BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

Mayor Emilia Siciliano SHREWSBURY - Mayor Emilia Siciliano has designs on Shrewsbury Borough.

Once a fashion designer, she has an eye for good design, and that has allowed her to chart a direction for her town and lead the way toward that vision.

Her eyes are on the future of Shrewsbury Borough, but with attention paid to its Colonial past.

Siciliano was recently honored with the New Jersey Planning Officials Achievement in Planning Award for her leadership in creating a long-range vision for the borough.

New Jersey Planning Officials formally recognized her at the annual NJPO banquet on May 19 at the Somerset Hills Hotel in Warren Township.

According to the program booklet, Siciliano was recognized for her wisdom, persistence and resourcefulness in absorbing even the most complex land use issues in short order and addressing myriad planning issues.

"She never hesitates to contact officials on the state and county levels to engage their support. For example, she persists in her attempts to improve the Highway 35 corridor through the borough. Under her inspired leadership, the borough is the first community in Monmouth County to obtain approval of a stormwater management plan," the program states.

Mayor Emilia Siciliano gets ready to ride in a hot air balloon. "The mayor revises documents and ordinances and completes these tasks with extraordinary attention to detail. Mayor Siciliano championed the goal of sustainable growth even before the concept became popular. She is a tribute to women in government and to exemplary citizenship."

Siciliano responded to the high praise with her customary humility. She said she was accepting the award on behalf of current and past members of the Shrewsbury Planning Board.

"When I was first appointed to the Planning Board in 1969, Shrewsbury was a lovely serene community, steeped in history with thoroughbred horse farms on Sycamore Avenue and cornfields and empty lots on Shrewsbury's downtown main street, State Highway 35."

She continued with a quote from a speech made by professional planner Tom Thomas at a recent League of Municipalities seminar on "Local Sustainable Development Strategies," whereby he lauded Shrewsbury as an excellent example of sustainable development.

"He pointed out how Shrewsbury, through comprehensive planning, has protected its historic heritage and enhanced the quality of life in the borough by providing a healthy and pleasing environment for its residential community while developing a viable economic base," she said.

Sustainable development, Siciliano explained a few days after the awards ceremony, means a sustainable society that can persist over generations; one that is far-seeing enough, flexible enough and wise enough not to undermine either its physical or its social systems of support.

She noted that past Planning Board chairs and members had the foresight and vision to plan for future growth with the assistance of knowledgeable professionals.

"Today the Borough of Shrewsbury is a well-balanced community, approximately 60 percent residential and 40 percent commercial," Siciliano said, adding, "Someone way back when had a vision for the town that this Planning Board has followed through on."

Siciliano's daughter, Dianne Crilly, was at the awards presentation, as was Planning Board Attorney Michelle Donato, Planning Board Chairman John Madden, Vice Chairman Michael Bell, Planning Board member David Teller and Planning Board Secretary Lorraine Kelleher.

The Sicilianos moved to Shrewsbury 48 years ago after the birth of their first child.

A daughter, Carol Ann Siciliano, is an attorney in the water division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"She helped write the federal stormwater act and was instrumental in its adoption. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection adopted it," the mayor said.

"Shrewsbury was the first municipality that had its stormwater plan adopted by the county and the state," she said, adding, "It took a year out of my life."

Siciliano noted, "My daughter uses Shrewsbury's ordinance to show other people what this little town is doing."

The mayor has been serving on boards and councils on and off for the past 20 or more years.

"I was the first female chair of the Planning Board and the first elected councilwoman," she said.

Siciliano is a graduate of the Pratt Institute of Design in New York.

"I absolutely fell in love with the Planning Board. People kid me because I went from [being] a lingerie designer to the Planning Board. But, it doesn't matter what you design, if you have a sense of design."

In addition to serving the borough, from 1995 to 1999 she was a citizen member of the state Board of Professional Planners, appointed by Gov. Christine Whitman. She was also the first director of the county Department of Consumer Affairs appointed by Freeholder Harry Larrison, and she wrote a consumer affairs column for a local newspaper.

Before she retired from her varied work career, she was the vice president of administration for a national company and had to travel quite a bit. "There were times when I could not serve on either the council or the Planning Board, but whenever I could, I would call up and ask if I could fill a vacancy," she said.

For the past few years, her vision has centered on Broad Street, which is also Route 35. She calls the stretch of Route 35 that runs through Shrewsbury the "Oasis of Route 35" because the short stretch is mostly residential and "not highway-like."

She explained that the borough has been working with the state Department of Transportation to improve Broad Street, but the project is on hold for now because of the pending closure of Fort Monmouth.

"It was a big disappointment for us. It was going so well," she said. "At the last meeting, in the late fall, we met with a body of residents and the DOT to present the streetscape that our residents came up with. The DOT was very pleased with the plans."

Siciliano would like to see that portion of Route 35 in Shrewsbury become more like a boulevard with islands of trees in the center and a traffic-calming circle at the intersection of Broad Street and Sycamore Avenue.

She would like the DOT to classify that intersection, known as the historic Four Corners district, as Shrewsbury's downtown.

Mayor Siciliano's term is up this year, but she is not ready to retire from public service and will run again, something her daughters have encouraged, especially since her husband and partner of many years has passed away.

For the foreseeable future, she will be around to help design the future of Shrewsbury Borough.