meeting called to order council member Bez Anderson here council member Chapman here council member Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn here mayor here please stand for silent prayer moment reflection now salute the flag flag unit Amer stand na indivisible as comply with the open public meetings act chapter 231 pl1 1975 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in the following manner the annual notice was forwarded to the Asbury Park Press the coaster and the Star Ledger on January 22nd 2024 and posted on the bulleon board the same day all notices are on file with the city clerk very special event applications from Recreation director Lea Floyd good evening May and Council of the five applications before you this evening there are three new requests including the Bobby Brown U popup which is Bobby Brown the makeup artist that wants to give away W up let me clarify that inai neighbors launch Center their anniversary celebration and the Asbury Park lifeguard tournament which will be held tomorrow because of the potential bad weather this evening are there any questions no thank you thank you thank you we're now on the mar from State Council council member Bez Anderson nothing for me thank you council member chap um I have nothing thank you council member Clayton I don't have anything at this time thank you uh Deputy Mayor Quinn I was just going to bring up family day at the beach is this Saturday res surfing lessons food and such people can get out to the uh AAP Beach for family day at the beach it's a nice day and mayor more nothing thank you all right m city manager nothing thank you m City attorney yes nothing at this time we are now on the public participation I have a motion to open the meeting to the public move to open second all in favor I the public participation portion of the meeting is now open any M of the public who wish to speak please use the microphone say your name and address for the record and there will be a 3 minute time limit for each speaker clarification will we have you got to go back to the microphone Kim Gano Mercy Center 1106 Main Street Asbury Park I just want a question is when we have the public hearing on their second reading of the ordinance will we have a chance to speak or should we do it now just wanted to clarify thank you but if you want to talk sir you got to go to the microphone back there sorry good evening Council uh I've lived in Asbury Park 40 years I now have a business at 58 add for the record please my name is Richard rolski um again we my family's lived here a long time I now have a business at 58 bangs um I'm addressing the fact that the city has addressed what is a problem and I wanted to speak to council about it because what's been done is great and we need more done um there's been a bit of clamoring about it so what happened is um on the corner of bangs and Emory uh on Thursdays and Fridays uh the streets are taken hostage by large trucks 18 wheelers um they Park double um I'm approaching it not just because of my business but from a safety standpoint my degree is in fire safety and management um so I watch out from my business and when I see trucks double triple parked and within the past couple weeks there's been a couple accidents right at that corner because people can't get around in that area so I approached um it through the officers in town a couple that I know so recently they uh squared off uh purple parking spaces for a loading zone there's been so much clamoring about it and people coming into my business to talk to me about it and I didn't think anything would happen minus me coming to talk to you so I will say this that I have people who have been delivering to Asbury Park for years coming to me stating how great it is that they actually have a place to pull their truck that's safe there's other business people who are are call it mad because they say we're taking away two parking spaces um I don't see those spaces being used by anybody for the businesses I park five blocks away anybody using the businesses even have to park farther away you know I have a permit so I wanted to be clear on this is um that I'm going to try to press forward with trying to have more on that corner we did one set of parking spaces and if the corners were marked and colored and people could pull up with their trucks and safely deliver things it would uh it would help out everyone so um I actually came here because I thought there were people that were against this that we're going to show up so I just want to let you know that minus me really complaining about anything that we're moving in the right direction and I plan on coming up with some type of presentation involving maps and where they might be able to put other places like this because again safety first I don't want anybody to die on these corners I saw a lady with a dog almost get run over I'm an EMT and a firefighter almost got hired in town so safety first thank you for your time I got 4 seconds you guys have a good night thank you very much I'm going to say instead of uh you may want to go to the parking committee meeting which is the first Wednesday of the month at 5:30 in this building and I'm looking to see it's the 7th James yes so August 7th in this building at 5:30 p.m. so if you have your map and everything it' be a good place to start with because that's basically where this start the transportation director has spoken to me directly meet him so August 7th 5:30 August 7th 530 right in this building yeah that's the transportation James Bon again thank you yeah hi that's awesome hello Carrie Butch 500 de Lake Drive I want to say thank you we've getting the police blot and we've been publishing it in the Asbury Park reporter so thank you thumbs up thank you to the administration um I also want to ask a question about the ccrb so can you tell me a little bit about that process or tell everybody about that process where we're at and if we're going to be getting a ccrb in the very near future because it's been over four years that we've been talking about it and studying it so where are we on that I'll take part of it and then Ivon can you know hopefully so we formed an equity committee I I'm going to be wrong on these years um maybe two years ago maybe maybe longer than that CO's a blur um the equity committee came up with again I'm going to say 10 recommendations the number one recom recommendation was ccrb and maybe eight eight or nine other recommendations of those recommendations I'm going to say we implement seven including hiring a social worker to go out with police and and more coordination there we started the draft of a CCB and then um got partway through this draft and then I'm going to I'm going to say this and then Fred can stop me uh we had the pro the prosecutor's office involved in the going on in our police department and they asked us to sort of stall to not work on this while they were doing whatever investigation they were doing that investigation concluded within the last month or two so we or maybe two or three months we went back to the draft um the draft has gotten through part of the committee it's gotten through um Fred it's gotten through but it is not gotten through the prosecutor's office and it has not gotten through the police department yet for feedback I'm not saying that we're going to to do what they say but we did want to offer them both an opportunity for feedback so we had Buy in so it's it's going but there was a a lengthy delay as a result of some going ons okay and just as a follow-up question on the agenda for the executive committee is a discussion of a public safety director can are you what can you talk to the it looks like you're considering a public safety director can you talk to where you're at in the process well that I'm going to bunch a Fred right now any discussions are entirely conceptual um and uh what options are available out there for the city to possibly consider um and that's really where the city is at at this point in time just evaluating what other towns are doing um and then taking a look at whether um this may or may not be advantageous for Asbury Park to reconsider because you may recall that there was a Police director position in Asbury Park a number of years ago um and no longer we have just had just a police chief for a number of years now um but other towns you know there are a number of other towns that do have a public safety director including Long Branch and some others um in the near vicinity so we're taking a look at at all options okay thank you thank you hi gree them around 8th Avenue uh the last meeting we had here you invited in uh the affordable housing people when we were having a meeting about 12:01 Memorial Drive and it was all about the driveways I'd like to know why they were invited in and they took up all that time to talk about affordable housing nobody's against it everybody was talking about parking and driveways that's one thing the other thing I wanted to talk about is that we did have a safety director we had many and it just I don't know what happened because we don't get too involved with the police department but it never worked out there was a lot of good people that came and worked here but it just it wasn't feasible and we hiring all these people now on high salaries I don't know how we can afford it and the other thing I want to talk about was the cat coordinates I happen to be looking through my papers and I found it the 84 up for 24 and 25 did that ever a pass I'd like to know if it this the capital ordinance because on my uh you know I have the uh but it doesn't say anybody voted or anything R are you talking about the one that's on tonight's agenda or a past one the C Capital but there's there's an ordinance on tonight you're talking about that one or a past one I'm talking about the most recent one but the most recent one is the one on tonight's agenda the one the 3.5 I think she's talking about the cap Bank ordinance or allows to go up um that was last meeting yeah last meeting but I don't remember uh Joan to Joan spoke with it about it it's a common occurrence the other thing I wanted to say is uh when we're talking about 1201 we could talk about 2011 Kingsley a 90 Apartments there I mean you have to stop this stuff it's not good for the community there's too many people coming in here with no parking and the other thing I wanted to say is why don't you find him a piece of land I mean they do these deals swap a piece of land that he wants same size and let him uh leave that land alone 1201 that's that's commercial zoning and it should stay that way so I mean you got to think out of the box with these people because they're a lot smarter than you think they are and I I think that would be a good idea find them another location he'd love it if he could get a better location than the railroad tracks why don't you try that talk to these people because that that is not the proper place for that building okay finish your well that's what I want to say why don't you do that okay that's an idea okay the city virtually owns no land of close to that size the gentleman bought it from the state which is a story in itself where went out to auction and we tried to find out good because it was owned by the state so we weren't getting tax revenue off of it and like we kept on asking the state when are you going to sell this well we're negotiate with the highest bidder I make wait a second it was a public auction how do you negotiate with the highest bidder so finally uh Mr Jamal bought it and went back on the tax rols as first the building and the land just the land that's what he bought and that's where he wants to build and we have no piece of property of that size that we own or control that we could say go somewhere else you don't have one we read we have no land whatsoever any size well that's a thought anyway I mean y he doesn't have to build there because that that's going to ruin three neighborhoods three blocks okay thank you okay you got to stop these high you know multiple dwellings you're going to get one on UE 101 Rita I'm just going to talk briefly about the affordable housing we absolutely did have people come to the microphone asking what the city was getting at 1201 and we set a 20% set aside on affordable housing one of the ways that municipalities good better and different you can agree or not is in get affordable housing is they increase density so that's how it's tied to the project so there was an increase in density for the 20% affordable units 20 20 or 30 whatever it was 20 or 30 units I'm going to be wrong on the number of units so that's how it tied into that project but we did have people asking about density and affordable housing we have people asking about traffic calming measures and micr Mobility so James in the next month or two is going to come talk about that you know if people come and ask questions that we can do presentations on WE gen we generally try to do presentations on it yeah but it wasn't appropriate that night because they were all upset with that talking and driveways okay they they got like a head up there that's not fair yes sir thank you uh sunlight the poet 1709 Emory Street uh I would like to say the Mercy Center they're looking to expand their property I've always been in Asbury uh part of when uh Catholics were giving out food on Lake Avenue I always been a part of people giving away food but they asked me to come here and uh speak about what they do in this community they feed a lot of people I know a lot of people come from other towns just to get food from them and they're a very good organization em mergency Center so if y'all can find a way to uh expand because what they do over there is is Priceless I mean so many people and you see if just ride by there you see the lines of people out there getting food all types of families and if y'all could help them expand then that'd be a beautiful thing because without them a lot of people will go hungry in this town that's all I want to say thank you so much I I thank you but I got to disagree with you because you said they're a very good organization they're not that they're a great organization and just so I'm not the cat out of the bag when the vote comes up tonight I'm a yes vote for it and what they have done the last several years as far as expanding and where we used to do and Kim would know it better than me the exact num that I'm saying we used to do X and now we're doing 50 times x so it's a great organization they have my total support I'm sure they're going to get a positive vote tonight I can't think of anybody in this town that can say anything bad about the Mery Center so thank you for coming tonight in support of that thank you so much thank you see nobody else motion to close moving second all in favor we are now on to the minutes I have the executive meeting minutes and regular meeting minutes for the June 26th meeting do have a motion move second council member Bez Anderson yes council member Chapman yes council member Clayton yes depy mayor Quinn yes mayor yes we're now on to the consent agenda resolutions all matters are listed on the consent agenda are presented collectively to the city council and will be considered for approval with one vote these matters are considered to be routine in nature and there will be no individual discussion on of these items if discussion is desired by one or more council members as to any particular items and set items shall be removed from the cassette agenda and considered separately on Cent agenda tonight we have resolutions 2024 349 through 2024 352 which includes an appointment to the sunset Lake commission Diana pet as alter ative member number two with a term to expire January 15 2026 do I have a motion second council member Bez Anderson yes council member Chapman yes council member Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor Mo yes we're now on to individual resolutions resolution 2024 353 resolution approving payment of bills move it second council member Bez Anderson council member Chapman yes council member Clayton yes deputy mayor Quinn yes mayor no resolution 2024 354 resolution authorizing the repairs of influent pump number two at the Waste Water treatment plan that motion second council member Bez Anderson council member Chapman yes council member Clayton yes depy mayor Quinn yes mayor Mo yes resolution 2024 355 resolution authorizing Professional Services to the Rogers Group Alexa for online police training do I have a motion M second council member Bez Anderson yes council member Chapman no council member Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor Moore no resolution 2024 356 resolution approving change order number five for the new Firehouse uh headquarters move it second uh council member Bez Anderson yes council member trapman yes council member Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor yes resolution 2024 357 resolution authorizing the submission of an application to New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone authority to fund an outside consultant to develop a 5-year preliminary Zone development plan move it second Council mayor Bez Anderson Council May Chapman yes Council mayor Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor yes resolution 2024 358 resolution authorizing and approving the submitt of a Grant application and execute a grant contract with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for for the Lanford Street roadway improvements phase one project second council member Bez Anderson council member Chapman yes council member Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor Bo yes resolution 2024 359 resolution authorizing and approving the SM of a Grant application and execute a grant contract with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for the city of Asbury Park Transportation Center canopy repairs move it second council member Bez Anderson yes council member bman yes council member Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes may abstain resolution 2024 360 has been pulled from the agenda tonight so we're moving on to resolution 2024 361 resolution of the mayor and Council of the city of Asbury Park acting as a Redevelopment entity authorizing a temporary cellular installation on the northeast corner of block 4306 blots 1 and two 1695 Kingsley Street within the Waterfront Redevelopment area move it do you have a second second question did we find out the I know I thinking the same thing this is just one and this is on the Starfield this is on Starfield okay inside the festival yes I'm sorry it's on Starfield Starfield property okay it's not on city property correct so they're only going to do one yeah because the other one we don't have questions about being on city property it was it was Tak Council M bz Anderson yes Council Chapman yes Council mayor Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor Mo yes resolution 2024 362 resolution authorizing the execution of a memoranda of under of agreement of participating entities for the Asbury Park lifeguard tournament and approving the issuance of a special event permit relating to the event move it second council member Bez Anderson yes council member Chapman yes council member Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor yes resolution 2024 363 resolution authorizing the execution of a First Amendment to the employment agreement with the deputy city manager move it second council member Bez Anderson yes council member Chapman yes council member Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor yes resolution 2024 364 resolution of the mayor and City Council of Asbury Park authorizing the city of Asbury Park to enter into a Land Development agreement with atnet Madison Asbury retail LLC for the construction of restrooms on green anchor lots 1.07 and 1.14 of block 4502 second council member Bez Anderson yes council member Chapman abstain council member Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor Mo yes we're now on to ordinances for introduction ordinance 2024-25 ordinance establishing a restricted parking space for the use by handicapped person in the city of Asbury Park and amending and supplementing section 7-36 entitled handicap parket of chapter 7 traffic of the revised General ordinances of the city of Asbury Park New Jersey with a public hearing date of July 31st 2024 you have a motion move it second Council mayor Bez Anderson yes Council mayor Chapman yes Council mayor Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor yes ordinance 2024 26 Bond ordinance providing the acquisition of various vehicles and Capital Equipment appropriating $3,975,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 3, 77625 bonds and notes to finance a portion of the cost thereof authorized in and by the city of Asbury Park in the county of mmit New Jersey with a public hearing date of July 31st 2024 do I have a motion moving second councilor Bez Anderson councilor Chapman yes councilor Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor Mo yes we're now on to ordinances up for second reading and public hearing uh ordinances ordinance amending ordinance 2024 24 ordinance amending the Main Street Redevelopment plan do I have a motion to open the meeting for public comment on ordinance 2024 24 move to open second Beth will make a presentation so everybody what it's about hi everybody Beth mcmanis just for the record uh this Redevelopment plan amendment is specific to uh first it's the Main Street Redevelopment plan but it's specific to block 2805 lot 17 and that is the that's the site that hosts the existing Mercy Center and the Redevelopment plan is proposed for amendment to add a new permitted use specifically soup kitens and food pantries which is exactly the the mercy Center use the purpose of the Redevelopment plan is to allow the Mercy Center to redevelop their property to improve their existing facility however because the use is not permitted doing so is is uh doing so would violate the Redevelopment plan and so this Redevelopment plan simply permits the use on that very specific property in addition to that it also adds a couple of uh or a handful of site specific requirements such as a parking requirement that is uh that is suitable for a soup kitchen and uh and a food pantry and it also adds specific zoning and design regulations to uh to ensure that the the development of the Mercy Center is done in a way that's compatible with the Main Street Redevelopment plan and the character that the city uh seeks to have along Main Street and I'm happy to answer any questions y thank you so to move in second are all in favor all right public common out ordinance 2024 24 is now now open any member of the public who wishes to speak please use the microphone state your name and address for the record your comments may only be about ordinance 20124 24 good evening everyone my name is Kim Gano I'm the executive director of Mercy Center on 1106 Main Street which is the subject of the ordinance I want to first begin by uh introducing the chairman of my board judge uh Mary Kate cuff and a member of my board Miriam Tor right here and then also the member of the FRC which is a a key aspect of what we do over on Main Street uh Veronica Tyson Gilbert Gilbert Tyson sorry Veronica I do that all the time um and I also want to thank you a client for coming in and speaking in favor of it um I also want to point out we have a number of Volunteers in the room I don't need to tell this board the importance of food security Asbury Park is considered a food desert I know that's hard to believe but what that really means is that 1 % of the population of Asbury Park will go to bed tonight not knowing where their next meal is coming from that's roughly 2,000 people today in that pantry we served 143 families today over the last year we served 100,000 people that is a 3,000% increase over two years ago and a 200% increase over last year so when we go and when we speak speak to you about the need to change what we're doing in Asbury Park um Mercy Center is is a key part of that aspect of that goal for many years the local food pantry served and still serves as a vital Lifeline to the people of this community we are the only Pantry open 5 days a week in this part of the county and we are the only Pantry who is ensuring that the people of Asbury Park get the food they need in order to survive that's just one aspect of what we do if you can't think straight because you're hungry and you're sending your kids home hungry at night well then you can't do the rest of it and we do the rest of it our idea is to end generational poverty in the greater Asbury Park area and we do it with the people that work with Veronica we have 15 licensed social workers and Advocates they speak as they speak English Spanish Arabic and creole and they serve the community by giving them a chance to live full lives but if you don't have a full stomach you're not going to live a full life and then we end the cycle of poverty by what we do with on Springwood Avenue the fourth to eth Grade School for Girls called sisters Academy it is imperative that we upgrade our facilities here we simply have run out of space and I I briefly know that we're g to you didn't turn the clock on awesome I'll go on for two hours so you I was kind of going fast but I kind of read in the bench and I get a feeling that this is going in the right direction but I do want you to imagine what it would be if we had to close this Pantry right now imagine what it be like for any of those families who went this morning a knocked on the door and had the guts to ask for help it's not an easy thing to do and what we're going to do is build a facility what is dignified that is stigma-free that is welcoming and open and it lets people get the food that they need in order to live full and full lives um and we're going to do that by changing the Main Street Redevelopment plan in a way that allows us to have a pantry that's by the way existed there for almost 40 years um I also want to add a couple of things we've talked to our neighbors in response to our meeting with the planning board uh Kelly Victor from arbar uh has sent me an email my name is Kelly Victor and I'm one of the owners of arbar located 1114 Main Street which is our immediate neighbor on Main Street I'm unable to attend the scheduled City meeting City hearing pertaining to Mercy Center as it complets with my hours of operation however I'm sending this letter in my place to the council so that they know that I've reviewed the Mercy Center plans as their immediate neighbor I'm full support of them moving forward with removing the current structures and replacing them with a three story modern building we look forward to enhancing the appearance of North Main Street and contributing to the revitalization of Uptown Asbury Park I also just received a text from our immediate neighbor in the residential part of it on Third Avenue um and it's uh and he asked me they asked me to read it Susan and Kevin they asked me to read it they are um we're sorry we cannot attend tonight's meeting to speak to the board directly regarding Mercy Center thank you for reading this during tonight's meeting on our behalf we are Kevin and Susan Dian goo we live at 713 Third Avenue directly next to Mercy Center the work time and effort of the staff as well as the volunteers at Mercy Center is greatly appreciated by us and the local community many of our neighbors are clients the center does an outstanding job the organization of the of the food deliveries clients visiting the pantry counselors and other services and making sure clients are taken care of and treated with respect as to commended the cleaniness of the overall site is greatly appreciated Kim Tracy the staff and the volunteers do an excellent job managing the overall pantry and making sure the outside is kept clean and safe for all those coming and going the food pantry is a blessing to those who are less fortunate and rely on it week after week we have noticed an increase in the amount of clients that have come through the pantry over the past several years the proposed reconstruction is going to be a big benefit for the center and their operations by improving efficiency and in delivering their quality services to their clients the proposed single story portion of the adjacent to our property will improve the corner of the site as Vehicles will enter the enter the property and park internally it will eliminate the congestion of people that happens during non- business hours being able to have all services provided within a single building will be a large step up for them we are in favor of their proposed reconstruction and look forward to seeing this further develop we also wish the Mercy Center continued success with all they do I thought that was important for the record especially because the planning board specifically asked the question about what our neighbors thought about the project I'm going to end very briefly with um a a quick thank you to the board um this has taken about a year um but that's the process so I'm not complaining about the process but it could never have happened without Beth mcmanis helping helping Shuffle where's she hiding over there Shuffle shuffling all of this through um and I hope that tonight you you vote in favor of helping the people of this community not just today and not just tomorrow but for decades into the future that's what you're doing tonight um especially oh I than and the rest of the city staff thank you thank you there's no limit on ordinances good evening uh Mr Mayor and good evening City Council Members I don't have to tell you about the work that the mercy ENT to does Mr Mayor you already said it's a great organization what I want to say is that I have been at the mercy Center serving at the mercy Center next month would be 28 years and I would like to tell you even though the organization is no longer run by assist of Mercy we continue to serve and to support our community with the values and the goal the values and the traditions of the Sisters of Mercy I drove up this morning and I pull up to the building and I looked at the people in the line there were people babies there were e different ethnic groups and it broke my heart people people were like sad um they were no smile and I wonder is this what the Sisters of Mercy would want this is how they want to serve their people the poor the under privilege I don't think so we need to serve them with dignity with respect with compassion and I do believe that having a new building would allow us to do this people would not have to be lining up feeling embarrassed ashamed to be standing there for food people are victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual violence would not be hesitant to come and seek Services because there would be privacy and security other family members seeking Services would more would come more readily because of the privacy and we need to continue to operate in the traditions of the CST of mercy and we can only do this if we enhance our building thank you thank you Ron no one else I see motion to close public hearing on ordinance 2024 24 move to close second do I have all in favor yes I do I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2024 24 move to adopt second second Council mayor Bez Anderson yes Council mayor Chapman yes Council mayor Clayton yes Deputy Mayor Quinn yes mayor yes if that is all for tonight do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting move to adjourn second all in favor motion