we're live please welcome to the town committee meeting of November 27th 2023 please stand if you're able for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all welcome everybody tonight we'll start with the uh open public meeting Zach notice thank you pursuant to the open public meeting Zach notice of this meeting was sent to the cranberry press Trenton Times and home News Tribune on January 6 2023 posted on the Township's website and send to those who requested a copy of this notice we'll move on to roll call Mrs alwi here Mrs kiram is uh excused absent Dr Rogers here Mr Scott here and mayor fronte here thank you I think we have no additions or changes to the agenda there are not and we will move on to the Township committee minutes of the regular meeting of November 13th and I understand we have a proposed amendment I do if if it would be okay I wanted to propose uh a little change do do you want to mention or should I uh just you can move it with the Amendments that everybody was emailed today if you want okay and we're okay with that Debbie yeah okay wonderful so I I propose to move the uh the agenda the I'm sorry the minutes with the changes that we agreed upon today excellent thank you um do we have a second a second Mr Scott thank you move on to roll call Mrs alali yes Mrs kir Miss absent Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes mayor fronte yes okay unanimous thank you excellent we'll move on to reports and Communications from the members of the committee we'll start with Mr Scott uh good evening everyone thank you Mr Mayor um just a few things I met on uh November 20th I met with the uh subcommittee for the uh inclusive playgrounds with recck with Christina ifus and Ken Jacobs um they're moving forward with their their bid process or I'm sorry looking at bids from three contractors um and it looks like uh the bid that they're favoring most is a company called General Recreation and their bid is at 398 which would put them right in the target for for the playground so we we discussed some of the particulars of of their plan um they would like to come before the TC um the December 18th meeting to to discuss if that's something consider putting on the agenda yeah we may not have the December 18th meeting okay but I think we can we'll find a spot find a spot for yep absolutely yep great um and that's that's the only meeting I attended um I'm hoping to um in the mayor's minutes tomorrow um include our uh very uh um brief pickle ball survey basically three questions do you live in Cranberry are you interested in pickle ball um and uh are you interested in particular sides of the courts that's essentially it um so hopefully we'll roll that out tomorrow good thank you great thank you that's it great any questions for Mr Scott can I ask you a question Yeah you mentioned that they're looking uh for the inclusive park at three bids by three different vendors and they have honed in on one in particular like is there a reason why um cost um uh Ken Jacobs has experience with this company general Recreation he has experience with them and his role as the rec supervisor at West Windsor he said that they're very reliable good product good customer service so and again if they come before us in December we can discuss further and this just be clear these are this is not a formal bid process this is just a scoping and scoping exercise and these are to inform not gone out to bid yet there's no bid spec written it is not gone out to bid these These are quotes they're ideas I'm sorry I they're ideas of what they're looking for but then it will have to go out to bid through the formal bid process and the lowest bidder is the one that will be awarded regardless as long as they're compliant and that's kind of what I okay so so every um every vendor is giving you a different plan they've architectured a different look a different plan is that correct yeah I mean they're all similar um but yeah the components of these playgrounds are the same the components are are similar but I mean we're talking you know GM to for I mean they're they're of a type but they're slightly different um and um uh the cost for this one was was the lowest um and again the the reliability and the reputation of the vendor was was the the main reason for looking at that so they would use they would use these to scope and get ideas and from this they would develop the range for a bid spec that would sort of with the goal of getting bids that come in within the expected range so this is my understanding yeah okay correct okay thank you y good awesome great thank you Mr Scott Dr Rogers yeah hi hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving um so I attended the um environmental commission meeting uh last Monday and um you know uh basically two two items um if people will notice on Main Street the kiosk is being refurbished redone um and that's moving along nicely um that's being done um by an eagle for an Eagle Scout project Kona McAlister who's uh is working on that um and uh someone has been assigned at the EC to uh uh put together information and we have a process to review it and make sure you know uh you know things you know things that are going in there uh make sense um and um uh the other thing that was discussed um you know there are a lot of things that were discussed but in particular um um volunteers are going to be um Teresa viaro has taken on the lead for the um ms4 mapping for the infrastructure um I've talked to the I I got the licensing um arcgis license um which you download on your phone you walk around and you put it on a map where uh where a lot of the storm drains are so um we're going to be working on um organizing and figuring out how that process is going to be done and we'll be um working with our Township engineering on helping with that um and um those are the two items um for the environmental commission and uh we have shade tree that's going to be coming up but um I didn't go attend a meeting um since our last Township commit committee um I also um am man and I went to the conference for the New Jersey municiple league in Atlantic City and um I just always find it really fascinating because we have so many towns they have their own unique character um you know characters they have their own unique issues um but it always when things get done what it comes down to is team building getting the right volunteers the right staff and everything together and Community engagement so um you know there's a lot of exciting things going on in a lot of towns and it's how do you get that word out how do you get people downtown you know how do you um so it's um it just kind of um you know there's just so many ideas and so many good things happening in New Jersey um went to the sustainable uh Jersey annual lunch and always getting great ideas there um two of the things that I did go to was one was um um a a talk on non-mandated recycling um items there's two towns Ridgewood and eaten toown who did a presentation on on uh like Styrofoam collecting styrofoam and the other one I can't remember what it was but there are non-mandated recycling items um that that um you know certain items are mandated by the state but then there are others that we could try and Pull and prevent going to the landfill um and I think the school particular like food waste is really a big thing now too um and I think the our school has now um put a a table out that people that don't eat the food instead of going in the trash they exchange the food um at the table so um so you know it was it was great um and I'm sure am man will say some other things because uh you know and it's always so cool to see these giant trucks um and the equipment that our towns could possibly have um so and um so that's it don't give the chief any ideas anyway so that's uh um any questions it's great thank you for doing that thank you for going I know you always find it very energizing oh it's really great it's great thank you good thank you good all by the way thank you absolutely so just to piggyback on what Barbara shared I did also attend the league of municipalities it was my first meeting and so I made uh the wrong decision to wear uncomfortable shoes the first day and quite a few blisters later I was in my loafers the following day and it was uh very very nice I attended in specific uh the meeting with regards to the mayor's Wellness campaign it is always very refreshing to know that we here in Cranberry are doing it right and there's many things that we do that already satisfy um you know sort of their requirements to then um earn the rights to be what they call a healthy town upand cominging or healthy town and so it was very nice to see that we're already doing it right and I also was just very excited to attend one of the um the presentations on electrical vehicles in in the town um we attended something together but I forget what that was too anyhow uh I did attend the municipal Alliance meeting here the open space the open space maybe yeah yeah the of the uh boards that I is with the municipal Alliance is the only one that met on the 21st and of note they are going to be um asking the children at school to do a public service announcement video with regards to how to remain drug free they did this last year and sort of the the school that wins um gets $2,000 it's really cool so the kids are excited to try to do that um they submitted their budget and I think they decided to actually keep within the similar budget that they had previously and just to sort of um seal the one comment or the the conversation that they were discussing was their um the health and wellness Fair will now reduce in size and combine with National Night Out and so that's a very exciting collaboration and um just sort of you know a better use of their time I think um because the other event was not as well attended so and that is it thank you great thank you any questions from Miss Al bway so yeah quick question um as far as the uh health and wellness Fair are they going to move everything to Village Park the night out um wherever the the night out event occurs they will have some presence okay and so it's not going to be the whole Wellness Fair because then it's going to be called The Wellness Fair it is a they will have a presence at the at the parent sort of event which is the National Night Out cool smart idea good good great thank you good I have a brief update um hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving um the good good news is that we have an almost 90% complete walkway between Birchwood and Bennett so who says municipal government can take long to do things but we got easements from both buildings and this is the um the apartment and Senior complex that's on Route 130 that backs up to Bennett way at Village Park and there's a now a walkway they can go through the park um but now there is a walkway that connects directly to Benway it's lighted it connects to the sidewalk and there's now sidewalk passage all the way down and there's at least 10 or 12 high school students that every morning are out there um working their way through the the maze to get to their bus stop at on Maplewood so very nice addition that'll be done soon and um so thanks Miss Marabella for pushing that ever so diligently persistently through so that's great um so uh in tomorrow's mayor's update I'll I'll include the pickleball survey um also it was it was note it was note I put in the mayor's update last week that it was the Oney year anniversary of the library sorted pretty impressive statistics in the first year 33,8 43 people visited the library not all different people but um 649 new card new library cards were issued 16,000 some print books were checked out almost 30,000 non-printed digital materials checked out there's a impressive New York Times um I think there's a magazine flipster where you can read magazines online there's amazing Kindles all kinds of amazing digital resources that we have um both in the in this in the space and also amazing programming they've had so quite a year for the the new library um tomorrow night the cranber school will be having a town hall conversation um in the school auditorium not in the town hall um they'll be having that um December 1st there'll be uh there'll be a program on communicating your health priorities Christmas Friday the 1 is a Christmas tree lighting at Memorial Park next to fire the fire station starting at 7M December 3rd Sunday is Christmas tea at the cranberry Museum featuring the exhibit All I Want for Christmas Is toys of the 19th and 20th Century um December 7th Thursday is manora lighting at Memorial Park and December 15th through 17th is a big weekend with the Snow White Christmas cranber Arts Council play where yours truly will be sing singing and dancing so don't miss it um and November 16th Saturday will'll be luminaries around town sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and also um the uh December 16th and 17 the cranberry Volunteer Fire Company will be sponsoring and and supporting a visit from Santa so there's information in the newsletter so um Lots going on to round out the year um I will put out a call I'm going to do a year-end picture slideshow thing so I'll be asking people for pictures of memorable events throughout the year and we'll top it off with luminaries at the end so great any questions for me what it's uh December 16th Saturday so great excellent if no questions we can move on to um uh we have no sub subcommittee meetings we have department heads we have our police chief here welcome Chief phones [Music] I'm meeting my uh just be quick good evening good to see everybody everyone receive a copy of my report that I said that does anyone have any questions regarding that what was what's driving the the year-to date the stop volume from October over year on Year from last year the guys are out aggressively it's going to be part of my little speech answer your question in my little speech okay is that the only question you had I'll defer then yes thank okay uh so I provided the members of all the uh traffic monthly reports no questions uh from our reports are we're reaching some of our highest numbers that we've ever had not only in traffic uh summonses uh traffic stops but also our calls or call volumes getting the highest that we've had in a long time um our officers are out aggressively enforcing our Motor Vehicle Laws targeting Speeders and remaining highly visible throughout our town and again as always I'm always proud of the work that they continue to do they serve our community every day with professionalism integrity and courage and it's a brief report for me and that's it great I just wanted to thank them for is it okay if I thank them for Halloween they were out in Forest I don't think we had a chance to maybe we speak since our last Halloween we had no incidences and it was uh safe I did have have a meeting since then okay okay maybe they did a great job I don't know where I was at but anyway yeah and um I do um I do notice that there's been deer deer on the side of the road have you had uh call County y the township any anytime deerra that's is a season and okay get a lot of um and and also I know I reached out to the chief one of the Oreo cows got out on uh on South River Road and we answer a lot of those calls as well there's Oreo cow Oreo cows they're black white black there they're or it's an oreo cow they're they're perfectly striped black white black and and one of them every morning I drive out and they're grazing and one of them was on the other side of the fence and looked like wasn't sure what what had happened to her so we get quite a quite a few of those calls so thank you for I recognize Chief the range of things you get called on in our town is pretty impressive from the busiest Highway in the world or in the country to uh some of the most uh rural incidents and your your team your team always handles it with Grace and and professionalism job proud of them every day yeah it's great thank you thank you appreciate it good night all right sounds good thank you awesome great and we're going to welcome up the shade tree commission so so welcome Kathy thank you and Kathy we did all receive your um your very helpful list of accomplishments and goals for 24 through 26 so welcome yeah so I'm not I'm going to start with that in a minute and I do want to add one thing um under 24 to 26 goals just to jump ahead a little bit which is to increase the species diversity in town we didn't come up with very good grades on that in our recent tree inventory um so I'm going to get to that in a minute and I promise to be brief but um first I wanted to talk about um a dismaying thing that occurred and we want to certainly work with the township and the township engineer who will also send a copy of this report to going forward so um when with when we had the Professional Services doing the treat inventori in town I asked them not to look at the trees in Village Park along the path that was constructed but to give me an overall um arborous um info resources about how construction should proceed within two things the critical root Zone I I don't think I want to explain that because if it's called the critical root Zone it's pretty important to the tree as well as um the structural critical root Zone which is what keeps the tree anchored these are very important part of the critical root zone is all little virus bits they they feed the tree they water the tree they filter um and when the Village Park uh walkway was proposed sh went to several meetings and said please make sure that there's and I don't know why the engineer didn't follow this but um please don't dig within 10 feet of the tree and that was really very conservative because really you don't dig anywhere Under The Canopy of the tree as far as the canopy of the tree goes out however following that and we saw not only How deep the walkway went but the roots weren't cut they were torn all torn damaged which invites uh makes them more susceptible to uprooting wind throw especially when the crit the structural critical root zone is affected as well as the critical root Zone and in addition to that um Tree dback in Mor mortality is very possible and probably um predictable given climate change and all the other stresses on trees so Jessica irons and I did an informal survey so we would have have some numbers and of the 73 trees I think uh 28 were way within 10 feet and they did a lot of damage 50% all the trees have about 25% damage to that critical root zone or the structural root Zone um some of our oldest trees there are 58 inch diameter one tree was had root damage on 75% three sides of the in in the critical root own so the thing the reason I'm bringing this up is a couple reasons we want to take care of the trees this is very straightforward about what you do when you're cutting tree roots you actually cut them in a way that um doesn't isn't isn't injurious to the tree that um rocks ex its its Anchorage as well as invites disease and all those other things because uh as you saw at the beginning of my report trees are arguably one of cranberry's most valuable assets they don't benefit a few people they don't benefit um half the people they benefit all the people they they are um they serve as filters of the air um filters of groundwater uh they prevent erosion I I mean I could go on and on the like you list about 50 um benefits of trees um including shading or roads Etc but I won't go there I'm going to get into the report now but my point is and I'll share this with Denise and the engineer I had alerted Denise originally when I went to the park and was quite shocked um and so uh kudos to us to the shet Tre for for not just taking a look and saying oh there's damage but to actually spend hours out there surveying and then we were lucky that the artist was in town already and he could just throw in this extra report about what happens when um you don't cut properly and out of the critical root zone so that's the only um unpleasant thing I might say or cautionary thing but please work with us on that um okay so accomplishments and and goals we uh set out goals for the next three years because things are changing constantly with um the health of trees in terms of new insects that are affecting trees and I'll talk about that a little bit in here um and I want to just highlight a few things on the trees and then I'm just going to talk about the tree inventory I promised you that it would be quick so in terms of accomplishment we have a tree inventory for seven Center miles in town center L linear miles in town 646 trees um and that uh took a while to get to and we're really happy that we have all this information because we want to be proactive and not reactive for years and years and years cranberry has only been reactive to trees because it was DPW that managed the trees period I mean in my experience in the early days and from what I know for years before shade tree didn't initiate any action for structural pruning young trees um it was all just reactive out of dpw's budget now that's changed over the years as Shay tree has worked harder toward resiliency and sustainability because trees are part of our history here and we want to do everything we can so that we still have trees and we have a canopy um you know for future Generations so um with that said um um I just want to highlight a few other things in the annual report so um I I said that we responded to tree inquiries with site visits correspondence and coordinated action with DPW there were 35 of those I want you to keep this in mind when I talk about budget for an arboris consultant there were 35 of those 15% of those required multiple Communications and it's it's largely because yes I'm doing the communication and I want that person to be educated have the resources and understand in several instances why the township could not take action um and we'll get to that after um and I mean there're all reasons that are valid but it but people um are passionate about trees some people hate treeses and think they're dirty other but other people really value them or they really fear them because their neighbor has a standing Dead Ash that is very very brittle that kind of thing so you know helping them to direct them to sources that kind of that kind of um education and help um I do want to also point out sorry that the team worked over 250 hours although hours are still rolling in um we attended the the shade Tre conference this year and and and last year as well usually every year when it was um virtual um so under 20 for to 2026 goals the first one and this is what I'm going to S uh is is the tree removal replacement ordinance and I'm going to skip that for a minute and come right back to that because that's the only thing that really needs sort of explanation um regarding the budget we we um increased the budget by maybe 13 or 15,000 because we have to plant more trees we have more trees we have to take care of and I'll give you the stats in the tree inventory because that's the big finale the tree inventory um and so and also we need a consultant we need an arborist none of us are arborists four of us are Master Gardeners yes and we have continuing ed just like we do for shet Tre and we know a fair amount and we're all active meaning we're getting continuing ed um and getting the inside scoop on beach leaf disease that kind of thing but um it's not enough so we need an arborist and when we have any tree work done and that's all pruning and again it's proactive but what we don't do and this is something to think about for the future and there's no budget for this and we don't have a license is well I'm sorry we do have we have had some um treatment but it's all been to kill the alanthus no treatment to Aid the health of trees and that's something to think about in the future but that's something in Arbor can help us with so we put in um we don't have any money for tree inventory because we're going to work with phase one we did put in I think 5,000 or so I don't remember uh for an arborist consultant as well as a a steward a far Steward because we really want to reforest and maintain that filter of the of the wood cops in Village Park it doesn't really act as a sound filter but it filters an enormous amount of particulate matter and grossness from 130 and does offer a shield as well as shade and it filters all that groundwater that's going going into um into the lake cranberry Brook there so but we uh we aren't experts on that and it's not so much about replanting trees is as it is invasive plant control and those are all perennials I'm not going to enumerate them but there's some really bad ones in there that are taking over so that we have some we need to consultant to address that and I hope to work with EC and I hope that I can engage engage summoning parks to feel some passion about saving that wood cops as well as all the other recreational stuff that they're behind because um it's a gem Village Park is you know the town park and we want to keep it green um okay so um another exciting thing uh that we're going to be doing is work with the school you all may know that part of the curriculum now is climate change and so there are many grades that are learning about climate and they have an education space right outside the door so sh will work with the multiple grades coordinate through coordinated through Dr dler and whatever teacher she we work work with um for multiple grades to do tree walks nothing extraordinary but just get them outside see the trees recognize what they are what they do how they fit into our um a little uh biosphere here in Cranberry that kind of thing and um so with that unless anyone has any questions on the goals or accomplishments I want to talk to for minute about the ordinance because that'll really move into next year does anyone have any questions on the goals or accomplishments so the states requiring as part of the storm water management act they're requiring an ordinance um for shade tree to have all shade trees to uh commissions to have a um removal replacement ordinance you remove a tree you must replace it so how that how the mechanics of that are going to work really is up to you guys not at this moment but we'll need some input and I'll work with the liazon regarding um uh will permits be required I mean will fee will permit fees be required in terms of asking for I'm not going to look this way at the moment because I already know your position um and uh to to remove trees will there be fines if people remove trees without permitting um there's many examples of many townships as an example Plainsboro charges $15 for someone to for a permit to remove a tree of significant size and I think that's over is that over 38 dbh do you know it's diameter breast height um well I'm not sure but significant there's a definition for that um and Monroe is now charging $35 to move up to five trees that's for a permit to remove the trees um I don't know where the township sits on that that's really not for the for the cha tree to so maybe I don't know if we have a subcommittee or but this is doe May 1 yeah I mean it sounds like we're not going to address any of these tonight but I I think the 2024 liaison for shade tree is going to have to drive we're going to get right on it we're having a meeting in January yeah the a work session rather shade Tre because we have to get it to Denise who has to get it to the lawyer so I think whoever is the the shade tree leison for 2024 is gonna have and I'll know that the end of the first week in January right your first meeting the fourth or yeah seven okay yeah so that that's what we're going to do and but um these will be things that you need to consider and is there budget linked to these miss marel that you already have information on do you have what you need for these other than working towards driving an ordinance that's due in May are there are there costs associated with this that we need to other than professional costs well depending on what we put in the ordinance who's going to enforce these things process these could be a cost that is the ultimate question that is the big one okay if we're going to have permits and fines and rules who's going to enforce it right it won't be shaded you know we not not employed by the town who the lay on this year Barbara okay so maybe we can maybe in the interim you maybe you could see that there's built into some kind of C budget item or between as Marella that we know for January what what kind of a budget item we might need or for this right for the attorney well we're not whoever this person is that goes out there probably have to be some sort of right we'd have to hire someone to do that hire someone to enforce it oh to enforce it oh absolutely yeah yeah because don't have anyone who there isn't I know there isn't anyone on staff that's you know and so if we get a part-time arborist a consultant is that someone who enforces it there's a question okay I don't know go ahead so we we so this we're again we're not gonna address it tonight but we course not I just want you I wanted that out there because I I know everyone who's would would be in the room tonight is on the commission next year as well so that's why I felt confident putting that on there instead of waiting until January and I think this will this will be probably will end up being one of our goals for next year I'm guessing too yeah and two things um are just that uh yeah I'm sorry can I just just for clarification I know we discussed this before so the state is mandating that all townships put in some sort of tree removal replacement ordinance but it looks like the the standards and the RS are very loose very loose and also e so it has to be in place by the first but you can delay I forget what they call it delay the onset of it in other words you can pass the ordinance but also say and this will begin in January 2025 that kind of thing you can delay that so it doesn't have to go into effect right away okay we by when I'm sorry we have to pass May 1 May 1 May 1 um and I just want to give an example of why it might be a good idea to have some kind of oversight or some kind of kind of permit fees there's a situation on North Main where the planning board approved something they were doing with the stipulation that they consult sh Tre about the um plant material they removed along the creek there okay so they so that's basically destabilizing the whole Bank there and um in just casual driving by I see they have done some replanting but it's not trees I think some are invasive and they're not I think what was called for and there was no Consulting so who's who's going to enforce that not me that I mean that's that's the sort of situation that comes up when there's an arbor type things so now just to get to the tree inventory this isless yes oh if it was a planning board condition then the engineer would have to deal with that okay we'll talk about we'll talk later about that then you would have to tell us who it is I know no I do that but I also in a driveby couldn't identify the species without you know and I didn't I didn't want to trespass so I want to have my fact straight thank you um okay so that we have a phase one inventory 646 trees um um we had okay so there's something which is called um oh my gosh did I not write it down Isa qualitative data okay which is international um societ of Arbor culture so these qualitative risk management figures are important because they are the most accurate about the tree Health every all of these 636 trees were looked at um were scrutinized by an arborist and of those three 636 30 have um are highly Hazard and must be removed and that includes some dead ones 20 have a medium sort of Hazard rating for so that's 50 trees right with the bat removal in terms of preventing well because that they're rated poorly we they're on their way out they're already out um they're they're not a good tree to have um and I had mentioned treatment before we've never budgeted for well we have ex but that was to kill trees not to um but 155 are recommended for treatment that's something you know we'll talk about as a commission next year we've never really discussed treating live trees to help sustain them um it's it's great when someone calls about a tree now I can well the last week or two um I can look up and see what has actually been rated just last month by the arborist um and so far none of the answers are very good we have we don't have a lot of tree diversity in town we have a lot of old trees planted in the wrong place I mean you guys know um and these are just the street trees nothing about the park the trees in the park but sha Tre has been focusing for years now on pruning in the Parks including um and so that is ongoing and that's not just dead it's not reactionary just Deadwood it's also um for structural Health Etc and you know head clearance because the guys go through on the mowers that type thing that type of thing and um the last thing I'll say is there's a new disease and I don't think the good thing is I don't think we have a lot of trees in town they Beach trees in the Hagerty Forest I'm looking at barbar because she's the other one out there are beach trees at yunami I don't okay well I don't think yes there are probably a lot on the brook but I don't think they're not many in the West Property because you know they farmed it and then they they planted all those other trees and we only just have some no at lost trees in there that are decent but anyway that's something to think about I mean this is why we only planned for three years all kinds of things are happening and beachley disease is particularly interesting because it's caused by nemat in the leaves and here's the the thing how do they get there nobody knows so you know all kinds of mysteries in what what are nemat little microscopic worms okay but nematodes um anyway so any questions or comments I I have a question going back to Village Park I mean we can we can sort of say Okay Lessons Learned we we sort of mismanage that we put the walking path in but is there anything we can do to remediate or to help these trees well that would be treating them you know with vitamins and various things just there's a recommended treatment plan um for the trees that were affected and as I say 42 or 38% of the trees were affected which is pretty do we have a um a timeline or when we know what the eventual health of these trees will be no it could happen anytime I mean it takes a bit I mean none of them well well let's see what happens in the spring I mean if some were really affected um treatment options were things things like um you know fertilizing and a plant growth regulator bio stimulant application that kind of thing right now when we are losing trees and we have to because they might be dangerous and we're trying to plant trees because we have to replace the trees we this is probably not high on our list of um and it can be expensive to have applications done so for now as you say Lessons Learned and um and I'll send that report uh and so hopefully any other my understanding is there is no more digging near trees in any of the parks anytime soon is that correct any digging near trees I don't think there's any digging I think the chest thing is something they plant on the grounds just on top they don't dig yeah um I have two questions for you if you don't mind I don't mind at all number one uh what contributed to the lack of diversity in our trees is it something was it an oversight or was it that a type of tree maybe had an infection several years ago and we took them away like what contributed to that I don't know because I I wasn't here when when when those trees were planted and I'm talking about the um there's a lot of Oaks and a lot of red Maples um we didn't Let's see we didn't when we did the nut lost plantings in town we we did not do a lot of red Maples I don't think we did a whole but we did Red Maples here by the school but we worked with the school about what they wanted to and some sugar Maples [Music] UMES but then they don't have them available the nurseries you know it's hard for them to have you know and so you're limited well and and the other thing is some a lot of it is the developments that were put in no one scrutinized those trees apparently they were too big wrong size doesn't work for the fire department doesn't work for the side doesn't work for the sidewalk oh and I want to mention in the ordinance Denise has reminded and suggested to include that when trees are planted and when we do the new ordinance to include what the township had agreed upon like four years ago root guards must be in place if you plant between the tree and a sidewalk root root guards oh go down tune in yeah right which which adds which adds to the expense in quite a big way towns will have a list of couple hundred trees every year that they're going to plant and they'll go to a nursery a year in advance and say these right it used to be you know the landscape they put on a lot of the same thing it's what they did in Four Seasons it's what they did at Silvers it's what they did in the in these develop they they they plant this it's cheap it's easy they grow fast they plant a monoculture we Haven not been doing that since we've been planting trees in Cranberry it's not a monoculture at all but that's what we're left with is um and you don't want monoculture we learned that with the ash trees can I have one more questions yeah please so my my I'm sorry my my second question has first of all just thank you so much for uh taking on sort of the collaborative piece working with EC and then hopefully bringing in parks to the conversation um you and Parks at some point um has also shared with us that they are looking to plant trees are you in consultation are you part of that conversation I did talk to um the chair Parks about planting trees and um first we want to we need to replace some trees uh and also we can't we can't again it to plant those trees they don't want to dig near any other trees but they're trying to shade the whole path like it is in Heritage so in terms of compelling reasons for planting trees from shade trees point of view replacing the the street trees comes first to some regard because we're losing so many many in other words we're we we are working on replacement trees right now those are you know extra which but we but we'll work on that I think they were asking for a budget so that makes it more doable so so Denise um just for my indication that that part of the budget then comes from Parks rather than sha Tre that's what park said well it can we'll see it can come from Sha it can go in either one it doesn't really matter it's who's asking for it Parks is asking for it if Kathy's saying I have a budget and I'm focusing my budget on replacement trees now Parks is going but we want trees there so we're going to put in for it so they did so they did and we'll see spend it on that too I don't know yeah we won't need root guards there except maybe on the one side okay thank you you're welcome good thank you so much for doing I mean it's it's just it's impressive I mean we have probably a commission come in every every month or so but it it's it's just amazing to see like it's we're so lucky to have such dedicated Val and knowledgeable volunteers that are really thinking ahead on this and really planning on this so it's um it's thank you for all your effort and your team's effort thanks for those words absolutely thank you I just I just want to say that all of that data that she got was not easy to obtain no clear she had to do so many the shade tree had to do so many steps to get there and that can't be understated how much work went into that report yes and of course tree inventory is part of our um Community forestry management plan which will be renewed in 2027 and so that's key also for getting um grants should we you know have the capacity to do that cool anyway thank you so much everyone happy holidays and the importance of trees in open space our roads are one of our largest open spaces and trees are certainly so important to that they're very important thank you hug a tree M yes or a shade member there you go so great thank you Mrs Easton and thank you to your team good we'll move on I don't think our follow-up items I think have all been addressed with the uh the survey going out tomorrow um we move on to boards and commissions we have a couple vacancies um R Municipal Alliance and Parks um and obviously we'll be starting to look at 2024 openings um and sort of starting over for next year so thanks to everybody who's volunteering uh we move on to ordinances we have a first reading um it's 11- 23-12 Mrs ruin will read it by title but I'm just going to uh give a brief introduction for context we're introducing an ordinance that proposes a more comprehensive cannabis ordinance to replace current sections 50-9 and 50-10 the revised ordinance provides more detail around the classes and definitions of cannabis and reaffirms are ban on retail recreational Cannabis within the borders of our town and allows for pre-existing cannabis manufacturers located within our town to cultivate for the Cannabis Market this ordinance also provides a revenue source for our Township by setting licensing fees and indicating State permitted Revenue sharing percentages from sales and transfers from Cannabis activities the full ordinance will be posted on the township website within 48 hours and a public hearing will be held as part of the township committee meeting on December 11th um with that Miss rubben thank you um for first reading tonight we have ordinance number 11-23-19 and 50-10 recreational Cannabis of the code replacing with a new article 3 section 50 medical and recreational Cannabis activity amending sections 1 15-5 of the code and the second reading will be December 11th 2023 excellent would someone like to move this um for first reading uh yes be happy to move it Mr Scott thank you second I'll second it Dr Rogers thank you thank you we move on to roll call U Mrs elwi yes Mrs kiram is absent Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes mayor fronte yes thank you it's unanimous um and again this will be posted on the township website within 48 Hours posted on the bulletin board and we welcome people to read it and provide comments on the 11th we now move on to the second reading um for ordinance and we'll um we'll read it by title and then we'll open for a hearing thank you uh the ordinance that is on for second reading this evening is ordinance number 11- 23-11 an ordinance accepting dedication of Parkplace West as a public road good so I'll open this for the township committee but a little bit of context for the members of the public this is the section of Parkplace West from about 50 feet off Main Street to the entrance to your Municipal Library and when cranberry housing Associates was carved out a two acre spot to build what is now Parkplace West in order to get to their 2 acre increment the road had to be included in that plot of land for them to get USD USDA approval to go through the uh to get that approved as affordable housing for the township they have since um paid off their completed their obligations on that site they got USDA approval to segment that road off this is a road the township has always maintained it now connects to a municipal building and so the cha has asked us as sort of a bookkeeping and a housekeeping to take ownership of this um of this uh road so that's what we're doing tonight so any members of the township committee that would like to comment before we open it up for the public hearing I'm just curious how long this took oh um last yeah two years two two and a half years of I mean there was also residents that wanted to put a driveway onto this road and there was you know who gives them the easement I mean there's there's challenges around this so this will make it a cleaner process it's a um it sort of aligns the responsibility with the ownership um and we've just we've just been very lucky to have cha as a very good partner that they were able to actually save that space they moved the this is years ago but they moved the tennis courts they finished they completed the road I mean they' built a very nice um neighborhood that's an integral part of our downtown and now we're doing our part by taking ownership back of the road that we've already always been maintaining so any other TC members want to comment okay we'll open up for members of the public that would like to comment on this on this item this ordinance only hearing none we'll close the public uh hearing for ordinance of 11- 23-11 uh I'll move thank you Dr Rogers is there a second a second thank you Mr Scott thank you move on to roll call Mrs Eli yes Mrs kiram is absent Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes mayor fronte yes unanimous thank you good we move on to consent resolutions item 11 through C is there any that anyone would like called out separately hearing none I'll accept a motion for 118 C so moved thank you is our second I'll second Dr Rogers thank you thank you move on to R call Mrs alada yes Mrs kir M abson Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes and mayor fronte Yes again unanimous thank you thank you we'll move on to public comment at this point if any members of the public who haven't already spoke would like to come forward and say anything now is your chance um Bonnie Larson welcome I did you steal my uh um I just wanted to say that uh I'm very impressed with um the DPW and all of the way the way they're collecting the leaves and the sticks they've been doing a fabulous job and I think that they should be commended for it great thank you and Miss LaRon thanks for doing that for doing public comment thank you excellent okay great um we will now close public comments um and I think we're on to action items and know we have our survey will go out tomorrow in mayor's update if anybody has anything else they want to add to tomorrow's mayor's update please let me know like tonight or first thing in the morning um and I know we will um let's try to get the um the parks playground team on this on to either December 11th or early January meeting um and I know also at the December 11th meeting we're also going to do a goal summary of uh for 2023 so we'll we'll just roll through some of the top Township goals for the year and walk through those um Our intention at this point is to try to cancel the 18th of December um so if there's anything people wanted to cover it that night please let's try to get that onto the 11th it's only a week between the two could you resend the goals to us y yeah absolutely um and we'll just try to be let's let's try to be not duplicate all the commissions and and Boards goals but we'll try to keep to the township specific ones but I think that's great so if there's anything you want you might have wanted on the December 18th let's try to pull it forward if we can to the 11th so do we have anything for the 11th as of now uh at 11th we have second reading for the ordinance that we introduced tonight we probably get I'll reach out to rec but we can probably get them up the 11 yeah yeah okay yeah um but yeah I personally I'd rather make the 11th a little denser than yeah on another meeting so okay good thank you um any other action items from tonight well a forward action item is the one given to us by shade tree yes yep and uh and you asked us for pictures yes so good I will do that excellent with that I'm welcome W I'll welcome a motion to adjourn so moved moved all right all in favor hi all right thanks everybody for coming tonight thank you