Some issues brought up in a review of the transportation section of Montclair Township’s land use guidelines are beyond the scope of the Planning Board’s decision-making authority, board officials said Monday. And they suggested that cooperating with neighboring townships could perhaps be a way to give weight to their concerns.

The Planning Board is taking a look at policies included in Montclair’s Unified Land Use and Circulation Element of the Master Plan, which guides development within the township. The board’s months-long effort is a “statutorily required review of the township’s land-development policies,” Director of Planning Janice Talley said. The Planning Board last reviewed the document in 2016.

Board subcommittees reevaluate chapters within the master plan, seeing if concerns identified then are still valid, a requirement for this reexamination process.

The conversation at the board’s June 26 meeting revolved around transportation and mobility issues within the township. These include the frequency of bus and train transportation, navigability and safety of sidewalks and streets for pedestrians and cyclists, the problem of trucks driving through residential neighborhoods, and on-demand or ride-sharing services for seniors or those who do not have private vehicles.

A percentage of the issues, especially those of public transportation, aren’t solvable by a municipal board and could benefit from creative ideas, said John Wynn, the Planning Board chair.

“There’s a lot that we’re talking about in this particular section that strikes me as it goes way beyond what the Planning Board does,” Wynn told the board. “It requires some thinking outside of the box” and it also requires that other municipal departments, such as the Township Council and the Engineering Department “all sync in to really make something work,” he said.

Some recommendations from the 2016 report that are still relevant include establishing a network for pedestrians and cyclists, improving circulation for private vehicles, and providing illuminated, light-up crosswalk signs. The report also repeated the recommendation to increase transit service between Montclair and its neighboring municipalities, like Bloomfield.

Issues such as upgrading transit services are not in the purview of the board, Wynn said. Maybe getting a bunch of towns together to approach NJ Transit would work, he suggested. 

“If the communities in the county got together and said, ‘Hey, we need this or we want that,’ that’s a bigger impact on New Jersey Transit than just Montclair,” he said.

Roughly 8% of Montclair residents do not own a private vehicle, data show. Weekday train ridership has fallen precipitously from 2019 through 2022, data from NJ Transit show. Ridership at the Walnut Street Station has decreased 47%, and ridership at the Mountainside station has fallen by more than 50%, NJ Transit states.

DeCamp Bus Lines, which took commuters to New York City, was a victim of the pandemic, shutting down in April as the sharp decrease in ridership caused financial hardship.

The board also discussed the issue of large trucks taking shortcuts through residential neighborhoods. Large ungainly vehicles going down narrow streets affect the safety of children playing outdoors, board member Carmel Loughman said. And board member Jacob Nieman asked if large tractor-trailers could be banned from local streets. Truck drivers are supposed to be given directions that don’t include side streets, Wynn said. 

“Small streets are not effective routes for tractor-trailers,” he said.

The board will be reviewing these draft reports throughout the summer.