While updating Zoning Board members at the end of last Monday night’s meeting about issues coming before the Planning Board, Chairman William Hering (who also serves as vice chairman of the Planning Board) questioned why the City Council earlier this month tabled an ordinance for the Meridia Water’s Edge project despite approval by the Planning Board in August.

“This went through the entire process, with open public meetings, we spent an hour on it. It seems to me second guessing,” he said. “Why is this coming back to us?

“I find it a little odd, to go through the whole judicial procedure and all of a sudden, they threw us under the bus,” Hering said, stressing that the Planning Board has the ability to negotiate details of an application.

Zoning Board attorney John Pidgeon said the City Council “acted perfectly legally; they’re the ones that approve it ultimately. They can reject it if they wish.”

(Photo by D. Palmer)

Several council members raised concerns about potential flooding on the site, the size and density of the units [108 units on 3/4 of an acre], as well as the lack of an overall plan for the City Hall Plaza area, ultimately voting unanimously to table the ordinance. Had the City Council passed the ordinance on second reading at its meeting Sept. 12, an application could have come before the Planning Board at its meeting tomorrow. Now it’s likely to be on the agenda for the board’s Oct. 25 meeting, at the earliest.

Herman Wenson, the father of 5th Ward Councilwoman Jennifer Wenson-Maier and Chris Wenson, the owner of The Waiting Room, died Wednesday. Here’s the obituary from nj.com.