Getting everyone on the same page

Or which came first, the variance or the sewer permit MILFORD - “What do I have to do to open this candy store?” Matt Osterberg asked his colleagues Monday. Osterberg’s hypothetical candy store question represented the protests and grumbling of many business developers who have come before borough officials. It was also the basis for a proposed ordinance “providing for the coordination of the presentation of projects with the Borough of Milford”. The problem, as the ordinance’s background statement admits, is that “multiple regulations have caused applicants to often be confused,” about what gets filed and when. Confusion often results in a procedural tangle, when one approval is subject to another and different boards’ legal deadlines for various actions come into play. Projects often meet with delays, which prompt financial losses for both the developer and the borough. Others decide to skirt the process, build, and then try and win their approvals after the fact. “We try to do the best we can, but people get it all mixed up. It needed to be cleared up and get us all on the same page,” Osterberg said. Osterberg gathered the council, planning commission, architectural review board, code and sewage officers and borough engineer and solicitor together to address the problem. Their discussion revealed that major causes for problems result from applicants who either have not decided or do not reveal the entirety of the their plans to officials initially. “They want us to be responsible, even if they don’t tell us their plans,” Solicitor John Klemeyer said. But the issue that came up time and again was the applicant who tries to do the process without the professional advise of attorneys and engineers and expects the borough to provide the expertise. The ordinance, which can come before the council for approval in February, lays out the process to be followed in eight steps , in less than a page and a half of double spaced type.