Hunterdon County Democrat

EDITORIAL: A job well done
January 18, 2007

James Imbriaco stepped aside as chairman of the Clinton Township Planning Board last week, ending more than 10 years at the helm of one of the county’s busiest and most visible planning boards. He came to it with a background in newspapering and it showed. He didn’t always like what we wrote. But he knew that continuing coverage and debate, over time, matters more than any one article.

Mr. Imbriaco is an attorney, and his legal skills served the township well. Leading what he sometimes called a “semi-judicial body” charged with assuring compliance with township rules, he was resolute. But he was a patient and active listener who cultivated open discussion with developers, attorneys, and individuals who brought applications before him. With attorneys and professionals, he was demanding:  those who came unprepared never repeated the mistake. With the public, he was accommodating, and he often took extra time to help them understand arcane details. If he bent the rules, it was to accommodate the pubic and its interests – with Windy Acres, with controversial zoning changes, with access to government information. He insisted that everyone be treated by the board with respect. Some attorneys who were especially combative made that a difficult policy to honor, but Mr. Imbriaco never wavered.

His tenure as chairman was marked by a string of awards for his board’s planning initiatives. It’s important to remember that without his leadership, the gargantuan Windy Acres development no doubt would have been approved and built. Mr. Imbriaco’s insistence that the project comply with local and state environmental rules made the difference. We applauded in 2001 when the board rejected the Windy Acres plan, and the courts since then have reaffirmed the correctness of that decision.

The Clinton Township of today looks much as it did when Mr. Imbriaco took the reigns of planning. Under proper stewardship, it should retain that character for many years to come.

For that, for showing how government is supposed to work and for leading by example, we all owe him a great debt.