okay we're calling the meeting to order the environmental Commission meeting to order at 7:31 p.m. uh we have uh everyone in the room oh and Renee join okay I'm hoping that I don't have to so it looks like lene you're there so that I don't have to admit you to the rooms and speak and now just just m okay well I think that you're there okay and first s approve minute March 18 the minutes March [Music] 18th ask I did those are yeah yeah I just saw one small correction I would have would make is to give the person's full name not just Carolyn Carolyn George she mentions uh that under the B City USA resolution anyone else no no other comments I'm Happ to Move Motion okay we here a second second you second March 25th I thought we what time do we start the meeting 7 7:31 yeah we got the 25th last time I thought we had done that outside but I cross that out April one I think I've seen those but maybe long yeah I okay I didn't see them so okay you want to make a motion or if you haven't seen them Prett wait wait a minute I mean that's only the last in the last agenda before leave this one I think I'm not sure we ever got to the February 19th February 19th okay I will look back and okay need to do that go to them here on gend items we don't have any visitors and Mr um yes St Caris Mr Caris wrote that the um minutes were not posted so minutes or the agenda the agenda I'm sorry the agenda was not posted so he uh would not be able to log in this is uh you know uh the second time this has happened maybe even the third time course a couple of years and I wrote an email to Barber R is supposed to post them uh so legally we meet the requirements uh that we have to tell the public when we are meeting but uh it may not be a requirement to actually have the agenda post unless you uh have a meeting at that's not been announced previously in which case you need to post it and post the agenda um and of course people can attend in person so okay you may not be able to um attend via Zoom but you could attend uh in person uh so a little bit of uh kind of ambigu ambiguity here because we're required by law to uh announce that when we are holding meetings but we did at the start of the year didn't sorry pardon we did at the start of the year schedule exactly but uh it may not meet everybody's standards of notification but it's legally right we're meeting the minimum standards the other aspect to it though is that uh they whether you would be required to post the link to the zoom meeting because uh this Zoom meeting is access via the link in the minutes or in the agenda and so the public would not have access to that link but as I said uh the minimum requirement is that we announce the agenda and of course people can attend and proceed guess the question is is Barbara the only person who's responsible for this or is it something we are both able to do ourselves in any way we can't uh I cannot access that uh that page to post the agenda to that page um and uh I copy Liza and Anna on this to so if Barber is not in then uh I would think that either Liza or Hanah has the capability posting maybe I'll have a be able to have a better discussion with bar eyes in any Cas let's move on to new business block party June 9th um that's the date I think it's running from noon ah right noon's about 3 or 4:00 um we um um I guess my first question is uh uh who was the available to help staff the boo that's what I'm I have a partial conflict I can do it later but I can't um I have a different event at myca okay what time would you be doing uh that event is from 10 to 1 so it'll be after okay all right going [Music] down yes you're available okay David you're not sure sure okay I conf what time exactly once again Richard please it's starts uh 12 to 12 probably start setting up at 11 that's what I was going to say right I'm Saturday yeah I don't think we can go any earlier then we uh should try see what I can do in terms of setup like if I can dart out and come back the see um or I can least at least drop off maybe drop off stuff I don't know trying to see open that open the street put down and the tent the township has our tent we don't need to do we don't need just need bodies to help we don't need tables I think we don't need tables Ora can provide tables we could confirm with but I believe there are cables available right and then I know traditional inv Bo kind of thrown in our own as well as the supplement that they have so I don't know how and then sometimes we've had in addition to the society uh the community garden so Renee want to check on that but the community garden wants to be involved sure I can do that and are you available I won't know until closer to the date because it just depends on sports schedule so those are not available at the moment but I will be happy to help if I can okay and Kim I'm not be around that weekend okay uh I at the moment am available that we can so um we should figure out what we're going to feature uh but that we can do um maybe I can draft something together and then we can discuss it in detail uh next is is 230 Princeton application for 230 Princeton um this was an expansion and uh because the applicant is exceeding maximum imperious surface I recommended that it not be approved but uh ask that they um not try to uh retain storm order with the green infrastructure any comments or questions so motion to approve the letter recommendation for 230 gston okay second second okay any objections any comments if not then we consider that approv and then 52 H so this was the case where uh the map is showing uh almost no infiltration this is of course based on a uh a map from on the federal level doesn't mean that that is actually the case but apparently there's almost no uh infiltration and in terms of soil when you rate soils a is uh very permeable and D is really almost not permeable so this is basically uh possibly a uh d uh soil um so I asked in this case uh that it not be approved but that the applicant work with toship engineer uh to uh try to uh uh determine whether uh they can use storm water uh uh green infrastructure to retain storm any questions or comments this is a general question so not so much as take this particular application what what's the township position going to be what's our position going to be if we bring in more rigorous storm water ordinance for property that has that is apparently zero um infiltration um you can do all of the storm water management you like all of the infiltration systems you like and the water's not going to go in so right so how does that do possible that there certain there are certain sites where the water will not penetrate and um that was in fact with the church uh the the engineers were claiming that uh the water table was rather high at the church I was surprised to hear that because that's a fairly high it's not the highest point natacha but it's a fairly high point natachi now there uh uh you m having planfield right that's uh up across the street from their uh hoc um uh that is something that the town uh I mean first has to investigate or have uh the uh homeowner investigate to determine how how much of they can retain on on site the other way to um approach this is uh retention retention Basin that holds the water back for a period until the rain passes and allows the then to slow down that's the other uh approach and that's the standard approach nowadays you have a retention B rather than an infiltration B that's and that's coming from the state in any case state regulations are uh stating that for example if the water table is 2 feet uh below your green infrastructure uh you can put in green infrastructure but if it's less than 2 Fe then uh there you can't use scening from yeah and they refer to the seasonal High world yes so if at any point in the season it's within two feet of the service right I think that was the church's isue yeah okay okay so did we get an approval on that um um I'm okay with that so motion to approve the recommendation for 52 hon as drafted okay second okay any other questions or comments not we Bel on to Scout project [Music] D did pictures I didn't get pictures let me check the um I'll check the scouts webs that' be great because you i' love to see 200 people like that would be amazing the that you know I should have taken pictures um so that that was not people from town this is people from Union Camp right right but it's an adventage yeah it it was it was um well well so this was the um invasive Blitz that um watch reservation 10 days ago Saturday um yeah good turnout couple hundred Scout mostly Scouts um it STS down to determine how effective you think you thought it was we cleared like 100 yards of TR um well I mean that's considerable amount of something it didn't I mean you look at the scale of the watch and reservation we didn't make a very big dance in the watch um was it six six yes um but yeah we cleared primarily multi rows Japanese barbery along a trail and then going back some distance into the Woodside 5 y 10 depending on the boy level of focus yeah I mean you're right the the reservation is just filled with Japanese bar it's enormous job try and you were basically not spraying right you were just we were just cut cutting it putting some some pulling some of the Roses out by not spray um so yeah it was it was a good um awareness activity and we made some DS in um the invasives it' be interesting to get a deep brief from that as to how usefully he feels that is for the the park is all I mean if if you can keep on doing that you know it's going to take uh a lot of effort keep on doing not just you but I [Music] mean volunteers doing yeah it was well attended so there's there's momentum there I think to to make it an ongoing event and uh on Saturday uh there were Girl Scouts at the par yes there were four Girl Scouts and two adults well four adults uh Marcus and uh what's the name um now I'm forgetting her name the mother of one of the other Scouts um and they were doing it on a smaller uh scale but that they were really enthusiastic about it was terrific and the other thing that happened was that um hat brought some plants to plants some native plants and they put in native plants as well and there are some more native plants you didn't do well of them that's the r u few of us but there there are more native plants that she wants to put in along that area that's down off of Grand Street so the Girl Scouts who were there on South the ones who um approached us to want to improve the trail between YMCA and um old canro right so just just four of those Scouts from that from that project midro from Old Cannon Road down to the ym there's a trail that's running kind of parallel to the uh ym CA property going upill so it's parallel to Snider yes parallel to Snider and then it crosses the power lines then power lines where there's this like more recent uh Building Development these like big mansions that no still the other side of um still the the other side of um Mountain still on the north side of mountain okay okay see they came they came to they talked to myself and John and then went to the Town Council about getting permission to do some improvements on that TR um so the same sort of thing basic species um plant some native wild flowers right they thought they could plant na wild flowers I'm uh the interesting thing is that we were planting native wild flowers in the sa Embark in shady areas so they apparently were not aware that there are native wild flowers that can uh can thrive in in shaded areas so I'll follow up with an email to them to see if that's something uh that they think they can't do uh I think it's an area of the trail that they want to um work on that is both bery house property and fairly Sunny well that's not a problem and if it's sunny that's not a problem I think I mean the most open patch is the is power lines obviously that's not Township property right but but there's a point where the township property joins the power lines but I think you still have clear clearing and some but it's so they may have options though uh community garden any updates for community garden no updates although um I forgot also says Steve Martin not the actor The Gardener the gardener uh contacted me because there was a large wet area that's next to the community garden he is trying to figure out what to do about that because that water is running into the garden we had exchange some emails I suggested that they do a test I haven't heard back whether they actually did a test so they could put a kind of uh rain Garden or if not a rain Garden at least a kind of bed that would be running next to the gardens capture that one off that's coming kind of uh down from Mountain Heaven down towards the garden and see if that can be either redirected uh or captured and allowed to infiltrate into the so now there spot where uh you know the water is just flowing into the G at the point where the irrigation uh I haven't heard back but we've had a considerable bit of rain doing a test on to stor ordinance and before we have haven't done anything yet no update ad do drain k sorry I don't have any updates right now okay well uh Kim did send me uh which we'll follow and just okay good uh sustainable Jersey actions up I don't have any updates there and I see I don't see near Tre ordinance Curious Thing I went to uh another webinar for the uh tree ordinance uh last week uh that was uh um run by the state as well as by uh uh the New Jersey uh Organization for planners Township planners and uh I thought that we were pretty much uh up to date with the draft ordinance that we have but I haven't seen anything more from Margaret and it's not on the agenda for tomorrow night so I don't know what's happening I'll try to follow up with Mark see if there's if she has plans to propose that beyond the agenda Recycling and clean up yeah so for the cleanup that's on Saturday the 27th um it is posted on the uh LED sign um it has been running the weekly blast that um that Carolyn George sends out um I'm getting supplies delivered to me by the County so we should be all set great TOS for the township newsl okay they just sent out a uh a notice about the next newslet for May um sorry date do it is April 26 is the next deadline take river parks and trails I think we kind of covered that on the scouts project I think that that's planning again this Saturday uh because I've got I'm holding on to the pl for okay uh yeah I mean the way she speaks of the prin group they meet every week so I think that's what she's trying to do in yeah I accept that they didn't show up this week this past Saturday was only the was only the small group uh and maybe because the notice went out kind of late kind of on Friday maybe that's why they got sat news plan I will ask Lara to notify is there something relating to that that we want to advertise in the newsletter event wise well that would be hard because we don't have those that schedule um and it depends on cat's schedule too or whoever she's having come up I can ask her whether she can do that as a schedule thing in which case we could put it any other topics we want to put on just jump back for besides uh Kim drain um have we done anything about what we're doing we did the saplings right yes okay so we'll wait a little bit to do something about uh tree people who want trees planted them right away because we know lies of suggestion was exactly what I thought okay these people maybe they would interest trees uh in the right way and uh the question that came up was maybe that's no that's at the Tre that's WR grants rgi Grant so um at this point uh we're going to the next stage of hiring uh a uh uh licensed tree expert to monitor the trees uh this summer so uh this person would go around and check uh on the trees to see uh that they are uh alive and and record them uh in uh what is called it tree Echo so that we'll have a database with these trees be able to follow their gr also the watering of the trees I inquired about companies that provide watering trucks these companies that provide watering trucks don't do this kind of a job namely watering individual trees putting uh know 20 gallons of water into a tree tree bag um but the uh vendors St uh cruster uh uh has that capability so um he uh will be hired to do that uh and it will involve about um estimating about 100 trees so out of 185 and that will most like most heavily involve in in the summer when it stops raining it's raining now uh pretty regularly so the trees are getting natural War so that number of residents would not volunteer to fill the B some of those residents are not volunteering uh and some of them acknowledge that they have they are traveling or whatever and and so don't uh wants to do so is it 20 Gall yes so Steve is not really water trees water water in the bag bag then let the water seat down Galli GR we haven't heard right unless you've heard no I'm not okay um we're supposed to hear the end of yes yeah I hope so was that up on that we're expecting here by the end of the month see donation we don't have sorry I can report on that okay um so read that reach out to me just to mention um about the library uh oh yeah so uh she set up a plant giveaway at the library on Sunday this this coming Sunday April 22nd 2 1st from 2:30 to 4 um and she wanted me to also uh asked if I could come to show the the uh the the com the food cycler machine at the event okay so I will be there um for most of that period to discuss that anding compos so all right uh leaf blower ordinances nothing here here ecd us resolution I need to formalize that in sent it to the township Council wood Wayside no update tree saplings for AR day so the Tre Happ will be delivered this week events will be on Saturday 12:30 to 2 I uh and also um before Saturday I will distribute uh saplings to the fourth grades so we'll start prob Renee do you think you are you available on Saturday to assist at all Renee sorry I was having trouble unmuting um it depends on the time I'll probably be like in and out um I mean I can definitely help set up and I can be there for some part of the time but probably not the whole time and and what are you going to bring this like this mesh metal mesh okay terrif okay we'll start setting up probably about Nish I don't think I mean not a crazy amount of seing so right I have a morning event so that reminds me I was walking on Saturday through the through the parking lot and the landscaper lies but the landscapers come 12:30 and it's with their Le l anything else um Angus do you need um table or two for me or we we don't have that much so I'm not sure what's needed uh one table would be great okay and then I'm not sure about the weather but do we need a tent uh yeah table and one table one tent I think would be great you can swing it yeah especially I mean if it's sunny you want to be in the shade of the T yeah you want to be in and where's sunscreen where it says six I know we we got burned one time bad remember Angus once maybe you what me twice I don't oh you didn't learn from the first time huh it wasn't as bad as like a time around I had lessar a little bit I learned a little bit all right somebody bring extra sunscreen I'll bring sunscreen table tent and yeah so do we need any like helpers it's going to be pretty small this year right so I don't want to yeah I also already laid out the map on the we site of the route so you need pylons or we we'll have I have a couple of signs we need P you know to indicate where um that was actually making was saving cardboard to make maps taking from your idea okay so um will we have the the PD helping us with traffic maybe or no because you know how there's you there's multiple ways you can enter and it's a tight it's a tight parking lot yeah um well given that's not that many siblings as well right um I'm I'm going to be sending out an email uh maybe today or tomorrow to uh to make sure that they're all aware of the route that's on the website um and then just be you know to follow that route so and then we'll have someone station like at the very beginning kind of direct I don't think we need to overd direct it because it's go in and then you go around so we'll see where the tent is it's kind of little more obvious okay and will is there a recycling day on Saturday yes I think there is yeah yeah there it's that it's at the U DPW we're at the other end station side I know I know but people will still come you know but that that ends at 12 so we should be okay all right I'm just trying to think out loud sorry oh that's perfect perfectly good idea yeah good idea to think out loud so thanks for organizing that I appreciate I dropped the ball on the um free ceiling requests I don't understand what's going on with our video and it's it's saying that we have a video and it say I says I can stop the video but we're not getting a video of the no all I see is Berkeley Heights Township office oh well video settings or what no it's on the right it's on the right device I suggest we the meeting else figure right all right do I hear a motion at 810 810 I no no second yet I have a question unless I missed it um rain barrels oh yeah oh yes can we talk about that because there's been a lot of email traffic on that no okaying some multiples this point we have about 10 people who have asked and there U maybe another person that has asked um and I uh sent an email to the Watershed Ambassador Morgan Crouch asking her to uh contact everyone including yourself Renee okay and uh so that she can arrange a date or dates to do first of all a uh little uh workshop on rain barrels and then secondly uh the actual building of the uh rain uh what date that will be the plan is to do it uh sometime in May in the municipal parking lot uh but we also have the challenge of obtaining the rain barrels which are down in South Jersey in Atlantic cting uh we have to figure out how to get those rain barrels up here uh so that's the latest uh and we should be hearing from Morgan in the next stage okay great very exciting hey if there's nothing else ition 82 okay who's making the motion okay I will second all right David makes the motion and H A seconds good night everybody