sorry we're running a little late we were hoping that Joe would be here but be here a couple minutes so uh this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings act notice that this meeting was transmitted to hun Democrat times of Trenton Star Ledger on December 29th 2023 posted on the township website the municipal building bulletin board and filed with the Township Clerk as required by law everyone could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance sorry United States of [Music] America stand na indivisible andice David CH here Susan here here mayor won here okay we're going to move on to the approval of the meeting minutes from February 12th 2024 regular meeting minutes uh and executive session minutes which we're going to approve and hold like you have a first and a second move minute second okay any discussion any comments okay okay so we're going to move the meeting minutes so uh all those in favor I I thank you okay we're going to open up to public comment for agenda items only uh if you could keep it brief 3 minutes per person that would be great anyone have any comments can I here oh I'm sorry I didn't see it I just popped it up I see that you you've appointed someone for swack swack that bottom number s or whatever that is I don't have reades I would you to be your alternate for that okay because we always had a member and an alternate for that okay and and you would like to be the alternate for that yeah you already have somebody on that agenda right yes yeah okay thank you any other comments okay hearing none I'm going to close public comment we'll move forward with Township committee Layon reports Excuse me yes sir uh I want to get this paper I'm interested about the property on 31 lamille headquarters Road yes sir supposedly it's not on the agenda sir so you're just going to have to wait until there there's going to be another down that way there's going to be another uh public commentary that's going to be open at that particular point in time so if you if you can hold till then that' be great thank you any other comments going once going twice okay thank you we're going to close public comment and we're now going to proceed with Township committee lays on reports Mr boki okay Mrs um I attended the senior meeting of course interested in the post office um they also keep asking about Speeders but the good news was that they saw that the speed machine was out there so they know it um I also uh attended virtually the green team meeting um and again the big event is the um the green Fair on April 24th um but they have a lot of other really interesting initiatives going on and um you know reducing waste in the cafeteria um it's all all really um interesting things and also at some point they have a subcommittee on um renewable energy and they may at some point be coming to talk about um charging at the school or they cannot do it everyone has sort of said the school's not a good location you don't really want strangers schol good point so they're looking for sort of an alternative location so they're looking somewhere around like Town Central here um so anyway as I said they've um been interested in sort of pursuing that they brought it to the environmental commission the envir commiss would asked for a little more a little more information a little more input um because there's there's all kinds of grant funding that can be used for that so they may be coming back I I think they will be coming back at some point in the not dist future conversation about that great um and I attended the MUA meeting um uh the issue there was the biggest issue was the um who's going to pay the MUA the sewage bill for the post office um there's a I guess a maybe a gentleman's agreement because no one said they could find it on paper that basically said the fire department because they were nonprofit were not going to have to pay the MU mua the township also does not pay for this building any way so the question was now that part of that area was going to be post office if it was going to change the arrangement in terms of someone having to pay the sewage the decision they made they said that it would be a like a half a hookup is kind of the way they calculated it and their feeling was that since the um the hle that they normally the fireman have been using would somewhat reduced in size it might reduce the number of events they have so they really kind of think it's a wash in terms of usage so I they're going to leave the agreement as it is and they're not going to not going to charge it all corre okay great and I think that's it thank you uh two updates one is I had a chance to walk over uh DS park with Mario Russo last Sunday okay spring sports are coming up and we just took a look at things that are truly safety um hazards so I have a short list that I'll get over to Justin um and works work out a time where we can kind of go together just po some things out nothing major just a few minor things like f post sticking out um edges of benches that are exposed things that are truly safety concern so I'll get that list to you and then uh we'll set up some time to walk around so that's one piece um second thing is with the quy we have a um meeting the 27th of March to review the latest um Engineers report from the the inspection okay that's coming up uh the 27th of March that's thank you and with that I think that's a a pretty decent introduction so I'd like to introduce our new DPW director Justin squashic he just joined us today uh we're very excited to have him on board uh he going to bring a lot of energy to the Department of Public Works lot of experience um he came from what was the town again chattur chatt andboro so he has a lot of experience with a larger DPW crew uh so we're very excited to have him on board and uh we wish him all the best if anyone could please give them [Applause] a Township resident yes and he is a Township resident so so welcome aboard excited to be here and work with everyone so thank you and Justin will be uh attending all future Township committee meetings so if if you folks have any requests for the Department of Public Works this would be a great for to do that you can also obviously email them or call through the normal Town switch court so thank you thank you for attending this evening um I'll give a quick update on the post office it's none it isn't any different from the update that I provided at the last meeting but I know there's a couple inquiries uh that have occurred since uh that meeting that I guess folks didn't read the meeting from from the last meeting uh so the idea is construction is going to begin this summer with the hope of the post office opening for full business by the holiday season uh a lease was signed by the federal government with the fire company so there's commitment there um I know that they had hired an architect the architect was making plans for the the new post office or whatnot uh but hopefully I highly doubt it but hopefully they keep up with their schedule and uh we'll have a post office by by the holiday season so we we'll see what happens but it's progress so that's a good thing um that's all I had uh so I guess we'll move on to administrative reports um I just have one thing and we've been working on the budget and we hope to introduce the budget at the April 18 great thank you okay we'll move on to introduction of ordinances so uh these are okay these are the introductions so I'll read them by title uh ordinance 202 24- 03 an ordinance to amend the code of the township of Delaware County of hun in state of New Jersey chapter 381 thereof entitled sewage I'm sorry sewage disposal to amend the percol percolation test fees uh so I need a motion to introduce so if I second thank you uh discussion okay and I'm going to set a hearing date of April 8 April 8 okay second one ordinance 202 oh I'm sorry I have to do roll call my apologies roll call please Diana David Chad bow yes Susan Locker yes Joseph yes may walk yes the second uh ordinance that we're introducing this this evening is ordinance 202 24-4 an ordinance to amend the code of Township of Delaware County of hund state of New Jersey chapter 369 thereof entitled food establishments and vending machines to amend the the food permit fee so if I could have a motion to introduce so moved second any discussion not that I'm the post office the post office maybe um okay uh any discussion okay uh roll call please David Chad yes Susan yes jph V yes may yes okay we're going to proceed with public hearing and Adoption of ordinances no set the oh I'm sorry April 8th going to set the the hearing date for April 8th okay okay public hearing adoption of ordinances so we have ordinance 20241 ordinance to exceeded Municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank njs a 40a uh 4- 45.4 for calendar year 2024 um if I could have a motion to adopt to open up for public oh that's right if I could have a motion to open up for public hearing I'll make that motion okay all those in favor I I any comments from the public in regards to ordinance 20241 hearing none could I have a motion to close public hearing make a motion to close public hearing second all those in favor I I uh and motion to adopt so if I could have a motion to adopt ordinance 20241 soot second any discussion amongst the committee members okay hearing none roll call please do David Bond Chad bow yes Susan L yes just yes may yes ordinance 202 24-02 an ordinance of the township of Delaware County of 100 in state of New Jersey to amend ordinance 20238 to establish Municipal salary and compensation by ranges um if I could have a motion to open to public hearing please so move second all those in favor I I went [Music] again that's okay any any uh comment from the public in regards to ordinance [Music] 2024-25 d02 I'll make that motion all those in favor oh I'm sorry discussion any discussion roll call David Chad B yes Susan yes Joseph yes yes okay consent agenda does any Committee Member see any particular resolution on the consent agenda that they would like to hold from the agenda for separate V you good good you're okay okay so I'll read through the consent agend resolution 2476 appointing director of Public Works resolution 2477 authorizing issuance of special event permit Flemington Jewish Community Center Farmland ride resolution 24 -78 authorizing issuance of special event permit DNR Greenway kery sport uh resolution 2479 authorizing tax cancellation 2023 DB5 l13 block and lot block five uh lot 13 resolution 24-8 amending resolution 23-141 ABC license renewal Covered Bridge Hospitality Group LL C res resolution 2481 appointing swack representative can I have a motion uh to move to consent agenda so move second okay call please or any discussion yes yes Joseph yes may yes Okay resolution 2482 authorizing payment of Municipal obligations in the amount of [Music] 2,433 65987 so move second okay any discussion just to note that we're paying our school taxes that's why it's so so large that's why it's so high yes you're okay otherwise yep Mr bow good okay uh roll call please than Chad yes yes Jose yes may yes okay old business uh approved mayor's letter to njd regarding 490 surville road block 7 lot 18 uh just would like some uh anyone had any issues with me signing that letter to send off uh to have the um Department of Environmental Protection take a look at that particular lot and block uh to continue with the possible clean up there I don't know if you had a chance to read the letter have to oh okay that's right uh Mr Boi any comments or questions no looks good okay Mr B I do not okay uh roll call please Diana you never Mo okay could I have a motion motion to authorize the mayor to execute the letter thank you that motion second okay all in favor okay all in favor I thank you uh correspondence from Recreation commissioner regarding T-Mobile Hometown Grant and Survey of Village Green so we are in the process of getting the Village Green surveyed so that I think Diane what what did Adam say like within the next quarter or so within the next quarter uh so we're hopeful to get those that over to you folks and then you can make your application for the grant okay thanks you're welcome I already provided the post office update so we'll move on to new business business approve organizational changes to the environmental commission I don't know if you can fil me on um sure and our chairman is actually here too with you um basically we have uh we had a vacancy and so basically we had the discussion of how best to get everybody in as much as we could and so we're again moving King Peters um from an alter position to a full regular member okay um Diana galdi becomes alternate one from alterate 2 um then Kathy clink is coming back on the committee she had to step off when she retired but she is coming back on as alternate to okay and we have a new uh person Donna De Deo and she would like to join so we're making her an advisor okay fantastic thank you wel okay uh approve Farmland preservation program sad C 10 D do you want us to vote on that oh I'm sorry would you like us to vote on that it's an appointment so right you would vote make a motion to approve the uh the reorganization for the environmental commission I'll second okay all those in favor I I okay uh I'm going to move forward the approval of Farmland preservation program sadc ID 10298 DDE Lua living trust block 3 Lot 12 Delware Township hun County did everyone have a chance to review the application are there any questions I guess we should move it first move make a motion to to approve I guess we have to send something back it looks like saying we are in agreement with right I gu authorizing me to sign so I'll move that okay thank you I'll second that okay any discussion so about the only thought I have and I find it ironic that it says please get this back to us in 30 days and there's no date on it so like 30 days from when I don't know the only thought I had and it's completely up to you is if the um open space committee might look at it and give you more information we did refer it to uh planning board and for planning board in open space and she gave you okay okay well then that's that's good that was my only suggestion was be meeting a week from now and since we should have a real date but I'm if she says she checked it that's that's fine with me great okay uh so I guess if I could have a motion to approve me signing uh we have ation we have a motion in a second out standing okay all um any other further discussion from any other committee members okay uh all those in favor I I okay uh approve renewal of Maintenance and farming Services agreements and submission for Green Acres approval B2 block 24 Lot 36 block 39 lot 24- uh 07 block 42 lot 7 and block 42 Lot 8 so uh I have a motion for the approval of the maintenance and Services agreements for those properties second any discussion okay all those in favor I I I think I'm again okay approve renewal of lease agreement for Raven Rock Schoolhouse and submission for Green Acres approval I could have a motion for thate make that motion second okay any discussion all those in favor I Iain again okay uh request the agricultural advisory advisory committee review livestock head count ordinance um and I am asking I know unfortunately that the agricultural advisory committee was supposed to meet last Tuesday and unfortunately that meeting was canell I'm not sure for the reason for the cancellation uh but I am officially questing that the advisory committee review the livestock head count ordinances specifically because there is one on the books for uh pigs and pigs only there's nothing on the books for cattle sheep any sort of livestock animal and chickens so pigs only pigs on the books right now so we're going to ask them in their uh expertise to come up with potential maximum head counts for you know acreage or whatever the measurement is that that they would like to do that so uh we're hopeful that we can get that uh back from them quickly so that we can actually put that into into an ordinance um okay uh I am going to open for public comment and this does not have to be uh on the agenda so I do ask you that you please keep your comments stre minutes per person please so with that said yes sir yes if you could say your your name and whether you're resent Larry wall I'm a resident I just came from zentech Road where we lost power for the third time this month we in the last three weeks today and um I know I called Diane from Florida recently because I was there while my wife was at home with no electricity so um I don't know if the municipality has any uh if you have communications with with the esteem Jersey Central Power and life but if you could U pro it would be very helpful if they um could come down zente Road and just make sure it's serviced properly so we don't use power every two weeks check they really great at their outage map I whoever makes the outage map shouldn't be worried because that's really accurate but the actual the actual repair it seems to be wanting and when I went on the outage map as I drove home today and learned there was no power it said it was going to be restored on the 13th which but luckily it was on fire so they had to communicate anyway thank you that's my comment I may have other comments yes I'm going to reserve my comment back until after we close the comment period but I do have some information that I'd like to sh thank you so much yes uh anyone else ma'am my name is Karen sper I'm from I live at 37 lville head Road um I'm coming back again from last month we sent another letter to the township committee uh last week asking for some specific um actions that we would like to see taken my question was on that letter that was sent we specifically asked for a formal complaint to be lodged by this Township to the cadb to try to prevent Mr alaro from getting protections under the the right to uh my question is has that been filed on be by the township sure um I'm going to defer to the township Council okay um who also received a copy you also received a copy and it's up to you how I don't I don't discuss legal steps in in public I can't um but but I would say this is public comment so she's indicated her concern we've already discussed in private my views on what the next steps are what we can and can't do and that's something that I can't divulge thank you so so then my question becomes if we're continuing to ask these questions and we can't get any responses how do we know where to go next who to ask the next question I'll give a general response the the township will take whatever next steps are necessary appropriate and supported by the law and that in in that regard it will be done in consultation with the appropriate authorities whether that is the uh uh State officials County officials or local zoning officers so that's the best I can I can say to you um other than we've had we've had a meeting last week with the appropriate parties involved and we have been informed as to what the next steps yeah I would just I'm just going to add on to that we're taking this very seriously we hear you the public we hear our Town's people and we want to obviously protect any potential issues that might arise from this POS the possibility of this Farm popping up on the road um but we are unfortunately there are only certain violations that are outstanding right now and they're very minor um there's the possibility obviously that those violations could grow in number and in seriousness and when and if that occurs we the township is ready willing and able to make the right steps to make sure that we protect your rights and the Township's rights to prevent anything illegal from going on and this property will be treated no different than any other property in Delaware Township wherever there are violations regardless of the property address it will be addressed in the normal course I will tell you based upon personal interactions I've had with certain residents I am confident that social media is not your friend because there are things on social media that have been proven definitively to be false in terms of allegations of I'll give an example of an allegation of a a a fire inspector being denied access and I spoke to that person personally who categorically denied the allegations so there are and I'm not I'm not going back and forth on I'm not going back and forth on it I'm doing the best I can to answer the question what I'm telling you is my legal advice will not be guided by social media it will be guided by facts on the ground and if there is a violation it will be addressed but chasing chasing speculation down rabbit holes is an uninteresting exercise and it is not something that would be appropriate for a governing body or a municipal entity to do when there is a violation it will be addressed that is that will be assur yeah I promise you we're on top of this but we're Bound by the law and right now there's three minor UCC violations over there so it's electrical violations and frankly they're probably going to be repaired by the time that the inspector goes back over there now I understand there's anticipation based upon his actions in Pennsylvania that he's going to bring that here but until it actually happens just anticipating is not something that allows us to go out and do anything to prevent that because he's not doing anything I I understand that but the driveway widening was a violation we're we're working on that that's been referred to the appropriate state agency yes so we're working with the right authorities to get for the complaints on that so I promise you the township is doing everything in our power to be able to help you folks and like I said right now there's just three minor violations um but if social media is truthful he'll be coming over here and there'll be a plenty more violations for him the concern is that he'll be protected under the Right to Farm Act prior prior to that and there's going to be nothing that this Township is going to be able to do at that point in time or much less well we're reviewing so we do have several actions that we're trying to do like for example the there I'm sorry leave it there y never mind I'm not going to say anything I I apologize but we're on top of it I promise sir um I started talking before should it's the same topic the young lady was just talking about and my question is supposedly sorry your name sir I'm Township what was the last name sir hard thank you just call me Lord um my question about this address on 31 lamille headquarters Road was does he have proper permits and licenses issued by by either Delaware Township with County with State and is is he being inspected by Health Inspectors and stuff I have a neighbor that loes on headquarters Road it would have to be checked out because once again this was told to me by a third person that this person from 31 lamberville headquarters Road put a fence on somebody else's property and has Livestock on it I was going to stop at the gentleman's house today talk to him about it but I got a late start over here and it's something we're concerned about because if we have to follow the rules and regulations and laws of not just Delaware Township but the state and the county so does everybody else where Point make big point that a lot of people have seen I had to replace a shed on my property years ago I went to get it and all of a sudden they go oh you got to go to the tel work Township they had to come out that be 10 ft off the property line well okay big deal I put in 10t I obeyed the law so should everybody else I don't disagree we've had our inspectors over there there were three UCC violations that's it that's all we have right now and the driveway and I agree with what the gentleman's saying about the internet I got three big thingss here on the internet that came in and that matter supposedly demands being chased out of Pennsylvania well that's your say too I have room for that but I just want to protect the area we live in that's why we live here so I do too but we're Bound by the law and so we have to do we can't do anything in anticipation of someone breaking a law he hasn't broken a law yet so we can't do anything to prevent that yeah he he did kind of intrude on some neighbors you might have heard about it not last named excuses this owner of the property here had a photographer come over and take pictures of the back of their property and use it for advertisement like it was going to be part of his Recreation Area and they were told there's nothing you can do about it call the police that's all I can say you file a complaint with the police department we love this sir you want to keep the way it is so do I ma'am hi Ellen I'm on C road so I'm I'm kind of going back to this request for agricultural advisory committee review livestock ordinance so we currently don't have an ordance on The Limited number of chickens anyone could have it's just pics just P how soon before this ordinance will be set I'm hope well it depends how quickly agriculture gets it back to this committee but I'm hopeful to get that passed rather quickly you see what I'm getting at I yesterday that's why it's there okay so and if that if if that committee should be dragging their feet just a little bit and we don't know what that number is and someone were to put in several hundred chickens then is it the whose authority is it then to go in and say Let Me Count Your Chickens let me prove that you broke the law so like how quickly can we move this I know you're saying like they should have have the meeting next week but could we get some kind of a deadline not just about chickens but I'll make it the I'll make sure that the agricultural advisory committee is aware that is a priority and I would hope to have something back to this committee after their next meeting which so then you guys would get that early April yes and then we'll discuss it and hopefully pass something uh and it won't be passed because it would be a first reading so it would be so nothing would be set minimum me so if somebody were to bring animals in prior to that they wouldn't be affected by that any ordinance it would be retroactively applied it depends I'm not giving legal advice on it it depends we're we're trying our best to be as quick as possible and again for the record we are not looking at ordinances on a specific piece of property we are looking looking at the ordinance in a holistic attempt to what is in the best interest of Delaware Township as a whole it is not in response to complaints of a single piece of property I didn't say that it is it is it is in respon in response to a single piece of property it caused the township to review its ordinances and identify a need for a change and the record needs to be clear on that and I would suggest we move move on on this topic please on this on this issue not on the property on this everybody has right to no no no we're going to afford you that opportunity Jud all Township president is it possible in an effort to move a la the agricultural budget commit great people that they are they don't write would you be able to ask our Township attorney for sample ordinances that other municipalities have successfully adopted in the meantime just to move things along well they have a pig ordinance on file already so been there since time that's because the pig fer Township prompted that ordinance back in the 50s or but if we had some sample ordinances to work from it would move things along a whole lot F I could certainly have what you're really looking for is feedback on the numbers right I'm looking for their experti farming between now and then an be done with the blanks to be filled in that you just want to make sure it's defensible yes yes Kathy clay president I have a followup question right now and then another one are horses included in those livestock numbers cuz I didn't hear you mention horses I heard you mention I just said I just said Livestock in general I'm just going to I'm going to defer to the agricultural advisory committee to determine what animals they think there needs to be a head count on so it can be David 25 so it can be livestock specific so that's the idea um and what about setbacks what about holl Township New Jersey for example has setback rules for different types of livestock um iing next door to me say hi to my dogs every morning which I prefer not to right so I know that Holland Township New Jersey has expressly written very very specific setback rules for chickens and other animals M we have an agricultural set back is yeah 755 so how do we get that enforced then zoning officer so that's Mike Mullins we that mik and we say that we believe this agricultural setback rules are being violated or you tell me and I'll tell my setback rules are being violated Lille head to three of the neighboring properties okay ma'am um first of all I'd like to address with all due respect to the legal council I think that we really as a group um this Coalition has really put worked very hard hard to try and reach out to the township and I don't think the township is very responsive I think the legal council's attitude that he doesn't represent us that he doesn't report to us is the wrong attitude I think the attitude should be that he represents everybody in this room and everybody in this community that should be his attitude the second thing I want to tell you is that we have reached out because we wanted to understand the law we wanted to understand the process and we reached out to federal agencies state agencies we've reached out to other municipalities we know we have a lot of knowledge we have history we have knowledge we have fact and we have a growing voice of concerned citizens and we're going to use that voice and we're going to make sure that every citizen in this community understands What's Happening Here but we need you and we want to work with you we want to be a partner with the township Your Role is not just to live up and enact and work on on these ordinances that are 50 years old Your Role is to design and Implement ordinances that are respectful of today's Times things are changing we have an abundance more knowledge of how water systems work of how hot the country is going to grow we know that chickens now have biohazard signs on the front of Chicken F we know there's a lot of changes and your job is to assimilate that knowledge and make sure that you govern and make laws and change your ordinances that they meet the requ of today I'm going to leave you with a thought if a tornado was headed right here the Delaware Township would you sit there and would you would you ring every siren throughout every bit of this Township would you do that would you would you open up every door of a shelter and would you would you supplement those shelters with preemptive things of water of food of medical supplies would you advise every member of this Township that something is going to happen and I'm going to do everything in my power to protect you well I'm telling you a tornado is coming it's not enough to tell us that oh just because it's happened in Pennsylvania doesn't mean it's going to happen here it's going to happen here and there's a tornado coming and and how you respond to this small piece of property and there are hundreds of small pieces of agricultural property throughout this Township and how you respond is going to have your stamp on it you could be successful or you could be a failure but it's your challenge to meet it and I'm asking you to join us to meet with us to discuss it because we have facts we acknowledge and we know what's going on in this Township and the C work with us because we're going to we're going to get there we've got agencies behind us we now even have an ear in the governor's office work with us now because it's going to be a [Applause] tornado wait I'm sorry could you repeat your name I didn't capture it Pam Milam mil car mil Sir Mr Mayor committee committee members and that's a hard talk to follow but there is a tornado coming and it's prevalent within this community we have a petting zoo over here on 523 that's been a problem and it continues to be a problem and there is no resident there we have a petting zoo that's proposed to come in on 31 laville headquarters road with no resident now I think sometimes we all have time we're dedicated to this project and I think information that we come up with I think should be shared with all the community not just a certain group of people the owner of that property is still talking about moving in here in the springtime he's still talking about putting in 300,000 chickens now those 300,000 chickens to my concern is this those chickens will consume 13 million gallons of water and that's just a tremendous multitude of homes now the township does have ordinances and we have seen them work and work effectively several years ago a third generation farmer asked to put um trees on the lamberville headquarters Road at Bill Corner a study was done to find how much water those trees would consume after that number came through his request was denied and we want to make sure that that same Spirit exists today that nobody is above the law the owner of that property has said that he has hired a an engineer and an architect to retrofit a 5,000 ft Barn that's there so he can open it up for retail sales that retail sales will be open from 8:00 in the morning till 8:00 at night 365 days a year I think those tornadoes change the character of our community and it's not for the better I just am here to alert the township and the committee what potential is could be coming and I realize there's potential well when you hear the tornado coming you better do something and this is what we're looking at today I appreciate your time and I appreciate everybody's coming out tonight to hear what's going on because I think the voices of many make the changes of few thank you anybody else may am de C I'm on the orphan end of Upper Creek Road um it is a very unsafe situation as you come off Upper Creek bye where feather Featherbed Lane comes off there's quite a drop and it goes over a trench the side of the road has a large trench from water run off down the road uh and then on the upper end where I am the last house um it's just a horrendous situation and I would hope that we could get you have the right man sitting here evening thank you anybody else Kathy Clank president I just want to uh compliment you on the meeting for the DS Park presentation on last Wednesday night uh I thought it was very well run and it was very well attended and it was very uh all the people were well spoken about their desires um and I just hope there going to be more meetings so that we can monitor how much push we put on that use that's all I I'm worried about it getting overcrowded thank you it's a beautiful part we've been very fortunate to have that part for as long as we've had it gifted To Us by a third grade teacher for the benefit of attention margerie G 139 C Brook I want to go back to the issue of the ad committee are they required to meet certain number of times per year when will that next meeting take place I don't know if there's a requirement if there's nothing on the agenda but I think they're supposed to meet monthly uh 11 months out of the year um I'm not do we know when the next one is it's they usually as first second what is that second Tuesday first Tuesday first Tuesday that would be time I understood it was scheduled for the 14th thank you okay I I'm not sure that's Thursday that's thank you it'll be on the township website uh if anyone wants to attend that particular meeting I just want to be sure it doesn't keep getting cancelled I'll speak with Mr Bond he delay is on for that particular committee and I'll ask him to make sure that they have the meeting and that this gets discussed thank you you're welcome I am G Baldi resident um regarding DS Park I just wanted to get um your thoughts on on behalf of the environmental commission I maintain an install um and clean out the bluebird boxes okay and I'm thinking there's going to be Construction anytime soon I'd rather take them down before I want them to start nesting and then have some problems so any thoughts on starting would it be this year or I'm I'm hopeful that after reviewing the budget with the township administrator and exploring options for fin possible financing and and finding out what our Grant application status is for several of the grants that we applied for um that we might be able to come up with a period of time beginning of summer so that we're not disrupting any of the spring Sports um and have minimal impact on the kids being able to get out and enjoy the fields and whatnot so that would be the earliest I anticipate beginning I I think the bluebirds will be fine frankly until the you know their spring time should be fine okay great thank you you're welcome uh I'm if I can just reserve for people that haven't commented yet and then we'll come back around if that's okay anybody that hasn't commented yet that wishes to comment okay uh I just had one one CH for the comment um I'm not I I I haven't I'm not aware of this uh situation situation and I heard Al chicken sounds like lot of 300,000 sounds like 10 times but whether it's thirsty trees or whether it's 300,000 chickens or whether it's an overreaching subdivision or whether it's a commercial business being cloaked as a agricultural business in this town I just hope that this committee and the zoning officer and the boards that are involved just take all this seriously and apply the laws appropriately and right job for everybody that's that's my position because I been living here a while and I've seen things not go that way welcome thank you thank you sir no problem uh yeah I mean I just wanted to address one last item here and it ties back I things about Joe the comment you made I think social media I'm not really sure I understood the context other than I think you made a comment about no one being denied access um I believe is a report from I think it's January the 4th where the New Jersey fire inspector says they tried to go to the property on December the 13th that they were not able to enter that sounds like being denied access to me that's one two they also appeared in early January for propane tanks the two two of the fire Marshals sat outside on Liz Ker's property trying to gain entry they were not allowed to enter to check third I believe our own Humane officer Murphy was denied access on two separate occasions as well so I agree we should not use miss or disinformation but we should be clear we have our facts right again thank you yeah no I'm going I'm going to comment on it because um for several reasons Following last month's meeting when the issue was raised uh the mayor um immediately convened a meeting with officer Murphy Murphy Sergeant Ellis Mike Mullen and the two Fire Marshals from from the county from the county and who else was there you were there Daniels and I was there yes so the two Fire Marshals you referenced we all personally spoke with and everybody here who was at the meeting can say they categorically denied not having access officer Murphy was in the meeting he said he was not denied access so when you talk about the facts I'm I'm conveying to you I was in a meeting face to face with these stakeholders and and we conveyed we conveyed the information that was provided and to a person every everybody that was participated in that conversation said that the information that was provided was not correct so the reason that excuse me just please let me finish so uh the Reas that is the reason why I made the statement about social media because that and that doesn't mean that the township isn't taking the situation seriously it doesn't mean that there are not actions in accordance with the law that we could take like reviewing zoning ordinances which one of which was on the agenda tonight but I will say this in the most General way um it the township needs to proceed in a manner that ensures that if a court is reviewing an ordinance that is the subject of litigation 3 years for now they understand and that's why I'm making the record that it is is not spot zoning we are not singling out a single property because if the court determines that an ordinance was passed for a single owner it is unenforceable it is not allowed under New Jersey La so I am doing what I need to do to protect the township which includes everybody in this room and you may not you may not hear it the same way as me and may misconstrue steps that are taken as is not hearing your concerns or not advocating for you the absolute contrary is the truth it is I am doing everything that I need to do as a 32-year litigator who does land use that understands what a judge is going to say to me 3 years from now to ensure that the record is defendable that's what I am doing in in working with the town ship committee I can have communication with the township committee that is protected because I am not your attorney I am the township attorney I am hired by the elected officials if I send an email to anyone on this day and somebody sends an open uh an OP request for the communication they don't get it if I answer your question they send an open request they get it they get to read my communication with you so so there's a reason why I say I'm not your attorney I'm not and to protect the township my communication is best serve by by speaking and sharing my mental thoughts and my opinions with those that under New Jersey law says it's protected so it's important for you to hear all of that in the context so when statements are made about what what are facts and what aren't facts you need to know that we had a meeting and everybody except the two fire officials they phoned in by phone everybody else was sitting at this table and we had a meeting and that because that's how serious the mayor takes it he convened a meeting and asked everybody who was involved to to discuss and get on the same page and that's what we did and I think I just want to add on to that I hope that you folks realize this particular issue has brought to our attention at the last meeting since the last meeting we have made multiple efforts including the meeting that the township council is referring to uh the review of possible avenues that the township can take to try to stem this from becoming a problem but at the same time I think everyone needs to temper their expectations that we need to move in a manner that is going to protect the township protect our ability to defend whatever ordinances we put in place down the road and in order to do that you just got to give us a little bit of time now I understand everyone's concerned because there's this tornado coming unfortunately we're moving as fast as we possibly can to to stop that tornado and that's all I can promise you uh we as a committee have to listen to experts that the township has hired to provide us with with advice and the township attorney is providing that legal advice to us uh we are taking that in context we're trying to come up with a solution that will address the issue but like I said previously it's going to take some time so I understand how frustrated you are but you have got to give us a little bit of time to try to come up with a resolution that's going to work because I know I speak for myself and I probably speak for the rest of this committee we very much are concerned about this particular issue and we're going to do everything possible to help you and help the township I promise you that okay um the other point I wanted to make just really quickly is when and trying to reach out to several of the agencies both at the county level and at the state level the township has had a little bit of a difficult time getting anyone to listen to us because I think they've heard the issue before from Individual residents and so I think they become almost a little bit toned dep to to the whole issue so if it's possible to refrain from any further contact with those particular agencies or government officials until we exhaust our ability to communicate with those folks because we're not getting any response on some of our inquiries on on that quick note to to quick and thank you very much for all of those comments greatly appreciate um number one and maybe I Mard Joe earlier where he said we're going to act but we're not necessarily going to tell you what we're going to do and when we're going to act so for us not to contact --------- sorry we're running a little late we were hoping that Joe would be here but be here a couple minutes so uh this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings act notice that this meeting was transmitted to hun Democrat times of Trenton Star Ledger on December 29th 2023 posted on the township website the municipal building bulletin board and filed with the Township Clerk as required by law everyone could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance sorry United States [Music] ofer stand na indivisible andice David CH here Susan here here mayor wson here okay we're going to move on to the approval of the meeting minutes from February 12th 2024 regular meeting minutes uh and executive session minutes which we're going to approve and P like you have a first and a second move minute second okay any discussion any comments okay okay so we're going to move the meeting minutes so uh all those in favor I I thank you okay we're going to open up to public comment for agenda items only uh if you could keep it brief 3 minutes per person that would be great anyone have any comments can I here oh I'm sorry I didn't see it I just popped it up I see that you you've appointed someone for swack swack that bottom number s or whatever that is I don't have reades I would you to be your alternate for that okay because we always had a member and an alternate for that okay and and you would like to be the alternate for that yeah you already have somebody on that agenda right yes yeah okay thank you any other comments okay hearing none I'm going to close public comment we'll move forward with Township committee Layon reports Excuse me yes sir uh I want to get this paper I'm interested about the property on 31 lamille headquarters Road yes sir supposedly it's not on the agenda sir so you're just going to have to wait until there there's going to be another down that way there's going to be another uh public commentary that's going to be open at that particular point in time so if you if you can hold till then that' be great thank you any other comments going once going twice okay thank you we're going to close public comment and we're now going to proceed with Township committee lays on reports Mr boki okay Mrs um I attended the senior meeting of course interested in the post office um they also keep asking about Speeders but the good news was that they saw that the speed machine was out there so they know it um I also uh attended virtually the green team meeting um and again the big event is the um the green Fair on April 24th um but they have a lot of other really interesting initiatives going on and um you know reducing waste in the cafeteria um it's all all really um interesting things and also at some point they have a subcommittee on um renewable energy and they may at some point be coming to talk about um charging at the school or they cannot do it everyone has sort of said the school's not a good location you don't really want strangers schol good point so they're looking for sort of an alternative location so they're looking somewhere around like Town Central here um so anyway as I said they've um been interested in sort of pursuing that they brought it to the environmental commission the envir commiss would asked for a little more a little more information a little more input um because there's there's all kinds of grant funding that can be used for that so they may be coming back I I think they will be coming back at some point in the not dist future conversation about that great um and I attended the MUA meeting um uh the issue there was the biggest issue was the um who's going to pay the MUA the sewage bill for the post office um there's a I guess a maybe a gentleman's agreement because no one said they could find it on paper that basically said the fire department because they were nonprofit were not going to have to pay the MU mua the township also does not pay for this building any way so the question was now that part of that area was going to be post office if it was going to change the arrangement in terms of someone having to pay the sewage the decision they made they said that it would be a like a half a hookup is kind of the way they calculated it and their feeling was that since the um the hle that they normally the fireman have been using would somewhat reduced in size it might reduce the number of events they have so really kind of think it's a wash in terms of usage so I they're going to leave the agreement as it is and they're not going to not going to charge it all corre okay great and I think that's it thank you uh two updates one is I had a chance to walk over uh DS park with Mario Russo last Sunday okay spring sports are coming up and we just took a look at things that are truly safety um hazards so I have a short list that I'll get over to Justin um and works work out a time where we can kind of go together just po some things out nothing major just a few minor things like f post sticking out um edges of benches that are exposed things that are truly safety concern so I'll get that list to you and then uh we'll set up some time to walk around so that's one piece um second thing is with the quy we have a um meeting the 27th of March to review the latest um Engineers report from the the inspection okay that's coming up uh the 27th of March that's thank you and with that I think that's a a pretty decent introduction so I'd like to introduce our new DPW director Justin squashic he just joined us today uh we're very excited to have him on board uh he going to bring a lot of energy to the Department of Public Works lot of experience um he came from what was the town again chattur chatt andboro so he has a lot of experience with a larger DPW crew uh so we're very excited to have him on board and uh we wish him all the best if anyone could please give them [Applause] a Township resident yes and he is a Township resident so so welcome aboard excited to be here and work with everyone so thank you and Justin will be uh attending all future Township committee meetings so if if you folks have any requests for the Department of Public Works this would be a great for to do that you can also obviously email them or call through the normal Town switch court so thank you thank you for attending this evening um I'll give a quick update on the post office it's none it isn't any different from the update that I provided at the last meeting but I know there's a couple inquiries uh that have occurred since uh that meeting that I guess folks didn't read the meeting from from the last meeting uh so the idea is construction is going to begin this summer with the hope of the post office opening for full business by the holiday season uh a lease was signed by the federal government with the fire company so there's commitment there um I know that they had hired an architect the architect was making plans for the the new post office or whatnot uh but hopefully I highly doubt it but hopefully they keep up with their schedule and uh we'll have a post office by by the holiday season so we we'll see what happens but it's progress so that's a good thing um that's all I had uh so I guess we'll move on to administrative reports um I just have one thing and we've been working on the budget and we hope to introduce the budget at the April 18 great thank you okay we'll move on to introduction of ordinances so uh these are okay these are the introductions so I'll read them by title uh ordinance 202 24- 03 an ordinance to amend the code of the township of Delaware County of hun in state of New Jersey chapter 381 thereof entitled sewage I'm sorry sewage disposal to amend the percol percolation test fees uh so I need a motion to introduce so if I second thank you uh discussion okay and I'm going to set a hearing date of April 8 April 8 okay second one ordinance 202 oh I'm sorry I have to do roll call my apologies roll call please Diana David Chad bow yes Susan Locker yes Joseph yes may walk yes the second uh ordinance that we're introducing this this evening is ordinance 202 24-4 an ordinance to amend the code of Township of Delaware County of hund state of New Jersey chapter 369 thereof entitled food establishments and vending machines to amend the the food permit fee so if I could have a motion to introduce so moved second any discussion not that I'm the post office the post office maybe um okay uh any discussion okay uh roll call please David Chad yes Susan yes jph V yes may yes okay we're going to proceed with public hearing and Adoption of ordinances no set the oh I'm sorry April 8th going to set the the hearing date for April 8th okay okay public hearing adoption of ordinances so we have ordinance 20241 ordinance to exceeded Municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank njs a 40a uh 4- 45.4 for calendar year 2024 um if I could have a motion to adopt to open up for public oh that's right if I could have a motion to open up for public hearing I'll make that motion okay all those in favor I I any comments from the public in regards to ordinance 20241 hearing none could I have a motion to close public hearing make a motion to close public hearing second all those in favor I I uh and motion to adopt so if I could have a motion to adopt ordinance 20241 soot second any discussion amongst the committee members okay hearing none roll call please do David Bond Chad bow yes Susan L yes just yes may yes ordinance 202 24-02 an ordinance of the township of Delaware County of 100 in state of New Jersey to amend ordinance 20238 to establish Municipal salary and compensation by ranges um if I could have a motion to open to public hearing please so move second all those in favor I I went [Music] again that's okay any any uh comment from the public in regards to ordinance [Music] 2024-25 d02 I'll make that motion all those in favor oh I'm sorry discussion any discussion roll call David Chad B yes Susan yes Joseph yes yes okay consent agenda does any Committee Member see any particular resolution on the consent agenda that they would like to hold from the agenda for separate V you good good you're okay okay so I'll read through the consent agend resolution 2476 appointing director of Public Works resolution 2477 authorizing issuance of special event permit Flemington Jewish Community Center Farmland ride resolution 24 -78 authorizing issuance of special event permit DNR Greenway kery sport uh resolution 2479 authorizing tax cancellation 2023 DB5 l13 block and lot block five uh lot 13 resolution 24-8 amending resolution 23-141 ABC license renewal Covered Bridge Hospitality Group LL C res resolution 2481 appointing swack representative did I have a motion uh to move to consent agenda so move second okay call please or any discussion yes yes Joseph yes may yes Okay resolution 2482 authorizing payment of Municipal obligations in the amount of [Music] 2,433 65987 so move second okay any discussion just to note that we're paying our school taxes that's why it's so so large that's why it's so high yes you're okay otherwise yep Mr bow good okay uh roll call please than Chad yes yes Jose yes may yes okay old business uh approved mayor's letter to njd regarding 490 surville road block 7 lot 18 uh just would like some uh anyone had any issues with me signing that letter to send off uh to have the um Department of Environmental Protection take a look at that particular lot and block uh to continue with the possible clean up there I don't know if you had a chance to read the letter have to oh okay that's right uh Mr Boi any comments or questions no looks good okay Mr B I do not okay uh roll call please Diana you never Mo okay could I have a motion motion to authorize the mayor to execute the letter thank you that motion second okay all in favor okay all in favor I thank you uh correspondence from Recreation commissioner regarding T-Mobile Hometown Grant and Survey of Village Green so we are in the process of getting the Village Green surveyed so that I think Diane what what did Adam say like within the next quarter or so within the next quarter uh so we're hopeful to get those that over to you folks and then you can make your application for the grant okay thanks you're welcome I already provided the post office update so we'll move on to new business business approve organizational changes to the environmental commission I don't know if you can fil me on um sure and our chairman is actually here too with you um basically we have uh we had a vacancy and so basically we had the discussion of how best to get everybody in as much as we could and so we're again moving King Peters um from an alter position to a full regular member okay um Diana galdi becomes alternate one from alterate 2 um then Kathy clink is coming back on the committee she had to step off when she retired but she is coming back on as alternate to okay and we have a new uh person Donna De Deo and she would like to join so we're making her an advisor okay fantastic thank you wel okay uh approve Farmland preservation program sad C 10 D do you want us to vote on that oh I'm sorry would you like us to vote on that it's an appointment so right you would vote make a motion to approve the uh the reorganization for the environmental commission I'll second okay all those in favor I I okay uh I'm going to move forward the approval of Farmland preservation program sadc ID 10298 DDE Lua living trust block 3 Lot 12 Delware Township hun County did everyone have a chance to review the application are there any questions I guess we should move it first move make a motion to to approve I guess we have to send something back it looks like saying we are in agreement with right I gu authorizing me to sign so I'll move that okay thank you I'll second that okay any discussion so about the only thought I have and I find it ironic that it says please get this back to us in 30 days and there's no date on it so like 30 days from when I don't know the only thought I had and it's completely up to you is if the um open space committee might look at it and give you more information we did refer it to uh planning board and for planning board in open space and she gave you okay okay well then that's that's good that was my only suggestion was be meeting a week from now and since we should have a real date but I'm if she says she checked it that's that's fine with me great okay uh so I guess if I could have a motion to approve me signing uh we have ation we have a motion in a second out standing okay all um any other further discussion from any other committee members okay uh all those in favor I I okay uh approve renewal of Maintenance and farming Services agreements and submission for Green Acres approval B2 block 24 Lot 36 block 39 lot 24- uh 07 block 42 lot 7 and block 42 Lot 8 so uh I have a motion for the approval of the maintenance and Services agreements for those properties second any discussion okay all those in favor I I I think I'm again okay approve renewal of lease agreement for Raven Rock Schoolhouse and submission for Green Acres approval I could have a motion for thate make that motion second okay any discussion all those in favor I Iain again okay uh request the agricultural advisory advisory committee review livestock head count ordinance um and I am asking I know unfortunately that the agricultural advisory committee was supposed to meet last Tuesday and unfortunately that meeting was canell I'm not sure for the reason for the cancellation uh but I am officially questing that the advisory committee review the livestock head count ordinances specifically because there is one on the books for uh pigs and pigs only there's nothing on the books for cattle sheep any sort of livestock animal and chickens so pigs only pigs on the books right now so we're going to ask them in their uh expertise to come up with potential maximum head counts for you know acreage or whatever the measurement is that that they would like to do that so uh we're hopeful that we can get that uh back from them quickly so that we can actually put that into into an ordinance um okay uh I am going to open for public comment and this does not have to be uh on the agenda so I do ask you that you please keep your comments stre minutes per person please so with that said yes sir yes if you could say your your name and whether you're resent Larry wall I'm a resident I just came from zentech Road where we lost power for the third time this month we in the last three weeks today and um I know I called Diane from Florida recently because I was there while my wife was at home with no electricity so um I don't know if the municipality has any uh if you have communications with with the esteem Jersey Central Power and life but if you could U pro it would be very helpful if they um could come down zente Road and just make sure it's serviced properly so we don't use power every two weeks check they really great at their outage map I whoever makes the outage map shouldn't be worried because that's really accurate but the actual the actual repair it seems to be wanting and when I went on the outage map as I drove home today and learned there was no power it said it was going to be restored on the 13th which but luckily it was on fire so they had to communicate anyway thank you that's my comment I may have other comments yes I'm going to reserve my comment back until after we close the comment period but I do have some information that I'd like to sh thank you so much yes uh anyone else ma'am my name is Karen sper I'm from I live at 37 lville head Road um I'm coming back again from last month we sent another letter to the township committee uh last week asking for some specific um actions that we would like to see taken my question was on that letter that was sent we specifically asked for a formal complaint to be lodged by this Township to the cadb to try to prevent Mr alaro from getting protections under the the right to uh my question is has that been filed on be by the township sure um I'm going to defer to the township Council okay um who also received a copy you also received a copy and it's up to you how I don't I don't discuss legal steps in in public I can't um but but I would say this is public comment so she's indicated her concern we've already discussed in private my views on what the next steps are what we can and can't do and that's something that I can't divulge thank you so so then my question becomes if we're continuing to ask these questions and we can't get any responses how do we know where to go next who to ask the next question I'll give a general response the the township will take whatever next steps are necessary appropriate and supported by the law and that in in that regard it will be done in consultation with the appropriate authorities whether that is the uh uh State officials County officials or local zoning officers so that's the best I can I can say to you um other than we've had we've had a meeting last week with the appropriate parties involved and we have been informed as to what the next steps yeah I would just I'm just going to add on to that we're taking this very seriously we hear you the public we hear our Town's people and we want to obviously protect any potential issues that might arise from this POS the possibility of this Farm popping up on the road um but we are unfortunately there are only certain violations that are outstanding right now and they're very minor um there's the possibility obviously that those violations could grow in number and in seriousness and when and if that occurs we the township is ready willing and able to make the right steps to make sure that we protect your rights and the Township's rights to prevent anything illegal from going on and this property will be treated no different than any other property in Delaware Township wherever there are violations regardless of the property address it will be addressed in the normal course I will tell you based upon personal interactions I've had with certain residents I am confident that social media is not your friend because there are things on social media that have been proven definitively to be false in terms of allegations of I'll give an example of an allegation of a a a fire inspector being denied access and I spoke to that person personally who categorically denied the allegations so there are and I'm not I'm not going back and forth on I'm not going back and forth on it I'm doing the best I can to answer the question what I'm telling you is my legal advice will not be guided by social media it will be guided by facts on the ground and if there is a violation it will be addressed but chasing chasing speculation down rabbit holes is an uninteresting exercise and it is not something that would be appropriate for a governing body or a municipal entity to do when there is a violation it will be addressed that is that will be assur yeah I promise you we're on top of this but we're Bound by the law and right now there's three minor UCC violations over there so it's electrical violations and frankly they're probably going to be repaired by the time that the inspector goes back over there now I understand there's anticipation based upon his actions in Pennsylvania that he's going to bring that here but until it actually happens just anticipating is not something that allows us to go out and do anything to prevent that because he's not doing anything I I understand that but the driveway widening was a violation we're we're working on that that's been referred to the appropriate state agency yes so we're working with the right authorities to get for the complaints on that so I promise you the township is doing everything in our power to be able to help you folks and like I said right now there's just three minor violations um but if social media is truthful he'll be coming over here and there'll be a plenty more violations for him the concern is that he'll be protected under the Right to Farm Act prior prior to that and there's going to be nothing that this Township is going to be able to do at that point in time or much less well we're reviewing so we do have several actions that we're trying to do like for example the there I'm sorry leave it there y never mind I'm not going to say anything I I apologize but we're on top of it I promise sir um I started talking before should it's the same topic the young lady was just talking about and my question is supposedly sorry your name sir I'm Township what was the last name sir hard thank you just call me Lord um my question about this address on 31 lamille headquarters Road was does he have proper permits and licenses issued by by either Delaware Township with County with State and is is he being inspected by Health Inspectors and stuff I have a neighbor that loes on headquarters Road it would have to be checked out because once again this was told to me by a third person that this person from 31 lamberville headquarters Road put a fence on somebody else's property and has Livestock on it I was going to stop at the gentleman's house today talk to him about it but I got a late start over here and it's something we're concerned about because if we have to follow the rules and regulations and laws of not just Delaware Township but the state and the county so does everybody else where Point make big point that a lot of people have seen I had to replace a shed on my property years ago I went to get it and all of a sudden they go oh you got to go to the tel work Township they had to come out that be 10 ft off the property line well okay big deal I put in 10t I obeyed the law so should everybody else I don't disagree we've had our inspectors over there there were three UCC violations that's it that's all we have right now and the driveway and I agree with what the gentleman's saying about the internet I got three big thingss here on the internet that came in and that matter supposedly demands being chased out of Pennsylvania well that's your say too I have room for that but I just want to protect the area we live in that's why we live here so I do too but we're Bound by the law and so we have to do we can't do anything in anticipation of someone breaking a law he hasn't broken a law yet so we can't do anything to prevent that yeah he he did kind of intrude on some neighbors you might have heard about it not last named excuses this owner of the property here had a photographer come over and take pictures of the back of their property and use it for advertisement like it was going to be part of his Recreation Area and they were told there's nothing you can do about it call the police that's all I can say you file a complaint with the police department we love this sir you want to keep the way it is so do I ma'am hi Ellen I'm on C road so I'm I'm kind of going back to this request for agricultural advisory committee review livest ordinance so we currently don't have an ordinance on The Limited number of chickens anyone could have it's just pics just P how soon before this ordinance will be set I'm hope well it depends how quickly agriculture gets it back to this committee but I'm hopeful to get that passed rather quickly you see what I'm getting at I yesterday that's why it's there okay so and if that if if that committee should be dragging their feet just a little bit and we don't know what that number is and someone were to put in several hundred chickens then is it the whose authority is it then to go in and say Let Me Count Your Chickens let me prove that you broke the law so like how quickly can we move this I know you're saying like they should have have the meeting next week but could we get some kind of a deadline not just about chickens but I'll make it the I'll make sure that the agricultural advisory committee is aware that is a priority and I would hope to have something back to this committee after their next meeting which so then you guys would get that early April yes and then we'll discuss it and hopefully pass something uh and it won't be passed because it would be a first reading so it would be so nothing would be set minimum me so if somebody were to bring animals in prior to that they wouldn't be affected by that any ordinance it would be retroactively applied it depends I'm not giving legal advice on it it depends we're we're trying our best to be as quick as possible and again for the record we are not looking at ordinances on a specific piece of property we are looking looking at the ordinance in a holistic attempt to what is in the best interest of Delaware Township as a whole it is not in response to complaints of a single piece of property I didn't say that it is it is it is in respon in response to a single piece of property it caused the township to review its ordinances and identify a need for a change and the record needs to be clear on that and I would suggest we move move on on this topic please on this on this issue not on the property on this everybody has right to no no no we're going to afford you that opportunity Jud all Township president is it possible in an effort to move a la the agricultural budget commit great people that they are they don't write would you be able to ask our Township attorney for sample ordinances that other municipalities have successfully adopted in the meantime just to move things along well they have a pig ordinance on file already so been there since time that's because the pig fer Township prompted that ordinance back in the 50s or but if we had some sample ordinances to work from it would move things along a whole lot F I could certainly have what you're really looking for is feedback on the numbers right I'm looking for their experti farming between now and then an be done with the blanks to be filled in that you just want to make sure it's defensible yes yes Kathy clay president I have a followup question right now and then another one are horses included in those livestock numbers cuz I didn't hear you mention horses I heard you mention I just said I just said Livestock in general I'm just going to I'm going to defer to the agricultural advisory committee to determine what animals they think there needs to be a head count on so it can be David 25 so it can be livestock specific so that's the idea um and what about setbacks what about holl Township New Jersey for example has setback rules for different types of livestock um iing next door to me say hi to my dogs every morning which I prefer not to right so I know that Holland Township New Jersey has expressly written very very specific setback rules for chickens and other animals M we have an agricultural set back is yeah 755 so how do we get that enforced then zoning officer so that's Mike Mullins we that mik and we say that we believe this agricultural setback rules are being violated or you tell me and I'll tell my setback rules are being violated 31 Lille head to three of the neighboring properties okay ma'am um first of all I'd like to address with all due respect to the legal council I think that we really as a group um this Coalition has really put worked very hard hard to try and reach out to the township and I don't think the township is very responsive I think the legal council's attitude that he doesn't represent us that he doesn't report to us is the wrong attitude I think the attitude should be that he represents everybody in this room and everybody in this community that should be his attitude the second thing I want to tell you is that we have reached out because we wanted to understand the law we wanted to understand the process and we reached out to federal agencies state agencies we've reached out to other municipalities we know we have a lot of knowledge we have history we have knowledge we have fact and we have a growing voice of concerned citizens and we're going to use that voice and we're going to make sure that every citizen in this community understands What's Happening Here but we need you and we want to work with you we want to be a partner with the township Your Role is not just to live up and enact and work on on these ordinances that are 50 years old Your Role is to design and Implement ordinances that are respectful of today's Times things are changing we have an abundance more knowledge of how water systems work of how hot the country is going to grow we know that chickens now have biohazard signs on the front of Chicken F we know there's a lot of changes and your job is to assimilate that knowledge and make sure that you govern and make laws and change your ordinances that they meet the requ of today I'm going to leave you with a thought if a tornado was headed right here the Delaware Township would you sit there and would you would you ring every siren throughout every bit of this Township would you do that would you would you open up every door of a shelter and would you would you supplement those shelters with PR emptive things of water of food of medical supplies would you advise every member of this Township that something is going to happen and I'm going to do everything in my power to protect you well I'm telling you a tornado is coming it's not enough to tell us that oh just because it's happened in Pennsylvania doesn't mean it's going to happen here it's going to happen here and there's a tornado coming and and how you respond to this small piece of property and there are hundreds of small pieces of agricultural property throughout this Township and how you respond is going to have your stamp on it you could be successful or you could be a failure but it's your challenge to meet it and I'm asking you to join us to meet with us to discuss it because we have facts we acknowledge and we know what's going on in this Township and the C work with us because we're going to we're going to get there we've got agencies behind us we now even have an ear in the governor's office work with us now because it's going to be a [Applause] tornado wait I'm sorry could you repeat your name I didn't capture it Pam Milam mil car mil Sir Mr Mayor committee committee members and that's a hard talk to follow but there is a tornado coming and it's prevalent within this community we have a petting zoo over here on 523 that's been a problem and it continues to be a problem and there is no resident there we have a petting zoo that's proposed to come in on 31 laville headquarters road with no resident now I think sometimes we all have time if we're dedicated to this project and I think information that we come up with I think should be shared with all the community not just a certain group of people the owner of that property is still talking about moving in here in the springtime he's still talking about putting in 300,000 chickens now those 300,000 chickens to my concern is this those chickens will consume 13 million gallons of water and that's just a tremendous multitude of homes now the township does have ordinances and we have seen them work and work effectively several years ago a third generation farmer asked to put um trees on the lamberville headquarters Road at Bill Corner a study was done to find how much water those trees would consume after that number came through his request was denied and we want to make sure that that same Spirit exists today that nobody is above the law the owner of that property has said that he has hired a an engineer and an architect to retrofit a 5,000 ft Barn that's there so he can open it up for retail sales that retail sales will be open from 8:00 in the morning till 8:00 at night 365 days a year I think those tornadoes change the character of our community and it's not for the better I just am here to alert the township and the committee what potential is could be coming and I realize there's potential well when you hear the tornado coming you better do something and this is what we're looking at today I appreciate your time and I appreciate everybody's coming out tonight to hear what's going on because I think the voices of many make the changes of few thank you anybody else may am de C I'm on the orphan end of Upper Creek Road um it is a very unsafe situation as you come off Upper Creek bye where feather Featherbed Lane comes off there's quite a drop and it goes over a trench the side of the road has a large trench from water run off down the road uh and then on the upper end where I am the last house um it's just a horrendous situation and I would hope that we could get you have the right man sitting here evening thank you anybody else Kathy Clank president I just want to uh compliment you on the meeting for the DS Park presentation on last Wednesday night uh I thought it was very well run and it was very well attended and it was very uh all the people were well spoken about their desires um and I just hope there going to be more meetings so that we can monitor how much push we put on that use that's all I I'm worried about it getting overcrowded thank you it's a beautiful part we've been very fortunate to have that part for as long as we've had it gifted To Us by a third grade teacher for the benefit of attention margerie G 139 C Brook I want to go back to the issue of the ad committee are they required to meet certain number of times per year when will that next meeting take place I don't know if there's a requirement if there's nothing on the agenda but I think they're supposed to meet monthly uh 11 months out of the year um I'm not do we know when the next one is it's they usually as first second what is that second Tuesday first Tuesday first Tuesday that would be next time I understood it was scheduled for the 14th thank you okay I I'm not sure that's Thursday that's thank you it'll be on the township website uh if anyone wants to attend that particular meeting I just want to be sure it doesn't keep getting cancelled I'll speak with Mr Bond he delay is on for that particular committee and I'll ask him to make sure that they have the meeting and that this gets discussed thank you you're welcome I am G Baldi resident um regarding DS Park I just wanted to get um your thoughts on on behalf of the environmental commission I maintain an install um and clean out the bluebird boxes okay and I'm thinking there's going to be Construction anytime soon I'd rather take them down before I want them to start nesting and then have some problems so any thoughts on starting would it be this year or I'm I'm hopeful that after reviewing the budget with the township administrator and exploring options for fin possible financing and and finding out what our Grant application status is for several of the grants that we applied for um that we might be able to come up with a period of time beginning of summer so that we're not disrupting any of the spring Sports um and have minimal impact on the kids being able to get out and enjoy the fields and whatnot so that would be the earliest I anticipate beginning I I think the bluebirds will be fine frankly until the you know their spring time should be fine okay great thank you you're welcome uh I'm if I can just reserve for people that haven't commented yet and then we'll come back around if that's okay anybody that hasn't commented yet that wishes to comment okay uh I just had one one CH for the comment um I'm not I I I haven't I'm not aware of this uh situation situation and I heard Al chicken sounds like lot of 300,000 sounds like 10 times but whether it's thirsty trees or whether it's 300,000 chickens or whether it's an overreaching subdivision or whether it's a commercial business being cloaked as a agricultural business in this town I just hope that this committee and the zoning officer and the boards that are involved just take all this seriously and apply the laws appropriately and right job for everybody that's that's my position because I been living here a while and I've seen things not go that way welcome thank you thank you sir no problem uh yeah I mean I just wanted to address one last item here and it ties back I things about Joe the comment you made I think social media I'm not really sure I understood the context other than I think you made a comment about no one being denied access um I believe is a report from I think it's January the 4th where the New Jersey fire inspector says they tried to go to the property on December the 13th that they were not able to enter that sounds like being denied access to me that's one two they also appeared in early January for propane tanks the two two of the fire Marshals sat outside on Liz Ker's property trying to gain entry they were not allowed to enter to check third I believe our own Humane officer Murphy was denied access on two separate occasions as well so I agree we should not use miss or disinformation but we should be clear we have our facts right again thank you yeah no I'm going I'm going to comment on it because um for several reasons Following last month's meeting when the issue was raised uh the mayor um immediately convened a meeting with officer Murphy Murphy Sergeant Ellis Mike Mullen and the two Fire Marshals from from the county from the county and who else was there you were there Daniels and I was there yes so the two Fire Marshals you referenced we all personally spoke with and everybody here who was at the meeting can say they categorically denied not having access officer Murphy was in the meeting he said he was not denied access so when you talk about the facts I'm I'm conveying to you I was in a meeting face to face with these stakeholders and and we conveyed we conveyed the information that was provided and to a person every everybody that was participated in that conversation said that the information that was provided was not correct so the reason that excuse me just please let me finish so uh the Reas that is the reason why I made the statement about social media because that and that doesn't mean that the township isn't taking the situation seriously it doesn't mean that there are not actions in accordance with the law that we could take like reviewing zoning ordinances which one of which was on the agenda tonight but I will say this in the most General way um it the township needs to proceed in a manner that ensures that if a court is reviewing an ordinance that is the subject of litigation 3 years for now they understand and that's why I'm making the record that it is is not spot zoning we are not singling out a single property because if the court determines that an ordinance was passed for a single owner it is unenforceable it is not allowed under New Jersey La so I am doing what I need to do to protect the township which includes everybody in this room and you may not you may not hear it the same way as me and may misconstrue steps that are taken as is not hearing your concerns or not advocating for you the absolute contrary is the truth it is I am doing everything that I need to do as a 32-year litigator who does land use that understands what a judge is going to say to me 3 years from now to ensure that the record is defendable that's what I am doing in in working with the town ship committee I can have communication with the township committee that is protected because I am not your attorney I am the township attorney I am hired by the elected officials if I send an email to anyone on this day and somebody sends an open uh an OP request for the communication they don't get it if I answer your question they send an open request they get it they get to read my communication with you so so there's a reason why I say I'm not your attorney I'm not and to protect the township my communication is best serve by by speaking and sharing my mental thoughts and my opinions with those that under New Jersey law says it's protected so it's important for you to hear all of that in the context so when statements are made about what what are facts and what aren't facts you need to know that we had a meeting and everybody except the two fire officials they phoned in by phone everybody else was sitting at this table and we had a meeting and that because that's how serious the mayor takes it he convened a meeting and asked everybody who was involved to to discuss and get on the same page and that's what we did and I think I just want to add on to that I hope that you folks realize this particular issue has brought to our attention at the last meeting since the last meeting we have made multiple efforts including the meeting that the township council is referring to uh the review of possible avenues that the township can take to try to stem this from becoming a problem but at the same time I think everyone needs to temper their expectations that we need to move in a manner that is going to protect the township protect our ability to defend whatever ordinances we put in place down the road and in order to do that you just got to give us a little bit of time now I understand everyone's concerned because there's this tornado coming unfortunately we're moving as fast as we possibly can to to stop that tornado and that's all I can promise you uh we as a committee have to listen to experts that the township has hired to provide us with with advice and the township attorney is providing that legal advice to us uh we are taking that in context we're trying to come up with a solution that will address the issue but like I said previously it's going to take some time so I understand how frustrated you are but you have got to give us a little bit of time to try to come up with a resolution that's going to work because I know I speak for myself and I probably speak for the rest of this committee we very much are concerned about this particular issue and we're going to do everything possible to help you and help the township I promise you that okay um the other point I wanted to make just really quickly is when and trying to reach out to several of the agencies both at the county level and at the state level the township has had a little bit of a difficult time getting anyone to listen to us because I think they've heard the issue before from Individual residents and so I think they become almost a little bit toned dep to to the whole issue so if it's possible to refrain from any further contact with those particular agencies or government officials until we exhaust our ability to communicate with those folks because we're not getting any response on some of our inquiries on on that quick note to to quick and thank you very much for all of those comments greatly appreciate um number one and maybe I Mard Joe earlier where he said we're going to act but we're not necessarily going to tell you what we're going to do and when we're going to act so for us not to 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