um in accordance with the open public meeting Act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting of the Franklin Township environmental commission was made by posting on the Bolton board in the municipal building posted on the township website and electronically transmitted to the officially designated newspaper indicating that this meeting would be would take place in person on July 15th 2024 here in Billing okay that now we do the roll I right roll okay roll call Walter Is Here Yeah Ted Is Here Yeah e is here uh Stan is not here Arnold here here Robin here Murray is not here I'm here to's here and not okay call okay now we do the very short um environmental chair report um I noticed a couple things I just wanted to mention um from Trenton there was an article on the web yesterday or tday about three companies have submitted new bids for onshore offshore wind turbin um Atlantic offshore Wind Community was Shore wind and inent of energy I think that's a Miss I don't know if that's right or not but that's what how was listed I no I think that's right CU I met the an a person from intended says their proposals have been submitted to the njbpu project will generate about 4,000 megaw whoever gets it that because that other one or stady dropped out these are The Replacements the other thing I wanted to mention to everybody is that a resident of a Canal Walk has planted a shade loving native plant garden with pollinator friendly plants um he what happened was the neighborhood planted a tree right on the edge of the property and made so so much shade that he couldn't grow anything or they couldn't I met the couple this afterno and they they give an okay and they put like little barriers they had all these plants and and I got a picture here of a bee at the at work at work you know a paid paid performance a paid performance so it says the area will not be mowed as it's in a protected area which will not permit the landscapers to mow and they got all these little plants going I just thought that was when when when he said the woman last she said oh the pollinators are here and there there they were so that's that's what we were looking for yeah um and also of course I want to welcome Ellena to the chair at the table now as a commissioner uh alternate number two okay and that's that we fixed everything up this time hopefully I saw that email so you're definitely you got bumped up so you're a regular member okay oh very very nice and what is what are my duties as alternate number two you do everything that everybody else does it's just you don't get out of ter of well technically if we were having an official vote on something you would only get to vote if two regular members were absent one regular member the first open okay but since we rarely take rollal votes it hardly matters yeah generally the show follow your guidance you just follow the guidance I think you'll do fine welcome again thank you okay so um next would be approval of the minutes that that t put together and made some changes I know I I think said some changes that's yeah I have the one with the right on it I'll OB stain is I was not here okay I move for Seance of is July 1st minutes okay just second second okay I have a couple of comments that's why I thought I thought you said that I made some comments but I did not oh okay um um in about the One 2 3 4 about the six paragraph right in the middle of the first page where it says site plans right the first line it says an application originally from 1231 properties was that the name of the business 1231 properties okay well then I guess the P should be capitalized in properties I would think yeah yes um then going down to the very last paragraph right in the middle of the second sentence consultant report fist conditions moistly for left terms yes um now you're talking about conditions so maybe you did mean moist but he he rated them as AB b c d e no I understand for failure I understand but I I think it's mostly unless he's talking about a condition accent and where is this I'm sorry said the second to last paragraph the last paragraph second line right in the middle um and then the last thing is um about what I said on page two um T you tried to make what I said sound very dramatic but it wasn't um it say Schmid reported sending an email to the Board of Education challenging them to install anti Island signs I did not put it those but I didn't challenge them I said I I suggested that they look into install signs suggesting to them suggesting yeah that's that's nicer okay I would never be so full it's not my personality right Robin no no okay that's it for that that's that's it for that this one um sentence in the third in the where you said um one of the members of the public said what and I remember I said I go back and look at my notes I didn't get it either I didn't get it either so I don't know what so we we didn't make a decision no okay just want to I'm sorry yes we do if it was something we had made a decision on go back with that I'm sorry uh I'm going to be the question ask by parents nuts as a kid okay so um uh that then the minute to approve with these changes all in favor I approved okay next would be to open the uh open for public comment second second will approve I I anybody want to make any comment here yet okay oh my goodness you didn't look at me you're not public anymore you've been upgraded or the mo I I don't know what you want to say status changed status changed so that would now we need a motion to close the uh sove second all in favor correspondence any correspondence all so no correspondence yet I did meet with the township manager and so I'm going to be getting the emails um that's really the procedure I guess for the most part when it comes to open I should have probably thought of this but for open space Trails a advisory I get all the correspondence so um they did set my email up I think I had to do one left this authenticator thing you were telling me about with my phone or whatever yeah I have to do that so I will do that tomorrow and then I'll be getting the emails there was one cor piece of corespondence that was from Kirk Frost he's a member of the public and he had recommended some um Energy Efficiency grants that we may be eligible for Stan had written him back and said thank you so much so I wrote him back again and said I'll be getting the correspondence and I explain the grants we have applied for and that um you know we'll we'll be back on correspondence like as soon as possible so so I just got to figure that out with my phone and then we're good to go but thank you easy I appreciate it so and I'll just basically do I'll take the correspondence and I can either respond to it or bring it to the committee to the commission if it has to be brought to the commission so hopefully it'll be you know F okay and um I there hasn't been anything in the mailbox for like a month yeah I can check it I think I left my key in the the car okay so um then were up to you said there was a site plan can you tell us a little bit about so well there there's supposed to be a site plan but I don't see it it's not uploaded to the website so I can't share it with you the only thing I can say is there is one here that looks new to me I'm not sure does anyone remember reviewing Jam I feel like we would remember this jam and jam construction jam and jam no so that just got uploaded so we could do this one um I haven't looked at it yet because it just got uploaded okay so but the other ones that I was told we were to review they're not on the website yet so so what is the one that you found um did we get to our oh okay oh this one's okay cuz this guy is here are you are you in a time constraint At All by any chance because we could I don't you know it's up to you guys you want think that would be would that be unless you really want to C through our site plan review which I know it's exhilarating okay okay so that's okay with you Paul sure okay all right come on up is this uh I'm going to okay Arman is that the correct place you're okay everyone this is Arman um he was going to be at our last meeting but he's now at this meeting he sent me some information and he's going to talk about his Eagle Scout project and what he wants to do to work with us so sound good okay so I'm going to get your slides up you do you want to do this yourself or do you want to just tell me I can V for you if you want yeah I can let you know when so yes as Miss Kenyan said my name is araral I'm going to be a senior at Princeton Day School I've lived in Franklin Township my entire life and I just wanted to talk to you about this initiative that I came up over the past few months uh so next slide please so basically the mission of my initiative is to essentially Empower different entities like schools small businesses and local governments to adopt sustainable practices so uh next please so why did I come up with this initiative in the first place so I'm very interested in the business world and was studying how different large corporations have been basically implementing sustainable practices in their operations but what came to mind was that a lot of smaller businesses and also schools and other organizations don't have access to the information or resources that are needed in order to implement sustainable uh practices in their own operations and I figured that helping schools and small businesses do this would be a good way to promote sustainability in our entire community and I wanted to come to the environmental commission cuz you guys obviously have a lot of experience and have a lot of knowledge about what is going on in fron Township in terms of sustainability so basically by focusing on these smaller entities we can bridge that Gap and ensure that all parts of our community can contribute to towards environmental preservation uh slide please so like I said the objectives are basically to raise awareness about the importance of sustainability in these small entities like schools and businesses T can you make it a SL if you don't mind too small to read um I only have viewing power for this right now oh I'm sorry yeah present VI [Music] yeah hang on let's see sorry Arman hang on one second here uh yeah see it's because I think I'm in view oh hold on right here with me I feel like something's up with the internet in here because when I tried to okay there we goow sorry I can't read it I couldn't read it I could I couldn't read it either all right go ahead uh so essentially what I was saying was the main goal of this initiative is to raise awareness about the importance of sustainability in these smaller organizations as well as schools uh provide the resources tools and guidance as well as inform them of the incentives uh towards uh switching to more sustainable operations and then recognize entities that demonstrate leadership and Innovation sustainability and then Monitor and evaluate progress of these uh entities uh next slide please so these are the Scopes that I was choosing to focus on for in terms of evaluating how different uh smaller entities conduct their operations and whether or not they operating sustainably so I chose to focus on Energy Efficiency and renewable energy adoption waste reduction recycling sustainable sourcing and procurement water conservation and finally Green Transportation options uh so this it's a little bit blur but I I can pass it around after but essentially this is just an example of what I'd be choosing to focus on so for example in the area of Transportation I'll be focusing on are the employees using uh electric vehicles are they using ride ing amps like uber in terms of energy consumption and building efficiency I would look at their Heating and their air conditioning their appliances their lighting uh and whether or not they've implemented solar and wind power and then when it comes to water consumption and their Waste Management how much water have they used how much waste have they produced whether they're recycling or composting or stuff like that and basically you basic uh you calculate the score based on all these metrics and I and I did some example calculations on the right uh like let's say I'm uh conducting one of these studies on a small business and I assign like a category of three towards their transportation and a towards their energy consumption building efficiency when it comes to Heating and I assign the rest of the scores I could then calculate like a quantitative way to actually decide whether or not that business is operating sustainably or not and that's just a good way for them to see what can I improve and how can I go about doing that uh next slide please so I've developed a little bit of preliminary structure which is why I wanted to come to the environmental commission today so what I was thinking was that we could get and I've talked to a few of my classmates at school uh basically Gathering a team of student volunteers and working with these different groups in order to evaluate their sustainability practices and identify areas of improvement as well as an advisory committee which we compos of people like you and the environment environmental commission who would be external advisers and will advise Us in how to conduct these studies and how to help these businesses and sort of promote this initiative in the first place so that's what my presentation is and I was wondering if you guys had any feedback or questions how are you going to choose your subjects so I guess we would want to start by with a small subset of like small businesses and I was thinking of starting in the Franklin Township area obviously so I haven't specifically chosen any businesses to uh like study I guess as of yet but I I had a few in mind but I'm not sure as of right now first I wanted to present were you thinking of any kind of specific types of businesses uh for example I think small restaurants could be a good way to start because obviously they have a lot of cost in terms of uh appliances and eating so I think that would be a good place to start and um I mean business small businesses like that so that was one of the first things that came to my mind when I started a yeah I think that was a good question it's like what are your criteria you know to sit down work out you know how small uh you know maybe the square footage of the business you you know whatever that could be interesting part of we do site plan review which is what you don't have to sit through this time is good but we do site plan review and we keep a database of all the plans we've reviewed since 2021 I think right so we could look through there and point you in the way of some of the businesses that we've made recommend ations on and you could maybe follow up with them to see if they implemented them has it been successful and at least then you will have the square footage of the building and the address and the contact information and all that so at least you have a starting point the only other thing I would say is I love I love your presentation and I think you're trying to study a wide gamut of sustainability which is wonderful um but I think focusing on the small businesses is a good idea because the environmental Commission in the township we kind of do exactly what you're saying for the Township buildings uh for our through our sustainable Jersey program the schools kind of have their own program that they work so but there's really nothing right now for small businesses so that would be I think a good starting point for you and it actually would be really helpful I think too even even when you're uh doing small businesses if you can segment them out like restaurants versus you know stores or whatever that would be great to have that I I think you want to develop safe four categories of business get one in each category to have a willing business owner is going to be the challenge this is going to be a Sur oh how's it going to happen it's sort of like I would sit down and talk to them about what their car operation yeah exactly so I would conduct it over a couple weeks not like oh because I feel like a survey would be a bit too impersonal like if I send you an email you a survey you have no motivation to actually fill it out unless the person actually comes to talk to you and actually has some interest in what you're doing Aran I would encourage you to probably work through the Franklin Township Chamber of Commerce okay because they'll have they know their members they know who's community-minded who would be willing to give you the time and they can help you pick out a member in each segment yeah and it gives them some thing to Splash about as well the FR chamber is involved in this initiative and there's some wonderful people I think if if you work with Nick Leo and Peter stvan those are two leaders of the chamber and say guys here's what I'm looking to do let's shine a light on chamber members you help me pick four businesses that are a widespread type of business that are going to be nice to me and actually tell me what's really going on cuz you don't want them to sugarcoat it you want the real deal deal yeah right exactly I think that's a good suggestion and they're they're going to help separate the wheat from the CHF and say pleas these people are going to be your good prospects for you there was a restaurant a banquet hall that we reviewed a couple of years on 27 yes remember they had they were going to subdivide the building and a dining I think I don't think it's happened yet it never happened not yet but one thing I put up on the screen too just so you know so the state of New Jersey njd I don't know if you might be familiar with this but they have a a sustainable called the New Jersey sustainable business registry they have though owners of businesses can go in and fill out like I have lowf flow faucets I have you know uh LED lighting you could use I would say use that as to develop your criteria why would that be your template it really goes through um a lot of I mean businesses they get a self-certification it's nothing like super fancy but they it gives them a chance to register and then I guess once you're registered they almost have like a survey here kind of somewhere on here but if you just Google New Jersey sustainable business registry you can get all those that will help you get going but I think Robin is right so studying everything is great but it's going to take you time you're probably going to want to do a walk through of the place and see so I think Robin's right like doing one restaurant maybe one what's another small business like a like a retail store I I'd also consider doing one knot for profit and the food bank would probably love this work with the food bank he's a great guy yeah yeah I think you learn a lot about the workings of businesses and why sometimes it will be more difficult for them to adopt a sustainable practice in Fr appear for land yes very true so you're doing this for your Eagles is this for your Eagle this is for personal project personal project so are you getting School pred for or anything no you just want to do it on your own yeah I'm not okay so there's no time frame limit with it or anything like that no I just came up with this a few months ago while I was working on a project related to school like I said I was studying um sort of sustainability and bigger corporations as part of like an economics class and I thought about how that would apply small business and I came over with this on my w what year what year are you in I'm going to be going into my senior year so it's about time to apply for colleges in a few months this good on your it look good on your resume that was the point that I was getting to well we can definitely help you with we know we a lottery like through sustainable Jersey we have access to a lot of resources and everyone here is connected with a lot of people around the township so we can help you I guess the first question is how do we start off helping you like what's the what can we do to I guess help you out like you were saying the resources like sustainable Jersey like the Chamber of Commerce that would be a great way and I could start talking to those the the right people in those areas okay perfect so maybe the best thing is is to connect him with the chamber first he can go on to the chamber website okay they start with the executive director but and then tell the executive director you met with us and that I would in particular ask her for a couple of members that could help be an advisory committee for you okay and I would think hope that they will recommend people like Nick demeglio demeglio realy and Peter stenes owns Venus Jewelers yeah um I think those are two good places to start I'll write down their all right thank you very much thank you thank you so much so just any questions you have send them to me you have my email and then we can you know I'll bring and you're welcome to come back to this meeting for updates or whatever but yeah I think we would love to hear the outcomes yes definitely thank you very much for taking time great project in 5 minutes explain the AI project with you just to give some oh I mean I guess well relating to the project of school basically I created something it was computer science related that could automatically look at reports released by big corporations and kind of like distill that information and talk about what in terms of sustainability they're choosing to focus on so for example apple is choosing to focus on renewable energy and Chevron is talking about reducing GSG emissions so it's that's kind of where it came from like all these big companies have the ability to release these reports and have these statistics and can get feedback from these consulting firms or they have experts in their own business and I thought there's no way for smaller businesses to do that because they don't have dedicated departments toward sustainability they're focus on maintaining their operations and maintaining their profit margins and keeping their businesses flow so if they were was a way for them to Outsource Outsource that work without having to pay for it and I guess a group of students would be the best way to do that is what my thought was so that's why I guess I came up with this initiative that's smart was that something that you did through AI technology yeah through AI technology so like for example you guys all must know about Chad gbt that's what I was learning in school about like the technology behind that so I decided to leverage that towards that project and then that led me for this initiative yeah I love your initiative I think it's great I love your presentation I think it was really really good so any way we can help you just send me what you need or if you have a hard time getting a response from someone just like you know send me an email and we can try and help you out as best as possible well thank you very much forties as as various programs for energy Sav and we get CED by sustainable Jersey to get visit to do this things but some years ago we sent out a letter over the signature of the mayor recommending all of this nobody responded if you actually can go and talk to buiness person a lot more response I think that's also part of the problem because I think I think for some like if you adopt solar panels for your like energy requirement for example I think you can get some sort of tax credit sometimes so there's they a lot of these businesses just don't have knowledge about it and they don't know the incentives of adopting more sustainable practices so the one problem is often business doesn't own the structure yeah of course yeah they're renting yeah I'm on here the Nam Thank you very thank you thank you Arman thank you so much all right we'll be in touch thank you come again to a future meeting us do we have um I know we're still in I don't if it's still public or whatever we've talked about members from the high this is a youth member yeah yeah talked about it we've never had anybody right are would you be interested in becoming a youth member of this commission yeah that would something that yeah that would be something that would interest me okay so how do we want to how do we go about that we have to what if I think if Arman put together a little resume and emailed it into our website and then we put it on the agenda does he have to fill out a form on the website I have to be a regular member that to be a regular member I don't know student student member would be in a different category yeah you live in Franklin Town yeah yes yeah so yeah I I yeah send in a would he send it to you Tara yeah I would send it to me because in our in our um bylaws we don't have a youth member spot but that doesn't mean that we can't have one so you send me your R may I can then figure out how do we make sure that spot is made you know available I read the the enabling legislation and what others do in the handbook the handbook many other commissions have yes yes and you would you would be able to sit at the table get involved in all the conversations about the only thing that you wouldn't be able to do would be to vote on different things but you could be involved in everything that goes on here provide your input yeah give us ideas tell us that we have horrible ideas you know whatever it's it's very similar to when we had the interns coming yeah same idea but it's you probably know it's the first and third Monday of every month so yeah that'd be great if you were resume together and S thank you so much very good so now we'll do the the review of the one you yeah the one that I found you know so no this is a subdivision hold done got we get to the right spot here notes on here still see those bubbles are all comments um but we're not okay so this is for jam and jam jam and jam Construction LLC uh it's these two lots lot two and lot three which is here's William Street here's Market Street and here's Livingston AB if that helps anybody no Street let's see here's the canal so here's maret Street oh this is it by Millstone yeah and then you got William Street and it's these two lots right here that we're talking about they are looking to do it says a subdivision let me get that up here uh the existing two family dwelling will remain on lot three and a new single family dwelling will be constructed on lot two so this existing family dwelling will stay on lot three and they're going to put a new family dwelling on lot two are they conforming sizes the size of the lots are proposed lot two is 7500 and proposed lot three is 15,000 so each lot will be accessed by a private paper driveway in service by Utilities in William Street so let's see what's the variant uh permitted uses okay they want have a two family dwelling it single family on on the new lot uh lot and yard size the requirement is 10,000 sare ft so one is under sized at 7500 Square ft because the minimum is 10,000 sare ft so on this smaller lot they're going to put a two family dwelling yes the existing house is two family the existing is two family then why would that be a proposed I guess it says exist yeah well it probably would have to have a variance even if it's in a two family house since time the memorial right so as we look at this Tera that dwelling there on the right it says stop moving it's going so slow okay go ahead so the twostory frame is that the existing or is that proposed that looks proposed so it is proposed I don't know uh hey Ed how are you that's on lot too yes that's existing that's existing so they're looking to put a two family where one family is the requirement yes they already have a two family and they want to put another um there's really not much going on here I mean that's what they submitted uh let's see here VAR application the size of the Lots now this one says proposed lot two is 9,000 square ft and proposed lot 3 is 13500 says that the existing house is is a one family I think something's wrong here who's writing this application I don't know but this is strange that different than what we just saw it is it's different that's different this is the variance application this is the what do this say and it's somewhere this is the subdivision application all right okay I think we can't review this KCK it back and say it's not consistent we'll have to maybe that's why it was on the list okay so then the other there are two that we were supposed to review but they've not been uploaded to the website so we can't review well you don't even know their names I know their names but they're not there what what are their Nam Boo and Deo they're not yeah they're not companies people no no no they're just not on the website so there's nothing to review so next time we'll probably have a lot of rev if you get it earli send send one to me defitely okay I will thank youy take a look okay so then we're up to number eight new business um oh that's why I brought all this stuff um it was going to be a what items we have for table events and this is what I have in in my garage it's one reviews on Franklin day maybe some are outdated they're not useful that's why going so we could get an idea of what we have and see if there's anything we want to keep I think with two members of our education and Outreach committee me committee not here yeah I think we put those in a box and we pull it out again with Santa Maria are here well I can see this is all Watershed material this is watershed and River friendly and we have put in a budget proposal so we have some money they're all available now so Maria did send me the reason I had this on the agenda because Maria did send me a list of materials that the committee thinks we should have but with her not here it's difficult but she did start putting together a list of materials have our budget is available now so we can buy things Paul has these things which we can go through and then I got sent I had requested a box of stuff from the uh stop the Su at D like months ago but I got it today and it has um little pouches in it and magnets and things like that so we have a lot of stuff but I think we need Maria to what's the procurement time on this um so the printing vendor is out right now for bid so once we get the the vendors it's a two-year contract once we get them accepted and everything that's going to probably be two two months maybe a month or two I guess so we order more getting this stuff for Franklin day new stuff is not going to happen if they if we can get them in by like August maybe cuz I have had some of our vendors turn around signs really quick because we don't have to go through the whole bid process but right now we're in the part where it's like the existing 2E is up soon so we're going out to bid again so I don't know how this is going to go for this year I'm not sure but but I think cuz to have the retractable banner for example that would be and anything with our new logo on it would be good to have and maybe they could do that quickly yeah yeah but I I think we need to we could write up something about what the environmental Comm does I may even have some very old Flyers like environmental commiss this is about this one's in Spanish and it's about uh making sure your car is inspected to prevent contamination my Spanish is not good but it's enough I can f it that out and oh this one also from these are from the this was no ideling right so those I think we one the the the river friendly the watered stuff that we have to yeah I mean we can use that stuff prob and here actually this is something that I didn't realize it was here about New Jersey offshore wind how what's the day uh wi instit let's see I can find that out no numbers just a coloring book for kids oh that's we go out that's a yeah I think we hold on to it anything or these ter got more of we got more of those we got the coming soon cards about our residential energy campaign so we uh yeah I think when Maria and Stan are both back we'll go over with them an adopt the drain what we can order from adopt the drain yeah because that's an existing program we want to promote yeah but I think adop dra's got some stuff we can order on the website right yeah okay so we're going to put this all in the Box bring it back next meeting yeah okay um B was support for World water day March 22nd uh yeah so year uh Stan had boarded this so um let's see here I back up um okay so it looks like in March something came in Stan just forwarded it now I think he just started oh yeah July 8th so um but anyway the this person that emailed in is the coordinator for the rivers of the world foundation and he wants to know if we want to partner up on world water day which passed for March of this year but it's every year in March um so it would be March of 2025 next year uh I think it's the 25th did I write it on there 22 22nd so it's the 22nd next year um they want to know if we want to maybe work with them to uh support World water day um do a clean up at 6 M Yeah clean up at 6 Mile Run I did send the website around uh to see if you know just to like kind of give you some background information on world water day I don't know if anybody had a chance to look at it um but it's through United Nations and basically uh they do stream cleanups and tabling events um to kind of make people understand you know the effects of all of our activities on water and how important water is so I think it's something we could participate in it's a be a month or at least three weeks ahead of our normal stream clean let's let's see what Stan feels if he feels it competes with our stream know so it seems like it's everyone thinks that maybe they would want to participate and we can also pass a resolution do a citation there respons we can encourage people to join their clean up that that could be something for of the head we could put something in Frank of times about it yeah yes okay okay so I'll just make a note of it so we add it to the if it's for March we probably want to have it the latest on like the January agenda probably earli it's going to be in Franklin times before that yeah that's right have to know the publishing dates do you happen to know that I don't on the top of my head but I'll I'll find out yeah why don't we get that cuz that's good for the communications commity to have that okay perfect um then the next item then is the energy plan which you were going to present to the Town Council sometime or so the Town Council passed the resolution it was just a resolution that they accept the community energy plan has presented that was required as our grant so uh that has been done I sent out I sent in the closeout report to BPU and sustainable jerseys so that's good um we said we were going to have an info session and I wanted to have it as part of the meeting but haven't had a chance to really get to it so I'm trying for the next meeting but I really I just want to make sure that we advertise it enough in advance so that people want to come and listen to the presentation they can um so at some point in the next either the August meeting or early September meeting I'll put together a presentation but I want to make sure we advertise it properly should we make should we make it a community event at the library for example we could do that rather than just a meeting so that people come hear it and then maybe Express an interest in it yeah cuz I think if it's just a regular agenda item number one we don't have much time yeah and I don't know that we get people saying wow I'm interested in that how how do I help make that happen yeah I mean you put a lot of work into it really should be spread yeah and I think the education and aach committee might agree with that um I'm sure the BPU or sustainable Jersey would like to know it gets more play definitely well maybe we'll shoot then for September cuz August is a bad month so all right so maybe we'll try then for something more that's not part of a regular meeting in September Community presentation Franklin day is in September to yeah what what this would be like a week night a we like yeah something like that right okay all right let me see what I can figure out here um but our part of like the grants and everything is done so that is that is a done [Music] project I just think it's important to do the do something for the community and I think we we invite some not for-profits we invite some businesses so they can see this is out there September SL October yes I agree okay all right so I'll I'll try to get that going okay now the next item then is the NX Congress that's the one we have money to go to now I mean yes1 the and yes the an conference uh environmental Congress it's on Friday September 27th from 9: to 4: it's at Rowan University um I guess the question is so in order to to get it going we now have the budget that was step one now I would need to know who wants to go um basically who would like to go because entrance the town well we have money in our budget so the township will register you yes but how how much of our budget will it eat up let's see here that 35 hours a day or do something hold on last loading up it's brilliant to cter it's not all away roll yeah oh yeah it's a there other camp right $750 we have in that that line item for like anj and other conferences so that's anj and other conferences so let me see how much it is and they may well not have a fee for E members I [Music] think let's see historically there oh the DP commissioner is going to be there as well as the state climat ologist registration opening soon how how much a little bit that's bad um uh let's see maybe they have old ones that we can look at here it is you see 27th it's just one I think maybe it's not one unfortunately I have a conflict and I can't go I think it's a worthwhile thing let me just see if I can featured speaker is the commissioner and this David Robinson he lives in Canal Walk yeah is he the climate meteorologist he's the state climatologist yeah climat applications are do in August that's for their the registration isn't even open yet yeah it say opening soon I want to think it was either 35 or 70 bus I could probably look back and see2 last yeah that's what you might do is look at a give us the cost right click here for registration 22 HB oh here we go scholarship in person an member it was 115 or an members so in person now yeah if you did the virtual I don't know if they have a virtual or any we wanted this was so this this year I would I would suggest maybe we send maximum two people just that kind of money cuz that's $300 that's almost half of our education bu yeah so is there anyone that wants to go that I can start so the registration goes through planning because that's what our budget is under so basically I would give the names of who wants to go so they can start doing the process let me check the calendar yeah you don't have to let me know right now registrations not even open but think about it and let Maran stand know too yeah think about it and maybe at the next meeting even you can let me know cuz it's not open yet so and what day of the week is that Friday it's usually it's Friday it's a Friday so for people working that may be a challenge take a day off I usually go you do you usually stand stand off and shs off as all like yeah so maybe he'll go with them but he may be yeah he could go with the N environmental [Music] vehicle all right well I'll keep it up here let me let me know what you guys you can you can go for sure if you want um just keep in mind if you want to go and send me an email and let me know or we can talk about it at the next meeting if Stan and Maria want to go [Music] maybe okay yeah I can afford to pay my life yeah but if you're going to go anyway you're represent the commission then that's why you have budget well I mean might allow some else um report from the subcommittee the education committee is uh not here right so and the energy commit Comm committee we don't have anything to do no except I'm I'm still pushing for a sustainability elements of the master plan and Mar key getting a committee going mhm 2026 is now less than 18 months away now so the community energy plan now is done and it's been accepted and adopted and all that so now we can start now that takes that off of them even though we really did the whole thing you know but now that opens the door for that I'll approach him again yeah and the pathways and trails plan is done too so that really frees up a lot so so I'll I'll coordinate with him again cuz it's basically all about getting into the work could blow anything new on bids for um aggregated energy I I do know that I get 100% renewable through lean Choice it's my third party energy provider and my rate is lower than the P rate so that leads me to think that's what she said the other fall that it's out there and coming yeah one thing I do want to mention is there there are grants available through ridewise for improving pedestrian movement and the town has talked about Paving that little bit of Western Canal Road that goes from um goes out to that intersection of Western Canal Road and the Manville Causeway and Bob talked about well putting a pipe in the Swale and then Paving over it the county is working on a major redo of the intersection cuz I heard that from um the commissioner Moreno she she called I met her at lcv you know at the thing and she came over we thought for a while so our part of it is to PVE that but if we get a grand from ridewise it wouldn't cost the township anything you used the grant one yeah and it's not a long step you know it's maybe 50 ft so yeah that's what is currently sort of a parking area no no it's it's just the roadway it's people have Old Road they put that swo in it where the the canal building is the old white so people come out there's a pathway and people come out walk along there and then they get to intersection cross to the where the white building is go a little along the roadway and then cross over to go on the toe path if they're going uh North they're going South it's right there but a lot of people park in that one area and um um it's a pedestrian I mean I did I made a presentation to the County Commission which is what started this whole thing I just wanted a solar powered pedestrian crossing sign and now I understand it's become a major project is there any consideration to make that around I think that's what people are thinking about I think it's because part of that is the part is grass area that's on this side of the trees for because a little parking area that belongs to the Dr you know the Delware ni nice and people park there and then they go on the HTH but beyond the trees there's an area of grass that's just sitting there and that could be part of the land for roundabout I looked at that cuz that that when we're at the Gail that's what somebody mentioned but um Paul Drake also was aware of it and Walter L you know the county I have if you want to send him an email you just C I can send them I I don't I didn't get any details all she told me was it's become a major project oh you didn't know about it's been about 2 and a half years we' been working on is yeah maybe see what happens but Bob knows about it you know and because the president of our association went talked to V Locker about it and then that's when he said he would pave that part Walter land told me when I talked to him not what John hutchon who's the head of the Dr commission yeah he said said they put the vinyl stripes on for pestan for which is nothing but um the the major part would be from the county because Weston Canal Road is a county road but it's a very complicated intersection with the three entities but it's a safety issue yeah when when people are coming down Western Canal or trucks now and want to go on the causeway you don't see the people trying the crost until you make the turn right so tight they should have thought of when they made yeah they they sent A A tripad tripod crew out there and I saw him and stuff the guy came over and talk to me and um he said they saw when they were doing the measurements with you know with the thing that there was a near accident people were crossing car stop next one the third one really had to lay on their brakes to stop and not CL and there's been one accident about 2 months ago right at that intersection so it's some people go make the right turn like we do go west no so so but that's something we want to if we if we get a grand from ridewise that would that fits exactly what they want yeah we need to figure out how we how we can maybe get a hold of ridewise and talk yeah absolutely all right figure it out good okay so we have any other Hot Topics I just I have a question is there any consideration for solar with this new library group I know it's a curved roof but it's just it's so exposed well they I think the material they're using this time is different so it's more blockage of the Sun so they won't have the greenhouse effect in the library right um it should last about 30 years was like $1.3 million are they doing anything on the flat portion of the building I don't think so it's just the glass I think maybe we should keep an eye on that cuz that could be solar that por the um the head of the library commission Nick Champa and I have talked um he wants uh to put EV Chargers new ones in front of them but he doesn't want the the ones that take four or five hours he wants faster he wants the faster ones that's a tour that would be eligible for the tourism yeah for the library on 27 yeah the BPU um there is money if it's a tourism destination and a library would qualify and there's a lot of money cuz they're about 50,000 to put an Char yeah so Nick and I talked about it and um you know they did put a rain guard that remember we did the plans and they talked about a rain guard it looks really nice over they're so cute yeah but uh they didn't put solar on the roof small roof yeah I don't know whether the library would qualify as a tourist churches do the library Rockingham that's a tourist Destin you I've read the requirement and they're very very BR and with the usage the way it would be on that Library a fast charger makes a lot of sense it does it does and it'd be great for the community to have them there and I know he told Nick told mayor Kramer that he doesn't want the slow one if they're going to do it don't do it you do you do you want me to send you the information and I'll I'll talk to Nick fact I'll see Nick um Thursday night M cha is is the chairman of the library [Music] commission okay that's my Hot Topic so um then we're up to Old misses okay so micr Mobility study um I didn't get anything from our consultant yet about the completed micr Mobility study he said he was shooting for the middle of July which is exactly today so um before the next meeting I'm sure we'll have a draft of that and I'll send it out students I get it but I know they are working on it so yeah that's the one we did the mapping when um the PSG p is an energy efficiency grant so we are still working on that we have to send um we have to set up a time for the mayor and someone else I'm not sure yet exactly who but make a video to do the video so I I did let the mayor know that um and we're working on getting a time zone for that so that'll be sometime in August they put down our website I know that sustainable Jersey is working on developing the website they have our I sent the new logo I sent the township logo all that criteria they wanted they sent me uh there is I think one or oh I sent them our Facebook handle Instagram handle I got all of that done um we do have to put together from the mayor which they sent me a sample letter and also a press release but they said the website really has to be done first so I'm kind of like in a holding pattern um but for the video the mayor will definitely be in it if anyone really wants to be in it you know you can we need people to be in there so all right I be in it yes need some extras maybe ex I don't know if we could catch her at home professionally oh yes be good to have a young person and maybe I know she's up there for 3 months but she's coming home that's a good idea yeah that's a good idea sag I think we need somebody young okay I'll reach out to see how many people because I know some of them are just like stock images and things like that but which I did send them some um but I know they need some and if J can remember her friend that came with her she may she may be home for this definitely okay that works for yeah okay name and or Park I I'm still working on that withw but uh there I think we've really uh gone through the list you're old business a couple things sure skip the stuff remember we talked about that I know it's been a while since I've been in a meeting um and we looked at the model ordinance language I have a printed copy for everybody this is an ordinance that would help direct fast food places essentially to not be putting automatically plastic Cutlery in every takeout order that goes out the door and andj has a model ordinance for that um we reviewed that U preliminarily people wanted time to look at it it was also suggested who would enforce this if it's the health department our health department of the county would the county do this and it was asked of Me by this committee to check with and Jack is there anybody doing it at the county level and the answer so far is no um Red Bank has it Maplewood has it and Red Bank uses their own code enforcement people Maplewood uses their health and code enforcement people Westfield is it's in for its second reading right now in Westfield um I would like to keep this on our agenda and have us be looking at it um I I if the county somebody needs to talk to the county I guess is that best coming from you to to ask County Health Department I would think so yeah I can see if they what do they do if they do anything or their thoughts yeah it's sort of the same idea as destroys yes in a way yes and I think it's the kind of thing where citizen reporting could be the enforcement say you're not supposed to do this we have an ordinance um I for L happens to everybody so um maybe if this comes fact the next meeting everyone will have that chance to look at it and word Smith it the way you like it got Ary you got one this actually would say is this in a Word document yes and you emailed this to us I did yeah I thought I saw but sometimes people don't get to their email so I thought it's good to have printed copy and Mark it up and then go on um but I I think it makes a lot of sense and it is one of the incentives that they think business owners would like it cuz they will save money on so um I I'd like to see us keep that alive and the other thing is I remember me talking about how impressed I was with Readington Township's digital environmental resource inventory and uh that was at an an conference that they the Readington guy remember the environmental commission showed us their digitized environmental resource inventory it's interactive it's fantastic being flexibility on it they used Princeton Hydro to take their PDF ER which is what we have on our website and turn it into this beautiful digitized thing and I got a proposal for it and um so here's a copy for everybody um essentially if we wanted them to digitize what we have I think it's 13,000 if we wanted them to digitize what we have and update it with the lat of data for our Township which they have access to because of all the mapping um that's another 6,000 so it's a total of 20 um Tara mentioned that we have an open Grant with sustainable jersey for the name in Williams Park but this is the kind of thing sustainable Jersey might pay for up to2 ,000 but we need to close out the existing Grant before we could apply for it so that may be September October I hope so I really hope so I I think this is worth keeping alive we may have a shot at some funding to do this I emailed all this to everybody if you have a chance click on that link for Readington um they even have dear concentrations in different parts of Readington Township uh it's it's pretty impressive and my thinking is if I'm sitting on the planning board or the zoning board or the open space committee or the environmental commission and you're looking at an application you open this up on your computer you can exactly go hover over what environmental resources we have right where this applicant is what are we looking at what how does this application affect the Township's inventory when was the last time we updated our ER 2019 I remember and and the hindrance is you go to this PDF and then you have to go look at the table of contents and go to where it takes you and is it provide the information you're looking for when it's digitized you can layer layer is that a thing that's updated in 5 years or 10 years I 10 years think years I think it was 2009 and then we did it again in 2019 um and these guys and you can read this how the kind of updates they would give us I mean they list the whole thing how they could bring us up to speak because we're now five years old and five years is a lot today let me ask this if they were to if they were to be hired probably have to go out a bit of some kind if they were hired um and they got it done in the next year um 4 years from now when we update the er um do we go through the same process or will the will it automatically be made into that kind of do when when you look at this they have a maintenance feed per year which they say is wable I think that's just for the technology but it would be interesting to ask them could you quote for us to keep it updated what would that cost updated and a complete rewrite might be different things so you should ask that I'll St is so it looks like I have Readington up here on the screen so it looks like you okay yeah it looks like they um are using software called Arc GIS story which is like an online GIS tool so they can go in on like the back end and every year for $500 probably update the gis layer so the text won't be updated but the mapping would be updated so the text would be updated in the in the way that like see here say 62.2% is Wetlands they would update just that number for example and the mapping but but this is pretty cool actually cuz basically you go to up here like I was in land use land cover say you want to go to open space in Farmland you click on it it gives you like the text here briefly and then you can like click on that's like that not that good of an example there I want like the regular map like here they put the table in of what they have and then this is a map here that shows all the open so this is like a map they would update every year and it would show you know and the dark green is State open space and the light green is township open space so this is all done online basically in our in our ER does it talk about copy percentages I'm pretty sure it does yeah I'm pretty sure it does yeah yeah absolutely um yes I'm almost positive does but let me I'm looking at our sections in their proposal uh these are the sections they would update Forest fragmentation and corridors will be updated to include the findings of mapping as connecting habitat across New Jersey which then I think we could even tell them what we wanted them to update for us that page looked familiar yeah this is the let me see if we have an air quality Wildlife land use I search Forest fragmentation Cor is under Wildlife land use cover types land use cover types is probably there's probably some I'm just trying to see there's a separate section on just trees or tree canopy I don't think so so it's probably in those two sections land cover types and Forest fragmentation and we might say add a section highlighting that and tap us into what's out there because if Readington has Forest types or tree C they probably already have a template for doing it yeah oops so I um I'd like to keep this in front of us I think it's a real worthy project um and I know an really encourages it because I think it just increases user Comfort which increas encourages use and what's the point of having this dead thing that sits on our website that be so thank you for listening yeah is there a way of telling uh it telling us how often um people have hits on our website yes there is do they do it we can ask for we asked for it for something else I forget what it was and they were able to tell me that our Facebook page and and all that they can definitely tell us that be interesting to know you know on average you know weekly or monthly or whatever how many HS the environmental Commission are and and yeah and where what are the most um um areas search sites they look for you can go to Google analytics and take a page of FR add that it tell stuff too you can do it too don't you have to put something in the code to send it to something like HTM just a website link that's all can put a little code in there and identify it okay just we're just looking at something here computer computer L I turned on my computer yesterday never Happ before I open it up here's the keyboard my screen is upside down nothing out there we could ask for that yeah that's pretty definitely upside literally upside I like it I have a friend who's really good at that stuff and I called him and he had Faceook 5 minutes he have off if I could call the it dis now I'd like to get a motion to open the floor the public comment again like open whole room to the any comment for well we appreciate you being here yeah do you have you have Terry's email because you very good thank you for coming thank you yeah give us hope for the future if a high school Rising senior is thinking this way yes that's great and a jersey kidy kid so uh therefore we'll have a motion to close public comment Peri and then I'll ask for a motion to adjourn second second all favor bye all right