It has been 22 years since Democrats have enjoyed elected office in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Yet due to Mikie Sherrill’s significant coattails, now councilmembers Andrew Bucko, Ridwana Isla, and Joan Geiger have control over the town’s legislative body. As part of their newfound powers in local government, these three Democrats enjoyed the ability to replace a number of local volunteer land use board members.
Land use boards are quasi-judicial bodies established under NJ state law, enabling local governments to regulate development, land use, density, and building specifications through zoning ordinances, Master Plans, and variance requests. As such, Bridgewater has its Zoning Board of Adjustment, composed of eleven volunteers who commit dozens of hours each year to meetings, document review, and deliberation. In total there are seven regular members who vote on all matters, and four alternate members who vote based on their rank in the absence of any of the other seven.
However, this year’s council appointments drew some criticism as Council President Geiger remarked that it was her goal to put an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender) individual on the land use board, to represent sexual minorities. She stated it’s important that “we include people from all different communities, such as our LBGTQ [sic] community." She continued, remarking we should also “consider the geographics and what part of town they live in.”
“Geography is important,” she said. Yet it seems her appointments do not reflect that sentiment. Of their five replacement picks, three were from Martinsville (two just doors apart), and two were of the same neighborhood in northern Green Knoll. In fact, every one of the eleven Zoning Board members are currently from the half of Bridgewater east of US Highway 202, leaving nearly 50% of the town without representation.
Politically speaking, the council’s new appointees are entirely registered Democrats, or individuals who have opposed now Mayor Matthew Moench, a Republican. Among the Democrats’ lineup are James Franco, Christine Henderson-Rose, Johanna Wiseman, Anthony Mignella, and John Colucci. Henderson-Rose is a distinguished former council president who replaced Patrick Scaglione following his ascension as county Freeholder, winning her first full four-year term on November 8, 2011 and serving through December 2019. Franco previously served on the Planning Board more than a decade ago and Wiseman is a realtor.
Additionally, the average age of the board increased from fifty-nine to sixty-five years with the recent shakeup. This came as the blue majority declined to reseat the board’s sole millennial, Chris Gabbett, a young father and professional. In fact, the average age of the Zoning Board’s replacement appointments are nearly 70 years old.
The board’s diversity also took a hit as its sole Asian member Jeffrey Sicat, a senior engineering manager, was replaced. There now remains just Pushpavati Amin, a Republican appointee, as the only Indian and minority member, in a town where Asian and Indian Americans constitute around a quarter of all residents.
The Board’s composition might be understood as 6 generally pro-administration members, and 4 or 5 against. With the terms of James Weideli and Pushpavati Amin ending in December of this year, it is expected that the council Democrats will replace at least one of them to achieve an outright majority.
Among the outgoing members are former Chairman Jeffrey Foose, a fierce and impassioned advocate against overdevelopment, who has led the body for the past five years and served for a decade; and former Chairman Donald Sweeney, a Democrat appointed by Republicans who led the board for 9 years prior and has been on the body for nearly two decades.
Claudio Vescio, a structural engineer, was also moved from Alternate No. 3 to No. 2, seats both expiring at the end of this year. His seat was not initially up for reappointment. This seems intended as a symbolic show of good faith, yet functionally the move changes little.