George Street Closure Studies, Surveys, Analysis, and Alternatives
Charlie Kratovil made this OPRA request to New Brunswick City This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear New Brunswick City,
Under the OPRA and the common law right of access, please provide copies of the results of all New Brunswick City Market (aka New Brunswick City Center) studies, surveys or other analysis done related to closure of a portion of George Street, and any closure proposed plans/alternatives. Thank you kindly.
Yours faithfully,
Charlie Kratovil
Mr. Kratovil,
Please be advised all documents are in the working draft stage considered
advisory consultative and deliberative materials. At this time, the
materials are not subject to disclosure under OPRA exemption N.J.S.A.
47:1A-1.1. If and when the Council proceeds to adopt on a plan, you may
review or request the same.
Regards,
Leslie R. Zeledón, City Clerk
City of New Brunswick
78 Bayard Street, Rm. 201
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732.745.5041 (phone)
732.745.5009 (fax)
Dear Ms. Zeledon,
I find this response confusing, given that a public presentation was given during a City Council meeting about the alternatives, in between the time of the filing of my request and your response to same.
Why can't the materials and information put on the public record be shared with the public? I think it was a mistake to deny my request, and I respectfully ask you to reconsider this decision.
Yours sincerely,
Charlie Kratovil
Mr. Kratovil,
I do not see a reason for confusion on your part. The materials that were presented at the City Council meeting were made available to the public and remain available to the public as they have been uploaded to the city website. In fact, during the public presentation the public was invited to view and even photograph the renderings displayed at the meeting. The draft proposal that was presented to the City Council was not commissioned by the City of New Brunswick and is therefore not a document or record that the city maintains or would be required to disclose in response to your request. Furthermore, draft documents are generally not subject to disclosure as they fall within the advisory consultive or deliberative exception to the OPRA statute. As stated in the initial response, if in the future the City Council moves to adopt a specific plan the documents related to that plan will be made available to the public in accordance with the law. Hope this clarifies my response to you.
Regards,
Leslie R. Zeledón, City Clerk
City of New Brunswick
78 Bayard Street, Rm. 201
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732.745.5041 (phone)
732.745.5009 (fax)
Charlie Kratovil left an annotation ()
After sharing this request with the Executive Director of New Brunswick City Market, the following statement was provided on January 30, 2024: "Regarding the DMR project, as this is still in draft form and not fully approved by the board of directors, I don’t have more information on hand to share with the public at this time."