e e this e e e welcome to the township committee meeting of March 25th 2024 we'd like to start with a pledge of the Allegiance please stand if you're able to Al flag the United States ofer and to the rep for it stands one na under God indivisible withy and justice for all okay we'll move on to the open public meetings notice pursuant to the open public meetings act notice of this meeting was sent to the cranberry press Trent times and home News Tribune on January 5th 2024 posted on Township website and sent to those who requested a copy of this notice and now we'll move on to roll call Mr ronte here Mrs kerum here Dr Rogers here Mr Scott is absent and mayor bedway here thank you thank you very much are there any agenda additions or changes for today none noting none we will move on to our uh adoption of our Township committee minutes for March 12th can I entertain a motion to accept I'll move second thank you we'll move on to to R call uh Mr fron it's March 11th right March 11th Sor I'm gain I was the meeting thank you for that and uh Mrs kiram yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott is absent and mayor bway yes thank you excellent we have reports and Communications today would anybody like to go first all right Lisa okay don't touch the back of that thing right okay um last uh meeting I had a follow-up action item for the merger of CCOC with njrc um I can confirm that the town wide yard sale is set for April uh 27th rain date is the 28th of April I've provided a flyer and a link with a QR code for Resident signup um to the mayor and I believe that's going to go out in tomorrow's update uh the other followup was that The Luminaries is going to migrate back to the CBA for 2024 uh with that merger taking place so both fun great townwide events I'm also meeting um Eric Haron and the president of njrc this Wednesday at noon just to get a touch base with them um HPC last meeting was March 19th I was unable to attend due to some work travel um but I downloaded with chair set Meer and vice chair Ryan via email um I think we need an update from Jerry on our sign plan um uh uh co-chair um Ryan and I talked on the way in so just now that the weather's easing I'm hoping that Jerry may have a plan on uh how we're going to get those signs up um but kind of need a little more information um there is a new exhibit at the cranberry Museum it's called cranberry proud path to preservation 10 times fast any of you uh reminder the museums open Sundays from 1: to 4: and then for um chips and preservation New Jersey Karen Kelly has been the lead on the cranberry tour which is going to be scheduled for April 20th a flyer will also go out for anyone who would like to register they're expecting between 40 and 60 people so there'll probably be two tours that are going to run simultaneously it's going to feature downtown Main Street History Center in the cranber museum so it's very fitting that that proud path to preservation is going to be up while doing this tour so it's going to that'll be a nice compliment um other sites will be the cranberry Barn Park First Presbyterian Church and Briner cemetery and the old cranberry School there'll be a closing reception at the Cranberry Inn and Madame mayor I think your attendance has been requested participate at the welcome at 10: a.m. um if you're not on the tour then also at the conclusion at 2 pm at the cranberry in where there'll be a reception and preservation New Jersey is handling all the marketing material the tour is free open to to anyone in the public who wants to sign up um zoning next meeting is April 3rd uh March meeting was canceled and then New Jersey Revolution thank you Miss Rubin for confirming that through email that cranberry is now listed as a participating municipality as of March 15 so we're up on the website which is great I would like to make a public service announcement if you don't mind it'll be about 2 minutes long this will be done through the uh eyes of our family pet uh Monty the golden doodle so if you'll allow me a brief public statement my name is Monty I am a five and a half year golden doodle I live in Cranberry New Jersey it is the only home I have ever known and much like the residents who took the 2023 resident survey I myself enjoy the green spaces of our town my humans walk me around our neighborhood through our Parks my favorite is Heritage Park on these walks I always see my fellow dog friends but lately I've been getting the cold shoulder a side eye here and there from my furry friends had me concerned I know I need a bath but they usually look past that I could also use a haircut but that didn't seem right either I finally understood why I was being shunned by my canine Community when my humans received this summons in the mail they did not renew my license this is a badge of honor in the K9 community and without this beautiful piece of metal dangling from my neck I was slowly losing my status in the community the humans tried to defend themselves make excuses but at the end of the day it's their responsibility as pen owners to procure my license it is not my fault as I don't have opposing thumbs or I would have filled out the paperwork myself the shame I have felt all weekend has led me to stay inside and gaze out the window until my humans could go to town hall this morning it's been a long weekend but we're slowly working through our Collective disappointment in each other thank you for listening to me and please make sure you remember to obtain your pets license by March 1 of every year don't be like my humans this has been a public January 31st been a public service announcement from Monty the golden doodle the more you know okay in all seriousness uh we of course know that this was an oversight on our part and things happened but I believe we can also do a little bit better from a Township perspective on giving some residents like a heads up um The Forum has align for your email address so I think a quick database could be created remind and send out a mass email beginning of January um you know and start with and there's a link you know that we could to the form and then I'd also suggest we add um that starting like the first week in January to the weekly updates or the mayor's update just as you know again frequency and and then I know I reported out last year as a liais On The Board of Health like how many pets didn't have their license and I think I made a joke like you know who you are well it was me this year I was one of them that spaced and when I paid the feed this morning it was actually another person in front of me who was doing the same thing so um anyway a $15 license now cost us $70 so it's worth it to make sure that you do this on time okay so I'll jokeing the side that was my humorous way well thank you for that tickets paid and he's a proud owner of license number 385 no m i i i Echo that because I I think I'm very diligent every year and somehow I I don't think I have got a notice this year about it so I think I uh I didn't normally we get one or two updates and I I got nothing so I was late too um the township clerk's office does mail out reminder cards we not cannot take payment before the first of the year which is usually part of the problem that we send it out and things get during the holidays but every year we send out the card and um the dates are the same every year and it is an annual license so we do our best we have been we did add the email addresses on there um if people do send us stuff we will respond via email um we have not gone out and actually tracked down we do our best to go through the list and um you know if people moved out things like that and haven't alerted us uh we do our best to try to go through and and you know take care of that as well so that people don't receive the summonses um it is a huge undertaking at the beginning of the year every year along with other stuff so we do attempt to do our best to alert people mixed in Again full responsibility lands on the pet owner which is you're looking at her so yeah that's all I got any questions for Lisa seeing none anybody else for the report um I attended two meetings one um on the 13th it was the Parks Commission um you know they're moving ahead uh um they've been moving ahead on their two main projects which is the uh chess table and Heritage Park and then also the inclusive uh playground um you know they're they you know they it's been a while in the works and I think they're seeing the fruit of their uh their work um and their diligence in that um they have a couple of ideas of what they'd like to see in the Parks um and um and uh two memorial benches um have arrived and they're going to figure out their locations and um they're determining when the historic baseball event um for 2024 sometime either in July or October um and Steven Sensei Eagle Scout project is the spotted Lantern fly traps you're going to be seeing um these traps and trees around town they're made out of a milk bottle and have a mesh and they trapping the lantern flies which have become more of a nuisance than a total Invasion um the then on March 8 18 I attended the environmental Commission meeting um the uh couple of things um the stream cleanup it's I think the 14th year and every year it grows bigger and bigger I always say I wish it would go away that means everyone's taking care of their trash but they're not um so September 20th is the um it will be there'll be meeting in Village Park uh please sign up through the Watershed Institute and April April did I say September yeah September why my anyway maybe it's the weather it's cooler ball I don't okay anyway um April 20th Lee um let's see oh uh was uh John did a really great job of um doing a presentation on what he would like like what the EC would like to put together for the cranber brook um kiosk and um getting it together and it's going to and it's it's going to have some really nice information in it about our like our place not only in Cranberry but where we sit within a watershed you know um our address you know is not just our town our water flows through our town limits Our Town borders um oh um storm water um storm water mapping inlets um you're going to see some wonderful high school students with their uh phones mapping the inlets it's um for a storm water permit renewal and um it's um there's there were five or six of them and they're going to be paired up uh and they'll be walking around town um and mapping through an arcgis uh software where all our inlets are and um eventually the engineer will take all those points and connect them all together and we'll have a great idea of our infrastructure uh for the storm water infrastructure um they talked about the community wildlife habitat certification you're going to find out more about that um and how you can sign up and support this initiative um and [Music] um uh I think that's it on on that um and then there was a new member um hopefully uh you know that came and was interested in the the EC um and I think that's about it on that um and um usually um Matt would give an update on this uh school but um I just I happened to be speaking to the board of ed um and um cons as you've noticed construction has started this week with the um referendum uh construction and um and if they really recommend if you have questions to go to their website because they're going to be updating that uh quarterly or you know constantly um and uh yeah and and I think through the mayor's update too and um another thing I happen to be outside and the clock is fixed so yeah you're not going to hear the ringing yet because that that the Bell still needs to be worked on but that's that ni y any questions Barb I have a question for you um with regards to the memorial benches last year uh I had gone out with Sally ogrady when she was chairperson so she could map the locations for benches um I'm hoping like that's what they're going to be using that's wonderful that's wonderful thank you y thank you for the update uh Michael sure so I was not at the last TC meeting so I'll give an update since the last one so I attended the fire company banquet on March 2nd very nice event for the uh fire company and first aid Squad amazing number of volunteers that have been serving the community for many many years and it was nice to see that I attended the DRC uh development Review Committee on March 7th and there um we had a minor site plan review for the VW facility VW has one of its major uh East Coast warehouses in cranberry and they were getting things stolen from their where from their loading dock and so they're putting in asked to put in fences um it's a beautiful site where there's burms all around you would have no idea there's a million square foot Warehouse right on the other side of Route 130 because it's so nicely bmed and The Testament to that is this fence can be put in and will not be seen anywhere from anywhere outside the property because it it covers the loading dock on either end so that was that was great and then we immediately went into a marathon planning board session where we were approving the site plan for um New World headquarters for A&M industrial moving down here from raway New Jersey um so and it's a site look a beautiful site looking right at the staring right out at the turnpike and so a lot of discussion about their corporate headquarters and and that's going to be facing the turnpike so very nice facility there um I attended the library board on uh March 14th and I attended the rec Commission on the March 20th which will um if all goes well according to plan that will be the last meeting of the Standalone recck commission um and the of note at that presentation um Tyler sensey came and gave it a it's kind of a download on the tour to Cranberry his event and his offer for someone to take it over um for future years there were no takers at that meeting but um he has kind of a Playbook that he's willing to hand to anybody if they want to continue the event so um and upcoming I have DRC development Review Committee and planning board next week and Li board the following week that's all I have any questions for me um I know the environmental commission mentioned that they're trying to get a DRC member the timing at five o'clock is hard for a lot of the members um to get there and that's one of the they have one yeah um but it's it's hard for him to get there so they might have to switch the the yeah and um the county asked about the tour the cranberry and I said he's going to a probably um you know the August event which is a triathlon right I mean um Tyler Sensei so Tyler Sensei has talked about uh a possible Triathlon and we're in the stages of sort of figuring out the logistics and um you know because there's three entities to that there's a a swim and a a bike uh and then a run so all entity all all aspects of that are being explored at this point yeah but that's good to know that he has it organized that if someone wants to take it over cool thank you thank you for that report Michael uh jumping into what I have to offer the municipal Alliance met and I attended their meeting a little bit later but they uh they were honoring drug and alcohol abuse awareness week at the school and they talked about a very successful jamfest event um they displayed a beautiful quilt made from T-shirts from the previous health and wellness Fair t-shirt competitions and was very nice to see uh they spoke about uh The Parent Academy that's run by the school and they talked in general about something that I think a trend that we're seeing in general that uh it's very hard to get people to attend events and so it's um a conversation about how many events to have and how best to advertise and maybe the parent Academy through the school is one of those um portals and they did also talk about changing the last date of their summer meeting in June and I think secretary is aware uh because they're scheduled to have a meeting the day after school closes so they're proposing to have it just the week before that so they'll take care of that they did share uh that there's some nice Community sort of uh webinars through the partnership of a drug-free New Jersey um on March 28th is one called when addiction and mental health Collide and on April 25th is another one called trauma and opioid use disorder um they've shared those signups uh for those events and there's a virtual nxone Narcan training session with a kit included through ruers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and they've given a sign up for that the planning board meeting as Michael mentioned will be uh April 4th and although we didn't have an official meeting of the traffic subcommittee Barbara and I did go out to look at uh locations for the Gateway signs that we were talking about and we just sort of did an um a realistic check of on the ground what look like and uh you know what areas will support what we're proposing um I attended a middle sex County leadership Forum uh where there was a public safety Roundtable discussion with attorney general and the prosecutor and the assistant prosecutor uh the Mayors as well as Chiefs of police they focused on areas of concern and they highlighted programs and strategies which can be deployed um in our municipalities for the Pur of enhancing Public Safety I've never been surrounded by so many police Chiefs in all my life was a little intimidating um our senior interest uh group hasn't necessarily met but through the Mar's Wellness campaign uh there was discussion about how to um where to locate some of the senior interest activities and so it looks like the library has uh agreed to let that to let their calendar reflect some of those activities and so that communication has has gone out to various different senior entities um I just wanted to highlight that this wonderful town through all its recycling efforts was issued a recycling Grant by the state a little over $100,000 so you know Bravo uh Barbara I think that you carry a lot with this the the recycling and you certainly lift the message a lot so thank you it's just nice as a resident to see that what you do translates into something and um so you know congratulations cranberry um I did have some sort of uh I wanted to piggyback on Michael because I did not actually report out on the firehouse banquet either I didn't have a very good meeting that first one so anyways uh earlier this month we had a wonderful banquet held by the firehouse and the um first aid Squad and it's just a great way to meet um members of that community and and to celebrate our heroes honestly um they awarded uh quite a few Awards to people and I just wanted to highlight the the most years at the fire company was awarded to GE EP with 65 years and the most years at the first aid Squad was awarded to Gene mcder for 45 years so congratulations to all those um Heroes and we thank them for all their service indeed um we had two PHS sort of uh announcements um one was uh earlier this month one of our residents in town won his uh state championship in fencing not only did he win this year but he won second place last year and he w won first place the year before so that's Larry he congratulations to him and we have a junior at PHS also a cranber residence aishwari of adulla um for she won the 2024 New Jersey affiliate winner of the aspirations and Computing award from the national Center for Women and informational technology the girl is on to great things so congratulations to her too uh proud moments and that's what I have for my reports any questions for me wonderful so moving down our agenda um do we have we have no subcommittees but we do have department heads today can I just let you know that Jerry will be working on the signs he's going to start replacing posts um tomorrow and we permitting he hopes to have everything done by the end of April no faster that's incredible great thank you welcome Chief thank you for joining us today thank you for having me good evening M mayor members of the TC Miss mayella Miss Rubin members of the public I forwarded my report to the TC uh for February report until March 7th does anyone have any questions regarding that report it's just very impressive the work that you all have done thank you thank you uh before I start just passing on to Monty uh that the police don't issue those summonses it's the Board of Health I just want to remind you of that I I've fielded in many calls uh concerning those summons as to the pets that weren't licens comes from the Board of Health it's very clear on the summit okay I want to get bit by all the dogs walking I just also wanted to brief our that our I know the mayor touched on it that our middle sex County Chiefs and Mayors had the opportunity to see with sit with New Jersey State Attorney General on March 19th we had an informative discussion about issues that are affecting our town with towns within the county and the state which is an increased trend of home burglaries and car thefts we collectively local County and state agencies are working to prevent these crimes with a focus on targeting those who are leading these groups of criminals uh the ring leaders who of utilize juveniles to commit these crimes our DET our detectives work with the county task force and state task forces uh for these motor vehicle thefts and burglaries as the same AC as the same actors that have uh been active throughout the state and their crimes cover multiple jurisdictions or detectives have been active with them our officers have been actively patrolling day and night for prevention remaining highly visible throughout the town I recommend taking precautions to safeguard your house and your property locking doors windows removing key fobs from your vehicles and Reporting suspicious persons and activities right away to the police be vigilant within our community our speed signs have been placed throughout the town with Main Street is the first area of deployment we'll be moving those signs periodically to different locations every couple of weeks and continue to Target Motor Vehicle Enforcement for violators as well as always I'm proud of the work of our cranberry police officers are performing they continue to work with professionalism integrity and courage every day that concludes my report Chief just to clarify the the signs that are on Main Street those are uh removable they will they are those are the ones we move periodically throughout the town okay it's different than the one that came with a big sort of generator the message boards the message board's different than that right correct okay correct all right which we also employ uh deploy in certain areas to okay okay wonderful I've had a lot of compliments uh from residents unsolicited compliments uh regarding the signs but also regarding just police presence and they're they're very happy and very um you know very grateful that that's how we are choosing to address sort of road safety and um safety in general so it's good to hear yeah thank you thank you um is there before you um with the home break-ins and the car thefts is there any way that we can get I know you might have put out on nixel like for people to do certain things is there any way we could get that information out more so that safety measures and make sure that this has been an increase and people be a little more Vigilant certainly um you know maybe through mayor's up I don't I don't know how we could get that information out okay yeah thanks okay thank you thank you so much and today we have a presentation yes by our historic preservation commission can I please welcome the chairperson hello welcome welcome if you can push the button there you go perfect good evening it's interesting to be on this side um I'm Susan Ryan uh nine Prospect Street cranberry I was the 2023 chair for the cranberry his preservation commission and so I'm here tonight to run through our year- end report and hit the highlights um I believe you all received the information so also if you have any questions just let me know um so I'll get started uh with membership um we had some turnover in our alternate number two position uh the beginning of the year we had sharro panada uh who filled the position and then he left for college um and so um Sarah Sant filled out the position for the end of 2023 that alternate 2 position is currently vacant um I was chair again for 2023 it was my second year in a row uh Jennifer sutm was vice chair she is a chair for 2024 um we had some reappointments Township liaison is Miss Lisa kiram we held 14 regularly scheduled meetings um our commission uh is or was organized to um meet first and third Tuesdays of every month um so we canceled the remaining 10 meetings not for lack of business but due to lack of business not for a lack of Quorum our Quorum is only three so it's easy to hit that Mark but we always had a quorum we just didn't have um much business we had a 34 total certificate of approval applic applications those are both major and minor applications so minor are reviewed at the chair level administratively major applications appear before us um and we had one concept review that was for the Barnes out on cranberry Neck Road um and then uh we generated 11 new home homeowner letters which notify new homeowners that their property is within either the historic district or the buffer area um and we also started tracking all of our volunteer hours um uh when we appeared at the budget meeting last year we heard other the other groups were doing that and so we thought that was a great idea and it's been very interesting uh we did change our meetings to one a month in the beginning of 2024 um and that has worked out fine so far um we had a visit from uh the state of New Jersey the shipo office at the end of 2022 for an audit because we are certified local government and then there was a follow-up meeting in February of 2023 kind of with a to-do list of how we can improve our commission uh one of the main items was to increase our training uh of the Commissioners and so that was a focus of last year so um believe there was a list of trainings that was distributed to you um also we we attended an online session from the state historic preservation office called historic preservation tools that um that session was recorded and our new uh Commissioners when they join uh review that session and helps them kind of get up to speed on what their UH responsibilities are um and let's see so those were our oh our accomplishments so uh phase one of the sign initiative um which uh Denise was just talking about uh we uh did finalize the scope and funding was granted and the signs were ordered and now we're in the implementation phase so um during that phase um DPW will be doing the installation but uh Commissioners are going to be on call to um answer questions um you know help out if there are any issues as as the signs go in in all the locations because there's a lot of like funky conditions and such um we did complete phase three of the Intensive level surveys those are property surveys within the township and that was funded by a 2023 uh certified local government grant um and so we completed those that was actually the subject of the Public Presentation that took place in January of 2024 um most of the those properties were located on Main Street North Main Street um and also uh there were surveys taken of the new cranberry station Hamlet properties um that uh I'll jump ahead a little bit but that um survey is available on the township website and also the presentation from Janu January 2024 is also on the the uh commission website as well uh for anyone to check out and uh one of the goals I'll speak about in a minute um as builds upon that survey that was completed um we advis the owner of the C Camden Camden Amboy train depot that were ready and available as that project moves ahead with um uh retaining and uh and revitalizing the depot um we donated two books to the Cranberry Public Library that are uh cranberry and or history related uh we've been doing this for at least 10 years and um there is actually a uh we have a shelf now we're very happy in the new library um that is called I believe the cranberry collection so it's not just our books um it also includes other local history uh books in the library's collection but now we're happy that it has they they have a home and we'll continue to do that we put that in our budget every year um and what else did we do lots of training um and uh yeah lots of training okay the rest of it's training we don't need to go into detail on that um so for our 2024 goals we already met the goal of having a public presentation at the cranberry Library uh for our intensive level survey results um the next step after that will be to designate those properties um that were proposed in a 2021 public hearing along with removing the buffer area around the cranberry historic district and uh my understanding is the very next step in that will be that Liz leaney will be submitting an amendment to the master plan which should be ready to appear before the planning board in May or June of this year so um that'll be a big step in in making those changes um we are working within the commission to obtain a Certificate of Eligibility for the cranbery station Hamlet um uh which is basically information gathering about all the history of the of the station which we submit which will be submitted to the state preservation office so that we will be eligible to get a certified local government grant to uh take the next steps in nominating the Hamlet uh nationally and on the state Register um uh one of our new Commissioners as 2024 Brendan hul has uh created an interactive map of all the property surveys so we had completed phase three so it's phase one two and three we had a a demo at our last historic preservation meeting he shared it with us on the screen and um it's basically a map where instead of like digging through all the reports you can just click on a property and instantly get your property survey um he's we're hoping that it'll go live on the historic commission website soon it's really cool so um yeah that was a lot of work on his part and um there was an item in the master plan of inventory of historic sites that are outside the historic district so these are our more agricultural uh properties and uh we made some good steps as of the last meeting of updating the list which was from 2019 of the properties and um we're gonna um not sure what we're going to the goal is to um approve the list notify the properties of Des uh potential survey uh maybe designation but uh we'll be working on that um but that is one of the goals of our master plan for us um we're participating in planning for revolution revolution New Jersey um uh part of our to-dos from the state of New Jersey last year were to uh increase public Outreach so we plan to have a booth at cranberry day uh sounds like we're going to uh try to be adjacent to the Historical Society so that we can be like a history Corner um so we'll be working on that and trying to make it exciting um and uh also you know we're posting this interactive map and also this yearend report on the HPC website um we will complete installation of the signs uh the street signs and um also participate As You Wish on the effort of the Gateway signage which you just mentioned and that's it do you have any questions for me that was awesome I mean everything that everything that you all do um creates um you know that that experience that the residents comment about and I think that sometimes uh you don't necessarily hear the thank you but thank you thank you I'm really glad to hear that you're recording the number of volunteer hours that's you know Shay tree does this um and then Parks has been doing it now and I think that it would be great if all our commissions do it because people need to know how many hours are put in by volunteers it's very eye opening too it's very eye opening yeah thank you all right thank you thank you for joining us thank you so that's it for our boards anything um any follow-up items upate you're putting stream clean yeah stream cleanup sure let me put this down here um so our boards and commissions so we have mayoral appointments and vacancies today the only mayoral appointment we have Barbara as you mentioned earlier we're appointing Steven hellstern to the environmental commission as a second alternate to fill an unexpired term term expiration is 12 3125 and in terms of vacancies we have the HPC has a second alternate Class C expiring 1231 25 that's vacant and we have a municipal Alliance position one full member 12 3126 is the expiration on that we're good excellent um we now are up to our ordinances and would you like me to give a little uh background on some of these okay so we have one two three four ordinances that are up for first reading today the first one uh the first second and third can I do them together is that okay sure um they all kind of pertain to the same thing we are going to be introducing an ordinance today to repeal the Parks Commission and we are going to be introducing an ordinance to repeal the recreation board and then we'll be or introducing an ordinance today to introduce the new board the Parks and Recreation board which is essentially a merging of the two and um this although we're doing this tonight this is a a discussion that has been having had I think uh several several years but uh with me directly um easily three years ago through the parks and the recck Le on position um and members of the board have been interested that these uh two boards come together and I think it'll also just improve our efficiency in terms of communications across the board so thank you um before we get started just want to remind uh the public that for first reading there's no uh comment we just introduce it and then we'll move on to that for a second so we'll be moving through the first reading so our first ordinance on for this evening is Cranberry Township ordinance number 03- 24-6 amending the code chapter 5 police department to create a position for police chaplain if I could have a motion to introduce I'll move I'll second it thank you we'll move on to a roll call and also second reading for that ordin will be April 8th 2024 as all others are as well U Mr fronte yes Mrs kiram yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott is abson and Maro bway yes thank you we'll move on to our second um ordinance on for first reading Cranberry Township ordinance number 03- 24-7 repealing the Parks Commission chapter 32 and Recreation Commission chapter 36 uh second reading again is April 8th 2024 if we could have a motion to introduce so moved I'll second that thank you uh we'll move on to roll call Mr fronte yes Mrs Kum yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scot's absent Mar bway yes thank you now we'll move on to our third ordinance that is on for first reading Cranberry Township ordinance number 03- 24-8 creating in the code chapter 31 entitled Parks and Recreation Commission again second reading will be April 8th 2024 if we can have a motion to introduce so moved so seconded thank you very much we'll move on to roll call Mr fante yes Mrs kiram yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott is abson and mayor bway yes thank you we'll move on to our final ordinance for first reading uh will be Cranberry Township ordinance number 03- 24-9 amending the code chapter 108 entitled Parks and Recreation again second reading will April 8th 2024 if we can have a motion to introduce so moved thank you I'll second thank you we'll move on to roll call uh Mr fronte yes Mrs kiram yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scot abson and Mario meway yes thank you um did you want to say anything before this second just go into it no I think we can move on thank you so we're going to move on to Second reading um we have one ordinance that is on for second reading Cranberry Township ordinance number 03- 24-5 bond ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements of the township of cranberry appropriating 2,739 1823 therefore funding 350,000 from Capital Improvement fund 450,000 from sewer fair share reappropriate 1, 128,129 from existing Capital ordinances and authorizing the issuance of $911,000 69 bonds or ordinances of the township to finance part of the cost thereof did I ramble through the numbers wrong you were just fine do you see you need a motion to accept is that right we have to do public yeah we have to oh we have to open this to the public okay well do we open it to to the TC no nothing just the public okay all right so this is um I'm opening this up to the public this is comment on this particular second reading of this ordinance only um I remind the public that you have 3 minutes to comment on this particular um ordinance if you would like to seeing none I'd like to close public comment for this portion I'd like to entertain a motion to uh to adopt this please so moved to adopt 032 2405 second thank you we'll move on to roll call um Mr fronte yes Mrs kiram yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott is absent and mayor by away yes thank you thank you um I'll move uh consent resolution items 11 a through [Music] e thank you move on to roll call for those items Mr fronte yes Mrs caner yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott is absent and Mar Midway yes thank you thank you very much so we are at the end of our agenda my friends but we do have a robust public here with us today welcome to every one of you we are now at public comment and I remind you that we have 3 minutes if you'd like to comment on anything that has either moved you tonight or someplace um uh maybe you're coming with a with something that you'd like to lift for us um as you come up please just sign your name on the paper push the button so you get the red light and then we'll be able to hear you and record at the same time so please this is your time we will not necessarily be answering uh this is public comments this time for you to comment thank you [Music] EX Rich juso 14 Station Road good evening my family and I moved to Cranberry in the fall of 2016 like many families we chose cranberry because of its small town feel great schools and friendly Community unfortunately the unsafe traffic conditions on Station Road have negatively impacted our quality of life and our sense of Public Safety this problem needs to be formally acknowledged by this committee and properly addressed by our local County and state Partners first some background on State Road it's a posted 25 mph Road as it should be it's part of the historic district many of the homes are on small lots and sit close to the road many children call Station Road home and enjoy walking to town to attend school or visit the shops on Main Street Station Road has a bus stop for our Princeton High School students on any given day you'll find dozens of residents walking dogs riding bikes or simply walking a loop through town that includes Station Road working from home during the covid pandemic opened my eyes to the fact that Station Road is overrun with both speeding cars and a sheer volume of vehicles that the road is not designed for to address this issue I engaged the Cranberry Township Police and this committee beginning in April of 2020 many of my Station Road neighbors have joined me in this initiative and I appreciate their partnership despite our efforts we have yet to find a solution that truly addresses the problem Road signage in all its forms from the slowdown in our town campaign to the electronic speed signs and even the much publicized Gateway sign have all done very little to stop the speeding a police presence on Station Road is helpful but the level required to properly address this problem would be prohibitively expensive the cycle is a familiar one complaints from residents or an incident on Station Road leads to increased police presence for a few days or weeks after that time has passed the police presence drops and the speeding picks back up in short patrolling Station Road is at best a partial solution which leads me to the events of March 7th 202 24 at approximately 6:45 p.m. a car that was clearly speeding left the road broke a utility pole in half before flipping over in my neighbor's front lawn this incident could have happened on any Road in Cranberry but happened on Station Road why because we've allowed a culture of reckless driving on Station Road to take hold after many years of failing to properly address this problem the only true solution to this problem is physically changing station road to force traffic on Old Trenton Road that road was built in part for this very issue it has a posted 40 m hour speed limit does not have homes less than 10 yards from the roadway the warehouse workers and commuters from Monroe and Beyond can still get through cranberry but in a safer manner for cranberry residents the fact that Station Road belongs to Middle sex County and not cranberry should not serve as a basis for not addressing this problem the residents of Station Road deserve a real solution and I ask this committee and its Partners to include Station Road residents in this process going forward forward thank you thank you for your comment hi good evening I apologize I should address more appropriately for the uh event but I will came straight from work um I uh my name is Michael Frankie I live at 24 Station Road I've lived on Station Road for 16 years I've lived in Cranbury for over 20 um and uh like what very similar to what rich just said um Station Road has become a track meet um when I first moved there I knew it was going to be a busy road um but uh with all the development that cranberry has done and all the tax benefits that we've received from building all the warehouses on the other side of rout 130 R uh Station Road has become literally unbearable including the events of March 7th which which previously identified where we had a vehicle snap a telephone pole in half rip the pole out of the ground and then flip over and if we could say that that was an unusual event um it wasn't an usual event that the vehicle hit the pole it was not an unusual event for the speed which with that car I was traveling this morning at 7:02 a.m. I pulled out of my driveway there was a car coming off of Main Street 24 Station Road is about halfway down the road by the time I put my car in park I mean by the time I put my car in drive that vehicle was on my bumper and then proceeded to tailgate me and go over the yellow line looking to go around me while I proceeded to go the speed limit down the road again this is not an unusual occurrence on that road um I disagree with the police chief coming in here earlier saying that um we are patrolling well we are not patrolling Station Road well um we see from time to time we see police officers on the road but um I would be very interested to see the number of summons that are delivered from that road um On Any Given uh uh any given week or month um what I would say is that regardless whether or not this road is a County Road um speed limit signs could be increased uh there are signs on the road that don't allow right-and turns into other parts of cranberry so clearly we can do something better with signage uh we can put crosswalks across the road that allow people travel from one side of station road to the other side of Station Road um that will also slow down traffic because they will see the crosswalks we could put permanent signs up that are the traffic monitoring signs with the flashing lights on them like we discussed earlier um there are a lot of things that we could do that don't involve actually physically changing the road ultimately that's the best solution um we could put local traffic signs up that say local traffic only that will cause some of the um Google and ways road maps to push traffic to other places as well there are many solutions that we could employ um but at this point um I should not be concerned when my children and my wife or myself walks our dog on Station Road um or dogs we have multiple dogs both licensed by the way um uh but we have gotten fines before um but not this year we learned our lesson but um I should not be concerned when they go out um not so much if I lived in a dangerous neighborhood I might be concerned for their safety for other reasons but my one and only concern when they go out to walk the dogs they will get hit by a car because of the excessive traffic that's on the road um we need to do better um we cannot wait until someone gets killed on that road to take action thank you thank you for your comment all right hello my name is Tyler Donado and I'm a newer resident in cranberry and more importantly Station Road um my wife and I moved into the lovely home on uh 15 Station Road on December of 2022 and I've really enjoyed everything the town has offered nice community events food you name it and cranberry has it however there's one issue that caught my eye immediately upon living here not very shortly after moving into our house we noticed that Station Road is a very busy street especially during certain hours of the day now my wife and I knew this uh would be a th Street when buying the house but we also saw that it was a posted 25 M per hour road and figured we'd be able to manage the sound of cars driving past the house what we didn't expect was a street that people feel comfortable enough to fly down to order in order to P possibly make a green light at 1:30 or to make a very quickly turn on a Main Street to continue speeding through our town mind you this is all occurring when bikers are on the road people are walking their pets kids are trying to cross the street to get to their friends houses and forget any of the lovely commuters on Station Road yielding to pedestrians either while this is going on there has been some more notable things that have occurred to me and my wife while living on Station Road for the past year and a half due to the total failure for the town to enforce the speed a car crossed the dou line to get around me one morning while I was on my way to work a cars tail getting me to get to get me going faster mind you this is all going when I'm going 20 to 30 miles per hour on the road uh being honked at when trying to lead my driveway because I don't I figure I have enough time to get out if they were going the speed limit but of course they are not um does this sound like a normal Road that has 25 M per hour posted I think not what has all these events led to uh a police officially sorry a police officer occasionally setting a speed trap on the road for an hour or two which actually led to five people getting pulled over in under an hour on a Saturday at 10: a.m. now I'm aware police officers cannot sit there all day but the fact that five people got pulled over and under an hour on a Saturday at 10: a.m. proves there's a major problem with how drivers navigate Station Road on a daily basis um as Rich mentioned I am the resident that had a car flip over into their front yard after hitting a utility pole and I think it's entirely unacceptable that nothing more drastic has been done and I would really hope you guys have listened to me tonight and looking to make some major changes to Station Road I'm also glad that the power line pole was there because if it wasn't that card would have ended up in my living room and I possibly would not have been standing here tonight thank you thank you for your comment and we're certainly happy that you're here with us tonight red lights already on good evening uh Rick denda 25 Station Road uh resident uh for about 30 years now been part of Township since 1977 a lot of good conversations as far as experiences living on the road rarely are we hearing of any solutions that are being made on the road um a lot of recommendations going back to when they were talking about the master plan making into a cus act making into a one-way a variety of different things but again no Solutions I remember a few years ago when a resident within my neighborhood had a dog and a daughter walking down the street and I believe bad accident right took a four-legged individual I should say four-legged animal for something that happen does something need to happen on Station Road to make a change a lot of simple things could be made you can make each one of those intersections of Oak and pine with station have three stop signs there we have to change the mindset of the drivers coming down Station Road so often I can see somebody making a right hand turn or left-and turn from St from Main Street on the Station Road see a green light next you doing 55 or 60 down the road usually when I'm doing the crazy neighbor on my lawn mower going out Middle Road trying to down because nothing's happening you go in Heights down you don't speed you go to West Windsor you don't speed you go into Plainsboro you don't speed you come through cranberry and you speed you know why nothing happens something has to change thank you thank you for your comment the pens did I press this that's good um so my name is Dan Fernandez I'm here with my wife Amy and along with my neighbors from Station Road I'm 11 Station Road and we've lived uh in town going on three years um and I just wanted to describe from my perspective um the current situation on Station Road um as you all know 11 Station Road is between Route 130 to South Main Street it's a very short run of road uh through an historical residential district um the houses are very close to the street with limited viewing distance when entering the road from our driveways or while backing out onto the road there's limited space from the porches to the road and it's easy to see and hear how drivers use this road and my impression of living on the street since I've been in there is that drivers are aggressively using this road as a shortcut to and from work cars are often speeding on Station Road we see and hear this firsthand as residents it feels dangerous to Simply put out your trash or recyclables and retrieve the barrels um I often have thoughts I don't I'm not as risky as driving my lawn mower out onto the street but often think about that like how can I signal to slow down so that I don't feel endangered um when I'm doing this it feels dangerous just to rake leaves or to landscape near the roadside pulling into the driveway um plenty of stories where uh pulling into the driveway um drivers aggressively then pass or floor it right after I pull into the driveway or I'm getting honked at going down the road um so uh you know the reason we love it here in Cranberry is that it's a walkable town we walk our dog to down the street we walk to the restaurants and shops and our son is a waiter at the Cranberry Inn and he walks to work so he walks right out of our door goes around the corner and right into the cranberry in if my son was walking home from the Cranberry Inn after one of his shifts he could have easily been at the exact location where that car flipped and crashed in front of Nicollet and Tyler's house that's his exact route where he walks what we need help with we need permanent deterrents that do not have to be filled with ongoing costs or personal Time Investments and ongoing funds to maintain so what we're looking for is your guidance your advice and a plan what steps do we need to take to stop people from using Station Road as a cut through Street to save time thank you thank you for your comment hi everyone my name is Kevin mcconell I live on seven Stockton drive while I don't live on Station Road I live right off the Station Road and I'm just here to Echo the sentiments of everyone that's spoken so far on the subject tonight I don't know exactly what we can do I only wish Chief Owens was here to hear everyone speak on the subject tonight uh one thing that one solution I can possibly think of I've seen I don't know what you'd call dummy police cars empty police cars stationed at um right by my street on Station Road and also right down a couple blocks down if we could put one out there almost permanently I I know I don't think I know that that would seriously slow down the Speeders on Station Road I'm s yeah on Station Road that's it thank you thank you for your comment hi everyone my name is Amy thank you for giving me this time um I just wrote this up and it's um my handwriting is really sloppy so what's that oh oh I'm sorry Leven Station Road I'm I'm I live with Dan Fernandez um I just wrote this so I'm going to try to read my own handwriting it's probably not very good um so we live on 11 Station Road we've been there for about three years about three years ago on April 24th on a Sunday afternoon we were doing yard work um and our dogs were in the backyard and I went into the kitchen and then about 10 minutes later I heard a sound like a gunshot um and looked out the back window a few minutes after that and saw flashing blue lights um the cops were there and our dog was in the road and he'd been hit by a cart um chaplain he was killed instantly was um and I was grateful the police were there because he didn't get hit again but whoever was driving didn't stop um it never ends well when a car and a dog Collide he wasn't going to survive but I think it says something about the way people think about that road and behave on that road um the disregard is clear um that was one of the worst days of my life um but I feel lucky that it wasn't a child please take up this issue before we lose a human or child do it for the residents for our historic district and maybe maybe for chaplain thank you thank you for your comment would anybody else like to share a comment excuse me um my name is Kathy schy I live at 43 station Road I'm at the very end um I'm not too prepared but I just wanted to make a couple comments um we moved here over 30 years ago obviously um we checked the master plan and back then oh it's going to be a dead end great you know well we know that didn't happen obviously I don't know if it'll ever happen um but it's not going to but Station Road even back then was a problem my kids wanted to go across the street to Stockton to see their friends I used to have to go out the middle of the road just to make sure they could cross I never ever understood why there was never a crossroad put in there I don't know if it was because if they had a crossroad then they would need a crossing guard I don't know if that was the case but um you know it it was a problem back then then when Monroe started building um then the traffic just really got worse and worse and worse um I'm a little bit lucky because maybe when they're coming across they're maybe just going 3540 you know and then it gets even faster um and one other thing I do remember years and years ago I was told by someone that um cranberry could take over Station Road from the county or had an option at some point to I don't know if they could take it or purchase it but they didn't want to because then they would have to be responsible for this road and snow plowing and things like that I could be wrong but that was some thing I had heard and that was probably about 20 years ago maybe more um you know I had I I I'm worried for the kids I get scared when I see a kid out there and you know maybe trying to cross the Street they come they make that right on red they don't even know what they're coming when they're turning um but I've seen it all and we won't even talk about the trucks but they do still make that turn and they still come down they stop right in front of my house then realize that ah now I have to turn around and it's not fun because someone will get hurt um thank you thank you for your comment anybody else tonight with a comment okay I'd like to close public comment for this evening um we don't have answers for everything tonight uh but I just do want to first of all just honor the fact that so many of you came out for a very Noble purpose and that is the Safety and Security of residents within this town and um it it is it is to be commended and I appreciate that all of you came to support each other in this very uh Endeavor um Station Road continues to be uh a road that we work on I think a lot of time has been spent on it even prior to my tenure on this TC um um I know that U members before me worked on uh the GPS um getting the the GPS routes uh to stop putting Station Road on there I know that um you know the speed limit has been reduced we talked very recently I don't know if any of you were updated um but we had I did brief this TC I don't know if it was last meeting or the meeting before where our subcommittee did talk uh about how it was proposed to have a crosswalk on Station Road but the county uh was made that as difficult as possible they basically said that we would have to install sidewalks on either side and then uh so that we'd have to pay for and then uh create the crosswalks and then create Ada sort of uh onramps and off ramps and so uh it was their way of trying to make it I think um a little bit difficult for us to do uh we will continue the idea is not that the discussion is ended we will continue to talk about Station Road in our uh committees but a lot of time has been spent on that road and I do uh want to lift the efforts of our police department they really have um I I mean our statistics today our results today show that they stopped double the amount of cars today than they did in 2023 on that road which means that they do have the interest of the residents and Station Road in mind as they have the rest of town I live on a very similar Road by the way cranberry neck is very similar it's a thoroughfare and so very similar road conditions exist and just like you I have to watch out and I'm I'm very careful when I send my child out to go get the mail often times it's me not my child um so I appreciate everybody's uh suggest questions and comments today they will be taken seriously and I apologize that there is no immediate answer for tonight but just know that uh you are being heard so thank you very much any other thoughts Denise any other thoughts all right with that I'd like to uh take a motion to adjourn this meeting tonight sorry any do we have any action items tonight I'm sorry I didn't do that I at our traffic subcommittee we'll me we'll talk about Station Road definitely this is this is an action item that we'll discuss for sure I didn't really record any action items so thank you can ient uh entertain an adjournment motion so moved second all in [Music] favor