Grants, Awards Good News at the Planning Board Meeting

Montville Township won recognition for planning and grant money for acquisitions from the state at the township's Planning Board meeting on Thursday. 

Montville Township Mayor, Jim Sandham, announced the nearly half million dollar grant while Principal Planner, Meghan Hunscher elaborated on a planning award during the Montville Township Planning Board meeting on April 14, 2011.

The township was awarded $450,000 in planning incentive grants from the state of New Jersey for open space acquisition, Sandham said. 

“That raises the total in the past two years to $2.5 million that has been awarded in grants, he said, pointing out that “that’s a great job by the Open Space Committee.  This grant is particularly nice because it can be used for future acquisitions, or it can be used to pay off debt on past acquisitions.”

The Open Space Committee will be reviewing the award and making recommendations to the Montville Township Committee, according to Sandham, “but paying off $450,000 in debt on prior acquisitions is a nice incentive for us.”   

"Congratulations to the Open Space Committee, Maritza Byrne, who was Chair at the time, and Adam Brewer, the Township employee responsible for grant applications," he said.

Montville Township Principal Planner, Meghan Hunscher, said she filled out an extensive application which resulted in the 2011 NJPO Achievement in Planning Award for the Towaco Center Master Plan.  This is a significant award because “it’s only one of a handful of awards given out statewide for planning-specific projects,” Hunscher said. 

"The project should speak for itself and ours clearly did," she said.