ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

On Wed., 27 June Mayor Hodson attended a workshop "Exploring Municipal Incentives" sponsored by the Sussex County Economic Development Partnership"

At the 15 May 2007 meeting of the Hopatcong Planning Board, Tammie Horsfield, the Director of the Sussex County Economic Consortium, and Eric Snyder, the Sussex County Planner, spoke with the Planning Board. Planner Snyder is the chief architect of the Sussex County Strategic Growth Plan approved in March by the State Planning Commission.  The topic was planning and economic development.

The Borough Planning Board is currently developing a list of properties in the River Styx area to be included in a tax abatement program designed to encourage business development.

The portion of the Borough west of Stanhope-Sparta Road is in the Highlands Water Protection Preservation area. The entire Borough is located within the Highlands region, although not in the Preservation area. The Highlands Regional Master Plan is in its final stages of development. Firms are being hired by the Highlands Council to work on their Plan and get it in a final formal draft version. The Borough has objected to the mapping in some areas of the Borough which has these areas being designated Conservation Areas, when , in fact, they are already developed. It has asked for other changes as well. The current version is more restrictive for existing businesses in the Preservation Area than was implied when the legislation was being considered.

In the fall of 2006 the Planning Board received a report which considered the zoning on Stanhope-Sparta Road. It was adopted as an amendment to the Master Plan. Because of water constraints and topography it recommended an increase in lot size for MPD zones. An ordinance was adopted making the zoning change a part of the Hopatcong Zoning Ordinance.