CLARK — The Clark Township Council held a dual special session and workshop meeting on Monday to adopt its annual budget and approve multiple ordinances, including a ban on electric bicycles and scooters in parts of the township. Council member Steven Hund was absent from the meeting.
The council unanimously approved its 2025 annual municipal budget of $33.6 million, which includes a surplus of $3.3 million from the previous year. The township will raise an additional $451,397 in taxes to support the budget, increasing the total taxes raised to $22,169,619.With the addition of three new public employees, costs for salaries and benefits rose from $10.2 million to $10.8 million.
Two new ordinances connected to recreation received full approval from thepresentcouncilmembers.Thetownship is looking to limit use of tennis and pickleball courts to their respective sports under the new rule, which bans cycling and skating on the courts and lists prohibited items like glass bottles.
The council also approved an ordinance to prohibit electric bicycles and scooters at three popular locations: the Clark Commons Shopping Center at 1255 Raritan Road, Starbucks at 1085 Central Avenue and the Target Shopping Center at 45, 46 and 77 Central Avenue. Township Business Administrator Jim Ulrich said that the ban was requested after surveying commercial businesses.
The township previously passed an ordinance in April to add electric bicycles and scooters to its code for vehicles and traffic after public safety concerns were raised. Council member Patrick O’Conner said that although “not everybody operates it the way reckless people do,” he supports the regulations.
The ordinances will go before public review at the Monday, May 19 township council meeting prior to final adoption.
The township also entered into two new shared-services agreements with Scotch Plains and Roselle Park. Clark will now provide fire prevention and inspection services to the Borough of Roselle Park from July 2025 through December 2026. “Our fire department is very well regarded in the county,” Mr. Ulrich said. “It’s going to be a benefit to us, because we’re going to be making money out of this.”
According to a resolution passed Monday night, the township stands to earn up to $65,000 as a result of the agreement.
After reviewing its plans to repave Goodmans Crossing, the township invited Scotch Plains to enter a sharedservices agreement for the project. According to Mr. Ulrich, Scotch Plains did not plan to repave its section of Goodmans Crossing until next year, but agreed to move up the paving after a $65,000 commitment from Clark Township. Road work in Scotch Plains is coordinated by that township’s department of Public Works, while Clark Township relies on contractors. Mr. Ulrich told the council that he “determined that it would make more sense to have them run the job.”
The council also spent nearly 90 minutes in executive session discussing affordable-housing litigation. The township passed a resolution in February affirming its commitment to Round Four of the New Jersey Fair Housing Act, which estimates that Clark needs to provide 230 units of affordable housing by 2035. However, that resolution listed multiple stipulations based on planningconsiderationsandmaintained the right to reassess unit requirements. In late April, a group of 27 towns under the name Local Leaders for Responsible Planning filed a federal lawsuit with the New Jersey U.S. District Court, asking the courts to rule the Fair Housing Act as unconstitutional. Neither Clark Township nor any town in Union County are a part of the new lawsuit, withamajorityoftheplaintiffsinBergen and Morris counties.
