The hearing moves to August 6, and the reason is the one residents gave.

On July 14 the township announced that the Zoning Hearing Board session set for July 28 is continued to Thursday, August 6 at 7 p.m. at Colonial Middle School. The board still convenes on July 28, but only to vote the continuance and adjourn. Testimony and evidence begin on August 6.

Read the reason.

The announcement says the continuance was requested "to allow additional time for participation by the parties, including interested parties who have been granted party status by the Zoning Hearing Board." Additional time for parties to prepare is not a technicality. It is the exact demand this community has been putting on the record for a month: in the June 18 and June 23 requests for expert disclosures, in our July 3 statement on the process, and in Representative Scott's June 29 letter reminding the board that its authority under Section 908(4) "does not appear to have been exercised." We are not claiming credit for a calendar entry. We are saying the stated reason for it matches what residents asked for, and the record shows who asked.

What July 28 is now.

The board meets on July 28 only to vote the continuance, and then the meeting ends. Save your evening. Mark Thursday, August 6 at 7 p.m. instead, because that is when the applicant's witnesses take the stand, when cross-examination begins, and when a full auditorium matters most.

Nine extra days is a runway, not a pause.

The residents holding party status will use it to prepare cross-examination of witnesses they still have not been shown. The experts we are recruiting can use it to review an application that remains barren. And every neighbor who has not yet signed up, signed the petition, or chipped in to the legal fund can use it to get in the fight before the record starts being written.

The process shifted against residents once this summer, and residents answered in writing, in the press, and in a packed room. Now the calendar has moved in the direction of preparation. Thursday, August 6, 7 p.m., Colonial Middle School. Bring the room with you.