I'd like to call a meeting to order um Township meeting for uh March 11th uh please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance if you can to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all welcome members of the TC and uh and audience we have our open public meeting act notice first thank you open public meeting statement pursu into the open public meetings act notice of this meeting was sent to the cranberry press the Trent times and home News Tribune on January 5th 2024 post on the Township's website and sent to those who requested a copy of this notice we'll move on to roll call Mr fronte is absent Mrs kiram here uh we'll let Dr Rogers get S Mr Scott here Dr Rogers here and mayor Elway here thank you thank you all uh welcome welcome everybody today we're having a public hearing on our 2024 budget so without further Ado Denise sure um this is for the 2024 budget which is from January through December this year's total budget is 14 million 10,482 um pretty in line with what last year's budget was um our assessed value has gone up slightly um we're watching it rise slightly since 2019 um budget has remained pretty consistent amount to be raised by tax also consistent there will be a zero Municipal tax increase for this year uh once again revenues also match our Appropriations so we're at 14,110 482 54% of that comes from our taxes 18% comes from miscellaneous which is things like hotel tax sewer connection um sewer fees special items is 9% those are things um reserves from our construction trust from our Fair share any money that we have set aside state aid is 4% this year we've used 12% for Surplus and we have right now in our budget 3% for Grants when we come up with our budget and our tax revenue we look at Surplus that's a very important part of the picture um available at the end of 2023 going into 2024 was $7.9 Million we're going to be using approximately 1.8 million looking to replace about 1.5 million so we are constantly looking at replacement versus use to make sure that we are not going to run out of surplus um and so far we've been doing really great with that the um average household this year is 66,6 44 slightly up from last year not much last year was I think 663 $300 um which means that basically your Municipal tax will be $239 for the year lastly we take a look at our future capital projects um we look at them three to five years out um we only focus on the current year when we're creating the budget but we do have estimates further out so we can see what our debts going to look like when we're coming up with our budget um we have signage at about 24,000 um Fire Company requests could be um if they need a new truck about a million police vehicles for the next several years will be over $700,000 pistol replacement which is a continuous thing um 36,000 for the next four to five years major road repairs we're looking at 4.4 million um hopefully getting grants for a large portion of that but we won't know that till we apply police evidence equipment which has become mandatory State mandated is about 260,000 and then we have ongoing sewer improvements approximately 650,000 between South Brunswick and here for the next four to five years so with that being said um again zero tax increase on the municipal end for Cranbury Township um finances look good so we can open it up to hearing if anyone has a question from the public now is your chance to ask okay seeing none we will close the hearing Debbie will take roll call for adoption can we move on to roll call Mr fronte is absent Mrs kiram yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes mayor El betway yes it's unanimous for members present thank you thank you very much and thank you for that very brief and concise uh presentation do we have any agenda c um additions or changes none excellent uh we have our minutes from our February 26th meeting would anybody like to move them as prepared I'll move second thank you we'll move on to rule call uh Mr fronte again absent Mrs kir yes uh Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes and mayor Al betway Yes again unanimous for members present thank you thank you very much we're g to move on to reports by members of the committee would any of you like to start uh I can start I didn't have any of my uh leaz on me I I do want to bring up one issue that's been raised a couple of times I know we've spoken on it but um I've had another email from a resident at cranberry Commons regarding Street lighting um and I know that there's issues because the within cranberry Commons it's their own domain and they're responsible for their lighting but they're requesting Lighting on um on South Main Old Trenton Road um and I think it it it's an issue of of Public Safety it's an issue of walkability there's a lot of kids that reside in that community and and the parents are concerned about the safety of their kids walking so um I guess I would ask the traffic subcommittee to to take it up and to discuss um I can share with you a couple of thoughts because I did meet with one of the residents there and I did discuss rather extensively with Denise as well uh what they're asking for is not um I mean it's it's not wrong yes we all would love our light uh to be a little bit brighter for the path to be a little bit better illuminated the residents across the street from them are the Four Seasons the Four Seasons already sort of uh you know would like less lighting coming out of the cranberry Commons right and so we just recently approved through the planning board some uh lighting that is sitting right outside the the the flanking restaurant um I don't know if you've seen that it has like a patio with these ball lights on the outside we just recently approved those and they've been in there for a little while they're the way they illuminate it is it doesn't sort of right up the street it just brights up that little area but even that has caused pause for some of the residents across the street and so additional trees and additional buffering will be putting in will be put in there uh by the cranberry Commons folks not by us the idea as well um Matt is that you did an extensive study on lighting and your experience with PG is that they really don't show up unless there's like some huge maybe U you know um emergency or some it took time it took time for you to get those things changed right yeah and we are asking for a brand new poll I think that's what the resident was telling me is they looking for a brand new poll in an area that lighting does not exist so okay so so the the idea then is if we've got a situation where lighting is not necessarily the most exciting for the neighbor plus we may not have uh the ability of the vendor to come out and actually put it in um I'm not sure what we can do but what does exist is lighting within the community right they have beautiful lighting there and I kind of guided that Resident and the residents that came with them to say that you're you can use that space to move around in comfortably um with illumination and I'm happy to chat with you further on this but yeah I uh we we should discuss um I mean it when I had them put new um lights in on Maine we we had a gentleman who was a leaz on the PSG I don't think he's there anymore um so I think it's worth pursuing with PG to see if you know the the lights that are on South Main are the old you know sodium vapor lights maybe just upgrading those lights the ones that are similar um on Maine and Parkplace West the um downcast um I forget what they are now um they're not LED but they're they're close induction lights I think they're called okay um so maybe just changing out the the sodium Vapors to induction lights would help because the the induction lights as opposed to the sodium vapor lights that are there now which casts a lot of light laterally and vertically the induction lights cast light down so it doesn't offend neighbors as much but provides better focal Lighting on the streets maybe that's an idea so are we talking about two different locations or you're talking about South Maine and Old Trenton and Old Trenton so that's not for SE seasons is that old Cranberry Road so the residents that you spoke with and that we sent all those emails about were asking for lighting on Old Cranberry Road now Matt's talking about South Main Street so I think that's different that's what I was asking talking about South they the email that I got was for both okay but but it's it's the same group of of residents so what what if you look at a donut right we've got the outside of the donnut on one and we've got the other outside of and right through the center of the donut is where we would actually like residents to continue walking and mingling like to stay in that area that's the safe Zone that's where it's illuminated that's where trucks and cars are not passing so what you're talking about is the north side of the donut I'm talking about the you know the back side of the donut yeah um and I really I'm not sure maybe we do need to chat a little bit more about this but in general uh if we're asking for additional polls well that's going to be you know we're at the mercy of a vendor that we really don't even have a connection with it anymore um and we also have to be just very conscious with regards to you know the other side I'm sorry that I was talking about that we don't sort of um affect the residents on on this side so we've got residents this side we've got residents the other side on South Main as well so whatever we do we can't affect the unintended consequence would be to affect the neighbor in that way yeah is are there um sidewalks on that side of like on South Maine I don't think so because it's the backside of their of their of their there's a sidewalk in the front is there yeah or is it on the other side it stops at the end of the development but there is a sidewalk on South M okay but it stops right at the end of the new development on the east side maybe we could look into the lights the type of Lights we'll look into this I think we need to look into it further but um one thing I really really took from our last meeting was that we want to continue to guide people to to walk where it's safest where they're intended to walk and so I know we want to walk elsewhere but seeing what you know um how Chief sort of illuminated certain certain behaviors for us that if if we want them to be a certain you know U path then we kind of have to encourage that path I think that's reasonable I just um I think as far as the residents of of of gry Commons you know got young kids and it's really a safety issue that's opposed to um the residents of Four Season so I have respect for but I mean they're just it's a more of a convenience issue they're concerned about the lights coming into their house but we're talking about the safety of kids walking so um yeah i' would like to have a further discussion um and maybe touch Bas of PG see if they have any ideas so you're thinking that different type of light might help if that's just the solution then that's yeah that's what we did that's what we did on on on North M downtown we just changed out the lights and it made a big difference we didn't add any new poles we just Chang the the quality of of the lighting but it's the same residence right it's the same residence from Cranbury common I believe so is that a POS that's something to look into PS trying to call psng do you have a number do but I think we should we should first see with regards to the um you know the unintended consequences for our neighbors like we really need to explore that before we go and put in a poll no it's not the poll it's just changing the light yes do we have examples of that light in town uh yeah so at at um the corner of um across from cross from Leo Sushi the Park Place yeah Parkplace thank you Parkplace West and um and North M okay yeah just just the the fixture which I believe didn't cost anything right not yeah it doesn't cost change the fixture but if we put a poll on it's gonna cost obviously yeah okay all right well thank you for sharing that that's all I got excellent um Lisa or Barbara who would like to go I'll go look go down the line on um edak uh we're going to hear from momentarily Tom scissor is here on behalf of edak to present the findings and results of the cranberry and visitor survey so when we get there I'll kind of Tee It Off um cranberry historic preservation Society met on um March the 4th and um the cranberry historic um HBC um their next meeting is going to be on March 19th which I'll be away for business but we'll commit to speaking to both Jennifer and uh Susan um I have a call with Audrey Smith uh prior to me leaving on this business trip to just kind of cover off on any needs that that they have uh zoning meeting on March 6 was cancelled um and then NJ Revolution 52 towns are listed uh now that's increasing still not cranbery and oddly enough uh we're up to six counties but not middle middx County so that's interesting that middlex County hasn't uh registered for revolution New Jersey um and then um just kind of parlaying on uh edac um I'm sure everybody if you're not aware the cranberry Chamber of Commerce uh merged uh with the um hold on one second I just got a brief presentation that I will pass down the line if anyone's interested in it um I'm going to be here we go sorry there was a I would I'm going to call it a press release there's really no other word about it but the cranberry Chamber of Commerce has joined forces and joined um the central New Jersey Regional Chamber of Commerce uh they currently manage uh 10 Towns or townships municipalities that they're involved with um and that was sent out on the 26th of February that announcement I was able to um meet with uh and talk to Eric Haron for an extended period of time on kind of what the Genesis was for the nature that merge which was really um to kind of help expand the scope of the business's reach here um as we increase our businesses in Cranberry imagine a pie I just said we spin a wheel to figure out where we go to breakfast in the morning and now we're up to I've got six choices now and with a community of 4,000 residents that those pie slices they get narrower and narrower if we only stay in our community here so from my perspective it makes sense that they wanted to join a larger group so that there could be more of a pull into to the businesses here um fun fact we have uh seven businesses in Cranberry that are already members of this uh New Jersey um central New Jersey Chamber of Commerce um you know if you go on their line their uh dues um from my research was $125 which was very much in line with the CBA when we were working with them on edac uh to try to establish dues so they're very reasonable um from what I learned about them as well they have um the neighboring uh locations around us are East Wind East Windsor Jamesburg East Brunswick New Brunswick spots Monroe cranberry and then um 15 towns are represented on their member directory so they're talking about 10 but 15 on there um they host monthly lunch networking at some of the businesses they do that they do ribbon cutting ceremonies they've dedicated canvasing and business Outreach teams they have very active social media presence on Instagram Facebook LinkedIn and YouTube they host an annual golf outing they do a food drive um they do mayor roundtables or elected official roundtables um and so that's kind of my report back on it it seems to make sense for the businesses here it's an opin uh we'll continue to learn about it um from Eric I'm going to meet with him and the president Jeffrey Kagan on the 21st of March is the tentative date that we have we're just trying to decide on the time that day um and I'll continue to inform you guys on it obviously we don't advise we don't liaison into a private Business Association but it's just more for anybody in the community that doesn't know the TC is well aware of it and if we can answer any questions we will if not um you can go to the I'm going to get the acronym right here if it it kills me the C njr cc.com website uh for all information but I look at it as a it's a positive for the businesses to grow their business and attract some more visitors here so fun facts are here I'll leave this here if anybody wants to peruse it um but uh and they they held a um at the cranberry in an information session um and to my knowledge they'll try to be holding some more so that they can continue to educate the business community in Cranberry is there any questions on that particular I I do have a question so I think then we're going to need to take off the cranberry business not the cranberry bus but the Chamber of Commerce off of our website well it's not the website it's the we have that written in the I think we have an an ordinance for don't we the we just haven't listed as generically as business associations I don't think we have chamber no we we added the chamber uh last year I think it's under Community maybe it's on the website what I'm asking is when we were talking about the edac we had to revise the No No not under edac but under our website our Township website we have it listed separ yeah we'll have to remove that but correct me if from wrong Denise when we had to redo the edac for 2020 3 we had to modify either resolution or something I believe when we referenced The Business Association we did gener separate it was just generic it was just generic we just said B Business Association just want absolute confirmation that so when you click on primary Chamber of Commerce it's already CNG jrcc which we don't need to L to yeah oh that's fine I think it was somebody Miss sent it to us in order for us to do that who did that so maybe when we received the information it was sent to to update has he changed the website meeting probably cranberry Chamber of Commerce changed their website yes I think that's what's happened I don't remember anyone sending anything I I certainly did I was waiting for Lisa's report to anytime you you do that it's just a link to a new domain so it's just his so you're saying you want that taken off um the cranberry Chamber of Commerce needed to be taken off um this is now it's it's now a different entity this is what it looks like yeah we either remove it or we rename that link to the that acronym um as of right now it looks like it says cranberry Chamber of Commerce but they've updated their picture which is showing the CN jrcc which is not really correct no because the chamber doesn't exist correct right y yeah so still say Chambers I just thought it was like just remove do we want it renamed or we want it off all together again I I would the last thing I'd want is for anybody to think that we are um giving a um a referral or anything to a private Business Association that's not what that's not what we're doing we don't have one on there for the CBA correct it's not a cranberry organization don't have a so it's more of a regional and we don't do that for regionals we do it for our cranberry so remove CB CBA is there but they don't have a website right these to um I think it was I can't recall so what happens is when you I guess you go to their website it links to the they did that in the back end yeah so that you can do that with any domain I I I believe Leisa is correct we did put something in the ordinance to include both CBA and Chamber of Commerce but since EAC is Frozen is not active right now it's really not that big I just wanted we actually put the names in I think we did I to look I couldn't remember I just had it as a note to cross the T and the the I'm sorry so may we removing the CRI the Chamber of Commerce off of the organization part of the website okay so does this mean that the cranberry Chamber of Commerce as a freestanding entity doesn't exist doesn't exist it's folded into okay that it's not even called that anymore right it's just absorbed in it's a merger so whatever you know again the the dominant here is the c n jrcc and this cranberry Chamber of Commerce no longer exists it's absorbed into that new entity um and I just happen to be speaking to just as an FYI they are prating the membership for the rest of the year for the businesses in Cranberry if they would like to join that yeah I think and that was covered on that meeting on the 29th also at the Cranbury Inn and I think that's why they're trying to have that was very rushed because of some illness and it was just was coordinated very very quickly so I think it's in their best interest to try to do one of them again so if they're looking at having members join from Cranbury but I was surprised when I looked on the you can go on the um you can look at members on that website and go through them there's seven pages of them and there's six or seven businesses from cranberry already and you'll be very familiar with most of them when you when you look all right thank you very much for that and one of the um events that they did was the April uh whatever it's called so yard sale yard sale right yeah so the cranberry yard sale which was originally managed by the CBA um I believe that is going to be taken back The Luminaries is also under consideration for the CBA okay um the colonial Fair um uh chips had already decided before this that they were not going to do it but they might bring it back especially with NJ Revolution 2526 like that might be really nice timing for a a cranberry event and then the third was the tour to tour to Cranberry and that's if um Mr Sensei wants to pursue that um that would be through wreck um because you've got emergency services that were involved okay some Eagle projects continue um and they're not just a one-off but that's not for the cranberry Chamber of Commerce to make that decision that would be if if he wants to manage that again and and pursue it again but those would be the three or four that have already been identified thanks oops thanks awesome and with regards to the to the yard sale because I've already started getting questions about it um do do we know for sure that the CBA has taken that up we don't I put a phone call into Julie and waiting to see if they're going to do that and also about The Luminaries okay thank you okay um uh so um continuation of the uh ordinance for tree uh replace removal and replacement um Shay tree had their work session um and um that was last week and um they received um additional guidance from the Shay Tre Federation and D um there are some webinars that they're attending and um they're they have a draft ordinance they're working um towards approving it and once they have that draft ordinance um uh once and they'll be approving it at their April 1 meeting and um and uh once that approved that'll be going to the township committee for consideration um the environmental um commission uh Teresa viaro and I are leading a mapping of the inlets to uh for the ms4 permit um for storm waterer management and we're having our first meeting um of volunteers tomorrow with Tom Decker who's going to help guide um this the mapping of the um inlets and we have five um High School vol unteers that are going to be coming which is really great for them to learn that our inlets do go to our waterways and they'll get to see that um and then also application um we got together thank you for passing the resolution in support of an application for the grant for the uh Community energy plan and that's going forward and the due date is until May so hopefully in this summertime we'll find out if we get this this Grant to help do a community energy plan um the next Parks meeting so I didn't have any other U meetings except the next Parks meeting is Wednesday this Wednesday and the environmental commission is next Monday 18th any questions excellent thank you for all that hard work uh I will report out on my um On My Le on positions um I just first wanted to uh extend a very blessed holy to uh those that are celebrating the holy celebration and I wanted to extend a very happy Ramadan or Ramadan Mubarak for those celebrating Ramadan today is the first day of Ramadan um the planning board met and we passed uh a couple of resolutions one granting permission for the lighting that I was talking about earlier and um the other one sort of uh I'm sorry and it also in that same resolution it lays uh guidelines for the planting of trees in that phase of construction and the other resolution was a consistency review of a storm water management clause in our Township ordinance and Michael was so kind to prepare a little uh blur that I will read for you all because he is a member of the zoning subcommittee that was involved in actually uh that work so this is a slight change to one of our land use ordinances um that clarifies what the definition or re of Redevelopment is this was suggested by a planning board engineer and reviewed by the zoning committee a subset of land use volunteers representing the zoning board um it was a long meeting by the way we also had a new uh a new application for a wonderful project another big Warehouse project a mom and pop uh organization that has been around for 70 years I think they've their home base has been raway and they're now moving to Cranberry so welcome to Cranberry the municipal Alliance will be meeting on March 10th I'm sorry the next Tuesday right yes the next Tuesday after that that's not correct 19th yes 19th that's not correct and the uh we had a meeting with um the superintendent at school talking about the construction and the phases of construction and it's wonderful that this project is moving forward and they just have it's just very nice to have open communication lines because as they construct in an area and build their fences they'll be adjusting for parking and things like that so it's just very nice to have all of that and um I'm wondering uh Matt or Barbara did they have a website or something that they would be posting sort of updates about the construction on yes they will right yeah they will I started last and it's still continuing right I I'm trying to remember was that I'd like to put that in the mayor's update just to share that with people so they could follow um follow the construction progress if they wanted to I got to officiate my first marriage it was very cool yeah it was very very cool and it was very busy day and it was like cutting it right down to the wire right you know they had their picked up their marriage license got them married and yeah off they went it was really cool which the couple a u you know lifetime of happiness and health our Personnel subcommittee we haven't met but we are going through the ordinance for the proposed merging of parks and recck commission and um it has gone through legal now it's going through us and then when it is in um when it is at a point that we can show with the TC we certainly will I that's going to be shortly the mayor's Wellness campaign met and they discussed the placement of the uh they produced a flyer with all the senior listings sort of last year and they have been in communication with the library to see if the library would host that on their website and I think the library has agreed so we're waiting for that and they're working on other healthy Town initiatives including finding tour guides for a walk in one of the towns or preserves or Parks I'm sorry the township preserves or parks and we'll see I think they they they've already got one tour further than just the planning I think it's the uh it's further along in the planning phase and they're looking for one more um I just wanted to say congratulations to all of those who took part in the Cranberry School production of The Little Mermaid it was lovely as usual people came out even in the rain it was it was very very miserable that night and that's it for my reports any questions for me where's where's this uh new Warehouse broadly speaking you know um it is past the turnpike so past 130 past the turn towards I think it's like the Cooper Cooper Electric that that kind of area yeah they have a very nice project so yeah we're very excited about that wonderful so we have no subcommittee heads no department heads but we do have a board that's offering a presentation today we do but before we get there sorry quick question so residents are responsible for their own sidewalks correct right correct if you um I just walked a dog today um around Heritage and they if we have an uneven sidewalk that's um approaching South Main Old Trenton Road uh that butts up against the park is that our responsibility as a Township it's our park so I would presume it's a side it's it's a sidewalk so is it is that a is in front of the park or is it in front of a resident front of the park side of the Park yeah then it's most likely the township okay and then I don't know if anybody else had noticed especially in the spirit of safety pigging back on what Matt was talking about right where that crosswalk is on the east side of South Maine and the corner of Heritage Park um we're having that same kind of like flooding issue and it is crazy muddy and really really slippery and that's right where the crossing guard stands and I've got some pictures that I'll submit but I I don't know and I don't know if it's that same situation as the Heritage Park where we've tried everything and yeah I know it's pretty bad um and where we've tried to mitigate that and we couldn't find a solution on it so I don't know if we're going to have the same problem here but what's the best way to kind of send it to me and I'll send it to the engineer and he'll take a look at it okay and let us know what he thinks um South Main is a county road but they don't typically get involved with sidewalks that's that's why I was kind of bringing it up I wasn't sure yeah okay all right I'll send it but it was just when uh Matt mentioned his I thought maybe this was opportunity it's kind of like the same thing oddly enough on the same Corner okay so sorry okay all right you ready okay cool okay so in I want to say October uh the edek embarked on uh two uh ambitious projects so one was a resident and visitor survey uh which edak originally did in the first year of the uh creation of the edak to kind of get a feel of the kind of the state of the community and find out what people were thinking um you know as far as you know the community and the amenities that we had here um and that was also during covid um so uh responses may vary based on what everyone was psychologically and emotionally and and financially dealing with you know we wanted to kind of check in with the towns and the and visitors to the town we also um thanks to a list of about bless you about 150 businesses uh we sent out a survey to and we're not reporting on that because we got 36 respondents which anyone will tell you that's really not statistically significant um there were some learnings there we'll we'll share that make it public what what those responses were um but you'll see how some of the things that the residents are asking for kind of tie into that business survey and um Tom scissor who's a member of EDC is going to present the resident and visitor survey results on behalf of the entire edak I'm going to use my mouth and ears proportionately and I will only talk when asked on if uh Tom is interested in uh me interjecting but um we're going to try to tie in the business survey with the the residential a little bit because you'll see what some folks in and cranberry are asking for or interested in and that may tie in very nicely okay so with that Tom come on up and state your name and I've got it here so you just tell me to advance and I'll move it I don't need you turn on the mic the [Music] microphone thank you guys all right awesome well uh I'm going to quickly just introduce myself as Lisa mentioned my name is Tom sesor I have a wonderful wife Fallon who's also involved in town on the rec committee and two Superstar children Brier and trip who are forign two uh we have lived in Cranberry for about two going on three years now and I personally feel fortunate to have had an opportunity to get involved as a volunteer and specifically as part of the EAC committee to just add value and try to find ways to improve town I do want to take a minute to thank Lisa specifically for her guid idance as part of the EAC committee and also the other edac members that have helped compile the survey specifically Bill Eric Rosemary Ana and Anan and then I want to thank the TC for allowing me to present our findings here today I really appreciate it I do plan to move quickly through the slides focusing just on key points so please stop me if I'm moving too fast I do believe we have some time at the end for any questions you can hit next thank you um So based on the data results I do want to start with the following takeaways to just keep in mind as over arching themes as we move through the slides one respondents like the small historical town of cranberry uh that has a unique and Charming atmosphere two respondents have liked and are utilizing all new additions that have been made in town over the past 18 months or so three respondents do wish there were more things to do specifically dining shopping retail options they would like that more in town and then the last thing is as Lisa mentioned while not reporting on the business survey I am going to call out some data points that are relevant for current businesses or prospective businesses uh you know that I'll just highlight as we move forward so the how and why how was the survey compiled you know edac we brainstormed you know for quite a while some questions that we thought would be valuable to get feedback from uh residents and non-residents and we distributed the survey uh via email using a Township database of contacts um I do want to call out that we did introduce pure open-end questions uh or open-ended uh responses I guess questions where we allowed open-ended responses for certain questions being the goal to just gather people's true honest and authentic feedback around specific questions and why did we do this we did this to truly just gather data opinions and ideas to hopefully provide results to the TC that they can use as an asset when choosing to advance or think of new priorities you can next thank you um so moving on to who participated the audience primarily 94% residents which I think is a positive given residents have skin in the game right so hopefully the feedback we receive is can be thought of as reliable um and you know from like a map perspective you know the chart on the table it primarily evenly split specifically through districts one and two which I guess would be Shadow Oaks and the Main Street and then uh you know still a relatively good response rate from District three overall about 17% of the population was represented which I think is a good stat next please so out of uh the resident respondents the majority 95% own their homes and about half of 47% or so uh have lived in Cranberry for 20 plus years uh the other half or the 53% were relatively evenly split between you know one and five 5 to 10 and 10 to 20 years next thanks so now get into the fun stuff so why do residents choose cranberry to live you know four primary reasons good school system small town historical town and a commute or you know travel to work uh now why do non-residents come to Cranberry three primary reasons dining options work or to visit family and friends uh a few additional demographic data points on the response the majority were female uh 70 plus% are about 50 uh years or older which is I think an interesting stat uh now the split was relatively even in 10year increments from 20 to 70 plus but when you hit the 50 and over that approximates to about 70 plus percent uh another interesting stat is that 60% of uh of respondents have children over the age of 18 uh next uh so the data suggests two things one residents believe cranberry is a good place to live and two visitors believe cranberry is a good place to visit overall I think this is a positive slide for the town next the data also suggests that the majority do not feel strongly that cranberry is or is not a destination town the positive I would say is that you know 34% that's a you know third do believe that cranberry is a destination which is I think positive next please uh so moving on uh to why uh respondents visit downtown cranber this is one that I would call out as a business relevant slide about 60% of respondents visit downtown once or several times per week and they primarily visit for three activities one dining two an outdoor activity or three a planned event next and this is another business relevant slide average monthly spending for a snapshot about 40% are spending at least 100 a month or approximately 1,200 a year uh you know with 58% spending less than a 100 a month and 2% a little bit of an outlier spending over 500 a month now if I were to pick one slide that I think is is a truly impactful slide I would call this out as a testament to the work that has been done by those here and others in town couple points here one respondents are taking advantage of new additions that have been made the investment was made and it seems like there is being a return on that investment two all items that we listed as a new item were checked right and only a very small amount about 8% of those said that they didn't know any new additions were made three dining options were by far or you know over 60% which is a high figure were the most popular and then the other items that were highlighted here are public events shopping options and then outdoor activities that were really highlighted as a a favorable new addition so I do hope you guys appreciate the picture here uh so when I think of a destination I think of Wally World and and the fun Vacation movie um but why did respondents think that cranberry is a destination you know three kind of trends that would call out is one that it's a historical town center two it has a charming and quaint unique atmosphere and then three you know major Necessities you got your library post office food options all within walking distance of downtown next please than now going on to Jack uh Nicholson is to do we want the truth why do people not think of cranberry as a des destination you know three again prevalent themes one not much to do two not enough dining variety and three lack of shopping and Retail options we also kind of asked questions around the satisfaction of amenities and current offerings I would say overall most overall General positive responses nothing was glaringly negative which I would take away as a positive respondents like the history they like the park system and they like the green spaces respondents were indifferent to positive on Township activities bike and pedestrian circulations and a few others as mentioned in the yellow category and then respondents do think that there could be more of a variety of shops and restaurants and activities for seniors which I thought was interesting just given the demographics and age range that were we highlighted earlier next uh this is just a skip over slide this is essentially the data that supps the previous slide so we can skip this one so now moving on to visiting patterns which again I would highlight is a business relevant slide essentially wanted to look at where respondents are going what are the visiting patterns and I think again a positive is despite the lack of destination appeal respondents are still visiting cranberry monthly and I think that's important to call out and you know if not cranberry respondents are primarily either doing their shopping online or they're going to the Route 130 shopping centers uh now speaking of destination when planning a destination we wanted we were interested to see where respondents are going and you know four areas kind of stood out one they're going to Princeton two they're going to the Jersey Shore of the beach three they're going to New York City and four Lambertville and New Hope uh you know kind of area now one thing I do want to call out again is a positive I'm trying you know my wife tries to get me to be positive uh is that cranberry is relatively in line as a destination to kind of our near neighboring towns so that's comparing us to heightstown Hamilton Robinsville and Plainsboro so with the exception of Princeton we're in line with our peers next so summing uh summing up uh essentially we felt that the survey is an effective method and tool to gather honest feedback and assess satisfaction and to try to source ways to improve the town another is that cranberry strength is its you know it's a small historical town with a Charming atmosphere uh cranberry's weakness is that it does lack you know a variety of shopping options again based on what the data has kind of presented for us understanding that you know challenges with mix zoning can present you know the ability to bring in any and everything so areas for improvement I understand edak is taking ause um you know and if the survey is Revisited in the future we did want to just assess what could we do better uh a few things to highlight is that you know we could try our best to increase survey distribution channels utilizing QR codes asking local businesses to help us spread the word for people you know the more responses we get the more valuable the data is um another area of improvement is to tailor questions for both residents and non-residents and also try to potentially pinpoint specific issues four specific districts so we had a map there of one two and three it'd be interesting to ask specific questions of each district and analyze that and then the the third thing is just potentially time the survey distribution a little bit better this year we sent it out right before Thanksgiving and I don't know about you but around Thanksgiving I'm thinking about turkey and you know everything I got to buy um so perhaps we could time the survey to be in line maybe with another events like the census or an event like cranberry day or or something that brings a lot of people together next yep and so then you know and again you know when you put all this work together and you gather all this data did just want to put a list of items to just potentially reflect on or you know that are maybe actionable um you know three main things is one double down on what cranberry does well as a small historical town potentially accelerate and encourage isore removals within Town um you know the second thing is that cranberry is well suited to host events like with its Park systems and its green spaces and was you know it was very interesting and uh exciting to just kind of see how respondents like the events like cranberry day porch Fest fireworks Halloween or all events that you know residents non-residents can enjoy and can also help local businesses get a get a lift uh and then the third thing is that you know potentially look to recruit businesses that fit the above you know bagel shop is one of the things that a lot of people mentioned or or other eateries that kind of fit the vibe that you know res respondents do like about C so I will pause there and I uh you know definitely open to any kind of questions or anything I can elaborate on and Tom I just think you know before we take questions that last Point too was kind of catered again it's not our responsibility to recruit unique businesses but you know if real estate agents or local real estate agents are being for commercial properties are saying oh I want to open a bagel shop hey I've got a town for you because we've got real raw data here that says that we've got a community that would be interested in that so we saying that you know we'll make this public but that would be a good use of this data that businesses themselves can say oh I make bagels maybe I need to amplify that message so subtle small things like that but more toward the business Community not for the TC to to have action against that we are we gonna give this study high profile or we gonna put it on the web page how are we gonna it's great it's fantastic thanks well done um but I I think that you're right like we although we want these things to happen we're we're not the body that's going to recruit businesses so so how do we get this word out well the last time we did the survey we housed all the results and everything that edak did including the presentation we we housed that under edak with that being kind of on like Hiatus right now um open to other suggestions where you know again I would say possibly in a mayor's update to just call um out that the survey was done the results are public and they can find it I don't know where again edak would be the natural place we still have the heading for it it doesn't need to be an active committee to it still has its header on there edac's not still on the website we took it off yeah we took it off I just looked it's not on there so we'd have to put it somewhere else I mean the mayor's update will bring it to people's attention I don't know if people are coming to the website looking for something like that so I don't know where we would put it I actually like the summary page very much um and I think that I'd like to highlight some of these definitely in the mayor's update it uh but I think it is it's a lot of information to put on just an update so if if the information is not going to reside somewhere well my suggestion was location as part of the update not the whole presentation that would be cumbersome for you I um all right so let's let's talk on that a little more but I would like to highlight you know at least this information here this is very nice it's a nice synopsis um I actually was very tickled I was trying to catch that list that you uh that you had up where it has at the very bottom the least favorite to the top with the most favorite was wait go go um our favorite side yep just looking at the bottom three the bottom four the bottom bottom Five sporting events in the Parks like that's their least favorite a lot of them are recreational I know but like we we just we just talking about how we want more events in the Parks but then we just but maybe the people it's noise or something the question is have you taken advantage of the following and since it's older older people these are folks this is what they said of all of the things and you could check as many as you have interacted with um that's your result okay so 7.5% have taken advantage of sporting events in the park of the respondents of the respondents and and then you have to look at the respondents the demographics they were the older people which is I think what why Tom you know we can kind of continue to point through that that over 50 is the majority of the respondents over 50% right right but and do just want to call out there are 60% that have kids that are 18 and older and I know even me the problem my wife and I here was my wife's view of cranberry that she was like that's a really good place to kind of look at so as you think about it while the majority of respondents are of that older demographic they do have kids and there are also you know evenly split with the other demograph with the other age buckets that are also in town that are going to kind of come through so it's it's an interesting kind of Crux and it's really just again people across all demographics are taking advantage of this and again how are ways that we can you know kind of funnel in that new generation while also taking care of those that are potentially older yeah the engagement is a very interesting piece who who who did we capture was it a similar situation when you did the pickle ball survey I'm curious did we take an a did we ask for age on that one we did not okay no not just residents it's just it's very interesting and you know thank you to all those who actually I have a um I have a question um so it sounded like walking walkability is something that's really great did I I don't recall whether you had a connectivity a connectivity if there was optional con connectivity to like other towns or anything like that that would help the business like our I'm Sorry by connectivity I'm sorry like like instead of riding driving a car like if we had biking or walkability to Plainsboro or Monroe or whatever um I I think that's an excellent question and that's something I don't think we specifically called out I think that's more of a a pinpoint of a of a question and me personally and again this is not as part of the EDC but me I I'm training for a marathon right now so I see the sidewalk I'm I'm running all around and and what was interesting is whenever I would run and I would see like oh hey I almost just fell off this you know I was thinking of the you know again the respondents the the the people that have taken time to do this survey that are over 50 years old and they're only you know obviously tripping is a hazard for anybody but specifically those that you know are getting older and age I would say so just something to think about and I also know that eyes soures are you know again I'm part of the Facebook group I I kind of see people that comment on certain Trends and a lot of the trends that I read in the survey of the comments are the same trends that are coming up on the Facebook page so um and again we just tried to think about that but connecting towns I think is would be awesome where think where cranberry is and the the connections that could be made but granted we do have a highway that kind of runs through so it's a little dicey and the reason why I'm talking about this because we have this bike Network that we're really working on trying to get I mean you know if we could get people biking and wanting to stop because I know a lot of the uh bike clubs do stop after they've ridden around too so that yeah capturing how they do come in would be kind of would have been cool to and and I know is also someone that Cycles you know having those dedic and I'm also coming from someone in New York that has dedicated bike Lanes you do understand the value when you're kind of out here with that and having strategic stops which again cranberry you know it's a nice TW mile route where you could you know put a little bike rack or you know incentivize bikers to come that would that would be great or I think people would take advantage of that the Boy Scouts are putting in bike racks now so we're getting a little bit of that infrastructure and there is a bike lane now on um on Old Trenton y so yeah and I know they they put together the the 10 Mile the CR tour to Cranberry which was awesome that was that was really cool yeah we worked well the county worked well with getting that in prior to that yeah that's awesome anyway just needed to plug connectivity microphone sorry yes yes use this do we uh on the TC have access to the this presentation was since last week right was it yeah I didn't see it a couple things that needed to updated I right I thought you were going to edit it I I think put in the folder that way right yeah I got the first draft but we didn't I never got a final so that's why I think it's in the electronic folder what you sent her just to be yeah okay okay sorry I think we have to go back to that email because I was saying if your mic also I was on I was saying that that was Final there would only be some typo and and changes like spelling if anything so it was free to go to the TC okay we can get it now okay yeah thank you yeah no I sent it Thursday for that reason but we were only going to meet to just make some minor corrections but it was good to go to everybody I don't recall might be in the electronic call already and but I don't look in the you know I put everything in there I don't have access to it if someone wants to look to see if it's in there if not then we'll send it out it's not there it's not so it's not there I got you Matt no excellent so we will uh have access to it and we can figure out how we want to share this information with the public but I will at the very least um amplify some of these wonderful findings in the mayor's update and thank you all really very much um this is this is very nice and to see the results of this and to put it into uh into light with the the healthy the healthy Town dashboard as well to talk about the walkability and things like that yeah it's nice it's nice when we can reflect on what's going on in our town uh with some evidence behind it so thank you so much for presenting today thank you all I appreciate it thank you very much than thank you Lisa for that uh moving on do we have any followup items today no uh moving on then uh we have a mayoral appointment tonight let me start with that we're making an appointment and a little bit of a shift uh Barbara I need you here to be with me here for a second uh for the environmental commission we are going to be moving Gabe leaderman to the vacant full-time membership and Dela George will be taking Gabe lerman's position in the first alternate position and how many how many more vac there one vacy y one alternate yes one alternate indeed yeah oh sorry on the environmental commission yes one alternate uh so that takes care of environmental and then we've got boards and vacancies um Recreation has a first alternate and a second alternate vacant environmental at this point will have a second alternate vacant HPC has a second alternate Class C vacant U Municipal Alliance has a one full membership vacant Parks have has a one full membership vacant and a second alternate vacant so plenty of places where people can step up and volunteer and we'd encourage and welcome with open arms moving along we have we have one ordinance up for first reading okay okay so we're going to begin our uh ordinance that's on for first reading cranberry T ordinance number 03- 24-5 bond ordinance providing for various capital improvements of the township of cranberg in the county of MX New Jersey appropriating 2,739 1823 therefore funding 353,000 from Capital Improvement fund 450 from sewer fair share re appropriating um sorry 1, 28,1 127 from existing Capital ordinance and authorizing the issuance of $ 911, 696 B BS or notes of the township of Finance part of cost thereof so this is just introduction so we need a motion in a second would anybody like to move so second thank you we'll move on to roll call Mr fronte absent Mrs kir yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes may that way yes okay that is unanimous for members present uh now we will move on to our ordinances that are on for second reading first will be um oh and I apologize second reading for the previous ordinance is March 25th so now we'll move on to our ordinances for second reading that'll be Cranberry Township ordinance number 02- 24-3 amending an ordinance fixing the salaries wages and benefits for various officials and employees of the township of cranberry providing for the manner of payment thereof and ratifying salaries and payments to employees and officials previously paid would anybody like to move that so move second and we need to open it up for hearing okay as this is a second uh okay so we need to open it up for hearing would anybody like to comment on or Township ordinance number 02243 taking public comment on this seeing none I'd like to close public comment on this okay then we'll move on to roll call Mr fronte committee I'm not com good Mr fronte absent Mrs kiram yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes may betway yes thank you that is also unanimous for mayor mayor members present and now we'll move on to our final ordinance that is on for second reading Cranberry Township ordinance number 02- 24-4 amending and supplementing the site plan and subdivision standards contained in Article 5 of chapter 150 entitled Land Development ordinance of cranberry Township of the code of the township of cranbery relating to section 150- 61 storm water management again we'll need a motion a second and uh going to public all right um would anybody like to to move so move thank you second thank you would any members of the public like to comment on this particular ordinance ordinance number 02- 24-4 seeing none I will close public comment okay we're gonna move on to roll call Mr fronte is absent Mrs kiram yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes may bway yes thank you that is again unanimous for members present thank you excellent we now have I'd like to move uh resolutions a through e that okay I did second that thank you we'll move on to roll call uh Mr fronte absent Mrs Canam yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes Mar bway yes thank you again enous members pres thank you very much that was very Swift we are up to public comment my friends would any members of the public at this time like to share any thoughts with uh with this TC I uh remind you that there is a three minute time limit to your comment and we are happy to listen to you going once going twice okay we'll close public comment and I noted one action item were there any other action item with regards to um psng and the lighting I mean at the very least we're going to talk about that okay uh but um any other action items I'm going to follow up on the uh townwide yard sale and luminaries okay anything else bar okay okay action items perfect wonderful so at this point we are at the end of our agenda my friends this was a wonderful meeting we missed Michael but we got a lot done and I'd like to entertain a motion for adjournment so moveed second all in favor I thank you you