walling Avenue, which is now zoned industrial. The proposed plan would change that to mixed use — industrial and residential — to coincide with realignment plans that the New Jersey Department of Transportation is planning for Route 23 beginning in 2012, said Nelson. The proposed master plan would also include denser residential development for the northern section of Sussex Borough along Route 23 and Clove Acres Lake and a lower-density residential zone for the western end of the lake for environmental reasons, said Nelson. In addition, the southwestern tier of the borough along County Route 639, which is currently zoned industrial, would be changed to mixed use or a blend of residential and commercial under the proposed master plan “since that area no longer appears to be drawing industrial businesses,” said Nelson. Nelson’s work over the past nine months drew praise from Sussex Borough Mayor Chris Parrott and Councilman James Fransen, who sits on the planning board.