being M that were mapped also DNR Greenway was extremely helpful for their Parcels as was D um so I really appreciate all their help um specifically I just want to just give a shout out to je stall who helped with the postard was her um brain storm to work the graphics otherwise we probably would still be working on that also uh Kevin Everly he was again we would still be working because he kicked out the or generated the QR code in a matter of minutes as well as helping with tonight's presentation and then also Diana garal from the environmental commission um she gave me a reality check when she went out and drove to all the locations and kind of let me know that she couldn't find a lot of them so which I kind of knew myself but it was nice to have that reality check so that forced my husband and I to go back out and do the mileage from the various intersections which I figured we need um so I wanted to thank all of them and specifically I want to thank my esteemed colleagues on the grant subcommittee Raz and Steve without them and their hard work and motivating Mo motivation it really helped sustain me through this last year and a half so now I'd like to kick into the presentation and I want to first show you cot off the presses this is the postcard that will be getting mailed out to all of the township residents later this week so this is the announcement to the public or the residence on the website and if you will notice on the back of the card it has the QR code as well as the website link of course the QR code will take you directly to the website to the web page the link takes you to the web page and then you have to click on the button and to now unveil the website and show you what you do when you get your postcard what you're going to see when you do the click I want to turn the prium over to RZ who will now take you through it and I'm going to apologize in advance I do have to take pictures it is a requirement for the final report it's not thetical it's required hi everybody um so here to help me with the Pres presenting the website and whatnot is Kevin so here you are we're at the township website so if you scan the QR code it will take you to Delaware Township uh the main page um no my apologies it will not take you there it will take you elsewhere if you go to the down we tach website then if you want you can go down to the Recreation Commission link then if you scroll down there's a brand new button on the website that says Public Access open SP you click on that that's the page the QR code will take you to so what's nice about this is there are sort of basically three elements to this page there's the map of the Open Access of of the open public access if you click on that it shows you uh with a colorcoded legend the land in town that is publicly accessible it's either the parks preservation and open preserve farmlands and Open Spaces uh that use public funds and also a couple of historic sites in town so um unfortunately uh our website do allow us to make it a clickable map so um the best we could do was to then assign numbers to each of those uh locations so if you're a visual person and you want to see in town whereabouts to go you can make a note in your head oh okay maybe I want to go look at you know um uh number 15 so you have to take yourself back to the page so you can do a back button or it can take you there and then you'll see there's a whole listing by number of all of the spaces so if you click on number 15 you'll see it says Central preserve the first one shows you just the 15 through 20 is actually it's all in see preserve but then if you go down a little bit further click on Central preserve drop down that's the best part that shows you parking it gives you a number of locations associated with with The Preserve um as Kathy alluded um there's first of all there's um GPS code U so you can punch in GPS to get there if you like um secondarily if you would rather just measure by mile um you go to Pine Hill Road and it tells you uh that it's little less a 10th of a mile from the intersection of Roe 604 on the left just after the bridge we try to be as descriptive descriptive as possible as to where you could actually park your car and park it safely um then uh if you go down just a little bit further um little further sorry that's okay little further you'll see things like a not in this area there happens to be very limited cell service actually for most of the other spaces self service is fine but in this particular one there is limited self service but then what we tried to do is also identify the highlights why you might want to go and you know visit the central preserve talks about the trails Through The wik Choke Creek tells you it's Forest it tells you it's uh grassland it tells you there's a particularly interesting stand of beach trees um it will tell you that there's a nice pathway with a place where you can sit down on the bench it will also tell you watch your step because if River or if the creek is high you may not want to go out on that particular Trail um so we we tried to give you a little bit of sense of what what to expect but then there's actually there are links to usually to a trail map and also a link to um a website so there you can click on the uh trail map it gives you an actual detailed map that been generated most of these facts have been generated by a jcf or byland trust or the state or what have you so um allence to our TR there's no no liability associated with whether the trail is right or wrong but be that as it may um it's it's kind of helpful it's fun um and then further down if you go back to um site 15 It also says website and you click on the website that will take you right away to the New Jersey conservation site where they're going to have obviously a Greatful more information and so on there are a number of disclaimers because I unfortunately am also a lawyer we love disclaimers so um Kevin if you can go all the way down to the bottom of the page um we did have disclaimers um like for instance there there might be hunting alow please check ATT you know pay attention if the water's High pay attention whether or not you know maybe you should wear bright colors if you look at the for instance I believe the uh the Laton preserve allows hunting so just pay attention um so we tried very hard to point those types of things out I believe also at the very top of um of the site there's also a note that says things that that says um hunting activities may be allowed please be very careful please check rules regulations associated with each location that you know that we don't own these we don't govern them we don't control them we're just providing a resource so that people can learn about them um and then the last thing is um above it says click here to view photos um again cath's sort of noted a lot of these places can be a little hard to find where you park she and her husband Michael spent ages and ages going to these places and taking photographs so you can then again by number for instance number 15 this number 15 is even broken down into 15ab CDE e because you'll recall there were a number of specific locations associated with number 15 and the central preserve so we have parking uh spots identified for all five of the specific locations associated with number 15 um and the fabulous looking silver car so um so we hope that you know we we try to make it as expansive as possible obviously if there are errors one of the thing we actually already realized is we do have to corrup a couple of GPS locations but you know we're doing our best um we hope you like it we hope the the township uh appreciates it I mean the township presidents appreciate it and take advantage of it and um I think that's about it for the website so now we will turn it over to [Music] Steve thank you thank you well it was a real pleasure to work on this project and we had enough money left in our grant to do this great sign so it's very similar to the postcards down anyway um so our plan is to uh we have pressure treater post and we math it at a 45° angle our plan is to hopefully our suggestion is to put it across the street maybe just to the left of the benches um I thought that would be a good spot sir um and again it has the QR code as well so scan everything um we would like to have formal ribbon feeling is about that maybe invite representatives of St Jersey as well to come out something that be nice AB call DPW so we just we just need permission or an identification of agreed upon location right well I I mean if they're okay with with the suggestions that's what it's there for so okay I mean the V are going to be there just it makees sense so thank you thank you and everyone [Applause] who great job it looks fantastic serious shout out to Kath she did thank you thank you thank you thank you okay um moving on to new business U knowledging resignation of Chris Rose who is our plumbing sub code commiss moving on to bigger and better things uh thank you for your service uh Mr Rose uh we're now going to if I could get a motion for to open up for public comment and this can be on any topic uh of your pleasing uh we're going to limit it once again to minutes uh for individual um I can have that motion second I'll make that motion second all those in favor by okay the floor is yours for anyone who wishes to make a comment Chad Weber Township resident actually made notes this time so I know what I'm talking about uh first of all the efforts of the open space commission were awesome in putting this together this is a great addition to the recreation opportunities for people in Delaware Township and when will a copy of resolution 2024-25 okay where do we obtain that at the clerk's office okay so I can just come and get a copy from you I don't need no okay super thanks so much any other comments uh I will also say thank you to the open space team it's awesome um it's great I'm hoping as part of the W team that we can get the kids involved and do a little passport so they can all check it out um I was wondering I know you're not going to talk back to me now but can you tell me um some more information about 20241 and the maintenance on non- abandoned properties like put ordinances to make sure that people maintain their properties to a certain level or there going to be fines if they're not and I also wanted to put in a request um to start mowing DTS the total perimeter including reer tra can property so that people can hike the entire distance of all the property that we own thank you sir my name is John Mory I'm Township president I am the President of the friend of Lo Town Stone Church and I want to thank the committee for providing a chemical toilet for our Stonehouse Concert Series this summer we just had our second very successful concert we're going to have another one uh on July the 7th this will be pretty exciting because it's kmer music probably only been played in the township one time before in 20 2018 when we had the same band performed at the church but I just uh also wanted to say that we are embarked on a program to build an improvement a visitors the building uh church and uh we are Partners together in this adventure because of the prevailing wage issue which has come up rather late in the game from my perspective I'm a grant administrator the grant administrator manual from the New Jersey historics Trust on page 3.5 says prevailing wage rules do not apply to nonprofit organizations period I hung my hat on that sentence well found out that that sentence was wrong or perhaps a regulation has bypass this manual and the organization never updated the manual the bottom line is the lockdown St church has a Wetlands permit which requires that we finish our ground disturbance by December 17th 2025 and the clock it was a 5year permit it took us this long to get every other thing in place we thought we had we are ready to file for building permits we have permission to for building permits but we haven't done so and we're now in a bureaucratic process for developing an administrative mechanism to interface between the church and the coun itself I just wanted to appear to look you all in the eye and say I'm here to help and I want to produce anything that you need as soon as you need it and I my phone number and give me a call I'm retired I can just do whatever the heck I want and what's that feel like I highly recommend it it took me about a year and a half to adjust to it but I I do highly recommend it and with that I'm down to 8 seconds I want to thank you all for putting up with me and again you've got my phone number thank you very much thank you thank you hi guys Mario R resident um just wanted to come up and thank you guys since our last meeting I know we talked about a few things Justin specifically the gpw at the park is hit everything that we needed we just had our end ofe softball tournament um it went really successful without the help of you guys getting the weed sprayed and the the volunteers the parents uh it wouldn't have happened but thank you and thank you guys for the support as well of you know coming down and seeing what we were talking about and and looking at it so really appreciate your guys supportting made for a great season we're wrapping up on Saturday uh but uh you know I know we talked about some things for a fall so looking forward to the same thing thank you guys thank you anybody else going a motion and second to close all in favor okay uh Township committee comments um just again great job on this and thanks for everyone's working on thanks Kathy and everyone else okay I will try to address all of the comments made from the the two public uh hearings and I I guess I'll start with Mr wy's comment regarding the ordinance uh regarding Phils Park so the way that the ordinance stands now I understand the amount that is listed on the ordinance might be a sticker shot to someone but if you look at the various mechanisms that we have behind it in order to fund that particular project we have um a lot of money coming through hopefully coming from Grants we have compiled uh 3 years worth of open space tax receipts that amount in the that total the amount of $80,000 per year and we'll go into perpetuity as long as the open space tax remains effective um we also have County money that we receive every year and this approximate amount of $30,000 we have a bunch of grants that we haven't I ized or we were already awarded but haven't spent them yet and when we combine all those things together um we have approximately $750,000 that can go to towards that $2 million price t for the DS Park improvements um so that leaves us with having to fund for roughly $1.3 million in in uh Monies to fund for the project however if we roll notes we actually had a meeting with our financial committee uh and financial advisor who offer suggestions on how to best for a municipality to finance a particular debt um he suggested that we utilize notes for the first three years which is uh interest only the monies and tax receipts from the open space funds are more than enough to pay the interest on the notes for the first three years so there is no impact to the budget or the general budget for uh the township for the park for the first few years and then we will go to bond or perhaps if the interest rate environment goes down enough we'll continue to roll notes going forward if the interest rate declines but we could then if the interest rates aren't low enough to do that to go to bond which allows us to amortise over 20e period but does include the payment of principle plus the interest for those 20 years um which when we take a look at the impact per resident in an average home of $400,000 here in the township of Delaware it would result in an $18 increase in your taxes each year for the next 20 years um we're talking about significant improvements to a park that is not ADA Compliant we want to make it ADA Compliant um we have bathrooms that are in dire need of restoration we have a Snack Shack that frankly should not pass health inspection I don't know who the health inspector is but but he's letting us go uh it's it's ridiculous um the walking trails they're going to be um paid but using a porous pavement so that there is no impact on rainwater walk runoff Etc that would enable someone with a wheelchair or something along that to enjoy the the park and all the beauty that it offers uh the playground would be ADA Compliant the all the fields would be safer for our children to be able to play um and I think it's just a great place I I was there with with Mr Russo on Saturday and it was just a wonderful place to see people of our community Gathering and having a wonderful time and um the only other things I'd like to talk about is simply the the tennis court is a disaster it's just a liability waiting to happen and frankly if this ordinance doesn't pass I think we have to recommend I'm going to have to recommend to the committee that we close the tennis cours because someone's going to hurt hurt themselves and it's going to be the Township's responsibility and frankly the basketball court isn't that far behind the only new thing that we're funding down there is pickle ball and I know pickle ball is is an issue that causes some division um but from all that I've heard as long as we're able to mitigate the sound which I have suggested that this committee would adhere to finding a way to properly mitigate the sound that would be coming from the pickle ball courts um and I weigh that against the amazing amount of people that have come and said I can't wait to play pickle ball I have to go all the way to sberry to play pickle ball my daughter said she wants to play pickle ball I have no idea I didn't even know she knew what it was but any she's excited about that is the only new object the only new activity that would be down there the rest of it is just making it safe an ADA Compliant and frankly I think that's just a great way for this town to spend money um because it's for a great thing and it really doesn't have that much of the significant impact on everyone's taxes so um anyway I hope that answers your question um obviously Public public comment or public hearings next week I look forward to your feedback uh in respect to to to the ordinance um next I'd like to discuss Jess uh 20 24 10 that was the let me see here that was maintenance of of nonon properties I'm trying to remember the maintenance of the non abandoned properties right so if you can uh yeah um the the amendment um is probably not what you might think it is from the title um because we you know we've had conversations in the past about unemp grass and my guess is that you thought there might have been a change in position on that that's not the case in speaking with DPW um you identified justen you identified certain areas where site sight lines have been obstructed by property owners who have not maintained their property without an ordinance the township doesn't have the legal authority to the private property and to remediate the obstruction of the intersection so in order to give the DPW the ability to do that we need to amend the ordinance which everything else is the same except it had only address abandoned property so now if you are not maintaining your property where it's obstructing a site triangle or site View and it's posing a health or safety risk to residents DPW will contact the property owner advising them in the situation giving them uh an amount of time I think it's 10 days uh to to rectify if it's not done in 10 days DPW can go on to the property without further notice they can do the remediation whatever the cost is they would have to present it to the township uh committee to certify the cost then that becomes a lean on a property just like an unpaid tax so that at the end the the taxpayers are not paying for any of the cost of the person who's not maintaining the property but that that's the sole purpose for for this ordinance okay thank I got a question about that we got some people on some of these roads Yard Road for one that have got plantings right in our right away and everybody just leaves them road department Le left them for all these years and they've drown way out the road of course the guy we got the right correct I would need to know exactly what you mean by right away and where we're talking about I know that the specific road so I know the road is you got so many Fe right away and but you'd have through look at yes those those those right of ways that you're talking about uh from the center of the road out typically is not for it's not for maintenance of site triangles it's if the Township needs to widen the road so there in lies the problem that's why we're doing this ordinance so that that right of way does not give the township the legal right to go in and maintain for Sight triangles this ordinance will this is the uh condition if you will to allow us to take that next step so the township can go M these off no right now they cannot I don't understand get back right not until the ordinance get that yeah I I will say this after our public hearing is when after July oh okay after after the ordinance is passed they can do 100% yeah oh okay all right by by good that's all we need yeah by the middle of July DPW be ready to go okay very good thank you and he already we've already worked uh with just he has the letter for the residents it's we're all ready to go okay we got a few of those okay um next chess you had DS Park mowing I I would just ask if you could if you get it mowed to follow the trail that was originally in place uh because I know there were some residents that we backed off of their property some I would like to maintain that if possible why uh simply because it's just being good to the residents and I think you know I think it just minimizes the amount of space that the public can use and then it also cuts into what the farmer is farming and it's not their property and I get it they're going to come here and complain but it's not their property it's our property and I'm sorry I'm going to have to tell you you can't talk while I'm talking so I I apologize CU we can have a conversation later about that so um I would just if we could please stick with that um and and then finally uh Mr sedi um I I had a conversation with Diane about this and it's not that from a fact that we don't want to help the lock townstone church it's simply because Diane only has so much band and I think you know we're we're talking about a tremendous project that needs to be accomplished but Dian has a full-time job here in the township frankly putting together this plan for DS Park was which is an you know an immense project um what we need to do is somehow work together to see if there's some way that we can tackle this either by taking a look at third party options I I don't even know if that is that an availability um to hire someone to do a special project we're going to have this we're going to have a discussion executive session okay all right so if you don't mind I'm going to table this until uh I'll give you a call and let you know where we stand when I can talk to you I will okay understood thank you um I believe I hit all the questions uh did I did okay my handwriting or my notes are better than I thought they would be so thank you um okay we are now uh going I need a motion in a second to go to Executive session second all those in favor all thank you everyone for coming out this evening --------- everyone that's okay that's okay I guess we'll get started you folks keev you okay back there okay okay so uh we'll call the uh call the meeting to order the meeting is called puru to the provisions of the open public meetings act notice of this meeting was transmitted to 100 in Democrat times of Trenton Star Ledger on December 29th 2023 posted on Township website the municipal building bulletin board and follow the Township Clerk as required by all if anyone please stand for pledge of alance pledge Al to FL of the United States of America for stands na God indivisible andice for all thank you David [Music] Chad Joseph here we'll move on to the approval of the meeting minutes uh we could have a motion in a second for the May 13th 2024 regular meeting minutes and the executive session minutes which we're going to be approving and holding I will move the minutes at the executive session minutes second well I wasn't hear oh okay really that's right we table we have the table okay uh like to move on to a proclamation from Michelle trno uh she was our tax assessor uh she served here in the township for 25 years uh she has moved on to greenard pastures uh we wish Michelle all the best with all of her future endeavors uh thank you very much Michelle For All You've Done um I'd like to now open it if I could get a motion in a second to open the public comment this is to um in regards to agenda items only excuse me there uh if you keep it to 3 minutes per person uh and I will ask whether or not you uh are a countship president if you could please provide your name to the cler motion second second okay I'll those in favor I I okay Podium is yours folks any public comment on agenda items only good evening U my name is Joe W com on this later the ordinance 20241 the bond issue um are you going to explain that later as to what it includes how the how that M arrived at there are estimates I know there's a preliminary plan but it seems like this may be a little bit early if you don't have a final plan hope you can explain why you want to do that now I'll address you after the public uh public comment SE is over thank you any other questions from the public okay seeing none if I could I get a motion in a second to close public comment so move second all those in favor okay let's move on to uh leaz on reports uh Dave do you have any uh thing to report no our public work um no I don't okay you didn't have anything um yeah I I did the I attended the rework for hdrs Central um and then uh yeah that's pretty much it for for schools for this year I'll go to the meeting this month but pretty much that thank you so a slight change in De Quorum if you haven't noticed I used to interact with the public when they would have a question and uh frankly we adopt the Robert rules every reorganization meeting in January and that stipulates amongst other procedural rules that we afford you the opportunity to speak uninterrupted um and then we closed the public uh speaking session and then we have the ability to answer those questions um back during Sandy when I was mayor I sort of broke the decorum simply because I felt as though when people would stand there and ask questions that sometimes when you wouldn't answer those questions it almost felt like we didn't care and that couldn't be any further from the truth we care very much about our residents I know I speak on behalf of everyone on the township committee um unfortunately though the last couple meetings uh the interaction turned adversarial and so I think uh and anti- prodded at the same time so I think unfortunately we're going to have to go back to Robert's Rules as designed and it was designed for a reason probably to prevent that very thing from happening so going forward we now have a timer where the Public's allowed to speak for 3 minutes um we ask that you don't yield that time to other individuals um you know if you're looking for additional time you have your 3 minutes we want to make sure that everyone gets their three minutes if there's a large crowd that wants to speak Etc um so I just wanted to make that point um I it's very difficult for me not to answer questions or interject um I have a hard time closing my mouth sometimes but uh I'm going to do my best and uh hopefully going forward this is going to be more productive so uh with that being said uh I'd like to go on to the administrator report I would like to welcome uh Nicole ISO she's our new tax assessor she will be here Wednesday evenings uh 5 to S um she's busy working on front applications right now we have over 400 in sship thank you uh Mr spash DPW report so some of the tree work we've done in town this this past month it's eight down trees in town that we've responded to and clear from the road uh we started to drive through town because of the heavy winds and pick up some branches and draam ditches and on the roads and things like that uh hauled out six dumpsters of recycling material metal trash cardboard um did our normal cutting grass at DTS Town Hall DTS and various other locations uh we continue with our roadside mowing within the Township roads uh we also hold out 100 yards of wood chips to Residents in town and we straighten or replace 12 signs in town some of the road work and drainage we've done this past month past month has been regrading and filling poles on Stone roads on Brookville Hollow Grafton Road and Quarry Road also some on Upper Creek uh we completed a drainage job on Hamp road we also completed another drainage job on Raven Rock Road um we've dug out dra ditches in five locations spanning approximately 1,600 ft and we've completed filling potholes in town um but there's still some other pavement work to be done and that's thank you welcome committee members have any questions for DPW thank you thank you keep up the great work appreciate it okay so we will now move on to the introduction of ordinances so I have ordinance 20249 an ordinance to amend chapter [Music] 203-1491 [Music] second all those in favor roll call roll call please David yes yes yes we will uh set the public hearing for July 8th okay uh here okay yes sorry uh ordinance 20 24-10 in ordinance by the township of Delaware and hter County New Jersey amending article 3 in section 26825 of the Delaware Township municipal code to include maintenance of non abandoned property um if I could have a motion to introduce okay R call please David Bose yes yes that to uh public comment will be July 8th public hearing oh public hearing sorry okay ordinance 20241 Bond ordinance providing for improvements to dvon park in and by the township of Delaware in the county of hun New Jersey appropriating $2,546 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $1,951 1882 bonds or notes of the township to finance the cost thereof uh if I could have a motion to introduce move that second all those in favor no roll call josephi yes mayor wal yes can that to uh public hearing will be July 8th we're now moving on to public hearing adoption of ordinances uh so we have ordinance 20 24-8 an ordinance of con of Delaware County of hunon and state of New Jersey to authorize an expenditure and appropriation from Capital Improvement fund for $110,000 for the purchase of Public Works vehicle SL equipment and other accessories um if I could have a motion to open uh up for public hearing all those in favor I I once again the podium is yours for anyone that has a question or comment in respect to uh ordinance 20 24-8 okay seeing none if I could get a motion to close public hearing second all those in favor if I could have a motion to adopt ordinance 2024 d08 second all in favor no now it's time to roll call please David V yes Chad B josephi yes and mayor yes Okay resolution 24-11 are we tbling this one okay okay so on to the consent agenda we have resolution 20 got a new list 24115 authorizing mayor to sign farming agreements uh for Block tech supposed to be 39 you did okay I'm sorry no we're good uh block 39 L 24-7 block 427 and block 24 lock 36 resolution 24-16 authorizing refund of per witness fee uh for the second day for Block 44 26.2 resolution 24-17 authorizes submission of hun County Municipal infrastructure Grant application uh resolution 24118 authorizing signing of 100 County Law Enforcement and emergency shared services Mutual Aid agreement resolution 24-19 authorizing submission of County open space trust funds application resolution 24-120 hiring of Public Works labor Class E uh resolution 24-12 authorizing public sale of Municipal property through municip bid resolution 24122 authorizing register our salary resolution 24-1 123 authorizing Township committee to request reappointment of acting clerk resolution 24124 authoriz renewal of alcoholic beverage license for the 2024 through 2025 term for the covered bridge Hospitality Group LLC resolution 24125 authorizing sign indemnification agreement between the township of Delaware and szo resolution 24-1 126 authorizing submission of mj. Grant application for Upper Creek Road and finally resolution 24127 to amend the 2024 capital budget for the D spark and Improvement project uh would anyone care to have any of these items fold from the consent agenda Dave you okay please I'll move the consent agenda all those in favor roll roll call roll call please David yes and James yes Okay resolution 24-1 128 authorizing payment of Municipal obligations in the amount of $169,500 well a year and a half ago December of 2022 23 22 we had members of the environmental commission and open space committee had this brainstorm idea that we should finally get around to mapping all of the township certain spaces and making that information about each of thees available on the website I am so happy to report a year and a half later we are here we are done we are up and running we are live before we actually get into doing the little overview of the website I just want to thank so many people in the last year and a half when they say it takes a village it took a village this project was I will say beyond the amount of scope that I thought it be there is so many nuances so many questions to be answered I want to uh thank everyone from