CRANFORD — As planned, friends and residents who knew the late Guy Borges attended the Cranford Township Committee meeting on Tuesday and successfully convinced officials to honor the former longtime Orange Avenue Pool manager.
“Our request is that the township committee adopt a resolution that can be voted upon and passed,” friend and resident Craig Sands said. “We would like them to place a sign on OrangeAvenue that says, ‘Guy Borges Memorial Pool,’ but if for some reason they can’t, minimally, we’d like to have the road leading up to the pool named ‘Guy Borges Memorial Drive.’ This is yet another opportunity for the township committee to appropriately show the town that they honor those that have served Cranford.”
Mr. Sands and other residents spoke to the governing body during its last workshop meeting as well as at the official meeting on Tuesday to show support for the initiative. It was received well by committee members, who agreed to honor Mr. Borges in some way.
“I want to thank the many friends of Mr. Guy Borges, including Craig Sands, who has done a very good job raising awareness of the role he served in town and how much he meant to many people,” Mayor BrianAndrews said. “We agreed we want to recognize him at Orange Avenue Pool. We had a design schematic drawn by Mr. Sands’ granddaughter which might be the model.”
The mayor also addressed concerns surrounding a proposed zoning change that would allow a Benjamin Moore Paint store to be built on South Avenue across from the Walgreens.
“We introduced an ordinance last meeting that would have re-zoned it to a downtown district and we received feedback from the public if village commercial would be more appropriate,” Mayor Andrews said. “The argument is that village commercial would prevent any types of apartment buildings from building there in the future. We spoke to our township attorney and he assured us that with great certainty we can be sure there won’t be apartments built there in 10, 20 years from now if we re-zone it this way.”
The two ordinances adopted during Tuesday night’s meeting were based off resident input. The first was an ordinance banning trucks on Lexington Avenue on the side of Walnut Avenue and the other is to make Pacific Avenue near Roosevelt Park safer with parking on only one side of the street. In addition, a resolution was passed to adjust the bylaws of the township committee to discourage commissioners from making partisan endorsements in their official capacities during township committee meetings.
“We represent the government when we’re up here. We don’t represent a political party and we should keep it that way,” Mr. Andrews said.
Residents shared concerns about a resolution regarding a resignation from the building department and the ongoing issues at 750 Walnut, includ- ing the removal of 151 additional trees from the berm.
“Being in the construction industry, I think the resignation of Martha Banks from the building department is going to be detrimental to the community,” said Greg Wofsy of MWT Builders in Cranford. “We are very concerned about the fact that permits will not be issued, and that the building department will not run as smoothly as it has in the past, and I rely on the building department to push projects through so I can make a living here in town.”
Residents spoke out against the removal of excess trees from the berm at 750 Walnut but were in support of the committee’s plans to discuss it at upcoming meetings.
“I appreciate that 750 will now be on the agenda and mentioned at every township committee meeting,” resident Christine Esposito said. “Those in the immediate area have a lot of concerns and we know we are being heard. I wanted to ask about the trucks over Lexington ordinance and I would like to suggest expanding the ordinance to other surrounding streets.As the distribution area expands, I think these similar types of streets should be considered for an ordinance.”
