How A New Master Plan Can Shape the Future of Wayne Township

WAYNE, NJ – For the first time in 30 years, Wayne Township is moving forward with the creation of a new Master Plan, which should, over time, alter the township in subtle ways. And “in ways that the township wants,” according to the Planner for Wayne Township, Chris Kok. The Master Plan has the ability to shape the future of Wayne Township and Kok explained one: how updating zoning “can make it easier” for builders to do the things that the town wants them to do.”

Councilmen Al Sadowski (2nd Ward) and Joe Scuralli (4th Ward) asked for some clarification from Kok regarding how a Master Plan worked, and what residents could expect when asked for input from the township on this project.

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But First, What is a Master Plan?

“The Wayne Township Master Plan, provides a framework for the future development, redevelopment, and preservation of the Township,” reads a description on the Township’s Planning and Zoning web page .

According to Kok, a Master Plan has “many components, including recreation, community facilities, environmental, and utilities. But probably the most important component - or the one that gets a lot of attention - is the land use element that deals with zoning,” he said.

The Master Plan determines in which areas of town certain uses will be allowed. For example, residents wouldn’t want someone to open an auto body shop in their quiet neighborhood, so an area zoned for residential use would restrict that kind of business from opening there. Where would you want that auto body shop? Perhaps in the Highway-Commercial zone, or in the area of town zoned for industrial, or maybe the Business Zone.

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“A Master Plan balances the desires against the needs of the community. It respects the natural resources: the lakes, the hills, the trees. It projects a proper relationship between residences, businesses, industries, and parks, thus laying the foundation for the economic, social, and recreational character of the Township. The Master Plan is the vision; our ordinances, the way they are written and enforced, are the reality.” – From the Township’s Planning and Zoning web page .

Why Does the Current Master Plan Need to Change?

Wayne’s current Master Plan was created in 1994. It has been “re-examined” every decade since, the latest in 2021. But it is time to toss the 1994 plan aside in exchange for something modern.

Here’s what Township Planner Chris Kok said at the July township council meeting on the subject.

“Right now, we have major changes going on with our economy and with technology, and the office sector is in a horrible condition because there's a lot of work from home,” he explained. “But also, there was a downsizing in general, because you have more efficiency with some web apps that we have, so there’s less need for on-site space. So, we have office areas that we need to figure out what to do with and this is a problem happening across the country.”

“Retail is going through the same thing - moving to online,” continued Kok. “Amazon and others are making it harder for brick-and-mortar shops to stay open - and, of course, that accelerated under COVID. So, we have a lot of commercial areas: Hamburg Turnpike, Route 23 and Route 46 that are dealing with these economic fluctuations.”

Part of Kok’s goal with the new Master Plan is to have zoning “aligned” with the economy and use changes to zoning to both encourage uses in some areas and discourage uses in others.

“If we have properties where there’s no demand for the uses permitted by zoning, requests for variances for those properties are likely to come before the Board of Adjustment for some other use that is in demand,” he said. “If a proposal meets the criteria for a variance, it will get the approval. Instead of leaving such properties up to random chance, the Township can amend its zoning to permit other, more appropriate uses, and make it easier and more likely for people to develop their properties in the way the Township wants.” Going through the Planning Board to build something in a zone with that permitted use is easier than going through the Zoning Board of Adjustment to ask for approval for a variance that goes against permitted use.

Another goal Kok has for the Master Plan is to “align” it with “what the public wants.”

The process of creating and adopting a new Master Plan will take approximately 15 to 20 months, according to Kok - which should start in September when he kicks off the first round of public engagement at Wayne Day on September 22, 2024.

Engaging Wayne residents in the creation of the Master Plan is an important piece, which is why three rounds of public engagement are planned. Kok talked about what information he wanted to gain from those three rounds.

1. The first round is to learn what [residents] like about Wayne, what problems they see and what are the “things you would like to see in the town.”
2. Second is “What are the sort of policy choices we have to actually obtain those goals, and to solve the problems that we have,” said Kok.
3. In the third round, the planner said that it was “really about reporting b ack what we did find, what we did hear, and what are the recommended policy decisions based upon those first two rounds of engagement.”

Public engagement will happen live at meetings, events and likely a community forum, and online.

“So, there will be a place for people to have their input heard from home,” said Kok. “And we'll make sure there's plenty of communication materials - not just at the events, but also online and available for the public.”

In the discussion about the new Master Plan during the July meeting, Councilmembers Al Sadowsky (2nd Ward) and Joe Scuralli (4th Ward), provided some context to the kind of public input that wouldn’t be productive.

Sadowsky suggested the township webpage for the Master Plan, with FAQs because, “you probably don't want people to come up to you at Wayne day and say, ‘Hey we need an Uncle Giuseppes,’ or something like that. I don't think that's what the Master Plan is supposed to do.”

Scuralli confirmed this with a little more detail.

“So that we’re clear, a Master Plan, no matter what it says, can't force any private property owner to develop their property in any particular way, right? I mean, if we could say that there's going to be some Town Center built on a certain piece of property and the person that owns it says, ‘I want it to be weeds instead,’ they can keep their weeds as long as they cut their weeds every week [and pay their taxes]. But they can't be forced into developing something into a Town Center or some other sort of a use. Is that fair to say?”

“That’s fair to say,” said Kok. “We can’t force [property owners] to do anything. But we can make it easier for them to do the things that the town wants them to do.”

By changing the zoning to uses the township wants in those areas, you create a path of least resistance through the Planning Board, where “it’s an easier process” and “a lower burden of proof,” then asking for variances from the Zoning Board.

This, according to Kok, “helps direct people to develop their properties in ways the township wants.”

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