so calling the meeting to order uh for uh July 15th at 7:31 and can someone take minutes I will thank you Alvaro so uh I didn't put in the july1 meeting minutes but May 6th and June 17th apparently we hadn't reviewed those yet I I was not here on May 6 so I can't uh I can't weigh in on those so I think that we'll just hold off on doing those and I'll add July one next time hearing on jet items only that's uh Our Guest Steve GIS sorry Richard can we go back would we be would we be able to recirculate those prior to the next meeting so like it's fresh in everyone's inboxes y let me do that because otherwise they'll never get approved I fear right all y thank you okay no thank you okay all right second chance Steve carelles there we go I am here I have uh I do have something for agenda items and I the piece of paper I was looking for for I hang on hang onest well I can actually I can I can do enough from memory um because was This concerns the recycling agenda item um did anyone see in the Sunday Star Ledger in the life section there was a whole page um one dealing about recycling myth and the other one about contact lens related um disposal and Recycling and they're all related um and I want to pass on about three things in a nutshell that that came out of this um well one uh for those who used daily contact lenses the small little cases that are you know all of like an inch and a half in length um are Mark number five recycling which we can do in town but it turns out we shouldn't be recycling those things and I have been my wife uses those lenses um because they're number five apparently they anything smaller than three inches be put in recycling because it messes up you know the machines so I found that to be very interesting especially since we were doing something that isn't as good as and nobody told us otherwise the other column was titled of myths and I can send you guys a link to this as well um and I do have a question at the end of this um the old myth about pizza boxes we all saying yeah can't cycle apart that's got grease turns out it's okay to do it I've always taken all the other the parts and including some of the bot most of the bottom that doesn't have the greas and separated it but apparently I don't have to um interesting news wow yeah and um let's see now it's a oh yes and the other thing is paper now i' I've been you know I've been long with cycling I grew up with it before moving to New Jersey and all that kind of stuff and you know it's like I I'm careful about paper like not gift wrap and stuff like that and and but apparently you got to be careful with register tape depending on or register receipts depending on what they are and if if you can take something and the um uh lorosa is a good example because I I tried it it says if you can with your fingernail scrap the receipt like it's thermal paper thermal paper receipts you can scratch it make black marks you shouldn't be recycling those there's chemicals in them and that in relating to the the pulp Factory that plays with them it's that mix isn't isn't good that's what I remember from these I thought it was fascinating because you know you always wonder beyond the guidelines you hear from the town or the website you're sent to if you know what else might be going on St what date was that article it was uh it was Sunday so it was yesterday the 14th it was in the life section on like a big page 10 I like I I cut it out and it just I've got it too I read it too Steve okay good good good good so you yeah I found that the question I would have and I don't I didn't read in detail but is it possible that wherever you get your uh your lenses from can you return them to the place you get them from or is that article that article on the same page said there might be some participating um you know opthalmologists um Opticians yeah that will do that both the lenses and the cases but you know it really wasn't clear other than asking it wasn't clear um you know how to find a clearing house to find out so but it was in the article which you can in the very end of the spe specific piece dealing with the eyes and um um so actually I threw my first one out in the trash today unfortunately it's but has to go somewhere yeah I I've got it has a digital too so I can share that correct yeah and and in in fact yeah you can you can make a PDF or just send the link and people's you know who even aren't subscribed can still read it exactly hey then the last question was um unless you guys are going to do this H you know our Our Town puts out Communications on this stuff and people who do the recycling and manag these things I mean it'd be nice to get some of this stuff updated especially the pizza box thing yeah I don't know I mean is is like who who who who who are the right people to alert in town right the other the other aspect of that is is to confirm that with the recycling company that they're they don't have a problem with it um I that's that yeah that's that's good good point because it's it's recycling is more complex than you um right and we're using single stream recycling there was also the option that some towns have taken of doing dual stream recycling which apparently save the town some money right read about that read about that we haven't followed up on that yet so it's uh um well like I say I unless you're gonna incorporate this is so fresh unless you're going to incorporate it into plans I mean I can let I can I can make now that you I know you know you all can you all can and you know can you know do something or or I'd be happy to you know you know let the town know and and and and and not tell them to go do it but you know give them the same caveat you know should we does that work with the recycler I'd be glad to send the same links if you want me to I'm not sure I'm not sure on on whether there was something in our recycling information of about uh tapes that come from RE you know registers are from these um machines that print out your receipt from your um credit card I don't remember but I at ATM machines were an example yeah ATM machines right ATM machines and sometimes you know at at restaurants or whatever they'll print the they'll give you the option to print that out and I think that's the same type of paper that has this in those cases for they said debit cards when I finally get rid of them they will end up going to U um the um uh not the recycling but the the the oh the other r word it's no the uh the the the shredding shredding right right they shouldn't be shredded either yeah well no well I don't know again what do they do with the shredded pieces you know and right again you kind because those typically if it's kind of receipt that's got an account something on it it's going to be stored until it's not needed anymore and then I'm going to put it in in in um you know U what I just said anyway good good you guys you guys are aware and and I would I would I tell you my my eyebrows went up because when they talk about myths it's like yeah you know I've heard all these things and you know made a point of observing them and now it's like you know I I can uh respond better because I figure anything I'm anything I'm not putting out is I'm not I'm doing less harm regardless well we you know we're all producing garbage or if you want in know ways that we're just trying to re reduce or reuse things yeah I tell you my my my track my trash that I can put out like if I have to do it twice a week is a can be the size of a basketball when you so it's we're we're we're we're pretty good for two people on how much we put out much much more in recycling than in trash I mean by volume and probably by too well anyway unless you have any questions I'm I've said all I needed to say okay thank you so I think if I could just add I remember years ago when we were looking at um other options for recycling vendor and we we did some tours like we looked at the facility that's off of the Driscoll Bridge there that you can see as you're heading down the Parkway and they they all do have slightly different requirements so we should check what jordano can or cannot accept because if you remember they they do have that flyer that they sent to us which was updated to include fives so I think a good Next Step would be to S you know find out from geordano um whether what was in the starger article is actually for them right yeah exactly exactly right Rene all right if there's no other comments then we're moving on to um 33 Campbell Lane uh where the applicant proposes to construct a new garage with an addition and a new front ptico new front walkway and interior the lot coverage does not exceed the maximum for total coverage or other coverage or building coverage so they're uh below the maximum allowed as far as coverage is concern uh but still uh we're recommending that they try to retain storm water runoff uh it was not clear whether their downspout is connected to the street or not I looked on um you know the computer map uh map which showed the front view of the the house it's uh uh it has several trees on it but it's can't tell whether the down spout drains to the street we would recommend that any down spouts be disconnected from the street uh and they could uh use perious pavers for the new sidewalk or create a vegetated Swale which would accept the runoff from the sidewalk and plant native plants any comments or questions I I guess my my my only question would be given that this is it's it's well within the parameters of the zoning and given that it's a uh it's a relatively amounted construction is it really necessary to have all these po recommendations can we can we if if he doesn't do this is that is that an issue for us is uh because it doesn't seem like it's uh it's an it's a it's a it's a major construction nor that it's going to increase impervious coverage so beyond the limits so that's I guess that's the one concern I have as I read through it yeah we're not we're not uh recommending that uh it not be approved we're simply recommending that if the resident can keep storm water on his property or their property they do that uh what's the rationale here well basically any every house has some storm water runoff because the there's a a driveway that's carrying that runoff into the street if uh you can get the people to reduce that storm water runoff maybe they don't understand what they're trying to do we're not try because they don't they don't understand that what's happening with the storm water is that when there's a a rain you know especially he a heavy rainfall all of that runoff is contributing to the flow of storm water and that is ultimately contributing to um you know local flooding so if you can reduce that from every house a little bit you're uh ultimately slowing down the flow of storm water so just to rephrase that um what uh happens when you're retaining storm water is it's not staying on your property it's seeping down into an aquifer and then flowing out uh down to a stream so you're you're slowing the flow of the storm water so that it doesn't uh uh run run as you know there's an un immense amount running at the same time so you're slowing that up you're holding it back yeah that's why that's why this recommendation yeah and I see that the it's it's located property is located near the Pake river which is a is known as a flood known for flooding even though it's not a flood and this is I guess it's not identified as flood zone can I can I give my experiences here with this okay so um I had um I had Construction done on a on a house in 2018 um we increase of square footage very little um we never made any changes to the driveway um but um it was a recommendation by Rich at that point I didn't know him um and he made a recommendation to put in a rain garden and um I I did put a rain Garden in um and all my guttering um and um rainwater from the roof all goes into the rain garden and it was it was done in con you know you know um using the um the ruus um the rers website basically tells you how to do it how to check for you know the infiltration of the water and how to to amend your soil if your soil is too much clay etc etc um so but um in order for us to get a um a um a certificate of occupancy um basically I had to make sure that it was there and it had to be checked so you know you know it did have to get checked and um because we didn't have rain for a period of time at that time um I had to put a bond into the township and you know until until my house um you know had um p p the inspection so so I think it is something that might get checked so um that's that's the one thing the other thing too is is I just recently um did the um green infrastructure Champion um training um at rodus University and um it's quite it's quite startling when you when you when you think about how much water you actually stop from going into um your streams um having rain Gardens and and bios swells um um they were saying that you know in a in an area where there's maybe 100 homes if you know about 30 Homes at least had um um rain Gardens that um um lo you know took care of of their of their water source that um over a Euro period of time you would actually um save close to a million dollars million gallons of water going into the streams okay so so so so it's not insignificant and and then the other thing that's really important um is that um you know if you have a look at the trends of of of of of rainfall um the trends right now are all um you know we're we're going on we're going on the up surge here you know our our our our storms are becoming much more heavy and we're having more of them so um you know this is really a concern I think we need to be you know you know that I think is important so that's my 5 cents worth was more like a quarter Chris no no it's not an order know I'm just introducing myself I suppose yes yes I I I wanted you to uh have a chance to talk talk about your background um but let's get back to that so uh let's finish our discussion of the recommendation any comments otherwise questions I have one I have one um do we have a standard list of native plants because I think I was asked that and I said and I I don't know where that is um maybe we can if if there doesn't ex one doesn't exist we could create one and include it in a recommendation so that residents know um what that list entails generally uh I refer people to uh Jersey yards uh which uh specializes in lists of native plants and what they're uh so it doesn't just list the plants but it's a uh tells you about um their uh whether they take sun or shade wet or dry how big they get and so on uh we can certainly put that in as a a link on our web page um there's also an app for rain Gardens which can uh give people uh lists of native plants there's a link to the Native Plant Society of New Jersey on our website right now right right the Native Plant Society is another source uh um probably a little bit more technical than most people would expect uh the the Jersey yarts uh tends to be more consumer oriented you have that link maybe we could recommend adding that to the the website and I can put that into the recommendation too and add that um at under the recommendations okay anything else no I was just going to say that was that discussion was very helpful for me so glad we had it do we want to move on to approval yes I move to approve the recommendations with the inclusion of suggested uh or suggestion inclusion about native plants okay I second all right no objections and we have an approval on Campbell we go on to um the TRC for 268 Springfield Avenue which is currently marello so at this point what's going to happen is uh this application will go before the planning board to review whether it's the application is complete complete uh and um then the planning board will review it but according to um Connie Valente it may have to go to this planning board a second time I'm not sure why that is she doesn't explain in her email but um the uh when I looked at the application and the uh drawings I saw that the building is supposed to be a 7,000 sqt one-story building and it's mentioned in the application is to be a restaurant currently it is a restaurant but a much smaller building so there the applicant is looking to expand the building but when you look at the drawing it looks like there it's going to be constructed for three tenants was not clear what that meant was that does that mean that the restaurant would be subletting or what would be going on it wasn't clear at all um and there's um the conceptual site plan shows the property in the DD Zone but the township zoning map which I looked at at the website says the property is in hb2 which changes the requirements slightly alfo do you have any background in this you know what's going on there I don't I I didn't get a chance to check the check the zoning um I think maybe I can get to it quickly but no I uh I I I don't have okay it's it's a question to to the the board so maybe they'll explain maybe the the zoning map is uh been updated but it's posted as you know dated as 2007 yeah I think that was an issue that that they were trying to solve even when I was on the council that uh the zoning map is not exactly is not particularly accurate it needs to be updated okay um and then the general Construction and design and grounds Landscaping considerations are not included that they should be included and quite apparently currently at the front of the building there are some small trees and shrubs not clear whether they're going to be removed or replaced um and uh the back of the building is showing um a flood Hazard area but I don't see that flood Hazard uh shown in our flood or Wetlands Maps uh nor in the State uh uh Maps that's on the web uh so I'm not sure what that all about and is the applicant proposing particular measures here uh and could there be plants installed along that area of the property instead of imperious surface the other thing that I didn't put into this uh these comments was the building is built with two ramps one on the east side one on the west side with entrances to doors um it looks like basically what you have is a a a double door entrance on one side and a single door entrance on the other side as if that's a how would I put it a a back door entrance I mean uh have you people seen that I mean I can try to bring that up see if I can do that share okay can people see this yeah I see it so up here there's the ramp they're calling it an elevated walking platform here I'm guessing it's about six s feet wide plus there's an additional width there so you have this platform coming along here and then down here another elevated platform and you can see there are double doors here is it t is it for is that handicapped accessible well I mean but one side I think both sides have ramps yeah there's a ramp on over here and there's a ramp up here so both sides are handicap accessible I would expect yeah yeah it says on the bottom there it says elevated elevated building platform yeah elevated walking platform let's see yeah I can I can make it larger but then I got to scroll up and down yeah it seems to wrap around and it seems to wrap around right and my question would be could they eliminate one of those platforms and install uh trees and Shrubbery along the side of the building especially if it were on the west side of the building because there is no um there's no driveway here on this side of the building the driveway is on the east side of the building so if they were to able to install uh uh trees and and Shrubbery along this side of the building it would eventually uh shade the building from the afternoon sun would reduce a little bit you know their uh heating cost it would you know increase um uh you know we would uh recommend native plants but it's just a question that uh that I'm asking not making a recommendation so would any of you have any comments on that uh not I nothing for me either would just be question go ahead I I I was gonna add it it it does look like a back doors I think you were talking about earlier um yes but in a hallway for the restroom thing that's a which it kind of looks we kind of looks weird till you start Imagining the real thing right the outside those platforms are outside the building not inside right so I think it's for backd door access it just happens to go by accessible bathrooms yes exactly door is open in the right way by the way so yeah it's good to have doors opening outwards um okay so if nobody objects I'll just ask the question whether that would be something they could do otherwise any comments any recommendations uh none none for me okay just let me make a note okay I'll finalize that do I hear recommendation then guess I uh would move to approve the recom questions to be submitted to the TRC yes I hear a second hi second okay moving on Scout projects um I haven't heard anything from David or anybody else uh even on the community garden but the community garden is also in the agenda so maybe Renee do you have anything no I mean I think just to continue on the discussion and I guess the emails Richard that have been back and forth since the last meeting um you know it's it's a it's vacation season so it's it's tough to get a meeting on the books um to discuss you know this project and vote on it and all of that is would we be able to do that informally over email and just or via a survey I guess I'm I'm wondering you know why we need a meeting and meeting minutes if if this is kind of you know just a volunteer community garden right I mean I I don't remember anything about requiring that there be regular meetings but I think the point uh for me as you know coming from the environmental commission since the environmental commission created the community garden and it's under the the community garden is under the environmental commission is that the uh that that committee whatever that committee is that those people uh come to a consensus as to what they want to do right because you certainly don't want to have um a situation where there's one person bossing everybody around you want to have a community acting together so if you decide to do it via email or polling whatever you do as long as you you know can say okay here is our here's what we want to do yeah okay I'm gonna lots of meetings okay yeah I mean I'm I I'm going to recommend that you know Steve already has has volunteered to not not Steve Caris um the other Steve has Martin exactly has volunteered to oversee and by oversee it means kind of light touch because the the other thing that's happened is is um with the other project you know the handicap path Karen was very heavily involved with the Scout it was a lot of time and effort and you know no no one has that time so that's that's why there's there's kind of a more like this visceral reaction to oh here comes another project that's going to make our lives more difficult it doesn't need to be that way I think you know Steve can oversee he can provide the specs answer questions but if if there's further back and forth that needs to happen that needs to come from the Scout Community um because I think you know in order to get the eagle scout they should be able to prove that they're self-sufficient so um that that would be my recommendation I can um just you know get approval from the core members via email and then we can talk about it at the next meeting and move forward yeah and and the you know the thing is if if uh you know the the community garden says oh yeah we want to have for example we want to have a a little pollinator Garden there and uh we know that there's interest on the part of the scouts to do a Scout project for this that's not an issue uh and if the Scout is doing doing something along the lines of a rain Garden I'm qualified to guide the Scout on that Karen doesn't have to do that um uh if I'm not available U you know Chris Venter has gone through this process too I haven't asked Chris whether he's available but the point is there are there are people who have uh training in Ray Gardens and can advise the Scout on what to do yeah yeah so again the point is is that um it should not be a lot of effort by the volunteer gardeners because they they don't have a lot of time to give they're already you know um have day jobs and they're maintaining their Gardens and they're not in the business to be you know being project managers right so I think the point I'm sorry R I think the point for Steve Martin was to call attention to the fact that there's that flooding there that's going into the garden not just outside the garden but if the water is flowing into the garden can we solve that issue y okay so leave this with me to move through the next step and then thank you um when next meeting hopefully um we have more members we could hopefully put this to bed and move forward excellent all right stor water ordinance uh I haven't heard anything on that and I'm I haven't had time to really try to contact Margaret on this uh adopt the drain we don't have Kim so nothing there sustainable action uh sustainable Jersey actions n is trying to update one of the actions I was trying to update another one I'm afraid we may have a uh a problem maintaining our certification but we'll uh try to do that we've got uh two uh key actions that need to be updated and if we can get those updated uh we're good but again it's just been very busy Recycling and cleanups okay I think we pretty much covered that huh did anybody have anything anything more on that and topics for the township newsletter I think we're still holding off on additional articles the sake River Park and trails well Pat Chanley is uh busy probably out of the country for July and uh good part of August so we're not seeing anything there I thought John would be attending but uh he didn't send any information as far as I'm aware of on updating us um grants rggi Grant a yes we're we're at this point we have identified about uh over 200 uh places to to plant trees for this coming season um and we're getting ready to send letters out to uh uh residents whose addresses we have identified uh at this point oh um the plan is to plant 185 trees but have more locations in case residents say no I don't want a tree so then we can just uh put a tree at another location and instead of having extra trees that didn't get planted uh BCD USA resolutions sorry Richard can I jump in again um sorry I'm running away take it take it over Renee sorry the is there a list of I I had a resident ask me uh for trees they're you know they're willing to it's a good property too they're on um oh the name of the street escapes me but lots of water is there a list that we can that's being maintained that we can add too they just need to send an email if yes so we're maintaining a list and we're adding to that list so they they sent an email to EC BHT WP got it uh we'll add their their address to the list and we'll we'll acknowledge we'll acknowledge receipt perfect thank you bcusa as I said waiting for Carolyn to come back back woods and Wayside that was Pat shandley okay we're back to we're almost done at 809 citizens hearing on any environmental issues okay do you want to come back Steve Gus there we go wait for the picture nope I am good thank you okay so Chris you are a new member uh uh and so maybe you can say a couple of words about your back why you want to do this it's just um I want to do it because it's something that I'm very interested in um I um I became a Master Guard in 2020 only um I'd wanted to do it for years but um I um I was working in it um the classes used to be during the day and the week so I wasn't able to do the class um I've been gardening for a very long time um I I'm I had a plot um at um the Wagner farm arum for 14 or 15 years um I gave that up last year because I'm I'm doing too much right now um and um one of the things that I did as I said before I did the green infrastructure champ with rkas this this um I think it was January through May um it's 20 weeks but it's you know it's only 10 it's only 10 weeks of lessons that's every second week you do a class um you know I one of the reasons why I want to do this is because I'm really concerned about the environment um you know you know I I think global warming is a a major issue that we're all going to have to deal with um you know especially with the increase in water and flooding um yeah I live in fre Acres um and um the Green Brook runs through fre acres and the Greenbrook um you know we've had houses that haven't had water issues I st to have water issues and um in addition to um you know houses on our side we have um 78 running on the other side and there's a huge amount of water that comes with 78 into 3 acres and and um so so so I see I see it I see it in my my local neighborhood and I know what's going on everywhere else so um when when Rich um asked me to join I thought this is um kind of like where I want to be right now this is something that um I hope that I can help with um you know for for for Berkeley Heights um and for free ACR that's it okay thanks very much welcome to the team I know a few faces I I I know Al I Know Rich um I know um Angus so um I know a few people it's which is nice to see yes good so the other thing uh that I I'll ask you to do is to take uh the and check training for environmental Commissioners I'll send you uh information on that okay that's great it's not something uh that they do every week but uh you know there'll probably be another training in the next couple of months okay excellent all right thanks everybody it's uh 812 do I hear a motion to aurn no moved second second thank you Renee nice seeing you all and I wish you could help stay safe stay coolay yes especially and pray pray for rain right for our Gardens yeah and our grass be well bye bye feel better Richard okay yeah I'm fine it's just I'm being cautious yep good good that's smart okay good night all right take care bye bye bye